Google Launching Its Own Music Service?

By Elton Jones, Christian Post Reporter Friday, October 14, 2011

Google's impending move into the music business is said to be going further, as rumors are now circulating about the company launching an iTunes-like service.

The New York Times first reported Google would most likely be combining the "Music Beta" product-first launched in May-with its upcoming MP3 store.

The "Music Beta" application allows users to back up songs remotely and streams them on mobile devices.

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Google launched its "Music Beta" earlier this year. This service is currently invitation only. This cloud product is free, compared to the $25 "iCloud" and $20 "Cloud Drive." Users have the ability to upload 20,000 songs, including music from the "iTunes" store.

This move is seen as a means of competition for Apple and Amazon's mp3-downloading services. Apple's "iCloud" service and Amazon's "Cloud Drive" are the new music streaming services set to be released.

According to sources from within the electronics industry, Google is hoping to launch its MP3 program in the next few weeks. This move may even be done before Apple makes its "iMatch" services available later on in the season.

Google's previous negotiations over a proposed locker-type storage service were ultimately unsuccessful earlier this year.

Record companies were concerned over licensing and illegal file-sharing. A record label executive told the Times that the recording industry desperately wants to "make sure the locker doesn't become a bastion of piracy."

Google hopes to quell the fears of the record industry and get it to agree to its contract negotiations.

The current negotiations for Google would solve the piracy problem by matching up each song to account for what people are listening to.

Google's previously characterized the MP3 services industry as "unreasonable and unsustainable." Now the search engine giant is entering into the industry itself.

Google is currently in negotiations with a large number of prominent record labels. Apple currently has deals with Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music and EMI.