Apple confirms it will stop taking submissions for iTunes LPs, with bundled items like videos or bonus tracks, as of this month; existing LPs will be available
Dani Deahl / The Verge :
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple is closing the door on new iTunes LPs — the bundled video-and-bonus-track packages built for the download era — while leaving the existing catalog playable. It is one more entry in a long pruning of iTunes-era features: allowances ended back in 2016 (Apple retired iTunes Allowances that May), and by late 2018 Apple was also stripping artists' ability to post on Apple Music Connect.
The move sits awkwardly next to Apple's 2016 public denial that it would end iTunes music downloads within a few years — Apple isn't killing the store outright, but each sunset like this one narrows what the download business still does. For labels already sparring with Apple over the 58% revenue share on Apple Music, the shrinking download-side toolkit matters as leverage shifts toward subscription terms.
First-order effects
- Labels and artists lose the ability to package new releases as iTunes LPs from this month, forcing any deluxe-edition bonus content onto other channels or plain track listings.
- Buyers of existing LPs see no immediate change — Apple keeps the current catalog available, so the impact lands only on future releases.
Second-order effects
- Bonus-content bundling migrates toward streaming-era equivalents, strengthening the case for platform-exclusive editions on services like Apple Music where Apple controls the format.
- Each deprecated iTunes feature lowers the maintenance value of the download store itself, tightening the economics for Apple and labels alike and adding pressure in ongoing royalty negotiations.
Third-order effects
- If the cadence holds — allowances, Connect, now LPs — iTunes is being managed toward run-off rather than development, with purchased libraries eventually needing a migration path into Apple Music or successor apps.
- The pattern suggests Apple will keep denying an outright end to downloads while deprecating them feature by feature, letting usage decay decide the timeline instead of an announcement.
The trend: Apple is winding down the iTunes download era incrementally, retiring legacy features one at a time while steering artists and buyers toward Apple Music's subscription model.