Prior to Google I/O 2013 conference there were many rumors pointing towards a possible release of a new music streaming service by the company. Yesterday Google Play Music All Access was finally unveiled, though the company is keeping this service close to its chest. Its not available for any other mobile platform and social integration is only exclusive to Google+, despite the fact that it brings a substantially smaller user base as compared to Twitter of Facebook. Lead product manager of Google Play, Paul Joyce, hinted at the possibility of Play Music being opened up to other platforms, saying that they’ll “always evaluate other platforms” and that they’re “just getting started.” He also said it was “directionally likely” for YouTube to be integrated with this new service.
The Google Play Music All Access service will be available in 13 countries upon launch. It carries a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 and is set to give services such as Spotify and Pandora a run for their money, though it won’t be able to fully do that if its locked down to one platform. There’s a slight discount in the monthly subscription price for those users who sign up for this service before June 30th, the price will come down to $7.99.