AppleInsider Staff
Sony Music has reportedly signed a deal with Apple for its anticipated "iRadio" streaming music service, marking the last of the three major music labels to reach an agreement.
Apple's signing of Sony was first reported on Friday by Peter Kafka of AllThingsD, who cited an unnamed person familiar with negotiations between the two companies. The alleged agreement is further evidence that Apple is gearing up to unveil its rumored "iRadio" service at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference.
Details of the deal come just days after Apple was also said to have successfully courted Warner Music Group. Previously, Apple had already agreed to terms with Universal Music Group, rounding out the big three labels.
For months, reports have claimed that stalled negotiations with Sony in particular have been holding up Apple's debut of "iRadio." Specifically, it was said that a song skipping feature was a major stumbling block for the record label.
With Sony now on board, Apple is expected to announced "iRadio" at its WWDC keynote next Monday. The anticipated service is expected to be a direct competitor to established streaming music services like Pandora.
Apple is also said to be revising its iAd network to run audio advertisements as part of the service. Ad support is expected allow users to stream content from "iRadio" for free when it launches.
Google also recently stepped into the streaming Internet radio market with All Access , which launched in May. The search company's subscription music service is expected to debut on iOS devices in the coming weeks.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
63 Comments
Hmmm, I read somewhere that labels and publishers were two different things. If you sign a label, does that give you rights from the publishers as well?
The sweetest deal would be one that combines Pandora and Spotify, and gives people the option to choose free or paid monthly plans with a different set of features / limitations. That would please everyone. But that probably won't happen, sadly.
[quote name="ghostface147" url="/t/157909/sony-inks-iradio-deal-giving-apple-all-3-major-labels#post_2340510"]Hmmm, I read somewhere that labels and publishers were two different things. If you sign a label, does that give you rights from the publishers as well? [/quote] If I am remembering correctly publishers only come into play when you are dealing with the song as a performable work of art. In other words, I want the rights to perform live or record the song 'imagine' by John Lennon. I go to the publisher. For an existing performance that I want to use that performance in a movie, TV show, distribution system, I go to the label who already has a deal with the publishers for their rights within THAT performance. Think not unlike patent exhaustion.
[quote name="Ireland" url="/t/157909/sony-inks-iradio-deal-giving-apple-all-3-major-labels#post_2340518"]The sweetest deal would be one that combines Pandora and Spotify, and gives people the option to choose free or paid monthly plans with a different my set of features/limitations. That would please everyone. But that probably won't happen, sadly.[/quote] I'm still thinking these rumors are way off from what this 'service' will be. And the ad thing might be something totally separate
[quote name="charlituna" url="/t/157909/sony-inks-iradio-deal-giving-apple-all-3-major-labels#post_2340522"] I'm still thinking these rumors are way off from what this 'service' will be. And the ad thing might be something totally separate[/quote] Three days to go and we know so little. Tim Cook really has doubled down on security.