The rich get richer
There has been a sudden flood of stories apparently confirming Apple doing deals with all four big music labels just before the unveiling of iCloud next Monday. You don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to draw the conclusion that these are controlled leaks.
So we had Cnet citing anonymous inside sources for confirmation that Universal Music has signed up to iCloud. Then the LA Times' own sources said deals had been completed with all four, and that the service will initially be free for iTunes customers, but will eventually cost around $25 per year and also feature advertising.
Finally the NY Post added the detail that Apple is having to pay up to $50 million upfront (which it can cover with what it finds down the back of the sofa on any given day) to each of the labels to get them on-board, which is presumed to have been where negotiations with Amazon and Google foundered. This sets a precedent for those two now, however, and makes it even less likely the labels will moderate their terms.
Amazon and Google are now in an awkward position. Not only will a fully-featured cloud music service from Apple make theirs look poor by comparison, Apple will have yet another unique feature to lure users away from Android, on which Amazon is also hoping to establish a strong ecommerce presence.
Apple is being quite clever at using its current pre-eminence to do deals that others can't. A big and ever-increasing factor in mobile device use is entertainment, and this sort of thing could be enough to lure people away from Android and into iOS if Google and Amazon don't do something about it.
