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Google Businesses The Internet Media Music

Google Launches Google Music 264

Posted by Zonk from the next-post-to-cover-riaa-suit-against-google dept.
George Meyson writes "Google has launched a new service known as Google Music that will allow a person to search fast links to song lyrics, musical artists and CD titles on the main search results page. The user can type in the name of a band, artist, album or song in the main Google search bar special, and results will appear at the top, accompanied by icons of music notes. Items that can be purchased will have links to merchants for online ordering or downloading. Initial merchant partners include Apple Computer's iTunes service, RealNetworks Rhapsody, eMusic and Amazon.com." From the Google Blog: "A few of us decided to try to make the information you get for these searches even better, so we created a music search feature. Now you can search for a popular artist name, like the Beatles or the Pixies, and often Google will show some information about that artist, like cover art, reviews, and links to stores where you can download the track or buy a CD via a link at the top of your web search results page."
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Google Launches Google Music More

Google Launches Google Music

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  • Coming Soon: (Score:5, Funny)

    by elbenito69 ( 868244 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @11:58AM (#14271972)
    RIAA sues Google

    • Re:Coming Soon: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Khashishi ( 775369 )
      How did this get modded funny? This is insightful if anything. The RIAA has demonstrated its inclination to sue any web-based lyrics providers and lyrics search engines.

    • Re:Coming Soon: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Amouth ( 879122 )
      oh i can't wait.. and then google can jsut turn around and say

      "OK you don't want it on google *click* there gone.. now they will never apear on google agian, on any part, in any place, oh and *click* your subnets banned for abusing the service please feel free to go to the public liberary to use our services"

      Personaly i think the Artists should be scared if the RIAA is crazy enough to go after google.

  • Coolness (Score:5, Interesting)

    by voice_of_all_reason ( 926702 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @11:59AM (#14271980)
    Hasn't the RIAA issued cease-and-decist letters to lyric websites before?

    Their response will certainly be interesting. Do I detect a brawl of the titans coming?

    • Re:Coolness (Score:5, Insightful)

      by garcia ( 6573 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:02PM (#14272003)
      Hasn't the RIAA issued cease-and-decist letters to lyric websites before?

      Yeah, along with any number of other sites. What does that have to do with providing links (automatically) to these sites? Are you saying that Google should be liable for the content they link to?

      • Re:Coolness (Score:5, Insightful)

        by El_Servas ( 672868 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:09PM (#14272062)
        Not directly, but you know how it is.

        They will say that Google is facilitating copyright infringement by providing those links.

        I just tested and it really is very easy to find the lyrics (well.. easier than before. :)).
        • How is it easier? I can't seem to find any reference to lyrics in the new feature, even though the press release mentions them?

          I also don't see any reference to lyrics on Yahoo Audio Search. I'm not sure if they were there before, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were both pressured not to provide them recently.

          • Re:Coolness (Score:2, Interesting)

            by El_Servas ( 672868 )
            I searched for an artist, then i drilled down for an album i liked, then the tracks of that album are displayed, and if you click in one of them, a snippet of the lyrics appears, along with the lyrics link(s).
            • Thanks, just discovered it too.

              I agree it does make finding lyrics easier, so I guess the NMPA will have to send a message by putting Larry and Sergey in jail.

      • Re:Coolness (Score:5, Informative)

        by aero2600-5 ( 797736 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:09PM (#14272064)
        It is possible for a court to issue an injunction preventing Google from linking to any particular website. In the MPAA vs 2600 case, the court issued an injunction against 2600 stating that it was illegal for 2600 to link to the DeCSS code. Not that I agree with this, but it's been done before.

        Aero

        • Re:Coolness (Score:5, Informative)

          by Kirth ( 183 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @01:23PM (#14272664) Homepage
          Yeah, they tried that with me too. Wasn't too successful due to the fact that US-laws do not apply in switzerland.

          Instead they sacked lyrics.ch a few years before that (also firsthand-experience, I've been Sysadmin of lyrics.ch's ISP), which was also highly unsucessful after lyrics.ch was turned into a pay-per-lyrics website of the mob.

