Will Google Music Ditch the Labels?

Google said to be considering launching its music service without the majors.

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Complex Original

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The main issue believed to have held back Google's long gestating cloud music service is negotiations with the major labels over licensing and fees. But for now, according to a report in All Things Digital, those talks have officially "broken."

According to Peter Kafka's sources who are familiar with the talks, Google may be backing away from the negotiations and has changed its terms in recent weeks. Hmm, what happened recently that could have caused Google to change its terms for licensing and fees with music labels?

Perhaps the fact that Amazon has already (so far) succeeded in launching its own free streaming service without any deal with the labels at all. Back when Cloud Drive was announced, we speculated that Amazon's move to sidestep the labels could have ripple effects for the ongoing negotiations between Google, Apple and the music industry. Now it looks like Google at least is considering following in Amazon's footsteps.

A Google Music without label backing wouldn't allow the purchase of songs, as had been expected, but would let users store and stream the music that they already own on a variety of devices.

Your move, Apple.

[All Things Digital]

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