I´ve been wondering when this would finally happen. Apple is planning to launch an on-demand streaming service.

But it's the talks around on-demand subscription and the iTunes App for Android that will most intrigue label heads and the wider market. Apple founder Steve Jobs was widely known to have argued that fans would never subscribe for music. Moreover, up until now, iTunes has been committed to keeping the iTunes ecosystem closed off.

But now, nearly three years after Job's death, iTunes has to consider the option because so far this year, U.S. digital album sales are down 13 percent for the week ending March 16, and digital track sales are down 11 percent for that same period, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Even as download sales have deteriorated, revenue from streaming services have grown, according to two reports released on March 18. The first, from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), showed that streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora and YouTube generated $1.4 billion in subscription, advertising and licensing revenues in the U.S. last year, up 39 percent from 2012, while downloads revenue were down 3.2 percent to $2.9 billion. The second report, from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), painted a similar picture, albeit on a global scale. Streaming music revenue grew 51 percent worldwide, while downloads slipped 2.1 percent.

Illustration by Ed Fotheringham.