      • Re:Coolness (Score:5, Interesting)

        by PaxTech ( 103481 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:12PM (#14272082) Homepage
        Are you saying that Google should be liable for the content they link to?

        The record companies seem to think so [slashdot.org].

      • What does that have to do with providing links (automatically) to these sites?

        The same thing that allows them to sue bittorrent hubs for providing links to get pirated material.

        Are you saying that Google should be liable for the content they link to?

        Nope, but Google might decide to do it anyway to avoid problems. Not sure which search engine, but one of them certainly censors results for chinese surfers at the request of the their government. And don't all German ISPs have to filter out nazi site

      • "Yeah, along with any number of other sites."

        Wow, that's really surprising! Can you provide a cite or a link? The RIAA looks after the record industry, while lyrics are the domain of the music publishing industry. They're separate revenue streams: record companies don't make money off of music publishing, and music publishing companies don't make money off of record sales.

        FWIW, music publishing is usually small (often one-person!) companies and the revenues earned for the publishing rights go large

    • Even if they provided links directly to the music itself, Google couldn't be sued (assuming they took some reasonable preventive steps when they learn about the infringement) thanks to a provision in the DMCA. Just no one knows about it since a provision protecting service providers would hurt the DMCA's image as being an evil bill.

    • Re:Coolness (Score:3, Insightful)

      by generic-man ( 33649 ) *
      I think the RIAA will love this. Most of the links that "Google Music" sends you are to buy brand-new CDs of the artist you searched for, putting plenty of money in the RIAA's hands.
    • The difference here is Google isn't providing the lyrics themselves, they are merely pulling it from various sites already listed on their search engine. If the MPA(Music Publisher's Association) shuts down those sites, then google won't be listing any lyrics.

      Google, as with most of their services, isn't doing anything beyond organizing information that is provided by others. While that doesn't make them bulletproof given the nature of American and World justice systems, it gives them a lot more breath

  • The RIAA will not like this (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16, 2005 @11:59AM (#14271985)
    Do multiple searches, and you could string enough icons of music notes together to get a free song.

  • I'm not a fan... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:00PM (#14271987)
    I guess I'm set in my ways and all but I'm just not a fan of this. I realize Google has to make money and this is one way of doing it but I'd rather just enter the name of a band or part of a song and find out the lyrics, cover art, etc the old fashioned way... With the great results Google used to return.

    Now, with this, I'm going to be inundated with more advertisements. I already knew that I could go to iTMS, Amazon.com, allofmp3, etc to get my music after I found what I was looking for. Why do I need Google to tell me?

    I was raving about GMail, Google Maps, in the past but with the last two "additions" which were Web Clips in GMail and now this, I just can't say I'm impressed. It was fine the way it was.
    • I too thought this isn't all that useful. I can already do all they offer on Amazon, plus listen to a clip of the songs on most albums. One nice benefit: they list the prices for several stores for those who like to buy the physical album. (Under "Buy Album" you have to hit the "Show all stores" link.
      • And on a related note, when will they let you compare prices on DVDs [zuchinis.net]?

        The preceding is a plug. If you don't like it, you don't have to click it :) Really though, with this music search, movie search would be the next logical step for Google. They could do price comparisons and link to online retailers. The only question is: with all that Google is doing with Purchases, are they eventually out to get imdb and amazon?
    • I think it's a nice idea. I can't count how many times I've had a snippet of a song stuck in my head, but I didn't know what the song was. I always turn to Google first to find the song, then iTunes second to purchase it. Now I can do both at the same time. ;-)

      That being said, this tool still needs some serious work. My last search for a song was for "Desert Rose" by Sting. I typed "Desert Rose" into the search bar and didn't see any ads. Sting works, but that wouldn't have helped me any. Even ["dream of lo

    • Re:I'm not a fan... (Score:5, Funny)

      by boarder8925 ( 714555 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:17PM (#14272130)
      I just can't say I'm impressed. It was fine the way it was.
      Because of the above, your geek license has been revoked. Please turn it in at the nearest Licensing office and remain in the lobby for further processing.

