AllThingsD reports that Apple has managed to bring a third big music publisher on board for iRadio.
Sony Music has signed on to Apple’s forthcoming iRadio service, according to a person familiar with negotiations between the two companies. The deal means Apple now has agreements with all three major music labels.
As Sony and Apple have reached an agreement, this means Apple has all three major music labels ready to launch the highly anticipated music streaming service. This, however, doesn’t exactly mean that Apple will indeed launch iRadio during the upcoming worldwide developer conference; instead, it will spread the news to developers during next week.
iRadio is expected to function like an enhanced version of Pandora, which means a music streaming service giving users more control over their songs than standard Web radio. It is also expected to be free and monetize the service through audio ads.
Update: Bloomberg’s sources share further details of the Sony-Apple agreement.
Sony signed its agreement late yesterday, and Apple plans to announce the service, unofficially dubbed iRadio, at a conference on June 10, said the people, who requested anonymity because the talks are private. Vivendi SA’s Universal Music and Len Blavatnik’s Warner Music Group have already signed agreements with Apple, people with knowledge of the situation said this month.
