The latest evidence of the continued trend away from music downloads toward streaming services was provided by Kobalt, a company that collects music royalties on behalf of thousands of artists, reports TechCrunch. Income from Spotify overtook that from iTunes for the first time in Q1 of this year, putting Spotify 13% ahead of iTunes.

While Kobalt operates only in Europe, there is no reason to believe that the trend would be different in the U.S. …

Apple does not split out music from apps and other media in its annual report, but did recently confirm a decline in music sales following an earlier WSJ report that put the drop at 14%.

Apple is expected to revitalize its music income by rebranding the Beats Music streaming service, with a rumored launch in February. The company is believed to be aiming for a subscription price of $5 per month – half that of the existing $9.99 cost. Apple is said to have arrived at the number based on its best customers spending an average of $60 a year on music downloads.

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