San
Francisco: Google Inc launched a free version of its music streaming service on
Tuesday, as it sought to upstage the debut of Apple Inc’s rival service next
week.
Google Play
Music has offered a $9.99 per month subscription service for two years but
Tuesday’s launch is the first free version of the streaming service. It is
available online and will be available on Android and iOS by the end of the
week, Elias Roman, Google product manager, said.
Apple said
earlier this month it would launch a music streaming service on June 30 for
$9.99 per month along with a $14.99 per month family plan, with a free
three-month trial.
As with
other streaming services, such as Spotify and Rhapsody, Google Play Music
curates playlists. Users can tailor playlists based on genre, artist or even
activity, such as hosting a pool party or “having fun at work.”
“We believe
this is a play that will expose a lot of people to the service,” Roman said in
an interview.
Unlike
Google’s subscription music service, the free service will carry ads, be
unavailable offline and exclude certain songs.
Roman said
millions of people look at Google Play Music each month but are not ready to
pay for a subscription. By offering a free version of the service, he said, the
search engine hopes more people will be compelled to pay for an upgraded
version.
Ted Cohen,
managing partner of TAG Strategic, a digital entertainment consultancy, said
the timing of Google’s launch was strategic.
“It’s a
smart time to do it with all the attention around Apple,” Cohen said. “If they
did it absent the Apple service, it wouldn’t be the same story.”
Google
declined to say how many subscribers it has but said they more than doubled in
2014 from the previous year. But rivals Pandora, Spotify and Beats Music had
far more mobile downloads than Google Play Music in 2014, according to data
from analytics firm App Annie.—Reuters
Source
| Daily News Analysis | 25 June 2015
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