The service joins Apple Music and two other pay-only services in the CD-loving country.
Google Play Music launched in Japan on Friday, giving the world's second-largest music market -- but a late adopter of music streaming -- subscription services from two huge technology companies. Google Play Music's arrival follows the launch of Apple Music in June but precedes the world's largest music subscription service, Spotify.
The Japanese service follows the familiar formula. According to a report, Japanese consumers will pay ¥980 ($8.25) including tax, and after a 30-day free trial. The service is reported to have about 35 million titles, or 5 million more than Google Play has previously boasted, and is available for Google's Android operating system and Apple's iOS mobile operating system. There is one wrinkle, however: consumers that register by October 18 will pay just ¥780 ($6.56) per month, in perpetuity.
New subscription streaming services are arriving to a country that has been slow to make the transition from physical copies to downloads, and from downloads to streaming. Japan's music subscription market grew 43 percent in the first half of the year, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan. Even so, subscription revenues totaled just $42.4 million and accounted for only 2.6 percent of the country's recorded music sales (excluding performance and synchronization royalties).