Google are releasing their music streaming service ‘Play Music All Access' in the United Kingdom. This service provides unlimited access to music from all the major record companies, as well as indie and local groups.
The company first announced this at the I/O conference in May. They first called it ‘Radio without Rules' and users can click on single tracks and Google will suggest an entire playlist based on the preferences of other users who have similar music tastes.
Paul Joyce, the product manager for Google Play Music said “All Access lets you create an ad-free, interactive radio station from any song or artist you love. You can add, remove or re-order your station and see what’s coming next. Or you can browse recommendations from our expert music team and explore songs by genre.”
“The ‘Listen Now' tab puts artists and radio stations we think you’ll like front and centre so you can start listening the minute you open your library.”
Spotify bosses may be wondering how this is going to play out, their service launched in 2008 and has now 10 million users. UK start up Bloom.fm are much smaller, but have generated around 250,000 subscribers in the six months since it launched.
Google pricing seems competitive with a special introductory offer in the UK free for the first month, then £7.99 after. Any person who signs up after September 15th will pay the full price of £9.99 a month, following the 30 day free trial.
Subscribers can store up to 20,000 of their own songs for free online and can listen to them with the All Access catalogue on any Android device, or via the web at play.google.com.
Kitguru says: Spotify bosses must be sweating, even a little bit.