      Thank you,
      Slashdot Dept. of Licensing Offices
    • Not really. If you try it, you'll see that it doesn't really interfere with the "regular" search results. When I searched for "Bruce Springsteen", the only "new" thing was one search result at the top with a picture, and a link for "more music results for bruce springsteen.

      This is no more intrusive than the movie search stuff was.

    • Given that lyric databases are being shut down left and right, I for one am happy to see the larger gorilla take up this service and await the pending legal fracas with glee.

      You can find some lyrics now, but it's much spottier than it should (or could) be. If Google wins (or even is just allowed to make the information availiable) it opens up the door for other services to exist.

  • Gee ... no Yahoo Music Unlimited? (Score:5, Informative)

    by LaughingCoder ( 914424 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:00PM (#14271991)
    Apple Computer's iTunes service, RealNetworks Rhapsody, eMusic and Amazon.com

    I wonder why Yahoo Music Unlimited (the best deal around) isn't in the list. :-)

  • what I'd really like to see (Score:5, Insightful)

    by inventor61 ( 919542 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:03PM (#14272009)
    is a service where I type in some lyrics and the song information pops up. I admit I simply cannot keep up with the music my kids listen to, and the radio stations don't tell me what artist or song they are playing. I want to know who the artist is and so forth so that when I am talking to the kids they will "think" I have some clue. Now, there is this Clarkson girl and I've seen pictures of her, so, at least that much has registered in my brain! I know you can sort-of do this already, but, if the engine that did this was not just some 'bot that went to the lyric sites but something that worked better ... anyway, let's see how this "plays out" (sorry)

  • I have been using google music for years (Score:5, Funny)

    by ponds ( 728911 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:04PM (#14272017)
    Intitle:"Index of /" nameofartist nameofalbum mp3, I'm feeling lucky

  • Not the RIAA (Score:5, Informative)

    by bl00d6789 ( 714958 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:04PM (#14272022)
    Just to clear up confusion, it will not be the RIAA that would sue Google. The RIAA is responsible for protecting copyrights on recordings, not published music (sheet music, lyrics, etc...). The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), or more specifically, their legal arm, the Harry Fox Association, is responsible for enforcing these copyrights, so that is most likely from whom Google will be hearing shortly.

  • Ob BASH (Score:5, Funny)

    by schleyfox ( 826198 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:06PM (#14272034)
    Insomniak`: Stupid fucking Google
    Insomniak`: "The" is a common word, and was not included in your search
    Insomniak`: "Who" is a common word, and was not included in your search

    • I've actually always had the hardest time searching for "James" because invariably it returns James Brown, James Taylor, and every other person on earth named James, but never just the band named "James".. :/
      • You could do:
          James Band

        The first link is for the band James. Or you could use - to exclude items like:
        James -brown -taylor

        In this case, it's the second link, to make it the first you could also try:
        The first link is for the band James. Or you could use - to exclude items like:
        James music -brown -taylor

        Sometimes it helps to learn how to use a search tool as this is a common problem when searching for a lot of things.

    • Re:Ob BASH (Score:3, Informative)

      by MikeBabcock ( 65886 )
      Funny but untrue of course; first result:

      The Hypertext Who
      Biography of members, discography, album reviews, and concert photos going back to 1969.
      www.thewho.net/ - 30k - Cached - Similar pages

  • Yahoo has had this for ages (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:07PM (#14272047)
    Here [yahoo.com]. More comprehensive too.
  • I was going to ad this feature to a 3rd rate search engine I ran. I figured I coudn't compete with google, but I could find a niche. There goes that idea.

  • Since TFA is /.'d (Score:5, Informative)

    by potus98 ( 741836 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:12PM (#14272083) Journal

    C'mon guys, at least include a link to the SUBJECT of TFA:
    http://www.google.com/musicsearch [google.com]

    Try searching for "good music" and "crappy music"

  • Taking down lyrics searches (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ShatteredDream ( 636520 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:13PM (#14272101) Homepage
    Anyone who has ever taken a stab at playing guitar or another instrument that can be tabbed out knows how unreliable most online tabs are. Sometimes I cannot believe how wildly inaccurate they are, and I have a nearly dead ear when it comes to telling one chord from another with the exception of a few power chords. The groups that complain about this stuff ought to be snickering and saying, "if you want to actually, well, LEARN the song you have to buy us for the reliability that only we can provide."

