Google Play Music launches in SA at R50 a month

Google Play Music, the technology giant’s music streaming service, is officially live in South Africa.

Set to cost users R49.99 a month, the service has been live in other markets for some time now and arrives in South Africa considerably later than a number of other international players.

Using the subscription model, Google says that Play Music allows users to create an ad-free, interactive radio station from any song or artist. As well as being able to curate your own playlists, you can browse recommendations from Google’s music team and explore songs by genre.

Read more: Apple Music now available for Android on Beta, missing some key features

As happened with Apple Music, you can listen to Play Music for free on a 30-day trial before automatic billing kicks in. As well as being able to listen to music in the Google catalogue, Play Music allows you to store 50 000 songs for free online, and listen to them on any Android device, or via the web at play.google.com.

Google SA says worked with local licensing organisations the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association (CAPASSO) and Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), to ensure all artists are fairly compensated for work featured in the Play Music store.

“As CAPASSO and SAMRO,” says CAPASSO CEO Nothando Migogo, “we encourage and support all music service providers to compensate the rightful owners of the music sold on their platforms. We are pleased to be an integral part of the launch of the Google Play service and look forward to our composers and publishers benefitting from this world-class platform.”