Apple: Beats Music to live on, could be swallowed by iTunes

When Apple acquired Beats Music earlier in the year, there were obvious fears that the service would shut down. While this type of rumor is often well-founded, it seems fears were misplaced on this occasion: Apple has no plans to shutter Beats Music. A company spokesperson made a statement to the Guardian making it clear that suggestions that the subscription music service is to close down are "not true". But could the brand end up being eaten by iTunes?

Beats Music has not been a runaway success. It has subscribers, but not all that many. With Apple's backing there is a chance that its popularity could increase, but it can be difficult to shake off the reputation of an old name -- Beats Music has singularly failed to reach the celebrated heights of Beats Electronic's headphones. Having spent $3 billion on Beats Music and Beats Electronic, it would be strange if Apple just gave up on a portion of its investment.

While rumors of Beats Music's death may have been overstated, it is unlikely that things will carry on as they are. We already know that Apple has been working on a new music format. It's something that U2 has been working on, and frontman Bono recently revealed his involvement. Very little is known about this music format, but there's nothing to stop Apple from using Beats Music as a launchpad for it -- it could be seen as something of a soft launch.

In fact, both the Guardian and Re/code speculate about whether Beats Music could be rebranded, or even just become a subset of iTunes. Could we see a subscription-based new music format aimed at iPad and iPhone owners? Is it something you'd be willing to cough up for?

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