Waaaaayyy back in February, we sorta casually mentioned — in that off-hand manner you’ve come to love/expect from TMT — that Google was maybe almost possibly kinda hinting that they just might be launching a streaming music service similar to the likes of Spotify, Pandora, and whatever site your local tweens use to rip music off of YouTube.
Well, folks, we were right! You know how the saying goes: even a clock made out of weird mangled scrap metal is occasionally right if you interpret the facts charitably. As announced at Google’s I/O conference in San Francisco, it turns out the service is going to be called Google Play Music All Access, and it’ll come with a whole host of features like a personal library, music recommendations, and radio. It’ll be $9.99 a month, but if you sign up before June 30, that price will be reduced to $7.99, and everyone gets a free 30-day trial.
There’s been an exhausting amount of speculation flitting around the internet the last few days, some of which sounded legitimate and some of which did not (some dude on Twitter told me that the streaming service was going to involve actual robots coming to your house and futzing with your stereo for an hour before giving up and telling you to “Just call the damn Geek Squad”). According to The Verge, the streaming service will be based on licensing deals with Warner Music Group (which was already announced by The Financial Times earlier this year), Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group. The Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube has apparently been vying for licensing deals of its own because, you know, internet battles. Because of Google’s hulking girth, this new service will likely act as a throwing down of the gauntlet for companies like Spotify and Pandora. Not to mention for Apple, who recently delayed the release of their own streaming service.
No word yet on how the service will be integrated with Google Glass, though sources are still reiterating constantly that “Google Glass are literally the best way to pick up women at a bar ever, hands down, forever.”
• Google: http://www.google.com
