Google Might Launch a Music-Streaming Service to Compete With Spotify

According to published reports, there are rumors that Google may begin offering a subscription music-streaming service to compete with Spotify, Pandora and other popular music apps. The service might launch as early as this week.

Three major record labels have already reached agreements with Google to license their music to the internet giant’s new service. Google has reportedly made arrangements with Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group for YouTube and Google Play. Google hopes to match the popularity of Spotify, which reaches millions of users thanks to artists like Daft Punk. Spotify has licensed over 20 million in 28 countries. The Swedish company lists more than 6 million paying subscribers and has over 24 million users in 28 countries. The tech giant will also take on France’s Deezer and Pandora, which is based in the United States. Spotify currently has the largest song library and Pandora has the most users; 70 million people use the service every month and 200 million are registered.

Google already lets users upload music in their cloud music service, Google Music, which lets people listen to as many as 20,000 purchased songs on their Android devices or on the web. The new music venture will solidify Google’s position as a leader in mobile software, along with their Gmail, Google Maps and Chrome services.

Slacker CEO Jim Cady, said “We expect that it's going to be platform-specific and focused on the Google ecosystem. We're huge supporters of Netflix's belief in the power of ubiquity and we think it's incredibly important for consumers to have access to their music across a variety of platforms and devices — whether it's in the car, on their Sonos, Roku or iPhone."

Slacker recently redesigned their look and licenses 13 million songs. Cady added "We've seen several new players enter the space recently and we believe the growth and competition only validates the industry that we're in. While there's a lot of attention on on-demand listening, we're seeing our users spending the majority of their listening time with our curated radio experience, which is a major differentiating factor for Slacker."

Google may announce the new service today at their annual developer conference, Google I/O, which is being held in San Francisco.