Spotify has a target on its back.
With sales of music downloads slipping into decline, big guns like Google, Apple and Amazon are taking aim at the streaming music upstart as it eyes an initial public offering, possibly in the fall.
First up, Google’s YouTube is prepping a Spotify-style subscription music service this summer as part of a redesign of the popular online video hub, sources told The Post.
After several delays, YouTube’s relatively new boss, Susan Wojcicki, is poised to launch the service through its Music Pass app for Android mobile devices, according to sources.
The subscription service would be Google’s second grab at the all-you-can-eat music market. Google Play, its two-year-old online entertainment store, already offers an All Access offering that competes with Spotify, Pandora and other streaming services.
YouTube’s Music Pass will likely charge $10 a month for a commercial-free option — on par with Spotify’s paid service — and $5 a month for an ad-supported version, one source said.
The YouTube service will allow customers to keep playing music while they toggle between e-mail and other apps, according to the source.
Considering YouTube’s huge user base — more than 1 billion unique visitors a month — Spotify has reason to be nervous.
“We’re always working on new and better ways for people to enjoy YouTube content across all screens, and on giving partners more opportunities to reach their fans,” a YouTube spokeswoman said. “However, we have nothing to announce at this time.”
And Google isn’t the only one ramping up the competition with Spotify.
Apple is said to be in talks with record labels over launching a streaming subscription offering under its iTunes brand. The so-called Spotify killer would be in addition to its iTunes Radio service.
“Apple is further along than people are thinking,” said an industry source. “They have technology in place and can flip the switch at any time.”
Apple recognizes that the global music business is at a tipping point.
Digital download revenue fell 2.1 percent, to $3.9 billion, in 2013, while streaming sales jumped 51 percent, hitting $1 billion, according to the latest stats from music industry group IFPI.
“Downloads are declining,” Jeremy Silver, chairman of music and social measurement firm Musicmetric, told The Post. “Very much it’s an indication of the mobile music market and a customer who wants on demand music at a great price.”
Amazon is also reportedly in talks with music labels about a streaming service for its Prime subscribers.
The record labels are encouraging the proliferation of streaming music services. The roughly $120 a year that a consumer spends for a subscription is far more lucrative than the occasional album purchases most people make annually.
So it’s no surprise that Spotify is also fighting off land grabs from Jimmy Iovine’s Beats Music, which has spent millions on advertising and has signed up 28,000 new users in its first free month, according to Bloomberg News.
Anthony Bay, the CEO of Rdio, which has an alliance with Cumulus stations to help boost its subscription music service, told The Post: “It’s very early days for music streaming. There are over 1 billion mobile users and 30 million music subscribers in the world.”
Spotify declined to comment.