Google Play Music's New Release Radio breaks its Galaxy S8 shackles, now available for all

Google Play Music subscribers who rock either the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus might have noticed that they were able to access New Release Radio, an in-app feature exclusive to Samsung’s pair of flagships. A few weeks have passed since, and it looks like the feature is ready for primetime for every Google Play Music user.

As a refresher, New Release Radio puts new releases in a playlist and gets updated every day in order for you to always have something new to listen to. New Release Radio takes what you have listened into account through machine learning when creating the playlist, giving it a more personalized feel.

According to Google, the station was a Galaxy S8-exclusive due to its partnership with Samsung, which also allowed Samsung phone and tablet owners to upload 100,000 of their own songs to Play Music for free. This partnership allowed Google to test out New Release Radio and get feedback on the station through an early access program.

Now that the program is over, however, any Play Music subscriber can access New Release Radio. It is unknown whether this was the original plan, seeing how the channel was dubbed a “Samsung exclusive,” but it is another cap in Play Music’s cap that allows it to compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music.