Google to launch music search
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 22 October 2009, 14:47 IST   |    3 Comments
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Google to launch music search
New York: Google is preparing to launch a new feature to its search engine, which will allow users to discover, sample and buy songs on the search engine. Google will take help from startups iLike and LaLa, which will enable songs to be streamed on the Google page that will also include a "buy" button. Once user's click on that button, they will be taken to a variety of different sites, including Amazon.com and Apple Inc's iTunes Music Store, where they can buy music. LaLa and iLike are privately held and were recently acquired by News Corp's MySpace social networking site. The new service will begin on October 28, according to Reuters. The new service will involve all of the major music labels - including Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. The record music industry has been struggling with plunging sales and fewer media outlets to break new acts. It has high hopes on Google to increase the sales of the songs. The labels are betting that by making it easier to search for music, they can increase the size of the digital market, which is currently dominated by iTunes, with about 70 percent of download sales. Also, Universal Music and Sony Music are partnering with YouTube to create a new music video service called Vevo, which is expected to launch in December.

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