FRUKT on Music

Mark Knight

As hard as it is to predict who the winners will be when the inevitable rationalisation takes place within the increasingly cluttered ad funded / music subscription market place, it's a fairly safe bet to suggest Google will still be in a strong position. What works so strongly in Google's favour is that unlike their competitors in this market they are already an established part of our online behaviour through basic search or Google owned YouTube (a key music discovery portal in it's own right for both audio and visual content). Google facilitates on-demand music discovery without the need for subscriptions or software downloads.

So when rumours surfaced a few weeks ago that Google was set to announce a new music service, interest was understandably high and If you have seen Google Music in China you could be forgiven be getting excited about the possibilities for future music discovery. So when the Google One Box announcement came last week it actually felt pretty flat. The Google One Box service directs users to preferred, partner sites allowing them to listen to a track once before presenting them with an option to buy. Great for the chosen partners, Lala, iMeem et al and the major labels desperate to convince consumers they should actually be paying for music, but what does this mean for independent artists who rely on selling direct from their own websites? Suddenly it feels like rather than empowering and facilitating music discovery Google are dictating it?

Their accent to global super-brand status seems to have been driven by a simple formula. 'Empower internet users with better tools for free' (See Google Mail & Maps) With this launch, have Google undone a lot of their good work and forgotten their key strength as a facilitator?

Just for a moment I was questioning their future role in music. Then I was reminded about Google Wave the brainchild of genius brothers Jens and Lars Rasmussen (who already have Google maps on their CV) Google Wave is a real time communication platform which was created from the start-point of 'What would email look like if it was invented today?' This potentially game changing service feels much more 'Google' and reconfirms their position as facilitator extraordinaire. It's too early to understand the full implications for music fans or artists, but it doesn't take much imagination to understand it's potential.

So I remain confident that Google will be a key player in music, but will it be a key player with Google One Box it's dedicated music offering which dictates where to buy or with Google Wave which empowers conversations and possible engagement around music? No doubt music fans will be the ones that ultimately decide.