Music enthusiasts, the moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here!! After multiple gut-wrenching rumors and a five-year long wait, Google is finally making its popular music streaming service Google Play Music available to users in India.
The Mountain View-based tech giant hasn’t made any official announcement about the launch of the Music store in the country, but we’ve been waiting on it since the initial leaks in July this year. Some users had then reported that they were able to access a partial Play Music web interface and see song tracks priced in Indian currencies.
In today’s unexpected release, Play Music for India brings with it access to charts listing the top songs, and albums alongside some freshly-baked tunes under ‘New Releases’. Individual tracks on the store have been priced at ₹15, while full-length albums can be picked up for as low as ₹70.
If you’re excited for The Weeknd’s second full-length album ‘Starboy’ that is set to drop on November 25th, then you can now pre-order the same for ₹190 from the Play Store right now. Yes, you can access the music store on Android devices in two ways —
- Navigate to the Play Store, pull out the hamburger menu from the left and you’ll see the music tab. Click that!
- You can also access the store from Google Play Music application. As above, you’ll again need to pull out the hamburger menu from the left but this time you’ll see a shop tab. Click that and you’ll be taken to the Play Store.
Launched for the Indian masses, the company hasn’t compromised on regional and Bollywood music content. You have access to Bollywood tunes from atleast past twenty years, which have then been further segregated into broad categories such as ‘Best of Bollywood’, ‘Devotional and Spiritual’, ‘Tamil’, ‘Pop Hits’ and so on.
We’ve currently been provided with a bare bones Play Music store, but expect to see all add-on features including All Access, family plans, and podcast roll out in the coming months. The service is also making it easier to switch streaming services by allowing you to transfer ‘copyrighted’ music from iTunes or Wynk to its native music platform. And if you want to enjoy music on your desktop/portable laptop, then you can also access the web version for the same.
This release comes at the heels of the launch of a hoard of initiatives at the Google for India launch event in New Delhi yesterday. The company has introduced a toned-down, offline-first version of its video streaming service called ‘YouTube Go’ and an expanded Wi-Fi program to provide internet access in public places across the globe called ‘Google Station’.
