It was widely believed that Apple was as interested in Beats Music, the digital music streaming service, as much as it was in Beats by Dr. Dre core business – the market-share-leading headphones – when the iPhone maker shelled out $3 billion to buy the Los Angeles-based company. After some speculations from tech insiders, Apple’s strategy is finally known: the Cupertino company has shut down the Beats Music app and plans to merge it with iTunes, releasing an updated version sometime next year.

The Wall Street Journal cited an anonymous insider familiar with Apple’s plans in its report. It wasn’t clear how just how the new Beats Music will look or whether its subscription rate will change. Apple has not issued a statement.

Acquiring Beats Music was believed to be related to Apple’s strategy to get into digital music streaming amid a downward trend with iTunes music download sales, according to TechCrunch. The Wall Street Journal report gave this theory credence, reporting that iTunes music sales were down 13 percent to 14 percent worldwide this year.

TechCrunch’s Josh Constine concluded that Beats Music presented a way for Apple to “gracefully transition into streaming” as rival digital music streaming services – Spotify, Google Music and Deezer – grew their user base and became more popular. Beats Music, by comparison, had only 250,000 paid subscribers as of May, trailing the competitors. iTunes is still a powerhouse with 800 million users and some 400 million credit cards on file, so merging Beats Music into iTunes could give it a substantial boost.

Still, Constine postulates that Apple’s strategy is not about monetizing on music, suggesting the company may even view it as a “loss leader or way to entice sales of its high-margin iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, and iMacs.” To win over users from Spotify, which charges $10 per month for premium subscription, Apple may also decide to lower Beats’ monthly charge.