Apple To win Cloud Music Wars?

Unless you have not paying attention to the recent developments in the music industry, you are already familiar with Amazon and Google services that aim to upstage Apple iTunes using the cloud. Amazon Cloud Drive is a very exciting service from one of the most popular stores around. Google’s Music Beta has potential too. There is no secret that some music labels are not too happy with Amazon and Google. These folks want a licensing agreement for allowing people to play their own music from the cloud.

Unfortunately, a couple of the major labels were less focused on the innovative vision that we put forward, and more interested in an unreasonable and unsustainable set of business terms.

told Google’s Jamie Rosenberg to All Things D. Since Amazon and Google were not able to play ball with some of these major labels, they have had to be very careful about what they offer through their cloud-based music services. There is no secret that Apple will eventually get in this game. It seems record labels are counting on that to make Amazon and Google want to pay up licensing fees.

Record labels are being a bit greedy here. Even if Apple works something out with them, there is no guarantee that Amazon and Google will. Apple has played this game in a shrewd fashion though. It is now in the position to strike a deal with these labels and bring a much superior cloud music service to the market. Record labels already know where Google and Amazon stand, giving Apple the upper hand.

It is not clear when Apple will unveil its cloud music service. But it could emerge at WWDC next month. What would you like Apple to offer with that service?