Bloomberg: Google Music to sign Vivendi’s Universal Music Group

As Google gears up for a music announcement due Wednesday, leaked details help paint a better picture of what to expect tomorrow. This includes pretty screenshots of an Android client as well as various tidbits published by big media, including the likes of the Wall Street Journal.

This morning, Bloomberg chimed in with information that the search giant will “secure songs” from Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, the largest record label in the world:

An accord with Universal, the world’s biggest music company, may be signed as early as tomorrow, said the person, who isn’t authorized to talk publicly. 

The article goes on to mention that the new music service will provide song downloads and full-song previews while the accompanying cloud locker will let users access tracks from multiple devices, share them on Google+. Vivendi isn’t the only holdout: Sony and Warner Music Group reportedly passed on Google Music citing pricing and piracy concerns. Google previously managed to secure licenses for music from EMI. The agreement could give Vivendi a much-needed leverage against Apple, mind you…

Even though Vivendi’s Universal Music Group did sign up for iTunes Match, Apple’s $25 a year scan-and-match music service that launched for public consumption yesterday, they’ve been looking to loosen up Apple’s choke hold on the music market for years. Vivendi is one of the more vocal opponents to Apple’s music ecosystem, having slammed in 2007 iTunes contract terms as “indecent” because they “give too good a share to Apple”.