Apple to undergo overhaul after iTunes Radio setback?

The effects of launching iTunes Radio have apparently sparked Apple to overhaul its download store, in what has been called “the most dramatic” update in more than a decade.

Billboard has covered the news extensively. Speaking with unnamed sources at labels, the publication reports about 1%-2% of listeners click the buy button on iTunes Radio, while overall music downloads have been declining at a rate more than 15%. One source from an unnamed independent label says iTunes’ revenue share in the label fell from 70% in 2012 to less than 50% this year.

“iTunes Radio hasn’t solved the problem of refreshing the iTunes store,” a senior label executive told Billboard. “While listeners are clicking the buy buttons, the traffic it is driving is in the low single digits of listeners.”

While there is yet to be any official word from Apple, comments from label execs do conjure a number of possibilities for the update including a step toward on-demand streaming (which major labels eluded to in late March) and bringing iTunes over to the Android platform, both directions could be a direct response to the 2013 IFPI report showing streaming music is on the rise and digital music sales are down for the first time in 10 years.