Apple has signed a cloud-music licensing agreement with EMI Music and is very near to completing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, “multiple” music industry sources told “CNET” (http://macte.ch/Lg1Wh).
Warner Music Group already had a deal in place with Apple, the article notes. The licensing agreements will enable Apple to launch a fully licensed cloud-music service — rumored to be dubbed iCloud — to rival unlicensed offerings of rivals Amazon and Google.
The negotiations with Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group could be wrapped up as early as next week, the sources told “CNET.” What this means is that Apple will have signed contracts with all four of the top four record companies on June 6 when the 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off. The sources who spoke with “CNET” said they didn’t know when Apple would announce the deals or roll out the cloud service.