Music Onebox

Announcement
December 15, 2005

Google has added a music search feature to Google web search to quickly put users in touch with a wide range of music information including artists, albums, song titles, links to music reviews and places to purchase music. This feature is similar to the links at the top of Google results that we’ve provided in the past for movies and weather.

In analyzing our traffic, we found that a huge number of users conduct music-related searches. To better meet this need, we developed this feature to put users in touch with the information they’re looking for faster, and with a user interface specifically designed for music.

Here’s how it works: when a user enters the name of an artist popular in the U.S. (as well as some international artists) into the Google search box, they will see some information about that artist, including the name, a few albums, and a picture (when available), as well as a ‘more music results’ link at the top of their search results.

When users click through to the ‘music results’ page they will see user reviews, song titles, and links to a variety of online retailers where they can purchase music. Additional information on the ‘music results’ page includes links to news, photos, cover art, discussion forums and other websites relevant to the query.

While we are only showing music links in limited cases to start, we plan to expand the range of searches that trigger this feature over time.

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