Apple asking record labels for exclusive iTunes releases

Apple Inc. has begun pressuring the major record companies to offer new releases exclusively through its iTunes store — a move that would initially block availability on streaming services such as Spotify or Beats Music, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Apple officials contend on-demand music services have begun to cannibalize download sales, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Apple's iTunes online store accounts for about 80 percent of all download sales in the U.S. But after a decade of uninterrupted growth domestically, digital song and album sales began to slump in 2013 and continued to slide this year, according to the article.

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