It's the $20 billion question: What is to be done about the recording industry? Since it appears that the players inside that industry do not know how to save themselves from implosion, outsiders are looking to chart a new course toward sustainability and profitability.
Now, Google (GOOG) is marshaling its massive presence in Web search to deliver music results, in yet another foray into an area beyond its core search ad competency. Called OneBox, the service delivers links to snippets of songs at the top of the search results pages based on a query. It's a flashy announcement -- but reserve judgment on its lasting impact until we see what effect it has on the crippled industry. And if you're looking for a silver bullet, this isn't it.
"This is further proof that the industry is shifting toward music as a service rather than music as a product," Tim Quirk, VP of programming at Rhapsody told DailyFinance. "Fans now have the ability to hear any song they're thinking or talking about, instantly – and not just from computers, but from mobile devices, their TV sets, their stereos, you name it."
"Later this year we plan to become one of Google's streaming music partners, making 30-second samples available for playback directly from the Google search results," Quirk added.
To be sure, Google's new service could be a heavyweight entrant into the free-for-all fray of the digital music wars. At present, there is very little structure to the industry, beyond iTunes, the juggernaut, and new streaming sites whose business models remain questionable. What is beyond question is the fact that the recording industry, instead of growing from a $15 billion to $20 billion business in sales since 2000, has shrunk to $10 billion in sales thanks, in part, to rampant digital piracy of music full story
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