Apple has been dealing with some community uproar ahead of its Apple Music launch (thanks, in part, to Taylor Swift), and now it looks like it's facing competition from rival Google's own radio streaming service.
Starting today, users in the US can sign on to a free, ad-supported Google Play Music, with the option, of course, to sign on to its ad-free subscription if so desired. Apple Music will be available from June 30.
Given the hot water Apple landed in with disgruntled artists and indie labels for initially not offering to pay royalties during Music's free, three-month trial period, Google made sure to note its free, ad-supported service would still be "giving artists another way to earn revenue."
What Google music can do
Like Google's subscription radio service, the ad-supported option will let users listen to curated stations, search artists, albums or songs to create stations, as well as store and play up to 50,000 songs from their own collection.
You'll will need the paid subscription if you want to "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," as part of the deal, Google said.
Users can access the service on the web from today, with the app set to turn up on Android and iOS later this week.
Google will also likely roll out the new service to the rest of the world at a later date, though no specifics were given yet.
