Google Music gets online store
Google has announced its plans to launch an online music store and has taken the “beta” flag off its Google Music service.
The service will continue to be limited to the United States, and the cloud storage portion of Google Music will remain free and allow users to store up to 20,000 songs that they can stream and download.
Cnet reported last week (11 November 2011) that Google had signed a deal with Universal Music Group, but that the search giant would be launching their music service without two of the big four record labels on board.
It was in question whether Google had a deal with EMI, but according to Cnet’s “multiple industry sources” neither Sony Music Entertainment nor Warner Music Group would be represented on the new service at launch.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that Google had managed to ink a deal with Sony in time for the event, but that Warner was still not on board.
Google Music
Google confirmed the reports, listing only Universal, EMI, and Sony as the big labels on the platform.
The search giant announced that when including the “many many independent labels” they have deals with, their partners include “over 1,000 record labels.”
Songs on Google Music are encoded as 320kbps MP3s and have 90 second previews. Google said that they would encourage uptake of the service through tracks exclusive to the service from established artists such as Busta Rhymes, Coldplay, and The Dave Matthews Band.
Availability
Google Music is out for smartphone users in the US immediately and will become available for tablet PCs in the coming days, Google said.
The service needs at least Android 2.2 (FroYo) and the latest version of Android music player which has also started to roll out to US customers.
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