Rest in Peace, iTunes

The death of this revolutionary digital media software says a lot about the current state of the music industry and where it’s going.

Written by Emily Gruner

Vinyl. Cassettes. 8-tracks. CDs. Napster. And now, iTunes.

Apple announced on June 3 that their 18-year-old digital media platform would no longer be available to consumers following their next software update. After some confusion, a moment of nostalgia, and a feeling of panic while wondering where my copy of Miley Cyrus’s Breakout would go once the software update hit my phone, there was a simple realization — the medium that millennials and many Gen-Zers used to consume music will now be among the list of music platforms that have come and gone throughout history.

So now that the heyday of individual song “buying” is now closing, where do we go?

The answer is that we continue with the trajectory that streaming is taking us: music fans are either Team Spotify or Team Apple Music, and Soundcloud users have created their own genre within the audio distribution platform. Rather than spending $10 on a single album on iTunes, we can spend the same amount of money each month to have millions of songs at our fingertips. And it’s . . . convenient. There’s also pros for musicians: independent artists can finally reach their fans by directly releasing songs on their desired platform, rather than having to pay for physical distribution of their work. Anyone and everyone can make and release music.

But as many people know, artists get fractions of a cent in royalties after streaming services take out their fees — even less if an artist is signed to a label. Although iTunes yielded similar results, the platform took out significantly less fees than current streaming services.

So this brings us to where streaming is actually taking us: the age of the tour.

Since royalties and fees have made it nearly impossible for musicians to make a living on recorded music alone, they have turned to creating live experiences for fans in order to make the majority of their income. Although touring comes with hefty financial risks, artists can reap big financial rewards as well. Touring also typically includes the selling of merchandise. The sale of merchandise has been very profitable, as clothing markups are usually as high as 400%. More and more music fans are turning to live shows and music festivals to witness the talent of the various artists they discovered on their streaming platform of choice. But as this happens, the tour and merchandise that were once in the background of a musician’s business model have become an important aspect of the musician’s living.

And then there’s the actual medium we consume music with. Many people are connecting their streaming accounts to their artificial intelligence devices such as Alexa and Google Home. Music is moving away from the screen to a purely voice-driven experience. So in addition to the age of the tour, we could also potentially be transitioning into an age where music listening can be simply powered by our voice: no more placing vinyls on a record player or putting our earbuds in and finding the perfect study playlist. Sooner or later, everyone will be demanding, “Alexa, play ‘Despacito!’”

So as the age of iTunes now closes, the age of touring and the age of artificial intelligence begins, guised behind the popularity of streaming. As music has become even more accessible through the affordability of streaming, more fans are desiring an experience. The death of iTunes isn’t a moment of mourning for what our music industry is becoming, but rather a celebration of the new opportunities technology advancement presents to musicians, labels, venues, agencies, and most importantly, fans everywhere.

Afterglow ATXJune 24, 2019