The newly launched Google Music service allows users to discover and buy new music, share it with their friends on Google+, and upload their existing music collection (up to 20,000 tracks) to “the cloud” for free. Google Music users can then stream all purchased and uploaded tracks from the web or any device, tablet, or phone.
How do you get your music in the Google Music Store?
It’s simple. If you’re an existing CD Baby member, we’ll handle the distribution of your music to Android Market for free. As always, there’s no additional fee for the delivery of your music to a new digital partner. So if you’re using CD Baby for digital distribution, then all you have to do is…nothing! We’ll automatically deliver your music to Google.
If you really want to handle the account management and signup process yourself, you can pay a $25 fee to Google and create an artist store to sell music in Android Market. Artists who create pages directly on Android Market can still opt-into CD Baby distribution later, but you will not get a refund of the fee.
Google Music Explained
The new store offers some exciting features in addition to users being able to purchase & instantly stream music from the cloud. All tracks will have 90-second previews available for your fans to hear. And anyone that purchases music through Android Market is able to share a free play (called “Social Recommendations”) with their Google+ friends! Every Social Recommendation displays purchase links leading back to your music in Android Market. This creates an engaging opportunity for you to earn new fans & more sales through their service. In addition to this social sharing feature, Android Market will also have a section that features a free track each day.
CD Baby, as one of the few confirmed launch partners for Google Music, is working directly with Google engineers to deliver our catalog to them via a direct feed. Music will start flowing to Google as soon as the feed is fully operational. Stay tuned, as making sure your music is available in this new & exciting store is a priority to both companies!
Again, there is no additional charge for existing CD Baby artists if you’d like us to make your music available in the Google Music Store.
How to go direct with Google Music
If you want to pay the $25 fee and set up your own account/profile with Google Music, go to music.google.com/artists. There you will be asked to customize an artist page, upload your tunes, and consent to Google’s Terms & Conditions.