Google's announced during its I/O keynote the launch of a new music service called Google Play All Access today in the U.S.
Chris Yerga, Engineering Director for Google, described the service that works for Android devices and web as "radio without rules."
"We set out to build a music service that doesn't just give you access to great music, but guides you to the music you want to hear, " said Yerga. Google Play All Access is a uniquely Google approach to a subscription music service."
Google Play All Access will blend any user's catalogue with Google's song library(like Spotify) for a monthly charge of $9.99 or $7.99 if signed up for a 30 day trail by June 30.
As a shot to Pandora, any song or artists can be turned into a radio station through its Listen Now feature. Songs not wanted in the radio station can be swiped out of the queue. Songs liked can be added to a user's own playlist.
"Anything you see, you can play," Yerga explained. "It is as lean back as you want or as interactive as you want it to be."
According to Yerga, Google wanted to add a better discovery process for music lovers. That idea will reflect a change to Google Play's updated layout for a more streamlined approach in finding apps, books, movies, magazines, games and music.
Last week, it was reported that Spotify purchased a rumored $400,000 ad on Youtube's homepage for an 18-minute documentary on the band Phoenix as an aggressive way to attract potential users in advance of Google's announcement.
This comes as Apple and Amazon plan on entering the streaming music business outside of Google. A YouTube spokesperson alluded to Google's move to streaming service according to a Reuters article in March.
"There are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we're looking at that," a YouTube spokesperson said, but declined to comment on any specific negotiations.
