Apple has reportedly made a licensing deal with Universal Music Group, meaning all four major record labels are on board for the company’s upcoming cloud service iCloud.
According to a report from The LA Times, the agreement was finalised yesterday, with more deals from music publishers to follow today.
This means that Warner Music Group, EMI Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are all signed up for iCloud, which Apple will reveal on Monday.
iCloud may be initially made available for free, but will eventually charge a subscription fee of US$25 a year. Apple will give a 70pc share of any revenue from iCloud’s music services to labels, along with 12pc to music publishers holding songwriting rights.
The service will reportedly let consumers upload music purchased from iTunes to the cloud, letting them play their songs from the web or an internet-connected Apple device. Users may be able store songs not purchased from iTunes sometime in the future.
Streaming may not be available by Monday, but will be offered soon after. iCloud may be used for movies, TV shows and other digital content sold through iTunes at a later stage.
Photo: Apple CEO Steve Jobs
