Google Play has ‘gone freemium’ in the US, launching an ad-supported digital radio service in a bid to attract more users to its platform.
Play Music previously offered users a month’s free trial, after which a $9.99-per-month subscription would buy them access to its Spotify rival, All Access, as well as Cloud locker space to store their downloads and other media.
Now, as explained in the video below, Google has added ‘free music for everything you do’ via a Pandora-style digital radio tier.
So far, there is no word on when the new service will expand into the UK and Europe.
In a statement on its Android blog, Google said: “Our team of music experts, including the folks who created Songza, crafts each station song by song so you don’t have to. If you’re looking for something specific, you can browse our curated stations by genre, mood, decade or activity, or you can search for your favorite artist, album or song to instantly create a station of similar music.
“We hope you’ll enjoy it so much that you’ll consider subscribing to Google Play Music to play without ads, take your music offline, create your own playlists, and listen to any of the 30 million songs in our library on any device and as much as you’d like.
“You’ll also get ad-free, offline and background features for music videos on YouTube. And with or without a subscription, you can store and play up to 50,000 songs from your own collection for free.”Music Business Worldwide
