Google’s Music Search

Feeling a little déjà vu coming on? Seems as if every time someone announces a new music application or service, some scribe somewhere is proclaiming it as a contender for iTunes’ throne.

Google says two of the top 10 queries in the U.S. are music related. That really shouldn’t surprise anyone. It was only 10 years ago when the RIAA was sounding the alarm saying most search queries were for MP3s. Of course, at that time major label music was still sold via physical media only and most MP3 searches resulted in illicitly posted tracks.

Google’s new search feature, which was scheduled to roll out within 24 hours of the initial announcement, is set up to enable users to find, listen and purchase music quickly. To accomplish this, Google has partnered with MySpace, Lala, Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody.

Here’s how it works. Enter a song title and Google returns with the name of the artist or band in the top four results, and links to where you can listen to and purchase the track. Other results, such as fan pages, artist websites and blog postings, appear lower on the page.

Audio previews and purchase links are handled by Lala and MySpace. The latter recently spent $20 million acquiring iLike, which had been working with Google on the music search project for months.

For example, searching for “Bohemian Rhapsody” will result in links to MySpace and LaLa where you can listen to a preview of the Queen track as well as purchase it.

However, finding and buying songs are just two features on Google’s overall music agenda. Partners Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody provide links to similar artists, making the new search feature a tool to discover new music as well find old favorites.

Plus, like other Google searches, the company has set this one up to be as all-inclusive as possible, meaning if you don’t know the name of the song or the artist, you can use song lyrics in your search. A bit of the chorus or the first few words of the song will return links to the recording as well as to other artists you might enjoy.

Before you think this is just another Internet announcement that will soon be forgotten, this is Google we’re talking about – the search company that changed the way people use the Web. In preparing its new music search feature, Google analyzed current methods of searching for music on the ‘Net and found them to be rather awkward and confusing.

Essentially, Google’s search is designed to cut down on the time between searching for music and listening to it. Google calls this time period “Time To Music” and the company’s goal is to shave as many seconds off of “Time To Music” as possible.

Of course, having predefined search routines leading to partners helps eliminate the clutter, resulting in more successful searches. And one of the problems with music searches is that results often lead to as many dead ends as legitimate song sources.

But an iTunes killer it isn’t. Although it will lead customers to online music sources other than iTunes, it probably won’t directly compete with the No. 1 online music service.

On the other hand, it’s only the beginning and Google says it has more music search features yet to implement. The search company also has plenty of Android-based mobile phones to sell, and connecting those devices to its music-service partners will help make the Android a little more friendly for downloading tracks and synching music libraries.

But making finding and purchasing music easier is definitely a step forward. The trick is to see if music fans follow Google’s lead.