by CIO Staff

Google Whistles New Tune

News
Dec 15, 20051 min
Internet

Search leader Google is starting a new service that will help music fans find links to songs, lyrics and other music-related material, the AP reports today.

 Google’s new music search section, scheduled to debut today, is similar to the other special sections it has created to make it easier to find information about airline flights, news stories, movies and weather. The new music section will provide lists of all the songs recorded on a specific album and will also point to places where the music can be legally downloaded.

Unlike Yahoo, Google said it has no plans to create its own music library. And it won’t collect a referral fee if its visitors click on the new music section and go on to buy songs from one of the linked libraries. Google does stand to profit, however, if the new section spurs more search requests about music because that will give its search engine more opportunities to display ads about the same subject. A

ccording to the AP, the advertising displayed alongside Google’s main search results accounted for a substantial chunk of the company’s $4.2 billion in revenue through the first nine months of 2005.

–Susannah Patton