Rumors are circulating that Apple is preparing to shut down Beats Music, although the company is denying such claims.
Apple first bought Beats in May for $3 billion, including the music streaming service, Beats Music. While some reports claim it's going to be shuttered, other reports say the service will continue but its name will be slowly phased out and incorporated into the iTunes brand.
"This is not true," said Tom Neumayr, a spokesperson for Apple, in reference to rumors Beats would be shut down.
At least one industry watcher expects some sort of action to take place.
"I was going to be a bit surprised if they kept it and left it unchanged," said Ian Dawson, an analyst at Jackdaw Research, who also said he assumes that Beats Music would be incorporated into iTunes.
When Apple bought Beats, Beats Music had around 110,000 subscribers and has since grown to 250,000. It was assumed the streaming service was a key part of the deal, even though Beats also makes a number of audio products and is best known for its headphones.
Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was always vocal about his dislike of the music streaming service. However, Tim Cook, the company's now-CEO, recently said that after tinkering with Beats Music he "couldn't sleep" and that he was "100 percent sold on music subscription."
Despite growing quite quickly, Beats is relatively new to the market. Having only been launched in January, its number of subscribers pales in comparison with services like Spotify and Pandora, who have been in the market for much longer.
Another clue toward Apple potentially planning on incorporating Beats Music into iTunes is the fact that Beats Music head Ian C. Rogers was designated as head of iTunes Radio when the acquisition was completed. At the time Apple also removed around 200 of Beats Music's 700 full-time positions, mainly in positions that overlapped with Apple's own staff, such as human resources and finance.
Some reports suggest Apple could shut down parts of Beats Music without any real changes to its core services. Announcements related to the service may come at Apple's October event.
"That would be a good opportunity for them," continued Dawson. "There's no reason they couldn't resurrect that old theme of iTunes launches in the fall."
