Apple becomes first to tame record labels with iTunes Match

Apple’s historically profitable relationship with the four major record labels (Sony, EMI, Warner and Universal) paid dividends today as it became the first music vendor to allow would-be purchasers access to cloud-based copies of music they already own – even if it was not purchased through the companies iTunes music store.
The service debuted as part of the iCloud suite, a set of nine apps including cloud email, calendar, contacts and document services not unlike those offered by Google. Although the bulk of the announcements today were fairly lacklustre, Steve Jobs played his famous “one more thing” card to tell the assembled developers and press about iTunes Match. Using the service, which costs $24.99 per year, users will be granted access to downloadable copies of music they already own (however it was obtained) if iTunes can verify it is a match for an album or song sold through them.
Although Apple did not announce a “music locker” service like the recently-unveiled Google Music, their lack of streaming capabilities will more than likely be offset by the ability to access high-quality backups of music you already own on any of your Apple gadgets.
iTunes Match is a particularly clever ploy by the music industry in the ongoing fight against piracy. No extra storage will be needed by Apple – the music is already housed in the iTunes servers – so the $24.99 yearly fee will be almost pure profit which can go back into the pockets of labels and artists who have lost out to illicit downloaders.
The service is available from today as a beta within the US, and will fully launch alongside iOS 5 some time this fall.