According to The Verge, sources invested in the music industry say that Google has signed licensing deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. The deals would see content from both companies being made available on YouTube and Google Play. This is in direct relation to an upcoming subscription music service from Google. Many suspect that Google will unveil such a service over the coming days at Google I/O.
Apparently Google is planning to launch separate subscription based music services for YouTube and Google Play. It will allow the two services to serve as an all-encompassing entertainment hub for Android, well more than it already is anyway.
Google has already signed similar licensing deals with Warner Music Group.
Apple is also purportedly working on a subscription based service, which is a pretty bold move all around. If Google announces their own service at I/O this week, they will have a head start on Apple which is a promising move indeed. Although, Apple’s service is rumored to be more like Pandora or a similar online radio streaming service, which is completely different to what Google is supposedly cooking up. Reports state that Google’s service will compare to Spotify, offering a wide selection of on-demand content that users can stream to multiple devices including smartphones, tablets and PCs.
Vivendi reported earlier today that digital music sales have surpassed physical sales for Universal Music, at 54 percent and 46 percent respectively. It stands to reason that the new licenses with Universal and Sony will provide a significant boost to whatever Google’s upcoming service may be.
We’ll find out soon enough as Google I/O is set to kick off starting tomorrow. A subscription based music service from Google would be incredibly cherished by Android users. A music service combined with the current offering of Google Play support, including movies, TV shows, music and books would certainly be a game changer. Imagine if Google moved on to implement a movie streaming service like Netflix after tackling music?
Android has just become a whole lot more interesting, hasn’t it?
Are you interested in Google’s new subscription based service? Do you already have intentions to sign up?