None of the companies involved will confirm the new Google Music service – we have “no comments” or absolute silence from Google, LaLa, MySpace and iLike. But the new service is all but confirmed. And we have the screenshots showing how the service, which will be announced on October 28, will look to prove it.
Matt Ghering, a product marketing manager at Google, has been one of the people talking to the big four music labels about the new service, we’ve heard from one of our sources. And he has supposedly sent these screenshots of the look and feel of Google Music search to various rights holders and potential partners.
The first screenshot shows how a search result might look on Google for a search for “U2.” A picture of the band is to the left of four streaming options for various songs, and the user has the option of listening via either iLike or LaLa. Click on one of the results, and a player pops up from the services that streams the song, along with an option to purchase the song for download.
We don’t know if this is the final look of the service, but it’s definitely something Google has been sending to people to show them what it might look like.
More thoughts on this later as we digest all the information coming in. But one thing is clear – this is a huge win for LaLa and iLike. Both will get massive flow from this deal. And as much as we criticize MySpace, their acquisition of iLike is starting to look sort of brilliant.
Search Results:
iLike Player:
LaLa Player:
people still buy music?
When they like an artist and want to support further music production from that artist, then yes. Personally, I only buy CD’s and then rip at 320kbs, and try to keep the CD as crisp as possible
This is true and yet it isn’t. You support the artist MORE if you go to their concerts and buy their merchandise. This is how artists actually make their money. Through performances.
Traditionally, the CDs themselves are an advertising tool to get people to go to the concerts. This is why TLC went bankrupt, actually. They only made pennies per disk sold with their contract stipulating a bigger cut of merch. sales.
i don’t think they chased enough waterfalls. : /
I buy CDs NOT to support the artists… but to support the record labels.
By supporting the record labels, I am keeping the record labels alive and well in order to find more artists to take advantage of.
When the record labels take advantage of the artists, they make the artists famous… and give me a chance to know their name and know their music.
By getting a chance to know new artists names and music, I get the chance to expand my music collection and continue to be entertained by music.
The whole system makes this process possible. If I stopped buying CDs… eventually, the only place to find music would be online… and the work to seek out new artists and distinguish the good artists from bad artists would fall completely on my shoulders, searching through the millions of songs on the Internet, listening to snippets and trying to base a decision on the only portions of songs I have the time to sample. This would be bad.
Clubbing music with net search is similar to clubbing ie with windows.
I always felt search engine as OS of the internet..?
“You support the artist MORE if you go to their concerts and buy their merchandise. This is how artists actually make their money.”
For artists who gig, sure. What about producers? Composers? People who make electronic music? People who, for whatever reason, can’t play live? Don’t they deserve to make any money from their work?
I think that some people use arguments like this to rationalise the fact that they don’t pay for music any more, because thanks to the internet they don’t have to. Sorry, but it’s not that simple, and a lot of independent artists can’t sustain themselves because of it.
Nope
When you’re related to a music artist you kinda have no choice… They tend to bitch at you…
Of course I still do it anyways, I just don’t download theirs (being related I get it for free anyways)
who knew?
I’d pay $5 monthly subscription for on-demand unlimited access to all music and movies. Obama should regulate this worldwide.
I have not since 1999 –> Napster –> Kazaa –> BitTorrent –> YouTube –> now Pandora/last.fm & other iPhone streaming apps (iPhone connected to car stereo to enjoy such svcs while driving).
Apparently not everyone is a thief
Not everyone has the guts to admit that he’s a thief
I believe that there isn’t one person in this world that illegally downloaded an mp3
Its interesting to see that lala is limiting their songs to a 30 second sample. really like lala for the ability to play the full song.
you can play any song once in full, then just the clip, or you pay $0.10 to put it in your library.
yeah exactly, will be interesting if they only offer the 30 second sample through the goog partnership and the 1st listen, full song exclusively through lala.com and your lala account. myspace has the ability to play full songs and ilike has some full song ability.
would find the goog search useful for music discovery, if i heard of a band and wanted a quick check if i like or not. full song much better than a 30 sec sample. or I could see people using it as a quick way of playing any song without downloading, much like using youtube for an individual song on demand.
looking forward to trying it out.
What if Google partnered with Pandora for music genome-based recommendations?
Puts an active (i.e. searching) twist on the passive listening experience of Pandora (that is still semi-active, of course).
Search for a band/song and sample their music is what I do right now with LaLa. Even cooler, when you like something you can post it to facebook and your friends can play the song directly from their wall with the same player it appears Google will use. Progressing from a cd trading site to a full blown music experience. Lala is kicking ass.
I’ve been using lala for a while and have 20gb I uploaded to the cloud. Pretty psyched to see integrated with google. Think google should buy them outright.
