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"On its face, Apple&amp;apos;s iCloud &amp;#x2013; which allows users to access music  they&amp;apos;ve bought on iTunes on multiple devices &amp;#x2013; might not be the  immediate game-changer many in the music industry were hoping for. But,  industry insiders tell Rolling Stone, once the cloud is up and  running next fall, Apple will likely roll out new features that could  not only change the way people listen to and consume music, but also  provide a not-insignificant source of revenue for the sputtering record  business.\r\n&amp;quot;Anything I bought I can now download to any of my devices at no  additional charge,&amp;quot; Apple&amp;apos;s CEO Steve Jobs said yesterday in his  announcement of the service at the Worldwide Developers Conference in  San Francisco. &amp;quot;This is the first time we have seen this in the music  industry&amp;quot; &amp;#x2013; suggesting that iCloud&amp;#xA0; trumps similar music-storage  services by competitors Amazon and Google. But how powerful iCloud could  be won&amp;apos;t become evident until the fall, when Apple is likely to unveil  the crucial song-streaming part of the service.\r\nChoose Rolling Stone&amp;apos;s Cover: The Sheepdogs vs. Lelia Broussard. Vote Now!\r\nThis will probably be part of the $25-a-year iTunes Match, which Jobs  said will scan users&amp;apos; hard drives for music ripped from CDs, pirated  online or purchased from non-Apple stores, &amp;quot;match&amp;quot; the songs on servers  and allow them to listen to it via any Apple device. To be most  efficient, sources say, this process will have to rely at least in part  on streaming from the cloud to the device. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s going to play  instantaneously and beautifully,&amp;quot; says Eric Garland, chief executive of  BigChampagne.com, which monitors music fans&amp;apos; file-sharing habits. &amp;quot;In  that moment, you&amp;apos;re going to be a huge streaming aficionado.&amp;quot;\r\nOther sources suggest Apple &amp;#x2013; which wouldn&amp;apos;t comment for this story  beyond Jobs&amp;apos; keynote remarks at the Worldwide Developers Conference in  San Francisco &amp;#x2013; will ultimately add a Rhapsody-or-Spotify-style  streaming service in which all music is available for a monthly fee.  &amp;quot;That would be the next logical step,&amp;quot; says Jeff Price, chief executive  of TuneCore, which helps artists place their songs for sale at iTunes,  Amazon&amp;apos;s MP3 Store and others. &amp;quot;First, here&amp;apos;s your own music &amp;#x2013; then,  &amp;apos;hey, if you like, you could have access to all this music you don&amp;apos;t  own.&amp;apos; And if you&amp;apos;ve already trained people to get more comfortable with  streaming, then they&amp;apos;re likely to convert to the next level up.&amp;quot;\r\nPrice suggests 10 percent of the 225 million iTunes customers with  credit-card accounts will pay for the Match service &amp;#x2013; which would mean  yearly revenues of more than $560 million. According to music-business  sources privy to Apple&amp;apos;s new licensing deals, the labels would make more  than $330 million per year in this scenario &amp;#x2013; a powerful new revenue  stream, even if it wouldn&amp;apos;t be nearly enough to return them to the  CD-boom era of the Eighties and Nineties. (Global revenue from music  sales has gone from $36.9 billion in 2000 to $15.9 billion in 2010 &amp;#x2013; a nearly 57 percent drop.) &amp;quot;The price is so damn low,&amp;quot; Price says.  &amp;quot;I&amp;apos;ve got an iPod an iPhone and my libraries don&amp;apos;t necessarily sync up.  Yeah, I&amp;apos;m going to do it.&amp;quot;\r\nPhotos: Random Notes\r\nDavid Pakman, a venture capitalist and former eMusic chief executive,  is more skeptical, estimating users will max out at roughly 5 million  or 10 million. (This would lead to $125 or $250 million in new Apple  revenue, and $75 to $150 million for labels to split, sources say.) &amp;quot;Not  small potatoes &amp;#x2013; they&amp;apos;ll take it,&amp;quot; he says, &amp;quot;but it doesn&amp;apos;t change  their business in a fundamental way.&amp;quot;\r\nOf course, Apple never reveals its plans in advance, so anything  could happen with streaming and subscriptions between now and the fall.  For now, those in the music business are merely pleased that the iTunes  Match service&amp;apos;s $25-a-year fee might help them make money from music  consumers have previously pirated via Napster, Kazaa or torrents.  &amp;quot;Yesterday was a good day for Apple &amp;#x2013; they separated themselves from at  least two of their competitors, Google and Amazon. It was a good day for  record labels &amp;#x2013; they figured out a mechanism to get paid for pirated  music,&amp;quot; says Jack Isquith, a senior vice president of strategic  development for Slacker Radio and a longtime former digital-music  executive at Warner Bros. Records. &amp;quot;And it was a really good day for  consumers, because it gave them more options for interacting with  music.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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