Apple Inks Deal With Warner Music for Cloud-Based Storage Rights?

[MacRumors]

Just as Apple's cloud-based music storage service has been said to be ready to go amid claims that Apple has inked two of the four major record labels to deals permitting the service, CNET now reports that Apple has reached a deal with Warner Music Group (WMG) in support of the plan.

Apple has an agreement with Warner Music Group to offer the record label's tracks on iTunes' upcoming cloud-music service, music industry sources said.

In the race to the cloud, Apple is apparently stepping on the gas. All Things Digital reported Thursday that Apple has signed two of the top four record companies. ATD reported that Apple content chief Eddy Cue was due to fly to New York on Friday to try and finalize agreements with the two labels that were still unsigned.

It is unclear whether Warner was one of those two that had previously licensed Apple or whether the label inked a new agreement on Friday.

The report notes that WMG is the third largest record label in the United States, joining Universal, Sony, and EMI in the group of major players that sets the tone for the industry. WMG may be the most important agreement, however, as the label has reportedly been the "fly in the ointment" that has caused both Spotify and Google issues in neogtiating their own music deals.

It is not yet known when Apple plans to introduce the new cloud-based service, but the company appears to be racing full speed ahead toward a launch.

Article Link: Apple Inks Deal With Warner Music for Cloud-Based Storage Rights?

 

[rstansby]

I really hope it works with music I have bought on CD.

 

[HawaiiMacAddict]

That's the $1,000,000 question, isn't it? Most of use have lots of music from other than iTunes sources, so it remains to be seen exactly how, or if, this rumored music locker will be implemented. I wonder how Apple will coordinate the varying tags we have put on our music. In other words, I have some music that was tagged as World Music that I later retagged differently, as it made more sense to me with respect to the way I want to organize my music. If these tags don't match up with what Apple holds, will that become a problem? We'll just have to wait and see what Apple introduces.

 

[tjcampbell]

I'm really excited for this, but only if it will allow me to play the music that I have previously ripped of my own CD's in addition to the iTunes purchases.

 

[ct2k7]

This looks good.!

 

[ciTiger]

News news and more news about this... Just make it official already!

 

[dethmaShine]

Coming closer and closer.

WWDC or before that?

 

[Dicx]

Sorry, but if Apple inked deals with Warner and others to allow me to put music I own into a cloud so I can stream it, they are stupid.

Amazon has it right, do it, don't ask permission, don't look back.

 

[daneoni]

Sorry, but if Apple inked deals with Warner and others to allow me to put music I own into a cloud so I can stream it, they are stupid.

Amazon has it right, do it, don't ask permission, don't look back.

We'll see how things pan out for both companies.

 

[BJMRamage]

iTunes Air....your music in the cloud.

 

[Satori]

I'm sure that there are going to be some compromises here and it won't start as quite the service everyone was hoping for. I can't see either the labels or Apple going for uploading of ripped CD tracks - no profit there for either of them. I really hope I'm wrong about this.

 

[Tones2]

Typical MacRumors. Milk a story to DEATH in one day. Yeah, we get it!

Tony

 

[MacManTexas56]

Typical MacRumors. Milk a story to DEATH in one day. Yeah, we get it!

Tony

then if you already got it, why are you replying?

 

[iCrizzo]

I really hope it works with music I have bought on CD.

Doesn't this already work with iDisc?

 

[G4DP]

One thing missing from all the rumours.

The amount Apple will rip you off for it!

 

[TsMkLg068426]

I really hope it works with music I have bought on CD.

Yes and also if Cloud service will be free are few of the questions people will keep on asking.

 

[Moyank24]

I'm sure that there are going to be some compromises here and it won't start as quite the service everyone was hoping for. I can't see either the labels or Apple going for uploading of ripped CD tracks - no profit there for either of them. I really hope I'm wrong about this.

I think the uploading of ripped CD's is a compromise they are going to have to make. They may not be able to directly profit from it, but if they don't allow it they are definitely going to lose money over it. I can imagine it would be a deal breaker for a lot of us. Especially if we are going to be paying for this service. I wouldn't pay for it if I couldn't store all of my music...including my rips.

 

[EmpyreanUK]

I think the uploading of ripped CD's is a compromise they are going to have to make. They may not be able to directly profit from it, but if they don't allow it they are definitely going to lose money over it. I can imagine it would be a deal breaker for a lot of us. Especially if we are going to be paying for this service. I wouldn't pay for it if I couldn't store all of my music...including my rips.

I think this key. I don't know anybody who uses iTunes that doesn't also have a lot of music ripped from CDs; without the whole library, any kind of music streaming service would be nigh-on useless.

 

[Tones2]

then if you already got it, why are you replying?

Just to irritate you.

Tony

 

[hollerz]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'll be disappointed if this is the only MobileMe improvement.

 

[diamond.g]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'll be disappointed if this is the only MobileMe improvement.

Even more so if they make MM a month to month sub service...

 

[Morod]

No clouds for my music, thank you.

 

[BLUELION]

I think you fail to see the point here...

Its not stupid to seek and obtain rights to hold music and stream it because in the end when the music is uploaded to the Apple sky pie, you are essentially placing the content you purchased, burned, etc. in their digital hands. They were not the original purchaser of the content and therefore are required to obtain permissions to hold this music as a third party for you.

It makes perfect sense. Please think it through before you post.

Sorry, but if Apple inked deals with Warner and others to allow me to put music I own into a cloud so I can stream it, they are stupid.

Amazon has it right, do it, don't ask permission, don't look back.

 

[BLUELION]

Typical...

Reality check...Apple, like Amazon, like Google are businesses and they are out to make money in some form or another. Having said that, it is likely they may charge for this service but it is more likely they will offer this as a free service to entice you to sign up for something like an enhanced version of mobile me.

Besides, the service is not required. it is optional. If you don't want to use it, the answer is don't. That simple.

One thing missing from all the rumours.

The amount Apple will rip you off for it!

 

[Gregintosh]

These rumors are the only reason I haven't yet signed up for a paid DropBox subscription to store my entire iTunes library (12GB) and iPhoto library.

If the next Mobile Me includes AirTunes or whatever they call a digital locker for your entire iTunes library and some sort of way to host iPhoto libraries in the cloud, I will just stick with MobileMe (which I rely on for e-mail).

If the next update is a disappointment, I will probably just end up getting DropBox for files, and keep MobileMe for Mail, Contacts, and Calendar (hopefully they make those features either free or very low cost).