Apple reaches cloud music deals with Sony, EMI, Warner — Universal in the works

After months of rumor and speculation, it looks like Apple has finally succeeded in bringing music labels on board with its upcoming cloud music service. So far, Apple has struck deals with Warner Music Group, EMI and Sony, and it is also finalizing negotiations with Universal, according to a Bloomberg report.

Industry support could allow Apple to offer a much richer cloud music service than Amazon and Google are able to, as we argued yesterday.

These deals could allow Apple to offer music streaming to users without requiring them to upload their existing files — something that could take days depending on the speed of their Internet connection. Instead, a user could unlock their music from Apple’s servers by scanning their music collection through iTunes.

Both Google Music and Amazon’s cloud music player launched without music industry support. They currently rely on users to upload music, although Amazon also automatically adds titles to its service when users buy MP3s from its digital music store. Google, at the moment, doesn’t have any music store tied to its service.

A recent patent offers up some hints on how Apple’s cloud music service could work on mobile devices. Instead of streaming entire music files, something that could be problematic on mobile internet connections, Apple has developed a method to store portions of songs locally on the iPhone and stream the rest as needed, AppleInsider reports.