Google music store event may go minus Sony, Warner

Google's November 16 music event is still likely to see it go without some potentially critical deals. Follow-up details reportedly slipped to AllThingsD still had Sony and Warner holding out and unlikely to reach a deal in five days. EMI was the only certain prospect, and Universal was very likely, but not certain.

Most unofficial tips have had Google Music relying on Google+ as a selling point, as friends could give each other full, one-time listens by song sharing. Google might give away other songs for free independently of a user's Google+ circles and will more than likely streamline getting purchases to its cloud storage service.

The launch could end up being muted for Google, which would be taking a rare step in letting major labels skip on the store. Apple, Amazon, and most other stores waited to get support from four major labels before starting up. Google may have had to skip on Sony and Universal over a refusal to offer free cloud storage the way Google wants. Recurring often in rumors, Google has also purportedly encountered overall resistance from labels that want it to actively censor more links to pirate sites.

If and when it does launch, the music store will primarily be focused on Android.

By Electronista Staff

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sony, industry, Google, Universal, iTunes, EMI, Warner, Android, audio, mobile phones, Apple, Google Music