Google Opened Music Store
Now Google Inc. can sell songs on the Android Market through its Internet shop for applications, films and books. New service is available to customers in the United States, but Google is going to roll it out eventually to around 200 million Android users all over the globe.
There are free songs within the service, and the ones that are priced at $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29, which are basically the prices of Apple’s iTunes. Musicians whose songs are available right away are Adele, Jay-Z and Pearl Jam. In addition, the shop will introduce dozens of free tracks from bands like Rolling Stones, Coldplay, and Busta Rhymes.
At the moment, Google offers 13,000,000 songs for sale from 3 major recording companies: Universal Music, EMI and Sony, as well as a host of independent labels. The only major label, Warner Music Group, left out and refused to comment why. Google allows to share bought tracks over its new social network Google Plus, where friends can listen to one another’s songs once for free.
After you purchase a track, it is available for download and can automatically be uploaded for free into an online locker. After this the track can be streamed over PC and mobile phone browsers like Safari that come on Apple devices. Users who had downloaded the Google music app on devices with Android 2.2 and higher are able to stream stored tracks or download them for offline playback within the application.
At the same time, despite the fact that Google and the recording companies hope that tracks sharing will help sell more music, some industry experts are too skeptical about that. For example, CEO of discount digital music store eMusic claimed that for their customers, purchasing music is more a personal decision, not influenced by friends’ tastes, so a social network tie-in won’t change much.
Another company, T-Mobile USA, which helped to bring Google’s first Android-enabled smartphone to market three years ago, also helped the company to launch a music store, and said that it would offer other free tracks to its customers and let them pay for music purchases through their phone bill.
The company also appealed to indie musicians that release their own music – Google allows them to upload tracks, biographical data and artwork to the shop after paying a one-time $25 fee. After this, musicians would be able to keep $0.70 of all sales.
There are free songs within the service, and the ones that are priced at $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29, which are basically the prices of Apple’s iTunes. Musicians whose songs are available right away are Adele, Jay-Z and Pearl Jam. In addition, the shop will introduce dozens of free tracks from bands like Rolling Stones, Coldplay, and Busta Rhymes.
At the moment, Google offers 13,000,000 songs for sale from 3 major recording companies: Universal Music, EMI and Sony, as well as a host of independent labels. The only major label, Warner Music Group, left out and refused to comment why. Google allows to share bought tracks over its new social network Google Plus, where friends can listen to one another’s songs once for free.
After you purchase a track, it is available for download and can automatically be uploaded for free into an online locker. After this the track can be streamed over PC and mobile phone browsers like Safari that come on Apple devices. Users who had downloaded the Google music app on devices with Android 2.2 and higher are able to stream stored tracks or download them for offline playback within the application.
At the same time, despite the fact that Google and the recording companies hope that tracks sharing will help sell more music, some industry experts are too skeptical about that. For example, CEO of discount digital music store eMusic claimed that for their customers, purchasing music is more a personal decision, not influenced by friends’ tastes, so a social network tie-in won’t change much.
Another company, T-Mobile USA, which helped to bring Google’s first Android-enabled smartphone to market three years ago, also helped the company to launch a music store, and said that it would offer other free tracks to its customers and let them pay for music purchases through their phone bill.
The company also appealed to indie musicians that release their own music – Google allows them to upload tracks, biographical data and artwork to the shop after paying a one-time $25 fee. After this, musicians would be able to keep $0.70 of all sales.
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