The new launch appears to be an intriguing combination of music business philosophies. Play Music’s free tier does have a similar freemium model to the one that has caught so much flack at Spotify, but without giving listeners the on-demand control over what they hear. It also has the human curation that Apple Music has been highlighting as a selling point. This blend of features seems designed to lure listeners into the Google ecosystem. Especially given its timing just before the entry of Apple Music at the end of the month, which could shake up listener preferences and encourage experimentation with other platforms, this may be an effort by Google to get a bigger slice of the music pie.