Music publishers reportedly close to cloud streaming deal with Apple
There is little to separate music publishers and Apple from striking a deal to allow music to be streamed through a new iTunes cloud service, a new report claims.
Officials in the music business are now hopeful that Apple will have all of the licenses it needs to launch its cloud-based streaming service at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in early June, Greg Sandoval of CNet reported Tuesday.
"Negotiations between Apple and music publishers have begun in earnest only recently but the amount of money that separates the two sides from reaching a deal is relatively small, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks," Sandoval wrote. "That said, these are cloud-licensing contracts, which are new and complex and there's still several ways Apple's service could be delayed, insiders say."
Talks have progressed because music industry insiders are said to be hopeful that a cloud streaming service, which would allow users to access their music from any Internet-connected device, will boost sagging music sales. This way, users would be able to listen to a large library of tracks without having to sync songs to various devices.
Apple has been signing deals with labels at a blistering pace, as agreements with Sony and EMI reportedly reached last week. Those deals followed an agreement with Warner, leaving only Universal Music Group as the lone holdout of the major record labels.
While the labels are a necessary part of the dealmaking process, so too are the music publishers, who must also agree with Apple for such a service to launch. Last week, it was said that the publishers had just entered into negotiations with Apple.
Apple's approach is far different from rivals Amazon and Google, both of which launched their own cloud-based streaming services without any record industry cooperation. The services from Amazon and Google rely on users uploading their own music libraries, while Apple's service is expected to stream files without the need to upload first.
Last week, AppleInsider discovered a patent application from Apple that could reveal the company's unique plans for the still-unannounced streaming service. The proposed invention would store snippets of songs on a mobile device like an iPhone, allowing a track to begin playing instantly without a need to wait for buffering over the Internet.
Officials in the music business are now hopeful that Apple will have all of the licenses it needs to launch its cloud-based streaming service at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference in early June, Greg Sandoval of CNet reported Tuesday.
"Negotiations between Apple and music publishers have begun in earnest only recently but the amount of money that separates the two sides from reaching a deal is relatively small, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks," Sandoval wrote. "That said, these are cloud-licensing contracts, which are new and complex and there's still several ways Apple's service could be delayed, insiders say."
Talks have progressed because music industry insiders are said to be hopeful that a cloud streaming service, which would allow users to access their music from any Internet-connected device, will boost sagging music sales. This way, users would be able to listen to a large library of tracks without having to sync songs to various devices.
Apple has been signing deals with labels at a blistering pace, as agreements with Sony and EMI reportedly reached last week. Those deals followed an agreement with Warner, leaving only Universal Music Group as the lone holdout of the major record labels.
While the labels are a necessary part of the dealmaking process, so too are the music publishers, who must also agree with Apple for such a service to launch. Last week, it was said that the publishers had just entered into negotiations with Apple.
Apple's approach is far different from rivals Amazon and Google, both of which launched their own cloud-based streaming services without any record industry cooperation. The services from Amazon and Google rely on users uploading their own music libraries, while Apple's service is expected to stream files without the need to upload first.
Last week, AppleInsider discovered a patent application from Apple that could reveal the company's unique plans for the still-unannounced streaming service. The proposed invention would store snippets of songs on a mobile device like an iPhone, allowing a track to begin playing instantly without a need to wait for buffering over the Internet.
Comments
Apple should be working on a few much more important things...
1. Graphic drivers for Snow Leopard that bring us up to 2008 standards.
2. Printer drivers that actually work so your printer prints things.
I imagine sales will skyrocket if Apple can find a way to make those 2 things happen.
Who cares.
Apple should be working on a few much more important things...
1. Graphic drivers for Snow Leopard that bring us up to 2008 standards.
2. Printer drivers that actually work so your printer prints things.
I imagine sales will skyrocket if Apple can find a way to make those 2 things happen.
Just a hunch, but the staff that work on inking deals with labels aren?t the same staff that write graphic and printer drivers.
You know what would help sagging sales? Keeping the price point at $0.99
Tell that to the labels, not Apple. Apple can't tell them to piss off anymore. Since most of their contracts are up and are now month to month, any label Apple pisses off can pull all their content. They're not likely to due to money, but it's something that Apple no longer controls.
Who cares.
Apple should be working on a few much more important things...
1. Graphic drivers for Snow Leopard that bring us up to 2008 standards.
2. Printer drivers that actually work so your printer prints things.
I imagine sales will skyrocket if Apple can find a way to make those 2 things happen.
"Jayne, your mouth's talking. Might want to look to that."
Who cares.
Apple should be working on a few much more important things...
1. Graphic drivers for Snow Leopard that bring us up to 2008 standards.
2. Printer drivers that actually work so your printer prints things.
I imagine sales will skyrocket if Apple can find a way to make those 2 things happen.
While I don't intend on keeping up the derailment, you might be interested to know that, apparently, Lion's OpenGL stack was completely rewritten, supporting 3.2 with an easier upgrade path to 4.0.
Who cares.
Apple should be working on a few much more important things...
1. Graphic drivers for Snow Leopard that bring us up to 2008 standards.
2. Printer drivers that actually work so your printer prints things.
I imagine sales will skyrocket if Apple can find a way to make those 2 things happen.
Seems like you are a troll trainee. You don't post much but your posts are almost always a complaint. I am putting you on my ignore list now as you never add anything relevant to the discussion.
Seems like you are a troll trainee. You don't post much but your posts are almost always a complaint. I am putting you on my ignore list now as you never add anything relevant to the discussion.
How does putting people on the ignore list make a difference? Their comments come up again as soon as someone replies to them like you just did. There is only one way to stop trolls (see below).
*****
Love the graphic Tallest Skil
******
Now, where were we? Oh yes, streaming music... errr... no comment
You know what would help sagging sales? Keeping the price point at $0.99
Apple has little to gain or lose from the iTunes prices, other than for the indirect benefit that it helps sell hardware. Its iTunes profits are a rounding error in the larger scheme of things.
This is an issue with the record labels.
"Jayne, your mouth's talking. Might want to look to that."
Genius.
I don't want to be the labels bargaining against Apple right now.
LabeL rep: "No you can't do that".
Apple rep: "Fine. We will just go ahead and do it the way Amazon and Google are doing it. For free".
Who cares.
Apple should be working on a few much more important things...
1. Graphic drivers for Snow Leopard that bring us up to 2008 standards.
2. Printer drivers that actually work so your printer prints things.
I imagine sales will skyrocket if Apple can find a way to make those 2 things happen.
I should be working on a few much more important things, such as:
1. Point at your post
2. Laugh
I imagine the lulz will skyrocket.
PS: Love the image and Firefly reference, Tallest Skil.
Who cares.
Apple should be working on a few much more important things...
1. Graphic drivers for Snow Leopard that bring us up to 2008 standards.
2. Printer drivers that actually work so your printer prints things.
I imagine sales will skyrocket if Apple can find a way to make those 2 things happen.
No specific issues then - which printer can't you print to? Who at Apple have you spoken to for help? What's wrong with the graphic drivers? What can't you do on your mac that the rest of us can? - i'd imagine a majority of mac users aren't experiencing these issues or we'd have heard about it.
No specific issues then - which printer can't you print to? Who at Apple have you spoken to for help? What's wrong with the graphic drivers? What can't you do on your mac that the rest of us can? - i'd imagine a majority of mac users aren't experiencing these issues or we'd have heard about it.
"I applied the cortical electrodes, but was unable to get a neural reaction, I guess..."
"I applied the cortical electrodes, but was unable to get a neural reaction, I guess..."
Tallest Skill -- You're really on your game today ... props!