At present, their monthly operating costs are estimated to be around $75 million and if this burn rate is maintained—though it looks to be increasing—iTunes will reach this high mark sooner than later. Austin Carr, a reporter for Fast Company, speculated that, “such high costs for a download store may provide some clues into why Apple has hesitated to switch to the cloud.” To which he argues that a streaming service “might be just too expensive to maintain.”
It’s also been reasoned that if Apple does add streaming capabilities to iTunes they will charge users extra for it. With these exuberant operating costs in mind, it may be some of the reasoning behind why Apple hasn’t hesitated as much as the labels have been claiming that streaming should be counted as an additional use. To be sure, Apple may not need the money, but they could use it.
