Google Launches Music Service

Has iTunes finally got a competitor in the digital music marketplace? It's too early to tell yet, but the launch of Google's music service is likely to cause some serious consternation for Steve Jobs and his minions at Apple. There won't be any music for sale directly through Google (yet), but their search engine has now been optimized so users looking for songs, albums, or artists will receive audio previews and options to purchase with their queries. MySpace and LaLa have partnered with Google, and it is through those sites that the audio files will be for sale.

Of course, this being Google, some innovation has been stirred into the mix. You don't have to know the name of the song or artist to be directed toward a download link or store. Instead, you can just type in a snatch of the lyrics and, if you get those words down with reasonable accuracy, you'll be directed to the right place. Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music, EMI, and Universal Music Group have all signed up for the Google music service.



"The best answer to a query is frequently not a web page but a map, a video, an image or some other kind of content," said Tom Stocky, Director of Product Management at Google. "This launch makes search better by adding music to the list of things we can connect people to speedily, as well as providing a revenue source for artists, labels and others." Pandora, Imeem, and Rhapsody are also fully on-board with this aspect of Google's search engine, and are likely to crop up any time a user plugs in music-related data.

“The intention is not to turn the partners on Google into a free streaming music service," said R.J. Pittman, Google’s director of product management. "This is about providing a richer experience for users looking for a particular song." Google claims no cash is being exchanged by the partners in this deal, but the text ads that pop up during the searches are likely to be a money-spinner. Naturally, the ailing music industry is hoping this will provide some much needed cash from sales of audio recordings, but for now it's just a question of sitting back and seeing whether consumers are willing to put their hands back in their pockets.