As Quoted in The Hollywood Reporter

Google turning up music with new integrated search options
By Paul Bond

Google is getting more in tune with online music lovers.

The world's No. 1 Internet search engine Thursday began its search music function, making it easier to seek bands, albums, songs and such without having to sift through information unrelated to music.For example, a user typing "Genesis" into Google's home search page will now get, above the main results, a photo of the progressive rock band and a hyperlink that reads "more music results for Genesis."Links to biblical information and NASA's Genesis space mission come lower on the page.

The "more music" hyperlink leads to Web pages containing a list of Genesis albums, song titles and reviews, with links to photos, news, fan sites and more about the band. Google also links to such sites as iTunes, RealNetworks and Amazon.com, where the music can be purchased.Google's new product also offers links to song lyrics, a service which some record labels have objected to of late.

Google, which is playing catch-up with MSN.com, Ask.com and Yahoo! in the music search game, says it doesn't intend on taking a cut of sales from the e-commerce sites it links to but instead will make money its usual way: by selling online ads.

"Right now, the music search feature mostly works for artists popular in the U.S. and a more limited number of artists from other countries," Google search quality product manager David Alpert wrote in a posting at Google. "But we plan to expand it to classical music, worldwide artists and lesser-known performers. Our list of music stores will also grow over time."Wall Street investors were bullish on the development, with Google shares Thursday climbing $3.57 to $422.53.

"Simply put, brilliant," said Cody Willard, a hedge fund manager specializing in technology investments. "Expect them to do the same for every other form of multimedia that ever gets invented."