LOS ANGELES — Apple Inc. is close to securing deals with all four major recording companies on a music service that will allow users to stream songs stored on remote computer servers, presumably to an array of portable Apple-made devices, a person familiar with the matter said yesterday.
Such a service would give users a wide array of music on-the-go, without having to worry about limited storage space and the need to physically connect different devices to transfer songs.
Universal Music Group, a division of Vivendi SA, is about to sign a deal that will give Apple the right to stream songs to its customers, although how exactly the service will function is unclear, the person said.
The cloud music service is likely to be unveiled at Apple’s annual developers’ conference in San Francisco, which starts June 6. Agreements with the units of the recording companies that collect songwriting royalties are expected to be finalized soon, said the person, who was not authorized to speak on the deals and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Universal would be the largest and last recording company to sign a cloud music deal with Apple, which has cut deals with Sony Corp., EMI Group Ltd., and Warner Music Group Corp., the person said.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Over the last two months, Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. have both unveiled cloud music plans but neither had secured deals with the recording companies.
