Google’s music plan part of fresh wave of upgrades
Google Inc. unveiled a streaming music service called All Access that blends songs users have already uploaded to their online libraries with millions of other tracks. Google made it available in the U.S. Wednesday for $8 a month to early birds who sign up for service before June 30.
In addition to a 30-day free trial, the offer shaves $2 off the price of popular paid subscription plans from Spotify and Rhapsody. The service is an attempt by the world’s dominant Internet company to carve itself a bigger piece of the digital music pie as more people listen to streaming music on mobile devices.
The announcement Wednesday at Google’s annual developers conference in San Francisco kicks off a wave of developments as technology giants go beyond core music fans and look to entice more casual listeners.
Rival Apple Inc. is expected to debut a digital radio service later this year that will drive more people to its iTunes music store; Google-owned YouTube is also working on a paid subscription music plan with a deeper catalog of songs than it has now; and Sweden’s Spotify is exploring a way to make a version of its paid streaming plan free with ads on mobile devices, according to a person in the music industry familiar with the matter.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the developments because the deals and features on the services have not been finalized.
Google is playing catch-up in the digital music space after launching its music store in November 2011. Apple’s iTunes Store, which launched in 2003, is the leader in song downloads and Spotify claims about 6 million paying subscribers worldwide.
—The Associated Press
SCAD to present fashion retrospective
Calvin Klein Collection women’s creative director Francisco Costa and fashion journalist Constance White will provide a retrospective of Costa’s career in a conversation hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the SCAD Museum of Art, 601 Turner Blvd.
The event is free and open to the public.
SCAD President Paula Wallace and board of trustees member André Leon Talley will present Costa with the André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award at the university’s annual fashion show at 8 p.m. Saturday at Trustees Theater, 216 E. Broughton St.
Costa assumed his role with Calvin Klein Collection after working directly with Calvin Klein and other top fashion houses including Gucci, Balmain Couture and Oscar de la Renta. His first collection for the house in this role debuted for Spring 2004.
White is a former editor-in-chief at Essence Communications Inc.