Google opens music download store, welcomes artists to upload directly

Google has decided to join the rest of the online music party and begin selling music directly to users.

The announcement came during the company's Google Music event wherein Google announced various changes, improvements, and new features coming to its music streaming service. The most significant announcements, however, revolved around the fact that Google is finally getting on the music-selling bandwagon instead of referring its customers to content partners, and the company will even begin allowing musicians to upload and sell their music directly to customers through the store.

Google has partnered directly with music labels in order to sell music downloads directly to customers via the Android Market. The company said it had already signed deals with EMI, Sony, and Universal -- with one member of the Big Four conspicuously missing -- as well as thousands of indie labels and a number of indie "aggregators" such as TuneCore and CD Baby. "You don't need to search the web anymore for music," Google said during its presentation, "just search the market!" The most interesting element of the presentation was related to Google's new Artist Hub; this essentially allows musicians without a music label to completely bypass services like TuneCore -- which is what allows them to put their music on other major music stores like iTunes and Amazon -- and upload their music directly to Google for sale to users. Artists can build their own artist pages, upload original content, and set their own prices, with Google giving artists 70 percent of sales revenue. Musicians who want to participate in the Artist Hub are required to pay a one-time registration fee, but won't have to pay annual or upload fees after that.