At its I/O Conference yesterday Google announced that it would open a store for paid and free web apps later this year. Outside deveopers will be able to sell via The Chrome Web Store which will support all major web platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux and of course, Google's Chrome OS.
Why should the music industry care? Just as Apples iTunes App Store opened up new avenues to deliver and monetize music, the Chrome Web Store will offers a new opportunity to reach a much larger set of potential customers - anyone with a computer or web enabled device.
For example, an artist or label could sell a web app with music plus bonus content. Another could sell access to a complete audio and video catalog or a regularly updated stream of content. The possibilities are endless. Google has just provided a music bigger sandbox to experiment in and a much clearer path to monetization.
Watch a presentation introducing Google's Chrome Store:
