Google Music DIY Artist Hub

Gamechanger?

People who write about the music industry love that word. They use it all the time and apply it to every new disruptive idea.

But, this time they could be right.

The big news for most folks about today's launch of Google Music is all about the service for music consumers - the unlimited cloud storage, the download store, the social sharing.

And it's a big deal - can they catch iTunes? - we'll see.

But the part that is potentially truly disruptive and amazing for the average DIY musician is the 'Artist Hub'.

This allows every DIY musician to have a direct relationship with Google, to upload and sell songs through Google on an Artist Page.

Build your artist page, set your own prices and sell your material. Google Music users can play their music purchases instantly on any device.

This is THE BIG DEAL.

People are already complaining that Google are just copying Bandcamp or CD Baby - and they are to a degree. But having the biggest (the behemoth) company of online services and seacrh offering to host your music store and hub could be a massive win for the DIY musician.

You cannot deal direct with iTunes as a DIY artist, but you now can with Google.

You can also tie your Google Music hub to your YouTube channel - the de facto place for music search. That is very smart integration.

A $25 set up fee and a 30% cut to Google is comparable to Tunecore, but is of course an additional expense for artists as they will still need to use a digital distributor to reach other services such as iTunes.

Only available in the US for artists but with a global roll out close behind, this is big news.

The Google Music Artist page is here.

And this Digital Music News article is worth reading.