Rocco Pendola announces that iTunes is dead:

Digital downloads are dead. As reported by Billboard, digital music sales decreased — for the first time ever — by 5.7% in 2013. …

Apple wins no matter what happens. The record industry cannot hang its hat on the still-breathing iTunes Store. That’s a ticket to certain death. Put another way, iTunes will not be the sole long-term survivor, as digital sales go the way of the compact disc. That’s why Timothy D. Cook hedged his bets with streaming service iTunes Radio.