During the AsiaD conference in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Google’s Android boss Andy Rubin said his company’s upcoming music store “will have a little twist.” Rubin confirmed Google “won’t just be selling 99 cent tracks,” which suggests it might take a subscription-based approach, or even offer ad-based free listening as Spotify does. Google Music beta already allows users to store up to 20,000 in the cloud. Reportedly, Google is only close to sealing a deal with EMI snd has not yet signed each of the other major record labels. Rubin explained that Google’s image as a search engine may have contributed to a stall in the deals. “Google is in the very very early phases of adding consumer products to our portfolio,” Rubin said during AsiaD. “The media industry didn’t see us as that. They saw us a search company.” Reports surfaced on Tuesday that suggested Google will launch its music store this quarter, but a separate story from The New York Times has said it could launch in the coming weeks.
