Apple's iCloud bags last major record label, will cost $25 / year to sign up?

We'd heard that Universal was the only holdout, and now CNET says the deal is done -- Apple has reportedly signed all four major record labels for its upcoming iCloud service. We'll be bringing you all the confirmed details on June 6th, but while you wait, here's some food for thought: the Los Angeles Times says that Apple will eventually charge somewhere around $25 a year for a subscription to the cloud. That will help supplement the 58 percent piece of the pie it's planning to take from the music industry for songs distributed though the network, and possibly some ad revenue as well. 30 percent will reportedly go to the labels, and another 12 percent to publishers, who will apparently be signing their own agreements with Apple tomorrow.

Update: There's actually an interesting discrepancy between the two sources here: the LA Times reports that Apple's taking that nice, juicy 58 percent, but CNET says that the labels will take 58 percent while Apple claims its traditional 30 percent instead. We're investigating.

Update 2: The LA Times has updated its piece, with different percentages still -- reportedly, Apple will take 18 percent, publishers get 12 percent, and labels 70 percent of the proceedings.

Apple's iCloud bags last major record label, will cost $25 / year to sign up? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  CNET, LA Times  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/02/apples-icloud-bags-last-major-record-label-will-cost-25-yea/

CANON MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS MICROSOFT MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR