14 DAY TRIAL // New day, new rumors concerning the Mountain View company. Universal Music Group, a music industry giant that works with famous stars such as Eminem, Back Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Pussycat Dolls, Gwen Stefani, Fergie and others, announced its plans to distribute DRM-free tracks on the Internet. To do so, the company needs support from the Internet firms able to provide support and powerful platforms to enhance the process. Among the companies that might distribute the content we can easily notice Google, Pocket-lint reports today.
Now, the questions. At this time, Google doesn't own a music distribution platform so how is it going to distribute the content provided by the Universal Music Group? Maybe the company works on a special music service that will enhance this plan, representing the first Google step into the audio market. As the same source reports, Google was also involved into the Napster acquisition in January 2006. "We have no plans to acquire Napster, nor do we have plans to develop a music store at this time," a Google spokesperson said according to Pocket-lint.
If Google is really interested in becoming a music download service, it represents a tough competitor for Apple, the Cupertino-based company that owns iTunes. At this time, iTunes is the leader of the music distribution platforms, numerous famous stars being available on the Apple store.
However, it would be extremely difficult to avoid copyright infringement complaints as Google is probably the most popular name in the court due to the YouTube video sharing service platform. As you might know, Google acquired YouTube in October 2006, paying no less than $1.65 billion for a service that sent the parent company in court for copyright infringement for a considerable number of times. It was even rumored that Google avoids getting involved into the music market because the legal problems would damage the search giant's image.