CD sales continue to fall while increasing legal downloads of music and, to this scenario, the web giants are scrambling for a piece in what will be one of the big business in the coming years.

google-ilike-lala logos

Google and Facebook will soon include on their pages the option to listen or download pre-paid music…!!

The American press recently announced that Google is about to launch a music search service on the web that allows not only listening to songs online but also the option to purchase the tracks. This new service was created by of some major labels and has been made possible through an agreement with companies from the online music sector such as Lala, and iLike.

Google, who will also be offering photographs and information about the artists, will keep the advertising revenue on these pages, although they will presumably share a percentage  with record labels. The search is expected to also include links to music videos from Google’s  YouTube subsidiary. Both initiatives are a clear attempt to compete with Apple, which has found the goose that lays the golden egg with its iPod digital music player and iTunes online store.

In countries like the U.S., Apple dominates the field of legal music downloads on the Internet with iTunes, which has already sold over 6,000 million songs, plus millions of movies and TV series since its launch in 2003.

Facebook will be charging users for the songs sent, and it is foreseeable that if the network members are willing to pay for sending a virtual link, they will also do so for sending a song.

Google will also offer the possibility to buy songs through links to the pages of Lala, and iLike.

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Michael Gomez

Marketing for Small Businesses Ltd