    Besides, here's a little shocker for them: most CDs have the lyrics inside the jewel case. Yes, fancy that. Anyone who is a good singer can listen to the rhythm of the vocals and pick it up, thus making it practically pointless to crack down on this when the bands and record labels are actively "enabling piracy" by giving away the lyrics as part of the package. Stick to the tabs, people, stick to the tabs for enforcement if they're blatant rip offs.

    I never understood why the record labels don't see themselves at war with these publishing groups. The record labels should be actively encouraging local bands to cover popular songs as a way to not only discover new talent, but promote existing songs. Think about it, if a local band can cover a very big song very well, aren't they worth investigating? The label might have their next big act right there, and the songs that sell well are excellent benchmarks.

    If the record labels were smart, they'd forget about the few million $s they could be making by licensing sheet music and instead be pushing free sheet music for popular songs as a way to promote their albums.
    • "If the record labels were smart, they'd forget about the few million $s they could be making by licensing sheet music and instead be pushing free sheet music for popular songs as a way to promote their albums."

      I like your thinking, is there some way to have a device phone home every time you open the book, so that your prepaid performance rights account can be debited? Because otherwise, everyone will be stealing, and the RIAA companies will be losing money, right?

    • If the record labels were smart, they'd forget about the few million $s they could be making by licensing sheet music and instead be pushing free sheet music for popular songs as a way to promote their albums.

      Another flawed business model: sheet music for guitarists.

    • "If the record labels were smart, they'd forget about the few million $s they could be making by licensing sheet music and instead be pushing free sheet music for popular songs as a way to promote their albums."

      Good point, but keep in mind that the record company only has a copyright on the recording. The copyright on the words and music -- in other words, the right to print sheet music -- remain with the composer and lyricist.

      That's why, when you see CD liner notes with printed lyrics, you'll see tw

  • For a while now, lyrics have been a popular search on the internet. From what I've seen, most to all of the lyrics websites contain a bajillion advertisements, spyware, etc., and sometimes I can't find what I want.

    I wish Google would index the lyrics in their own database. Then I'll have a common, reliable source of lyrics goodness that doesn't threaten install spyware on my machine.
    • "I wish Google would index the lyrics in their own database."

      As soon as they do that, then they've lost their primary defense should the NMPA choose to come after them.

      This is why Google won't provide more than a teeny bit of content from their book archiving -- if they are hosting the content, then they need to keep people from getting all the content from them in violation of copyright law (just or not).

      I'd hate to have Google host the lyrics, and then only give me the refrain whenever I searched.

  • Google rushes in... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by po8 ( 187055 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:21PM (#14272162)

    Just when we're hearing that the Music Publishers' Association [mpa.org] is demanding jail time [slashdot.org] for folks who put up lyric sites, we get Google blithely putting up...a lyric site index. I know they're claiming that their partner sites are providing these, but my first hit was on lyricsfreak.com [lyricsfreak.com], which I suspect is hardly legal. It's like Google is daring folks to sue them. Awesome.

  • One important detail Google forgot (Score:4, Interesting)

    by theurge14 ( 820596 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:23PM (#14272175)
    Track times.

    This is extremely important when we're, ahem, looking for these songs and we don't want to confuse it with live versions, covers, etc.

    If Google puts that in there, I no longer have to use AllMusic.com to look album information up.
    • That is a good point. It is especially important with certain bands. Take, for example, Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam has had an official bootleg release for almost every single live show they have done since '98. As such, there are about 5 billion versions of every single song in their catalog.
  • A search for the Beatles brings up every cover album ever, but very few Beatles albums. Didn't even bother to check what result Sgt Pepper was at... wasn't first or second page though.

