Apple Nears Deal With Labels For New Music Service: Source

LOS ANGELES — Apple Inc. is close to securing deals with all four major recording companies on a music service that will allow users to stream songs stored on remote computer servers, presumably to an array of portable Apple-made devices, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

Such a service would give users a wide array of music on-the-go, without having to worry about limited storage space and the need to physically connect different devices to transfer songs.

Universal Music Group, a division of Vivendi SA, is about to sign a deal that will give Apple the right to stream songs to its customers, although how exactly the service will function is unclear, the person said.

The cloud music service is likely to be unveiled at Apple's annual developers' conference in San Francisco, which gets under way on June 6. Agreements with the units of the recording companies that collect songwriting royalties have not yet been completed but are expected to be finalized soon, the person said.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly on the deals and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Universal would be the largest and last recording company to sign a cloud music deal with Apple after the maker of iPads and iPhones cut deals with Sony Corp.'s music arm, EMI Group Ltd. and Warner Music Group Corp, the person said.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

Bloomberg News earlier reported that Apple had reached agreements with Sony, EMI and Warner and that Universal was close to a deal.

Over the last two months, Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. have both unveiled cloud music plans but neither had secured deals with the recording companies. The services appeared to have limited functionality and amounted to allowing people to access material they had uploaded themselves.

Apple's deals with music companies will allow for downloading, mobile use and streaming – and will enable it to offer a more complete service, the person said. However, it is also unclear how much Apple will charge for such capabilities, and whether people would pay per song or by subscribing to a regular plan.

Amazon offers free storage for up to 5 gigabytes of cloud storage but charges, starting at $20 per year, for 20 gigabytes and more. Google's service works by invitation only and is free to use during the current test phase.

___

AP Business Writer Rachel Metz in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Comments

[wsuvtx]

04:28 PM on 05/23/2011

Then you upload your music to any of these services, they will bust you for the "pirated" music you have.

Why is Apple working with these dinosaurs? I thought they were the "Cutting Edge". The music industry became obsolete when they did not adopt Napster and other similar services. Any band can get their music out there. There is no need for record companies.

[TOOO]

01:28 AM on 05/23/2011

This may all be a moot point in the near future. There are bands out there that record their own music, then sell it on the Internet on their own websites. And yes, I realize this is only if they can get enough publicity to pull it off.

[jerryhattrick]

10:43 AM on 05/22/2011

Look....Jobs is a Vulcan....separated at birth from Spock.

[netzwerg]

08:41 AM on 05/22/2011

I've been doing cloud computing for years. Torrent is the cloud, it's all available in there. Music, movies,....

[pepper1311]

06:38 AM on 05/22/2011

Maybe I can dump XM?

[wilray]

01:08 PM on 05/23/2011

If you're using XM just for music, you probably should have dumped them a while back.

[bobvanbuskirk1]

06:37 AM on 05/22/2011

i have been doing this with my music for years now its called a server computer and remote access .but of course apple invented it just like the mp3 player.

[gclafontaine]

01:08 AM on 05/22/2011

He is looking less and less human with each passing day.

[hottingers]

03:47 AM on 05/22/2011

I was thinking the exact thing.

[SotallyTober]

01:04 AM on 05/22/2011

Didn't Apple just have an explosion at their plant in .......CHINA?!?

[pepper1311]

06:37 AM on 05/22/2011

Apple only makes opening systems and other soft wear. All products are farmed out to many companies. I have only used Mac's since 1985 and the only reason is there support. That still here in the US. This I-pad has parts from Japan,Korea , China and Other SE Asia countries.

[jsand96876]

01:03 AM on 05/22/2011

With Pandora streaming radio for free just why would would we need this?

[jacksonavbxny]

12:58 AM on 05/22/2011

Can someone explain to me why this isn't an anti-trust lawsuit waiting to happen?

[seehowtheyrun]

12:31 AM on 05/22/2011

If it works anything like the cloud they store your calendar on, it will s∪ck, big time.

[TrucosR4Ninos]

11:31 PM on 05/21/2011

Do you think he has a personal groomer at all times?

[jsand96876]

01:01 AM on 05/22/2011

He looks like he has been shaving with Don Johnson's razor.

[TOOO]

01:29 AM on 05/23/2011

Or, maybe he's growing a beard?

[SickHippie]

11:17 PM on 05/21/2011

Protip - you can do this right now, on any iOS and Android device for $5, using your home computer or other media server. I'm sure there's apps for other mobile OS's as well.

http://www.plugplayer.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_UPnP_AV_media_servers

[traveler291]

11:13 PM on 05/21/2011

no wonder the record labels are slumping. they're too stupid to figure out how to do this themselves at far less cost than what they will pay apple.

before digital the labels controlled distribution of its product. when digital hit the labels took their eye off the ball by focusing on piracy instead of distribution control. no lessons learned by doing this deal. soon they won't be needed at all and if they think this is going to help their business model they are sadly mistaken. short term thinking...

[itstimetotakeitback]

12:20 AM on 05/22/2011

true, i run a small label and these deals just make things worse.. apple thinks in volume.. this only helps them.. the majors have always had a terrible business model and are very short sighted..

[traveler291]

12:42 AM on 05/22/2011

i proposed to a major label years ago a method that would have solved both the piracy and distribution problem. they chose not to invest. rather, they are now watching apple make more off their product than they are., not just in music distribution but that music player known as the ipod.

what? labels don't provide the mechanism for playing music? the history of rca should have been examined...in business it's called a paradigm shift. apple did that for them [labels] at great expense.

[jsand96876]

01:09 AM on 05/22/2011

The major labels when straight to hell in the 80's when accountants and been counters took over the business. You had people running the show that didn't have the first idea about music. They have not put out much good music since. I would rather listen to almost unknown smaller label music than all of the crap that has come out since then. They make these media manufactured stars with no talent like they are being pressed out of a cookie cutter. I have not heard very much good music from a major label since the 60"s or 70"s. Sorry if I sound like a dinosaur but it's true.

[soundping]

11:11 PM on 05/21/2011

The real question is how is Apple going to sue these recording companies later on.