Apple to Shut Down or Re-Brand Beats Music?

Update: According to Peter Kafka at Re/Code, Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr says TechCrunch’s report is “not true.” Kafka reports that Beats won’t be shut down, but rather, “modified over time” or re-branded.

Apple is planning to shut down Beats Music, Techcrunch reports. It’s been just nine months since the streaming music service launched, and only four months since Apple acquired parent company Beats Electronics for $3 billion. Quoting “several prominent sources” at Apple, Techcrunch says that many of Beats Music’s engineers have been moved on to other projects—such as iTunes, Apple’s long-existing listening platform. No timeline has been set for the shuttering.

As Techcrunch points out, Beats Music wasn’t automatically installed on the newly released iPhone 6, despite the presence of Apple’s other signature apps. They also point out that during Apple’s recent launch event, the Beats Music app wasn’t seen on the Apple Watch.

Of course, Apple didn’t pay $3 billion for just a streaming service. They still have the highly, highly lucrative Beats headphone line. They also gained co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, who some reports pegged as the “true” acquisitions of the massive deal.

Apple hasn’t released an official statement yet.

Full disclosure: Pitchfork is one of Beats’ featured curators.

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