After months of speculation, Google Music was finally released, entering into direct competition with iTunes and Spotify. Opinions were divided in the international press – if Gizmodo wrote this morning that the idea of the service is “completely non-genuine”, Computer World reports that the integration of Google Music in Google+ gives opportunities to the new product from Google to overcome their counterparts from Apple and Facebook.
Based on partnerships with three major companies in the music industry, Google Music lets users buy music online and keep up to 20,000 songs in their free personal accounts. Users are also able to share songs and whole albums with friends on Google+, which is a real threat to Apple’s iTunes and Amazon Cloud Player, according to analysts.
iTunes is a Music Store while Google Music is a Social Music Store
“Google Music has a huge growth potential. It can attract and retain users and increase the time they spend on Google”, said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research. Even if iTunes users are loyal and extremely numerous, Google Music is a real alternative to the Apple service. “The proposal that came from the Google will be aligned to the needs of many customers and even a small percentage of the market share would be a profitable business for the company”, said Gottheil. He specified that Google still has a lot of work to keep up with iTunes.
The social media move could lead the competition to a new level, according to Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at ZK Research. Google Music is Google Music Social, which makes the difference and gives a real chance to the new service. If iTunes is a Music Store Google Music is a Social Music Store, by merging with Google+. The community of social media is an influential one and the fact that Google allows users to share music with friends in their social network can only have a positive impact on the new service.