By Slash Lane
Published: 03:55 PM EST Music industry insiders expect that Apple wants to launch, or at least introduce, its anticipated "iCloud" music streaming service in June, though the company must also reach agreements with music publishers. Music publishers own a different set of rights for which Apple must also strike a deal,
according to Peter Kafka of
MediaMemo. Apple is said to have started making deals with the labels first in its negotiation process, and only recently began talking with publishers.
How long it will take to reach an agreement with publishers remains to be seen. But Apple's launch of
90 second song previews in iTunes was reportedly held up for months last year because of negotiations with publishers.
Kafka also said that sources in the music industry believe that Apple wants to launch or at least announce its so-called "iCloud" service at its annual
Worldwide Developers Conference, starting June 6 in San Francisco. This year's event is expected to focus on software, and it is not expected that Apple will unveil new iPhone hardware as it has done in years past.
"In Apple's case, I'm told that the company doesn't have any theological hurdles to clear with the publishers," Kafka wrote.
As for the music labels, Apple has been making headway, with deals
already reached with Sony Corp., EMI Group, and Warner Music Group. Those agreements would allow users to access song collections from mobile devices via the Internet.
The lone holdout remains Universal Music Group, the largest recording company. But it has also been said that Apple and Universal are close to reaching an agreement.
The Internet-based service is expected to
offer more than just music, serving up calendar events, contacts, e-mail and bookmarks. Apple recently acquired the "icloud.com" domain name, suggesting that the company's current cloud-based service, MobileMe, could be rebranded in the revamp.
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