A licensing agreement between Apple and Universal Music Group for the rights to stream audio for the highly anticipated iRadio music streaming service is now apparently ‘imminent’ according to a new report. The Verge suggests that the negotiations have almost reached a satisfactory place for both Universal and Apple and that Warner Music, another major music label, isn’t too far away. The news follows on from previous reports suggesting that the negotiations were moving forward significantly.
Apple is apparently working on an iRadio service much like Pandora and the service is expected to launch later this year once agreements with the multiple music licensing companies have been reached. The company is expected to pay similar royalty rates as Pandora, which are thought to be around 12 cents per 100 hundred songs streamed. This is despite heavy negotiating by Apple for a 6 cents per 100 songs royalty rate.
There is no word on when the Apple music streaming service would launch or indeed what features it would offer i.e. using a radio model that is similar to that offered by Pandora, or offering more on-demand music like Spotify. The Verge has a mixed track record for Apple pre-release information and neither Apple or Universal are commenting on the rumored negotiations.
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