17 November 2011 | Author: R Wood Media Intern

Google faces the music

Google has launched its new service - Google Music - offering users cloud music storage and full-length album and song samples.

At a press conference in Los Angeles, Google's director of digital content Jamie Rosenberg took to the stage to announce some of the features included in the search seraph's foray into music.

With the service, users can upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud - a feature already available in the beta version of the service. Google also announced it will be bringing music to the Android store.

Android's director of conference partnerships Zahavah Levine said: "We're the first store that enables users to share their purchased music with their friends. This is the single most important way that people discover new music. I think that has the potential to transform purchasing power."

Google Music will also generate suggestions through its 'recommendations engine' to help users discover new artists - making use of selections made by friends.

One of the most notable features - Artist Hub - gives small and independent musicians an opportunity to share their music and gives them control over how it's sold, allowing artists to set the price of their songs - a huge contrast to Apple's iTunes music store.

Under the scheme, artists can create a page for an initial start-up fee, and keep 70 per cent of profits generated through song and album sales - there are no annual fees or upload costs.

Despite speculation to the contrary, Google managed to secure licensing agreements with four major labels in the 11th hour.

Google's vice president of content partnerships David Eun said: "By combining our network with hundreds of thousands of advertisers, unequalled distribution via our publisher network and high quality content like Sony BMG Music Entertainment's music video library, we can meet online user demand, provide advertisers [with] a new way to communicate with their customers and give content holders a way to monetize their content while respecting important copyrights."

While Google's new service is in its early days, it's unlikely it will de-throne iTunes and conquer digital downloads. However, with the help of Android and other gems like Google+ and YouTube, the king of search may have what it takes to upset the apple cart.

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