Google Offering Free Version Of Google Play Music Streaming Service

THE TECH COMPANY MAKES A MAJOR MOVE IN THE “MUSIC STREAMING WARS”

(AllHipHop News) Spotify may be the current leader in the music streaming business, but other services are not simply conceding to the Europe based company. The “music streaming wars” have been red hot this summer, and it does not appear to be slowing down any time soon.

[ALSO READ: Spotify Is Worth More Than The U.S Recording Industry At $8 Billion]

Apple launched its streaming service earlier this month. Days before that Tidal provided a student discount to its customers. That same week SoundCloud announced it signed a deal to provide revenue to over 20,000 indie labels.

The next major move comes from Google. According to USA Today, the tech behemoth is offering a free, ad-supported version of Google Play Music.

“We want to attract even more users, give them a taste of the service and hope they subscribe over time,” said Zahavah Levine, Vice President of Partnerships for Google Play.

The number of current subscribers to Google Play is unavailable, but the brand has a ways to go to catch up with Spotify. Spotify has over 75 million active users with 20 million using the paid subscription.

SoundCloud reportedly has 175 million unique monthly listeners to its free service. Tidal is said to have around 600,000 paying users. Beats Music, which was revamped as Apple Music, had approximately 300,000 paid subscribers at the start of the year.

“We are very excited about the growth of streaming generally and we think there’s room for all boats to rise here,” added Levine.

Google Play Music’s free tier is available on the web. Android and iOS versions will roll out in the next few days.

[ALSO READ: SoundCloud Partners With Global Digital Rights Agency Merlin, Indie Artists To Earn New Revenue]