Apple iRadio could launch next week – UPDATED
Sony Has Jumped Aboard The iRadio Freight Train
From All Access Music Group
ALL THINGS DIGITAL is reporting, “SONY MUSIC has signed on to APPLE’s forthcoming iRADIO service, according to a person familiar with negotiations between the two companies.”
CNET confirms the report, writing, “After more than year of off-and-on negotiations, APPLE has now reached deals with all three major music labels, making it increasingly likely that APPLE will unveil its free Internet radio service at next week’s WWDC event. The latest deal is with SONY MUSIC, according to industry sources who said the two sides struck a deal FRIDAY morning.
SONY was the last major holdout, which reportedly annoyed the other labels (NET NEWS 5/23).
If SONY is indeed in on iRADIO, we can expect APPLE to make the launch official during its annual developer conference, which begins MONDAY.
Original Post
by Christopher Smith From What Hi Fi?
Apple iRadioApple’s much anticipated iRadio streaming music service is one step closer to launch after Apple struck a licensing deal with Warner Music Group and Warner Chappell, according to sources close to the company.
The New York Times and Wall Street Journal report that iRadio will be unveiled at its Worldwide Developers Conference starting on June 10. However the service won’t be publicly available until later this year, when Apple’s iOS 7 mobile-operating system is also expected to be released.
Similar to Last.fm and US site Pandora, iRadio will stream songs based on users’ tastes. A station can be created based on a particular song or artist, and the program will then play other songs based on those preferences.
The new technology will also be tightly integrated with iTunes, enabling people to buy and download a song they hear on the iRadio service.
Rumours have circulated that Apple would offer “high quality sound”, potentially hi-res audio, either via iTunes or as part of a new streaming service. Fingers crossed.
The Financial Times reports Warner signed the deal after Apple agreed to pay its songwriters 10 per cent of advertising revenue, more than double the 4 per cent rate it currently earns from Pandora.
A Sony ATV spokesman was said to be “optimistic [Apple] will accept our introductory rate”, but declined to comment further to the FT.
The latest venture from Apple will see a shift in how the company courts advertisers after failing to compete with Google in the $4.11 billion U.S. mobile-ad market.
They will seek to land big brands for the new streaming-radio service – similar to Pandora’s business model – scaling back its role as a network that places marketing messages in mobile software from its App Store.
Apple has been negotiating with music companies in order to secure licensing agreements necessary to introduce the service. Reports suggest that so far the company has reached agreements with Universal Music Group’s record labels and Warner Music Group.
Last month, Google launched its own streaming music service, Google Play Music All Access, combining its existing music store and cloud service with a streaming music offering.
There’s no word on a UK release date as yet for the service, which will have the likes of Rdio and Spotify in its sights, not to mention any Apple streaming service.
For more on this story go to:
