Labels Getting Onboard for Apple’s Cloud Music Service

Apple has apparently already struck deals with two major record labels for its rumored cloud-based music storage service, and is actively working on getting the remaining big players on board. Apple plans to use the service to let users store iTunes Store purchases and other music online for playback on multiple devices.

 

iTunesiTunes music in the cloud may be coming soon

Eddy Cue, the man in charge of the iTunes Store, is planning on talking on Friday with the record labels that Apple doesn’t have with yet, according to anonymous sources that AllThingsD spoke with. Earlier reports claimed Apple already had Warner Music on board, and that EMI was expected to jump on board quickly, too.

Assuming Apple has already penned deals with Warner and EMI, the two remaining holdouts are Universal Music Group and Sony.

Apple has been rumored to be working on its music locker service for some time, and the assumption has been that this will be a new feature for MobileMe users can add to their annual subscription for an extra fee. Those rumors also claim the Mac, iPhone and iPad maker has been hoping to launch its online music storage service some time this month.

While Apple has apparently been working on getting labels to agree to its music storage service, Amazon has already launched its own version sans record label deals called Cloud Drive. Amazon customers can store music they buy from the Amazon MP3 store as well as music they copy from their own CDs, and the company released a companion app for Android devices that supports Internet-based streaming.

The expectation from Apple’s service is that it will offer more features and better audio quality thanks to its deals with record labels. Music industry executives think Apple wants to launch its service soon, too.

“They’ve been very aggressive and thoughtful about it,” commented on executive. “It feels like they want to go pretty soon.”