Google to blend search, music in One Box

Google will soon launch a music initiative, which the company at this point is calling a One Box for music, to offer song previews, artist bios, graphics, and video.

The search engine, however, will not be selling downloads or offering subscriptions.

TechCrunch reported on Tuesday night that Google is entering the music business but said the search engine would launch a music service. That's not really what the One Box for music is, said sources familiar with the deal.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

The music initiative, which is expected to be announced sometime next week, will offer people a means to buy songs by featuring links to music sites Lala and iLike, according to the sources. All four of the top record companies are on board, the sources said.

The initiative is coming out of Google Search and is designed to organize everything a music fan may need when searching online for a favorite artist, the sources said.

The way One Box will work is that a person who keys in the names U2 or Coldplay, for example, will find a thumbnail photo of the artists, background information, as well as a listing of the music that they can preview, according to the sources.

Stephen Shankland, my colleague at CNET News, tells me that One Box is the term Google uses to describe a "gussied up search engine result." The company "packages stuff up into a nice little container that's got more than a line of blue hyperlinked text," he said.

There are One Box results for video, financial information, and the weather. The kind of results for this version of a One Box for music would appear to a fuller offering.

A Google representative said Wednesday: "We don't comment on rumor or speculation."

Regardless, the idea sounds like an important step into music for Google and should certainly boost the prospects of Lala and iLike, which was recently acquired by MySpace.

Google has an opportunity to grab music fans who may be looking for information on artists before they land on any of the top music services. It gives the search engine an opportunity to harness some of this traffic as well as steer it in the direction of Google's choice.

Update 8:09 a.m. PDT: Comment added from Google and more details added throughout.

Correction at 7:55 a.m. PDT: An earlier version incorrectly stated who would compensate the labels. Lala and iLike will pay them, according to sources.

[kelmon]

Previews longer than 30-seconds would be nice. I know that people like to bash iTunes but I confess to being a real iTunes-junkie (probably an appropriate title). However, one thing that I don't like about iTunes is that the preview is only 30-seconds long and that often is not enough to determine whether I like a particular track. It works well enough with "normal" chart tracks but extended tracks, particularly from the dance/electronic genres, tend to take a while to "get going" and the 30-second preview often isn't very helpful. If Google would address this shortcoming then I'd definitely use the service.

[a77en]

dear kelmon,

for electronica/electronic music in general try beatport . com , all the tracks they offer on that site can be sampled for more than 30 seconds.

as for this article, i think it's great for consumers, hopefully google will also consider indie bands/groups and unsigned artist because they need exposure the most.

[C0mmanderB0nd]

30 seconds isn't going to change much because of the music industry. If they give you a longer sample in a lot of cases you would hear most of the song so why buy it. Also factor in rumbling by the writers about performance fees they now feel they should be paid for a 30 second sample and wonder if 30 second samples are in danger of becoming extinct.

The shocking thing about the music industry is how lost they seem in the now digital world, the album concept is no longer viable because people just now pay for one song. It really is funny to see how they keep trying to push the album but people just buy the one or 2 songs they like and the industry has lost $8 or 9$ per sale they were making just a few years ago.

Which is why the writers are now educating us on revenue streams and how they now only get checks for 2 cents.

See this article http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10355448-93.html

However I don't feel to sorry for the industry in general, they aren't making as much money as they were before, but marginally talent people like Britney Spears still seem to be able to throw away money like it grows on trees. So somehow the industry is still making money.

[voxclone]

If they're linking to Lala.com, that will cover the 30-second sample problem. Lala has a pretty great model -- listen to a full-length track once for free, then either buy the MP3 (for standard MP3 prices) or get a web version (for less-than-MP3 prices) to play it unlimited times through your lala account. They even give you 50 web song credits so you can test it out. Pretty interesting approach.

[ColinABQ]

If Google isn't to be offering tracks themselves, it begs the question: where will the samples be coming from? The two providers mentioned, Lala and iLike, or Google's own servers? The answer to that could be interesting, relative to Google's long term plans.

[Police_States_of_America]

this is a first step to an eventual music service. google prefers slowly rolling out features, such as Google Books becoming/ complementing Google Editions. its not unreasonable to expect the same to happen eventually. hopefully google will offer the quality that others do not, however and a selection that no one else does, a la google books.

[Super2online]

I'm looking forward to seeing some competition in this area from Microsoft's Bing since competition is always a good thing. Microsoft already provides all of the content you mention except lyrics on Zune.net. It shouldn't take much effort to display it nicely in the Bing results with links to purchase from their own service.

[jeromatron]

"It gives the search engine an opportunity to harness some of this traffic as well as steer it in the direction of Google's choice."

Speaking of net neutrality, doesn't this violate the same principle?

I'm all for net neutrality and generally open services without regard to funneling or preferring one over the other. That kind of smacks of anti-competitive.

[Mergatroid Mania]

Yep, if other music sites don't want to lose business, they will have to go to Google now and offer them money to have a similar link to their site put on-screen during these searches. It's funny how a company like Google can dictate some business get just by including them or excluding them from searches, or by making other companies links much more prominent when search results come up. They're sounding less and less like a search engine every day.

Why don't they just come out with a policy stating they won't include companies websites in search results unless those companies pay Google to be included?

Whatever, I don't get music by searching Google for it anyway.

[luke_marsh]

Yep great the Music industry is really coming online in it presence. A good solution for companies and the consumer alike win win well done.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Gtunes ? Might not be far off.

[rtuinenburg]

Ahh how bing has finally put a bit competition in the market place. Nice to see google improving search results.

[knowles2]

Sound like something which should be fully integrated into youtube.

[Shimewaza]

Sounds like something similar to Songbird, but less feature-rich (and therefore maybe more lightweight)

[Mrgandi]

i'm glad lala is getting on this deal because it deserves to have some recognition.

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[themusicvoidcom]

It's rather strange that Google don't want to comment on "speculation". Is the decision not meant to be announced today (28th October 2009)?

See this article: http://www.themusicvoid.com/2009/10/google-gets-closer-to-music/

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