Universal Music's earlier announcement that it will be selling DRM-free tunes through a number of venues (notably missing: iTunes) brought up some interesting questions about Google's role in the online music space. Well, according to the AP, Universal will buy ads on the search engine, Google will get a cut of ad fees from song/artist searches, and--here's the interesting part--a company called gBox will get the traffic.
So what's gBox? Apparently it's a startup music store that will launch on August 21. Like WalMart, Amazon, and Rhapsody, it will get to sell a selection of DRM-free songs during Universal Music's five-month trial (which will take place between August 21 and January 31). Songs will sell for 99 cents, and one more interesting thing--gBox will be offering a wish list widget that you can post on your blog or social networking page so friends can see what songs you want, and buy them for you (from gBox, natch).
