Gonna really lean in to the tech-reporting angle and tell you about Google Play Music’s new free, ad-supported streaming service. Where previously the only way to access any music that you hadn’t uploaded to the free locker service yourself was to cough up the $9.99 monthly fee, on Tuesday, Google announced they’d open up that access just a little bit to anyone willing to sit through a jolly-sounding robot chatting you up about the new Kia Sorento every little while. In order, one imagines, to circumvent the cash-bleed experienced by Spotify, Google Play’s ad-supported service will not offer on-demand access to specific songs or album, offering only instead Google’s curated playlists (which they’ve been developing since buying Songza last summer) and radio stations for individual songs. No offline play either. The result of which is something pretty similar to Spotify’s free mobile experience. It’s available online right now, and it’ll roll out to Android and iOS throughout the week.
With Apple Music’s June 30 launch coming in less than a week, Google seems to be angling to scoop a few potential users of their very own by offering a free 30-day trial of the service to new users looking for the features they both have on offer, since, according to The Verge, “Apple and Google are running the same playbook: streaming, cloud, and store,” the store angle of which competitors like Spotify have not yet attempted to integrate. Will it make a difference? Will the one tech behemoth manage to out-maneuver the other tech behemoth? Which one will ultimately win that most coveted of licensing deals, the hearts and minds of the American people? Only time will tell, reader, and I for one am on the edge of my cloud-synced seat device in anticipation.
In closing, and speaking of the hearts and minds of the American people, apparently for fear of retribution by the mighty Tiny Mix Tapes in conjunction with Taylor Swift, according to Pitchfork Google will pay copyright holders for any plays racked up during their free trial periods. But then again, maybe that whole kerfuffle was just a ploy to get us music bloggers and Twitter users riled up. Who is to say? Either way, this particular music blogger slash Twitter user says, boy howdy! Money changing hands! The economy is very cool, and I definitely understand everything I just typed!
• Google: https://www.google.com
• Taylor Swift: http://taylorswift.com
• Tiny Mix Tapes: http://www.tinymixtapes.com