As John shows below, Yahoo has been doing this with Rhapsody for over a year now. Is the big news that this is just a Google play with their larger market share?
Right, but the Rhapsody experience is not compelling for most people; you get 5 – 25 listens and then the user has to leap over a $13 per month hurdle. With lala, you can stream any song they have — any song — once in full for free. Way different experience.
Agreed about the differences. I feel I have to point out that Rhapsody is a very underrated service. I subscribe to all of them and Rhapsody has by far the best selection.
So, is a library downloaded DRM-free songs, cached songs or just the ability to play them for full?
play them for full in your online collection
more good news for lala, nytimes is reporting that lala websongs (10 cents) will be offered in the facebook gifts store
Considering Spotify has been getting all of the press, I seriously don’t understand why Napster isn’t talked about as a ridiculously cheap way to go.
For $5 a month you’ve got access to 8 mil + songs that can played as many times as you want, plus the ability to create your own library with as many songs as you want. And you get to download 5 songs to keep every month.
That’s a pretty darn good deal, huh?
So true, Napster is the best deal I’ve found. Only wish they would add an iPhone app…
any update on the lala iphone app? think that is one of the more compelling uses for the lala service, access to entire library and web only library through mobile
I’ve heard it’s in beta… Might ask LaLa support about being a beta tester.
Yahoo screenshots:
http://search.y...h+cab+for+cutie
Yup — Looks like a total rip off of the Yahoo! results — shame on Google!
Umm…have you heard the concept of “competition” before?
Was just comparing them “visually”. Competition is fine but if you’re going to copy someone else at least make it look different!
Craziness… this will probably take forever to come to Canada I assume.
U2 is the Wal-Mart of music. They’re ubiquitous, artificial, and selling a load of crap.
Have you ever spoken with the band or been to one of their concerts?
Why would speaking to a self obsessed prima donna change the fact that their music is garbage?
Rather you like their music or not, attending a show or speaking with them would help you see they are very opposite of a self obsessed prima donna. Just saying you should give someone a chance before being judgemental. Commercials, etc. can be misguiding.
Not a music service, not anything for iTunes, Spotify, etc to worry about. Just over hyped Goo as usual.
troll
Google Itunes?
damn, it’s like eric schmidt knew he was going to be quitting apple long before he did. throwing out all the guns now to compete with apple.
its interesting that myspace music purchased ilike, so it seems that the brand will stick around. Either way Spotify is still the best service around. They will all need to pool resources once Spotify hits the states.
Yeah, but Spotify’s business model is totally unsustainable, not to mention they fail to compensate artists in any real way. I’d be surprised if Spotify is even around in a year.
Would be nice if they added some value , better meta data or something. BPM would be very cool, apps like Cadence could sure you use it.
http://www.cadenceapp.com
If I see another Google product which merges into all the others with their sickly pastel blue branding I’ll self-harm.
After reading all the articles on Techcrunch and CNET, it appears to be a non-event.
What started this morning as a iTunes and Spotify killer has really turned into a “enhanced search.”
Disappointing.
I still believe that Spotify will be a game changer in the US when it’s launched.
Spot on. This does look just like Universal Search, with some pretty enhanced listings. How does this relate to Mobile, Android or App Stores, which Techcrunch seem to be highlighting as the key drivers to gain traction with new web services?
Well, if you can type in any artist name, get results back that you can play inline and full track, as well as related content, it’s pretty compelling. It’s when you want to hear the same track twice and have to pay $.05 that it becomes less compelling than Spotify. But where is Spotify? Still not in the US.
Having to pay any money to play a track twice makes this a non-story.
It’s not an anything killer.
It’s not a music service.
Are they selling music directly? NO
Are they selling subscription streaming? NO
This is just enhanced search. Nothing more. Yahoo already has it.
Anyone who is looking to manage their music, purchase music, stream music… Will not consider this kind of service.
Again, this started as a huge story in the morning with big implications. Now it’s just a announcement that Google is enhancing search results.
…and by the way… I am not impressed by much.
Spotify is simply the most incredible music service I’ve ever used.
Imagine almost every song recorded instantly avaiable like it’s on your hard drive. Find it in under a second, play i under a second
It’s simply unlike anything else.
It’s looking like Google will essentially be a gateway to Lala and iLike. But that doesn’t take anything away from those services.
I wouldn’t call it an “iTunes killer,” but Lala Music is an outstanding music service and it’s everything it promises to be: your music collection in the cloud.
Like mp3.com!
This looks like it will be a great service.
And I guess it’s just business, but if I were Matt Ghering, I’d be l ticked at whoever leaked my screenshots. Drives me mad when you have an agreement and trust someone to keep screens or other info confidential, then then turn around and distribute it just to pump up their own egos.
