Google Injects Tunes Into Search Results
Google has just made another addition to its search results, finally addressing one of its most popular search verticals: music. The Google OneBox was launched last night in the US and will provide users with immediate access to music in the search results for queries such as bands, songs, and albums. The development was made in partnership with MySpace, Lala, and Pandora , who will be providing the music streaming and other features. The new feature is in direct response to the fact that 2 of the top 10 search queries in the US are music related and it comes with some fairly useful qualities.
First off, when a user enters a music related query the first results, in the OneBox, will be links to play various songs. If an artist, band, or album is entered, the top four related tracks will be displayed. If it is a specific song, the one result will appear in the OneBox. The user can click on a play button next to the track titles and instantly listen to a preview of the song through pop up MySpace or Lala players. These players also provide links to the sites where users can buy or learn more about the song.
One cool feature about this music search is that if you have the lyrics of a song stuck in your head, but you can’t for the life of you remember the name of the track or the artist, you can simply enter the lyrics as a query and it will find the song.
Another cool feature that OneBox provides is the ability to explore and discover music related to your queries. Partners Pandora, imeem, and Rhapsody have included links to their sites below each OneBox result where users can view content about their queries.
This new service has been welcomed by four major record labels – EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music and Warner Music as well as a number of independents. Its main focus appears to be the selling of MP3s (although links to partner sites may offer other monetization) and, of course, improving the Google Search experience. Murali Viswanathan stated on the Google blog that, “This feature doesn’t just make search better. It also helps people discover new sources of licensed music online while helping artists to discover new generations of fans and reconnect with long-time listeners.” The move also highlights a massive effort to get users to interact with more legitimate sources of music. Thomas Hesse from Sony stated, “We’re trying to get consumers to interact with some of these more legitimate services. Having Google step up and support this is a positive development.” On a less altruistic note, I could see this potential increase in music related search queries add a vast new dimension to the Google Adwords advertising revenue.
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