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Google Music Trends
August 24, 2006 |
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 Google Talk started out as a simple tool exactly one year ago today,
with your basic IM functions including both voice and text chat. It was
having a slow build into the mass market, but there really hasn’t been
any reason why someone should stop using their MSN or Yahoo! messengers
outside of the clean interface and Apple iChat style bubbles. More
recently, Google Talk added features that make it more appealing to the
demanding IM public, including file transfer, song title display, and
the piece de resistance - which no other IM tool has perfected -
voicemail. Now they’re talking! (pardon the pun) It appeared as if
Google had its sights set more on the VOIP market than the chat market,
targeting services at the level of Skype and its EBay partnership. What
does all this mean? I’ve adopted Google Talk more readily, not
necessarily as my main chat, but it has a place in my taskbar now.
But today… oh brother, today…. I don’t know how many of you opened your
Google Talk this morning, but awaiting me in my contact window was a
message that both excited and shocked me, and by shocked I mean how did
we/I not see this coming? The message read: “Do you want to share your
music listening history with Google Music Trends?”
Google
Music Trends? And it slowly started to sink in….
Billboard has literally owned the music charts for the past 50 years;
reporting on what radio stations all over North America were playing and
by so, what people were listening to, but who listens to radio anymore –
Howard Stern? They also tabulated record sales, but who buys complete
records anymore? I know that from where I sit, I would much rather have
the radio off than hear the same songs in rotation hour after hour –
there is only so much pop one man can stand. And as much as they say
Payola scandals are a thing of the past, there are more and more reports
of DJs taking money on the side to get songs on the air – how else can
Paris cut an album and get airplay? For record sales… when was the last
time you heard of somebody selling millions of albums, they even lowered
the standards for what merits a Gold album when Napster burst on the
scene. People listen to digital music now, whether it is an iPod or
knock-off, on their computer or phone, people buy individual tracks and
set the soundtrack to their own lives. Gnarls Barkley recently went to
number one in the UK without a single for sale in stores, based entirely
on downloads. It only makes sense that Google, the proprietor of all
things online, be the person telling us what is hot in music, after all
its in their domain now.
Now, Google Music Trends is such a breath of fresh air, even offering
artist or song searches launched from the Trends page by clicking on the
name of the song or artist. As long as you are using Google Talk, and
opt-in to share your music listening history, you are playing a part in
the charting of Google Music Trends, you and millions of people like
you. Sound interesting? I would say it’s much more interesting than a
weekly publication that could be written 3 weeks in advance because they
know what radio stations are scheduled to play. Fewer and fewer bands
are breaking out on the Billboard charts, that landscape hasn’t changed
in decades, but Google Music Trends promises to change on a daily basis.
This isn’t change based on what is scheduled to play either, though many
of you out there may rotate tracks from Christina Aguilera, Kelly
Clarkson and Paris Hilton hour after hour, there are many others looking
for something new. And these charts, like MySpace, are giving the reins
over to the users in such a way that no one person can take control, if
something is great, more and more people will find out. Sort of like in
the old days when I discovered bands based entirely on the
recommendations of friends, but now my network of friends has gotten so
much bigger.
 Google Music Trends allows you to sort by both genre and country, so if
you are a big fan of the alternative scene in Britain (which I so
vehemently am…) then you can see what’s bubbling under the surface and
is soon to make its way over to North America – though so much doesn’t,
and I can only assume it is because of the shortage of silicone in the
British music scene; plastic faces make plastic music.
Google Talk is growing up. It is one year old now and many more features
deep, and in the coming weeks, you are likely to see it’s taste in music
grow as well. Our baby might soon be going through its college romantic
stage where it’s only hip if nobody else has it. I’ve been a fan of the
applications and functions that Google has been releasing as of late,
but this latest one blindsided me, hitting me in a way that only Apple
has attempted to before, breaking out of the organization and into the
lifestyle. It’s good to be organized, but as we all know, there’s more
to life than that, for instance getting Thom Yorke’s “Harrowdown Hill”
to number one on the Alternative Google Music Trends!
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 Cory
Bates
Search Marketing Strategist
Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Enquiro Full Service
Search Engine Marketing
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