After extending availability of Google Music to Australia as well as six other countries, it appears from a report from both TheVerge and The New York Times that Google is looking to launch a streaming music service to compete with the likes of Spotify and MOG.
The service will be added to YouTube as well as Google Play. Google has reportedly already signed, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment although reps from the companies declined to comment.
Unlike Spoitify however the service will not include a free tier, instead will be purely subscription based. No pricing has been announced but to compete with existing services it would be expected to be priced in line with those services. The Google service will reportedly offer ‘on-demand’ access to music libraries that would be streamed to users desktops/laptops and mobile devices.
With the tide of users nowadays turning towards streaming music rather than ownership of content, with services like MOG, Spotify and even the locally operated JB Hifi Now music streaming service seeing excellent uptake of their services, this is something that has been a long time coming for both Google and even the encumbent iTunes who are reportedly working on their own streaming service.
Ownership vs Streaming – Where do your music listening habits lie?
