As we prepped you on last week (TMT News), Google announced the launch of a new search system yesterday, October 28, to assist in finding music to both purchase and stream. Now, every time you search for an artist, song, album title, or even lyric, the results will be displayed in a specific section that will include artwork and a link to stream the music through the new Google music player, powered by MySpace Music and Lala. Each song can only be played once through in full. Users can then purchase the song by clicking a “Buy” link or be directed to other music sites like Pandora, IMEEM, and Rhapsody.
While Yahoo has a similar music search partnership with Rhapsody, Google still holds 64.6% of the search market, with Yahoo coming in second at only 16%, according to Nielsen MegaView Search. Billboard spoke to several record label executives about Google’s new music search system, drawing positive feedback: “I think it’s amazing,” EMI Music senior VP of global digital marketing Syd Schwartz told Billboard. “Any situation where we can make the process of discovery and helping artist and audience find one another in better ways is something that's going to help the business.”
U.S. readers: expect the new search results over the next few days. Everyone else? Sorry, this is a U.S.-only deal for the time being.
