Google’s Spotify-Killer, Google Play Music All Access, Is Here!

Earlier today we reported that Google would be launching a streaming music service to compete with Spotify. And now it’s here!

According to Metal Insider, the new service will cost $9.99/month — the same as Spotify’s premium tier — and it’ll only be $7.99/month if you sign up before June 30. There will be a free 30-day trial option, although there won’t be any equivalent to Spotify’s free, ad-supported version.

Google Play Music All Access (damn, that’s a mouthful) will have a Pandora-like radio station feature built in with similar customization abilities. Google Music editors will also provide curated playlists.

It’s hard to tell just yet whether the new service will be a serious competitor to Spotify. Spotify has the name recognition and the advantage of having been first. And the lack of a true free option on Google Play Music All Access will keep many away.

But boy, Apple really screwed the pooch here, didn’t they? They could’ve easily been in the streaming game years ago — even before Spotify finally hit the U.S. — but they didn’t want to cannibalize the cash-cow that is iTunes digital file ownership. Now they’re the last ones to the party, and they’re gonna pay the price. Not necessarily now, but in the future for sure.

It still remains to be seen what presence metal will have on Google’s service when it launches. It’ll probably be a lot like the Spotify situation at first, where a lot of labels held out while they waited to see what happened. We’ll be testing out All Access as soon as we possibly can. Stay tuned.