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DIY Update: Google Music Open To Bands In The U.S.

Google’s masterplan to compete with everyone is becoming more apparent with its latest releases. Having just opened up Google+ pages, which is equivalent to Facebook pages, the search giant has now taken the beta tag off of Google Music and opened its doors to bands to sell their music on the Android Marketplace, which will compete with iTunes.

Google Music first opened in a beta testing phase to test their cloud storage and streaming service. The cloud will be the backbone for the music store, acting like a digital locker where all music purchases are saved.

Google has now opened their music service to bands in the U.S. What I found immediately compelling about this service - besides the potential reach of the Android Marketplace - is the low barrier to entry for independent artists. There’s no need to use a service like Tunecore to get your music on to Google Music. Artists and bands can sign themselves up and get listed in the Android marketplace easily. All it requires is a Google account and a one-time fee of $25. The artist must also own the rights to their music, of course.

You don’t need a record deal to get started; just a Google account and your original music (with all the rights). If you already work with a record label or distributor, this isn’t the route for you. Check with them to see if your music is already being distributed through Google Music.

This is great news for independent musicians and bands. Even better, musicians have full control of the pricing of their music. And of course, Google Music will integrate with Google+ and even Youtube, allowing artists to share their music and link back to the Android marketplace to purchase that music.

Google's cut of music sales in the Android Marketplace is 30% and payments to artists will be made through Google Wallet (linked to your Google Account) unless you got your music onto the marketplace through another service.

While Google’s music endeavor is just in the early stages, the potential shown by the rapid growth of the Android platform, combined with the growing Google+ social platform as well as integration with the already established (and dominant) YouTube and Google search is very promising for the future of Google Music.

Here’s a video introduction from Google:

You can get started with Google Music here.

A self-described "metal geek," Doug Gibson has been listening to heavy metal for more than twenty five years and designed and coded Metal Underground.com from scratch over ten years ago.