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Francis Tan
Francis Tan is the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social me Francis Tan is the Asia editor of TNW, who is based in the Philippines. He is particularly interested in Asian Internet startups, social media and e-commerce. Get in touch with him via Twitter @francistan or Email [email protected].
Google, following Amazon’s footsteps, is preparing to unveil a new online music service, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Similarly, it is going to be launched without the support of major music labels as it takes on a different approach to storing and listening to music.
According to sources cited by the Journal, the search company intends to join the next generation of Internet businesses for storing and listening to music with a service that functions like a remote hard drive.
The lack of licenses only means that Google’s music service won’t have the ability to sell songs. Instead, it lets users load their music into Google’s digital service then stream it to Android devices and websites. To avoid piracy and abuse, users will not be able to download the songs to their devices.
According to All Things D, the service will roll out in an invite-only beta tomorrow and will offer users the ability to store up to 20,000 songs for free.
When it comes to courting music labels, it seems like no other company is as lucky as Apple, which is said to be in negotiations with major record labels for its very own online music service. Insiders claim that most of the technical work has been complete and can be expected to be released in the next couple of months.
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