Apple Paying Music Labels Up to $150 Million for iCloud Streaming Rights?

major music labels
The New York Post reports that Apple is paying the four major music labels up to a total of $150 million for the rights to include their music in its iCloud music streaming service set to be introduced on Monday. The revelation comes just as Apple reportedly finalized a deal with Universal, the last of the four major labels to sign on to the deal.

Apple will fork over between $100 million and $150 million in advanced payments to the four major music labels in order to get its iCloud off the ground, three separate sources told The Post.

The Cupertino, Calif., tech giant has agreed to pay the labels between $25 million to $50 million each, as an incentive to get on board, depending on how many tracks consumers are storing.

The report also claims that Apple has finalized deals with the corresponding music publishers, officially opening the door for a launch. Previous reports had indicated that Apple was putting the final touches on agreements with the publishers.

Multiple news outlets have reported since yesterday that iCloud will debut as a free service, with Apple eventually looking to charge in the neighborhood of $25 per year for the service. Sources have also claimed that iCloud will be limited at first, supporting only content purchased from the iTunes Store, but that Apple is working to expand iCloud to support music obtained from other sources in the future.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...

Top Rated Comments

0815 Avatar
171 months ago
So much money to give Apple the right stream music that you already purchased from their servers (not even allowing to stream music that you purchased on CD or through other legal means) ?

Hope the rumors are wrong and there is more to the iCould ....
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
d0minick Avatar
171 months ago


Wonder how many people don't own iTunes music

I got about a 3k catalog. Not one from Apple.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Small White Car Avatar
171 months ago

we bought those files, we store them on our hard disk and if you stream them from "your" cloud they are the same, only the space where you store them us different.

That's what Amazon does and Amazon doesn't pay the labels.

Thus we have to conclude that iCloud will be something different, yeah?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Full of Win Avatar
171 months ago
If it's iTunes only content, this will be another failure from Apple.

iTunes only content on icloud = Ping 2
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
elhungarian Avatar
171 months ago
Wonder how many people don't own iTunes music
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0815 Avatar
171 months ago


Wonder how many people don't own iTunes music

The bigger question is: how many people own music purchased OUTSIDE of iTunes ... probably a lot, and those are the once that are getting screwed if the rumors turn out to be true
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)