Search engine giant Google is now in deep negotiations with record labels to expand the company’s music service and open a new MP3 store that would compete with Amazon and Apple.
According to the New York Times, Google is eager to launch the new music store in a few weeks.
“It would most likely be connected to Google’s existing cloud service, Music Beta, which lets people back up their songs on remote servers and stream them to mobile phones and other devices, said these executives, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were private and continuing,” reported the publication.
It is unclear if the company could close deals with the major labels and publishers in time for it to open a full service store. A spokesperson from Google declined to comment, and labels did not release a statement regarding the plans of Google.
Google previously tried to launch a music service, but the company failed to acquire licenses from major record labels. The service was to enable users to match their music collection against a hug database that would unlock high-quality versions for download. Negotiations failed due to financial issues and piracy concerns.
After failing to get licenses from the labels, Google opened a version of Music Beta in May. The announcement came five weeks after Amazon opened a similar service called the Cloud Drive.
Apple is expected to launch the iTunes Match, its latest cloud music program, by the end of the month.
via: Venture Beat
