iCloud Music Service Won't Hit UK Until 2012

Apple’s newly announced iCloud service is set for a US launch this coming autumn. However, UK Apple users intending to use the cloud music application will not get a chance to use it until next year.

As revealed on Monday during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, iCloud will automatically synchronize (or push) purchased music to all devices associated with the iTunes account. Consumers will even have the ability to download past iTunes purchases when and wherever they want.

"iCloud automatically downloads any new music purchase to all your devices over Wi-Fi – or over 3G if you choose," reads the service description. "Which means you can buy a song from iTunes on your iPad at home, and find it waiting for you on your iPhone during your morning commute. All without having to sync."

Sadly, UK users will not get to experience the music storage part of iCloud until next year. A spokesperson for the Performing Right Society (PRS), which ensures that musicians and publishers are compensated for their work, spoke to the Telegraph this week and informed the paper that negotiations with Apple are at a “very early stage” in the UK.

“The licensing team at the PRS have started talks with Apple, but are a long way off from any deals being signed…It is very much the early stages of the negotiations and is similar to the launch of iTunes – which began in the US and took a while to roll out to other countries,” they said.

A record exec confirmed that discussions were still in the early stages and said no one expects to see the iCloud music service this side of the pond until 2012.