Apple Finally Signs Universal Music, iCloud Streaming Available "Soon" - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Finally Signs Universal Music, iCloud Streaming Available "Soon"

umg1

CNet reports that Apple has signed the last of the four major record labels to its iCloud service which will be officially announced next week.

The agreement means that Apple now has the rights to offer recording rights from all of the major labels. In addition, Apple has reached agreements with some of the large publishers, the sources said.

This represents the final step before Apple is able to launch its iCloud service which is believed to offer music streaming to iOS and Mac users. Apple has already announced that they will be detailing iCloud at next week's WWDC keynote which takes place on Monday, June 6th.

CNet reports that labels will get 58%, publishers 12%, while Apple retains 30%. They also add that streaming won't be available on Monday but will be offered "soon". And at first, Apple will only store music in iCloud that was purchased in iTunes, but Apple is looking to include songs outside iTunes "sometime in the future".

Tag: CNET

Popular Stories

apple back to school sans airpods 2

Apple's 2026 Back to School Offer is Coming Soon

Sunday July 12, 2026 7:29 am PDT by
Apple's stores will be rolling out Back to School marketing materials this week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. This suggests that the offer will begin in the U.S. in the next few days. Last year, college students and educational staff could receive a free accessory like AirPods 4 or an Apple Pencil Pro with the purchase of a qualifying Mac or iPad model. The Back to School offer is in...
Waze logo

5 New Waze Features Rolling Out Now: Here Are All the Details

Monday July 13, 2026 3:42 am PDT by
Google today announced that Waze is getting a handful of new features, including some Gemini-powered personalization enhancements for Conversational Reporting. Conversational Reporting already uses Gemini when users report traffic incidents like slowdowns, but now you can use it to suggest map updates like road closures or outdated addresses. Saying something like "The road is closed here"...
Mac Pro Feature Teal

Apple's M7 Ultra Chip Designed to Match a 2019 Mac Pro Feat

Sunday July 12, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple's M7 Ultra chip coming in 2028 is designed to support up to 1.5TB of unified memory, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. However, whether such a configuration is offered may depend on the state of the ongoing memory chip shortage. In 2019, Apple released an Intel-based Mac Pro with up to 1.5TB RAM....

Top Rated Comments

197 months ago
Wow, so then 95% of my collection won't be in the iCloud? Don't think I'll be paying for that.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
197 months ago
And at first, Apple will only store music in iCloud that was purchased in iTunes, but Apple is looking to include songs outside iTunes "sometime in the future".

Well Apple can let me know when that sometime in the future rolls around. Until then almost all interest in this service has just streamed out of me.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
197 months ago
Pretty specific taste if 95% of your music is not available on iTunes.

Who would rebuy music just to use it on iCloud? :rolleyes:
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OllyW Avatar
197 months ago
Pretty specific taste if 95% of your music is not available on iTunes.
I read it as he has only purchased 5% of his music from iTunes so he won't be allowed to access the other 95% from iCloud.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
197 months ago
Good start, but Amazon has everything you purchase stored in addition to whatever you already have. Apple's service is substandard if true.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
197 months ago
I can't see the recording industry ever allowing Apple to store music acquired outside of iTunes. So the service will be pretty useless to me. Most of my music is purchased through Amazon these days and that isn't going to change no matter how cool Apple's service turns out to be.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)