Apple Near Cloud-Music Deals

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. Warner Music Group already had a deal in place with Apple. The licensing agreements will enable Apple to launch a fully licensed cloud-music service to rival unlicensed offerings of rivals Amazon and Google.

Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group

The negotiations with Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group could be wrapped up as early as next week, the sources said. What this means is that signed contracts with all four of the top four record companies will be in Apple's hip pocket on June 6 when Apple kicks off the company's Worldwide Developers Conference. The sources who spoke with CNET did not know when Apple would announce the deals or roll out the cloud service.

The Cloud

The cloud is the term used to describe when a person uses a third-party's servers for computing instead of a local PC. One of the core features of a cloud music service is enabling consumers to store their songs on the companies' servers. They can then access their libraries from Web-connected devices.

Apple will finish behind Google and Amazon in the race to the cloud, but Apple now has the freedom to offer a range of features that rivals are prevented from rolling out because of the licensing restrictions, the sources said.