  • how did **beatles-beatles not submit this one? (Score:4, Funny)

    by dominux ( 731134 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @12:23PM (#14272180) Homepage
    it even has Beatles in the summary, it was just asking to be submitted by him.
  • Another new feature that at least I haven't seen previously are the reviews [google.com], is this something new or have they been there before?

  • That's the count down till Google gets sued over this. Providing access to copyright material? Assisting in conpyright violation.

    I would have gone futher with the count down but I seem to remember a very poor song that used those lyrics. I don't want to be next to get sued.

  • Did anyone noticed that there are reviews? AFAIK, this is the first time Google introduces a human factor. And cooperation (with Epinions) Biased results?
    • (forgot once more the formating, should be read as:)

      Did anyone noticed that there are reviews?
      AFAIK, this is the first time Google introduces a human factor.
      And cooperation (with Epinions).
      Biased results?

  • Not a single one of the special magic searches works from my box at work. Stock searches, weather, movies, music, UPS tracking -- none of these return what's expected.

    Works just fine from home, but here at work, no go. Same behavior both with and without my 'personalized' google login, and from firefox and IE.

    any ideas?

  • That's all well and good, but what about phonetic searching of songs?

    You know, that song that goes "da da da. da da. da da da. whirrrr!"
  • Sorry, couldn't resist :P

  • This is what Google should do:

    They should buy Intel and FreeScale, so they can control the microprocessor. They should integrate the two processors together, to create one processor that can run code from both at a higher speed than the original, and combine these into a single 16-core chip. They should buy Apple, so they'll have a hardware and operating system platform, in addition to graphic, audio, and video editing systems, in addition to the Apple music store. They should buy Adobe, so they can control

  • Next up GoogleMart. Where you can search and buy anything you like. They're able to be the compitetion prices through the use of "adword" packaging. Look out WalMart!
    --
    Q

  • Imaging the web according to Google (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mugnyte ( 203225 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @01:07PM (#14272527) Journal
    More than ever, it looks like Google is ready to link together all these recent conepts into a cohesive web platform for All Things Information. They're not replacing books, but allowing you to search them more in-depth, same with music, etc.

      I'm not sure it'll sell, but it should be an interesting product. I like that they've started with real innovation on searching, cateloging, etc, instead of just branding alone. However, in the end the market will leapfrog, it always has.

      Compare their lineup to, say, the world of MSN or AOL, which was attempting to brand existing behaviors "email" and "search" and "shop" done pretty much as you have it elsewhere. Yahoo added customer references, then Amazon adds one-click and historical records/you-created-this-page nonsense. Google will probably have as much of all those products, but tied into a dashboard of widgets.

    Sadly, nobody has come up with a better concept on ads. Crazy-bad moving ads on a static page of text are the bane of internet viewing. Google's putblished test-only ads, which I like, but perhaps only by their integrating their paying advertising into their lists (with a deliniation for showing such) can we drop this.

    Unless these new products are kept simple, users will again migrate to the "meat and potato" sites like craigslist and similar for simplicity. Google's biggest risk is it's newfound audience, and the push to throw ads at them everywhere. The day we see Punch the Monkey on Google, we've pretty much seen this behemouth ready for an undercut.

  • Google search (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Andrewkov ( 140579 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @01:19PM (#14272628)
    Google search: 'scuse me while I kiss this guy

    Did you mean: 'scuse me while I kiss the sky

    Cool!

  • Will google index other types of audio content with their music service (say like audiobooks or audio training)?

    For example, I am currently working on http://www.developeradvantage.com/ [developeradvantage.com], which is creating audio training modules specifically for software developers. So far, there is really nothing else out there in terms of professional, high-quality audio training modules. On amazon.com, you can find over 2000 Java books, but, if you search for audio content, you will find zero results that are technic

  • But will my usual Britney Spears goggles be ok? (Score:3, Funny)

    by potus98 ( 741836 ) on Friday December 16, 2005 @03:07PM (#14273501) Journal

    I'm mean googles. Will my usual searches for Britney Spears be somehow disrupted by this new music search engine?

    [steps away from tee...]

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