The Apple Music Festival has met its end. Apple told Music Business Worldwide that it won’t be doing its annual London concert series anymore. What first started out as the iTunes Festival, it was the company’s way of trying to get more people to buy album on its service. Streaming music services or any streaming service was still in its infancy when Apple started doing this. And they’ve had some of the biggest stars perform throughout the years including the likes of Adele, Pharrell Williams, The Weeknd, One Direction, Lady Gaga, Oasis, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, etc.
But it looks like the advent of music streaming services, Apple is rethinking its strategy in the music space. They need people to keep subscribing to its Apple Music service and while a yearly festival might attract attention, it’s not enough to sustain listeners. Lately, the company has started to support individual shows like those of Haim, DJ Khaled, and Arcade Fire. They even sponsored Drake’s 32-date Summer Sixteen Tour in 2016. Apple has also gotten into episodic streaming video with Carpool Karaoke to keep listeners and viewers coming back.