Last week Google announced that it would be adding music streams to its search results, entering the music space with partnerships with Lala, iLike, Rhapsody, and iMeem. Licensing deals have also been struck with EMI, Universal, Warner Music and Sony Music to bring streams of popular music to the search engine. With Google's One Box music search feature users can stream full and partial songs by searching artists, song names, album names and even partial lyrics. To be sure, this is a big step in the progress of online music distribution, making it arguably easier than ever before to stream and purchase songs online by simply clicking the purchase button at the top of the player, but it has some critics screaming foul.
"I don’t know, I could be wrong about this, but something is not right. Google has finally entered the music space with it’s One Box music search feature in brilliant fashion, well position to become the new radio, complete with favoritism and major label cronyism," Dave Kusek, Vice President at Berklee College of Music, wrote yesterday in an article (HERE) that made its way all over the web.
In his response, "Google Music and the New Payola - Some things never change," Kusek calls out Google for taking "a very major label point of view" in thinking that any digital per-track download model could sustain the music industry. "Cell phone companies don’t charge by the call, they sell buckets of minutes and all you can eat plans. Have you checked the popularity of land-based phone services lately? Digital Music will follow the same path," he said.
What this sort of thinking does, says Kusek, is direct music fans towards label-owned services like MySpace, Gracenote and LaLa, rather than to the artist's site directly. "Goggle will become the new radio, keeping all the advertising revenue for itself with none of that income flowing to the artists and writers while charging the partners for placement at the top of search results. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. This is a huge slap in the face to independent artists, managers and new bands trying to break into the mainstream. The barrier to entry has just risen again for new bands."
Kusek also goes on to protest that band's own sites will lose standing on the search engine, pushing users to online retailers instead. "Is the only way to be at the top of the page to sign a deal with a major label or online retailer?" he asks.
In this move it seems Google Music is playing favorites to corporate interests rather than allowing artists to sell their music on their own site or build another community that would meet their needs. That is no longer necessary because Google has made that decision for them and remember this is just the first step in what will surely develop in a way that will enhance Google's economic interests. The big winners here are, of course, the service providers selling the music, Lala, iLike (acquired by MySpace in August) and the others, because it is a straight trade between the parties, exchanging traffic for increased user functionality. And while it is currently uncertain how this development will alter the music industry or even manifest itself in sales, it's enough to make one wonder where this might lead us, money, and the music industry.
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