Apple has reportedly signed Sony Music to be a part of its upcoming iRadio service, AllThingsD.com reported.
Executives who asked to remain anonymous due to the private nature of the negotiations announced the deal Thursday.
iRadio is the unofficial name for the Internet music service, which is set to be announced officially on June 10 at their World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). iRadio will not likely be launched at that time, but the event will be Apple's chance to announce the service in full detail.
The service will compete against Pandora and Spotify primarily and will supposedly fall somewhere between the two in terms of user interaction. Apple's new product will feature a more user-controlled experience but will not be an on-demand type of service.
Sony Music was the last of the three major music labels (Universal and Warner) to sign with Apple. However, Apple has yet to come to terms on an agreement with Sony/ATV, Sony's music publishing branch.
iRadio - or whatever Apple will call it - has been in production since last fall, being hung up by financial particulars. The most recent dispute in the negotiation with Sony involved payments for songs users chose to skip. Sony wanted to be paid even if the user did not finish the song and Apple did not want to pay for skips, but the details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Initial disputes also included shares in Apple's advertising revenue, Billboard reported. Apple wanted to give the music publishers 4.1 percent, while the publishers sought 15 percent. The two sides met somewhere in the middle - leaning towards the publishers' wants - at 10 percent advertising shares.
The publishers are also calling that rate an "introductory rate," meaning the rate could go only increase as iRadio establishes itself.
"They have tremendous distribution and engagement with music and a tremendous understanding of music consumers that many others don't," one music executive said.
Apple is also expected to announce a new iPad and a new operating system (iOS 7) at its WWDC event on Monday.
