2010-02-16dated from the article

Google Music announcement tomorrow?

Written February 16, 2010. Platforms and services described here have changed. This is kept as a record, not as current advice.

It’s in the trees, it’s coming… Yes, Google Music is on the way, at least if you believe the stirrings online. The company are having an event tomorrow for their mobile platform Android but many people are expecting an announcement about Google Music at the same time. So, what will Google Music be like then? Well it’s a closely guarded secret and though speculation abounds, nothing has been disclosed by the folks in Mountain View.

What is likely is: the first step will be an iTunes-killer digital music store this store will likely be linked to Android and therefore mobile-only to start it will be search-integrated, so that links to Google Music feature prominently in Google search results the longer term ambition is for a cloud-based music management system – like your personal iTunes but hosted on Google servers and probably paid for on a monthly subscription basis If it really is on the way then what’s clear is Google must already be in talks with music publishers.

With a rocky history of copyright lawsuits behind them, these are surely interesting negotiations. But with the potential of huge revenues powered by Google search, our bets are the record industry will get on board. If they know what’s good for them. For current rights and policy context, see SoundExchange.