Will Google Open an MP3 Store Before iTunes Match Launch?
When Google Music launched last May it did so without signing licensing agreements with major music labels. Google will have to change its tune, however, if it wants to sell MP3s like competitors Apple and Amazon already do.
Although neither Google nor the music label executives chose to comment, the New York Times reported that, “According to numerous music executives, Google is eager to open the store in the next several weeks.” The store would likely connect to Music Beta, Google’s cloud music service, these executives told the Times. The negotiations are ongoing, so these executives spoke under conditions of anonymity.
Google’s timing may not be accidental. Apple’s iTunes Match, which lets users store and access their music via iCloud for a yearly fee of $24.99, is expected to go live by the end of October. Will Google be able to make peace with the labels it shunned just a few months ago in order to beat Apple to the punch?
Google tried and failed to create a “smart locker service,” which would have allowed users to connect their personal music collections to a massive, centralized bank of music, because of financial friction, and because the music labels believed Google’s model was soft on piracy.
As Google tries to create a broader model, but some music labels and publishers still feel unsatisfied with Google’s terms.
“We want to make sure the locker doesn’t become a bastion of piracy,” one senior label executive said.
For a locker service to work well, Google needs music copyright holders to grant the company special licenses. When Google failed to obtain these licenses, they chose instead to launch the Music Beta, but with fewer features.
At that point Google was playing catch up to Amazon, which had just launched its Cloud Drive five weeks before without any licenses from music companies.
Apple obtained licenses for iTunes Match already, so on launch day a user can instantly link a song in his personal collection to Apple’s collection. In contrast, using an unlicensed service, the burden to load music to the cloud is on the user, as he must upload each song individually. This is a time consuming process, and will be particularly burdensome for anyone who wishes to transfer an entire music library to the cloud.