Apple today reported that sales of digital media fell 4 percent in the second quarter of 2015 and by 5 percent for the first six months of its fiscal year 2015.
The disclosure came in the company’s official quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. While the company reported blockbuster earnings yesterday thanks to iPhone sales, executives didn’t break out the performance of the iTunes Store.
In its earnings, the iTunes Store gets lumped into the “Services” category, which also includes the App Store and Apple Pay. “Services” got some boost from Apple Pay, which didn’t exist a year ago. But more importantly, it grew thanks to the App Store, which is on a genuine tear, increasing 29 percent from the same period a year ago.
Overall, the “Services” category reported revenue of about $5 billion in the second quarter, up 9 percent from the same period a year ago.
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This is at least the third straight quarter of declining sales of digital media downloads as customers shift toward embracing streaming subscription services like Netflix for video and Spotify for music.
Apple has been working hard over the past year to reboot its music services, with reports claiming that the company will unveil its own subscription music this summer using the Beats Music service it acquired last year.
