Google Play Music is Now Free, Sort Of, In America

Google Play Music is now kinda’ free for users residing in America, but it’s ad supported following Spotify’s model.

Google couldn’t have announced this at a better time, for them. Apple Music is almost a week away from us, and Google announcing this new option for their music streaming service might cripple Apple’s plans of dominating the market. Sure, it’s going to be ad supported, you can’t use the service in offline mode, and it excludes some songs from its repertoire.

The free version will consist of curated playlists, which are tailored for different parts of the day – I don’t think you want to hear melodic death metal just before you go to sleep.

Google Play Music, the free version, will run on Google-owned Songza radio app – which the big G bought last year.

Google product manager Elias Roman said that – ” Even if you’re not already a Google Play Music subscriber, we’ve got you covered. Google Play Music now has a free, ad-supported version in the US, giving you a new way to find just the right music – and giving artists another way to earn revenue. The new free, ad-supported version of Google Play Music is launching first in the US. It’s available on the web today, and is rolling out this week to Android and iOS. “

With Apple Music launching on the 30th of June, Google might have just shifted some of the hype towards them. It wouldn’t have been such a big news if Apple Music wasn’t launching, but Google knows that timing is essential.

Audiophiles might just join Google Play Music after having but a taste of what the music streaming service is all about – the monthly subscription costs $10.

According to reports, Google Play Music had around 815,000 paying subscribers in the US last December.

The free option for Google Play Music doesn’t seem to be expanding to other countries anytime soon, but their paid subscription is already available in 52 countries across the world.

Apple Music is already facing some serious issues, but the whole scandal with Taylor Swift was the cherry on top. I know, they twisted it around, but does it seriously take a huge artist to pull its most popular album, Taylor’s 1989, for Apple to realize that not paying royalties to musicians for the first three months of the free trial is just plain absurd?

The shame Apple, the shame.

Taylor Swift Apple Scandal

We should be happy that the competition is so big – this means that we, the users, should get only the best quality of service.

I’m a fan of Google Play Music, but I’ll definitely try Apple Music out to see what’s it all about – hey, free three months!

What about you? Are you sticking with Google Play Music? Or are you switching to Apple Music? Tell us in the comments section below!

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Nancy Young

When I was younger I used to spend almost all of my free time playing computer games. My mom and dad would go mental over this. “You’re never going to do anything with your life if you are going to play games all day” they used to say. What was even more unusual was the fact that I played more games than most of the guys in my friend group. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably played a bit too much, but I also learned a lot of great things. When I turned 20 I decided that it was high-time to make some money of my own, but the only jobs I could get were that of waitress or cashier. How exciting. After several excruciating months of serving tables I had a great idea: since I love gaming so much, why don’t I write about it? That’s when I started doing small writing projects on Elance. Eventually, I got an offer for a part-time job. During that time I learned all about content marketing strategies and how search engines work. I started writing about various topics such as technology, health and lifestyle and discovered that I was actually good at it. On November 24, 2014, I became part of the ArgyllFreePress team.