Update: Apple tells Re/code that the streaming service is not shutting down. However, Re/code says that the branding could be altered at some point in the future.
Many engineers from Beats Music have already been moved off the product and onto other projects at Apple, including iTunes. It’s not clear when exactly Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre’s music service will be shut down or what Apple will do with streaming, but every source with knowledge of the situation that we talked to agreed Apple plans to sunset the Beats Music brand.
What exactly Apple has planned for the Beats Music team and product is unclear. The report points out that Beats executive Ian Rogers had been put in charge of iTunes Radio previously, so it’s possible Apple has plans to wrap Beats Music streaming features into its iTunes products. While Beats Music didn’t get any stage time at Apple’s recent iPhone and Apple Watch unveiling, Apple did just recently launch a new dedicated Beats Music Apple TV channel. It also started advertising the Beats Music app to new iOS customers alongside its other iOS apps and pushed the service on its website and elsewhere.
When Apple acquired the company, Tim Cook and other Apple executives spoke on several occasions about the talent behind the Beats Music streaming service being a big motivating factor in the deal. After officially announcing the deal, Apple said that it planned to continue offering the Beats Music app on iOS, Android and Windows devices and up until now there has been no indication the service would be shut down. There is, of course, a possibility Apple will rebrand the service under its iTunes branding and continue to offer it on Android devices.