Stealth Reporting at it’s best. Can’t recall the proper name for such thing.
Hey Michael
I thought you guys were giving up on this if I recall from a post couple weeks back??
Guess nothing gets more readers/sells like breaking news before the company itself has broken it
.
Also I do hope it’s like pandora or imeem. But grows to full service like itunes etc.
What do you say?
Google always have delay on it’ production!
Why does everything created by Good look like total shit from a UI Design standpoint.
They need to run a query on UI Designers and hire one before their next craigslist-esque design burns my eyes.
Gross.
Is Google really announcing this service on October 28? Its gonna be more fun on Google.
I heard that google is contemplating whether it will have the name Google audio, Google Music or OneBox.
All seems fine with me as long as it’s from google.
http://pinoytut...-music-service/
This looks interesting although I still prefer the Spotify subscription model. I never have to think twice about how I’m getting my music and what the bill is.
Google please don’t kill my music startup…
We are releasing something this this week that will allow users to share their entire iTunes playlist for playback w/o uploading a single song.
http://bit.ly/3Nix7
Isn’t this google being evil and monopolistic? It is showing its own content right on top of search? Whatever happened to the ranking here?
how is this any different from what yahoo did a long time ago? tc is googlepad
http://search.y...com/search?p=U2
“And as much as we criticize MySpace, their acquisition of iLike is starting to look sort of brilliant”
I bet MySpace knew this was coming before the acquisition, and that’s actually one of the major reasons why they bought them…
It’ll be interesting if Google then stops showing Youtube and other Video results for that query or maybe less. If they do that, then Im really pissed.
AAfter Search will always give you the direct link to the Youtube…
Lala is the best kept secret of the internet…until now. Really excited for more people to try out Lala because the service is awesome…and will be even better if/when they get their iPhone app off the ground.
The best part of this story is discovering LALA. Hoping they have an API I can explore.
When it comes to Google announcements, i’m seeing a cycle that starts with Euphoria and ends with is that it?
This falls again in the same realm. Google has to move from just “I can show you lots of info” to “I’ve thought long and hard about the best way to show you this information in a way that is engaging”
“Buy MP3″ lets you download the mp3 in full? How are they going to protect an MP3 file? I can then distribute that mp3 to hundreds of my friends. iTunes at least has that locked down, it may not be the best solution, but at least works in interest of (starving) artists.
where have you been for the last couple of years?
Dude, DRM is dead. iTunes dropped it also.
Massively disappointing to see what it actually is — formatted search results — after all the initial hype of a brand new service. Personally if I’m going to look up stuff on a band, I’d do it straight from Lala, iLike, etc., and expect to find a better focus than I’ll get from Google.
Another one for the scrapheap, toss this one next to Google Wave, Knol, and Google Squared.
@Satyajit
iTunes MP3’s aren’t locked down if you buy the non-DRM MP3, or buy off Amazon or any of the many stores selling music as mp3’s.
If you wanted to distribute to friends anyway, you’d just go to thepiratebay.org and steal the mp3 file off p2p, why would you pay for it in the first place?
Also spotify is completely legal, no worries there. Just love their iphone app.
If you have been an iTunes enthusiast or Yahoo Launchcast fanatic then this release of google will surely make you all-ears.
The only question is, can Google still dominate the web music industry.. now that they are “just” new to the business?
sources: http://pinoytut...-music-service/
funny how google is buying companies today such as (doubleclick.net and now LALA from myspace) what’s next…. Twitter perhaps? lol
Oh wow, it looks just like Yahoo’s music search results did about 2 years ago. Yahoo’s have been improved since then, but looks like Google is stuck in 2007. Yawn.
Oh yeah, and Yahoo’s results aren’t limited to :30 samples. You can stream the full track for free (up to 25 tracks every month).
Any idea whether this will be international or US-only?
Music service of Google China is interesting and enjoyable.
Sounds lame…
Back at 2005 (like now you can do with Stocks Quotes or Cinema Showtimes), when you looked for a concrete track you get the info about wich CD included it… but now is gone… maybe waiting for this new launch.
http://googlebl...-for-music.html
Grooveshark desperately needs to get in here. They have some amazing things happening and it could really integrate well with Google.
Download mp3s to your hard drive through lala.com
http://www.artw...a-com-for-free/
Buying music never supported the artists. The math of it only supports the labels. Going to the concerts supports the artist.
The problem is the “artist” is usually a 2-bit hack that is egotistical enough to believe they should be on the top of some chart, so the music industry was born to prop them up.
That’s why we actually had quality music prior to the major labels, and why the good stuff, the revolutionary music, NEVER comes from them.