With the last remaining label having just inked a deal with Apple to launch iCloud, music industry insiders are now talking to the press about what they know about Cupertino’s upcoming music streaming service. Specifically, they’re answering the question everyone’s been asking all along: how much will iCloud’s music streaming cost?
According to sources speaking to the Los Angeles Times, iCloud’s music locker capabilities will initially be free with any purchase from the iTunes Store, similar to the way any album purchased through Amazon MP3 nets you 20GB of Amazon Cloud Locker storage.
After your free trial runs out, iCloud will charge a $25 per year fee for the service, while also supplementing iCloud with ads. We’re assuming these ads will be visual, maybe even iAds, but they could also be audio ads, like those favored by Spotify.
As for how much the music labels are getting, insiders say that Apple will share 30% of revenue from iCloud’s music service with record labels and an additional 12% with music publishers. Apple will take home the remaining 58%.
One thing to keep in mind is the $25 per year fee only refers to iCloud’s music streaming service. iCloud as a MobileMe rebranding we expect to cost $99 per year, although we could always be surprised.
