The company has teamed up with lyric licensing service LyricFind to bring songs from over 4,000 publishers directly into its search results. It includes Sony/ATV Music Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing and Warner/Chappell Music Publishing.
LyricFind makes it easy to find lyrics for songs by providing the licensing necessary to do so and built-in quality control. This will ensure the search results displayed are as accurate as possible, maintaining Google’s reputation and letting users trust they’re singing the real lyrics.
Accessing lyrics online will now be as simple as typing a song name into Google followed by “lyrics.” They’ll show up in a Google card above the usual list of search results, letting you see them at a glance. It will increase the amount of information available directly from Google but could harm high-ranking lyrics sites that people used to click through to.
“We’re happy to expand the depth and quality of lyrics available on Google’s services,” said LyricFind CEO Darryl Ballantyne. “We’re working together to make lyrics available to a larger audience in a faster and more efficient way.”
The deal with LyricFind will also see support for lyrics being added to Google Play Music, the company’s own streaming service. Users will be able to access song lyrics directly from within the Play Music app. Lyrics will show up alongside songs on the now playing page, letting you sing with whichever artist you happen to be listening to.
Ballantyne told Billboard that he has high expectations for the partnership. He expects that “millions of dollars” will be generated and paid in royalties to song writers and publishers. The exposure of being at the top of Google’s search results will increase LyricFind’s traffic and make more money for artists.
That exposure is going to come at the cost of established lyric finding websites. Several such sites exist, some paying royalties and others not. Regardless of their repute, people are less likely to keep visiting them in the future when Google represents an easier alternative. It is situations like this that are fuelling the European Commission’s antitrust investigation into Google, alleging it is abusing its search dominance to promote other services.
Lyric search should be available now to Google users in the U.S. The company hasn’t announced when it will begin to roll-out to other regions worldwide. The LyricFind announcement mentions an international license so it should be safe to assume people in other countries will soon be able to directly search for lyrics too.
