Google Inc. jumped into the increasingly crowded music subscription business today, announcing an on-demand service that’s “uniquely Google.”
Dubbed All Access, the service debuts today in the U.S. at $9.99 a month, with a 30-day free trial. Subscribers who sign up before June 30 will get a special rate of $7.99 a month.
The announcement, made at Google’s I/O conference for developers, came soon after the Silicon Valley technology giant cleared licensing deals with Warner Music Group in March, and in recent days with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to be able to offer “millions of songs” for the service.
All Access features an “Explore” tab that serves up personalized recommendations based on the listener’s existing library of music and listening patterns, as well as handpicked songs from Google’s music editors.
In addition, each song can with one click be turned into a radio station with “a neverending list of tracks.”
“It’s radio without rules,” said Chris Yerga, Google’s Android Engineering Director.
The service also has a “Listen Now” option that contains new releases, recently added tracks and automatically generated radio stations so “there’s always a great selection for me, and every day, it surprises me,” Yerga said.
From: Billboard