Apple Inks Deal With EMI, Cloud Music Service Is Around the Corner [REPORT]

Apple has signed a licensing deal for a cloud music service with EMI, and is very close to signing similar deals with Sony and Universal, CNET reports citing sources familiar with the matter.

After the recent launch of Google Music, rumors of Apple's cloud-based music streaming service (possibly called iCloud) got louder than ever.

According to previous reports, Apple already has a similar deal in place with Warner, meaning that it's very near to inking deal with the "big four" record companies, which in turn might mean the company will be ready to announce its cloud music service at its WWDC conference in June.

While both Google and Amazon have a cloud-based music service in place, both services require users to upload their music to be able to access it from the cloud. If this latest report is true, with all the licensing deals it has with record companies, Apple would be able to offer certain features that its competitors cannot - for example, it could merely scan users' iTunes library and offer the same songs to them almost instantly from the cloud.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, billoxford