Google Play includes an online music store that offers two different services. One aspect of the Google Play store provides à la carte digital downloads of albums and tracks and the other is a subscription service called “Google Play Music” that allows subscribers to access Google Play’s entire library of subscription content via streams and conditional downloads on authorized devices.
Once in the locker, the music can be streamed on the web and any device, and even stored for offline listening on a mobile device. You’ll be able to access your songs on up to 10 authorized devices per account.
In addition, artists are able to create an “Artist Page” (see more on this below) which features the artist’s albums for sale, as well as additional information and media such as band photos and an artist bio.
If you want to share a song you just purchased with a friend, you can use the integrated social recommendation feature to share a full free play of the track via Google+.
Go Live Time
It takes about 2 weeks for content to go live in Google.
Google Play Territories (Where Music Sells)
Google Play is currently available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela
How Google Play Sells Your Music
Does Google Play sell your music via?:
| DOWNLOADS | STREAMS |
|---|---|
| Yes | Yes |
Pay Rate (How Much Google Play Pays You)
Paid Downloads:For songs downloaded individually in Google Play, you will be paid the wholesale price of Google Play’s retail price. For example, your wholesale payout for a download of a single will be $0.70; a download of an album will be $0.70 x no. of tracks with a maximum payout amount of $7.00 per album.
Paid Streams:
When a subscriber streams your music, you get paid a proportionate share of Google Play’s subscription revenue per month calculated on terms set out in TuneCore's blanket agreement with the store (this usually excludes streams during a subscriber's free trial). Payments will fluctuate each month, depending on the amount of subscription revenue generated and how often your music was streamed.
GOOD TO KNOW: We've built our TuneCore Publishing Administration to get songwriters (the person or entity that controls the copyright to the lyrics and melody of the song) all their royalties from sales and use of their songs around the world. To learn more about the additional separate royalties you earn as a Songwriter, see our Publishing Administration Help section.
How to Claim and Set up Your Google Artist Page
- IMPORTANT: Before proceeding to the next step, at least one of your releases must have already gone live in Google Play. If you set up your Google Artist Page before your music has gone live, you will have to pay $25. So please be sure to wait for your music to go live before setting up an Artist Page.
- Visit music.google.com/publish
- Sign-in with the Google account to which you would like your artist page associated.
- Search for your artist name. (When found, click the Select button next to your artist name).
- You may be asked to provide a verification code to verify your identify. Go here to request a verification code: http://www.google.com/support/artists/bin/request.py?contact_type=request_claim_code
- Accept all the agreements and terms of service.
- Google Play requires you to provide credit card information using Google Checkout. You will NOT be charged money as long as you have followed step 1 above, but this protects against artist impersonation. Once the card is verified, you have instant access to begin editing your artist page.
Things to know regarding your Artist Page : When you distribute your music to Google Play through TuneCore, we do not maintain or update the Google artist page. It is up to the artist or artist manager to provide information to Google for the artist page. To upload and publish content for Google Play using their artist portal, users must be residents of the United States (including its territories, protectorates, and insular areas). To edit an artist page, you can be located anywhere in the world.
How to control images via Google Play Artist Hub
To access the Artist Hub, you will need to create a Google Play Artist Hub account and claim your artist page. A gmail address is required to create this account.To create an Artist Hub account:
- Visit music.google.com/publish
- Sign-in with the Google account to which you would like your Google Play store page associated.
- Search for your artist name. When found, click the Select button next to your artist name.
- You may be asked to provide a verification code to verify your identify. Go here to request a verification code .
- Accept all the agreements and terms of service .
- Once registered, you will be able to upload an artist image as well as update the bio .
- To make claiming your artist pages easier, become a preferred partner. Just send an email artist-support@google.com and we’ll set you up.
If you mistakenly registered with the wrong Google account, please
contact artist support
.
These are photo preferences Google Play is looking for:
- 2:1 aspect ratio, minimum 2160 x 1080 pixels (4320 x 2160 preferred).
- On a neutral/solid background
- When possible image should display artist from the torso upwards
- No text overlay/watermarks
Please be aware that each artist can only be claimed once globally, so please only upload photos for artists whose repertoire you control locally to avoid territory conflicts.