Apple’s dream of a web radio service is becoming ever closer to reality, with The Verge reporting that it’s set to sign an agreement with major record label Universal Music Group this week about use of its artists, with another with Warner Music also well on its way to being finalised.

The deal could potentially be huge for Apple, as it aims to launch the iRadio, service similar to that of the US-based Pandora, which acts as a streaming and recommendation service based on the specific tastes and selections of the user. Apple needs deals with all three major labels to progress, with Sony the further behind on agreement.

Obviously anything set up by Apple has the potential to completely dominate its competition, like Spotify and Pandora. Given that the company has the largest music downloading service in the world, in iTunes, the chance for its tens of millions of users to switch from cloud-based storage to an updated model is likely to make it a strong threat. In February, lest we forget, it reported that 25 billion songs had been purchased and downloaded from iTunes. However Pandora has a strong chance of standing its ground too, as it recently announced that it had reached more than 200 million users. You can’t help but feel no deal is going to be fair on the musicians whatever happens.