Google has announced its Google Play Music All Access, a subscription service that lets users listen to millions of songs across devices as well as store your own music in it, at the I/O 2013 event. Users can create a radio station based on a song or artist they like, browse recommendations from Google’s expert music team or explore by genre.
The service will cost $9.99 per month and users can store up to 20,000 songs at no additional cost. Interested music lovers can try it for free for the first month or start your trial by June 30 and pay only $7.99 a month.
Before the announcement, The Verge reported that music industry sources claimed that Google will be revealing a music subscription service at Google I/O 2013 as the search giant has signed exclusive licensing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment for both YouTube and Google Play.
In March, it was reported that Google has already signed a licensing deal with Warner Music Group. What these licensing deals mean is that there will be a lot of music Google listeners can choose from.
According to earlier reports, the Google Play streaming service will act as a digital locker for music downloaded on Google Play Music, as well as deliver music streamed in the cloud, but it will only be for Android devices, sources were right on this one. For the YouTube streaming service, anyone can use it, but like any other cloud music service, if it’s free, it comes with ads, or for a fee the ads simply go away.
An earlier report from AllThingsD stated that the launch of the music subscription service for YouTube and Google Play will be done separately. According to the report, the Google Play subscription service will be announced at Google I/O and it will only be a paid service, no free version for Android device, while the YouTube version will be coming later this year. And the services will run parallel with each other, not connected. And once again, ATD is spot on.
Joining Winston Edmondson in this morning’s NewsDesk is SiliconANGLE Contributing Editor John Casaretto to give Breaking Analysis on why Google will be launching a competing music subscription services, which seems to be a tactic Google is using with Chrome and Android as well.
“The reason is probably tied to the fact that YouTube is not just Android-based, it reaches out to many devices, but they could cross over at some point,” Casaretto stated. He also mentioned that there is a possibility that Google would launch a more general subscription service that would address both platforms.
For more of Casaretto’s Breaking Analysis on Google, check out the NewsDesk video below:
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