Yesterday (November 16), online music store Google Music officially launched in the United Sates.
Offering more than 13 million tracks from artists of both large and small record labels, Google has also partnered with the world’s largest digital distributors of independent music.
Consumers can purchase individual songs or entire albums from their computer or Android device and they’ll be added instantly to their Google Music library, and accessible anywhere.
The company is celebrating the launch with a variety of exclusive tracks, many of them free. The Rolling Stones are offering an exclusive, never-before-released live concert album, Brussels Affair (Live, 1973), including a free single, Dancing with Mr. D.
Other artists releasing free tracks include Coldplay, Busta Rhymes, Shakira, Pearl Jam and the Dave Matthews Band.
The site also features an artist hub, which allows any artist with the necessary rights to distribute his or her own music on the Google Music platform, and to use the hub interface to build an artist page, upload original tracks, set prices and sell content directly to fans – essentially becoming the manager of their own massive music store.