iRadio Service Delayed

The plans for Apple's new radio streaming service - iRadio - have apparently been delayed again; label bosses at Sony are wanting better terms in ongoing negotiations. Universal Music, the largest of the three record labels, has already agreed on the deal with the Tech Giants, who are now close to an agreement with Warner Music. The labels were originally offered about 4.2p (6.5c) for every 100 tracks that are streamed, but this was later increased to 12.5c, which is the same rate paid by Pandora. This, however, is not enough for some labels, who are arguing that the rate should be considerably higher because of it's expected large user base and bigger ambitions for iRadio.

As soon as the iRadio rumour got out, Pandora's shares fell by roughly 17p in response to the news. Apple is offering he record labels three revenue streams: a share of iRadio's advertising revenue, a royalty per track streamed and a guaranteed minimum payment; should the others prove unsatisfactory. The iRadio service is going to offer users the opportunity to buy and stream songs via the iTunes Store; and predict the music people want to listen to, based on what they will buy. iTunes has more than 400 million users which will act as an advantage in grabbing people's attention and persuading them to use the radio service. Music companies are keen to avoid a repeat of their original deals with Apple over iTunes, which are widely considered to have given Apple a better deal than the labels. iRadio is expected to be unveiled this summer, if there are no more slip-ups that is. Maybe it will come out integrated into iOS 7 - which is going to be unveiled at the WWDC in June.