Watch out iTunes…Google is looking to launch its own music store! The company is pushing further into the entertainment business with an online music store that it aims to have up and running within weeks.
Music industry execs say the MP3 store will probably be linked to Google’s Music Beta cloud service. Google wants to have the store open before Apples iTunes Match service is rolled out, the sources say, although it’s not clear whether the company will be able to cut deals with record labels in time.
Music execs say that Google hasn’t done enough to address their fears that its “smart locker service” for customer music service could become a “bastion of piracy.”
So far Google hasn’t made a comment on its plans. It’s possible that instead of offering a download service exactly like Apple’s or Amazon’s, it could be planning a service to sell low-cost cloud access to music, much like the LaLa service Apple bought and shuttered.
