Apple has finalized deals to license music from the big four music labels just before the launch of its iCloud service on Monday, according to CNET.
The last label to sign up was the Universal Music Group, says the report.
The disappointing news is that streaming won’t immediately be available on Monday when Apple launches its iCloud service at its World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco, reports CNET.
Cloud-based music services allow people to store their music online instead of just on their local hard drives and media devices.
Commercial versions of the service have been held up in the United States because of the complex licensing issues, and because it’s not clear whether companies like Apple need to obtain licenses or not from the various rights holders involved.
Amazon recently launched such a service without licenses. The company has said it doesn’t believe it needs them. Google is scheduled to launch a service sometime later this year.
The details of the deals with the labels have not been made public, but The New York Post reported the advance payout to them to be between $100 million and $150 million.
Sources told the paper that the service will initially be free to people who bought their music through iTunes, but eventually Apple might charge $25 a year.
