This guest is written by fellow SoundCtrl board member Chris Schlarb who runs reggae label Dubshot.

Amongst the reflecting pools, sprawling lawns of frisbee players, and South Bay sunshine, Google Music Beta held a private event on their Mountain View, California campus this past Thursday. Performers included: indie rock critical darlings Clap Your Hand’s Say Yea, electro dance duo The Limousines, and alt country starlet Dawn Landes.

google limousines

The regular concert series has been dubbed internally as CrittFest, named after the Crittendon Ave section of campus where the event was held. The free concerts are apparently organized to promote the highly anticipated music service internally amongst google employees, who made up the majority of attendees at the event.

The multi-colored Google bikes were available for anyone who wanted to take a joyride. A cruise around the perimeter would reveal the multiple food trucks, free beer tents, and a free t-shirt area. Although not much was revealed on the service, there were hints of what were to come. Although most of the music initiatives fall under the Android umbrella, there were flyers distributed that were tagged “+1 Music,” and a QR Code that lead to a password protected site. Could this +1 Music be associated with the launch of Google+ social networking site?

google bikes

The MC for the event was Ted Kartzman, a long time bay area digital music ambassador, and head of the Google Music initiative. Ted comes from digital music service IODA, and was instrumental in the early development and success of rhapsody music. Long before the purchase and inevitable spoiling of the music service by media giant MTV, in a convoluted joint venture with telecom giant Verizon that never realized its full potential.

Ted recognized that there were a lot of developments happening right now, and that most of their efforts were in support of the android platform. However, the one thing that should be coming in the near future was the launch of an editorial site. Could this be an attempt to rival editorially driven blogs like Pitchfork, Stereogum, RS.com, and others?

Several beta accounts will be given to SoundCtrl board members and we will be allowed to get a sneak peek under the hood, and will hopefully have a better idea of what the service will consist of in the future. Through the rumors and gossip of the google music service, it was good to see an actual event and road map to launch. However, there are still many unanswered questions as to what the full scope of the service will be.

Stay tuned to SoundCtrl for more updates and lookout for the launch of the editorial site coming soon…

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