Google to now include attribution to third-party lyric providers

The strained relationship between popular streaming websites and the music industry has come to light more often than not, in the past year. In what may be claimed as yet another incident blowing the lid off the controversial scenario of the music streaming industry, American digital media company Genius has accused technology giant Google of lifting its song lyrics and posting the same on the search platform.

If reports are to be believed, Genius claims that Google’s wrongdoing pertaining to published Genius’s lyrics on its platform have caused the latter’s traffic to drop considerably. In response, Google says that lyrics on the search platform are not created by the company itself, but are authentically licensed by partners. An observation however, says a different story – some of the lyrics depicted in the ‘Knowledge Panels’ were inclusive of the Morse code-based watermarking system belonging to Genius, raising viable doubts on Google’s statement.

According to the music repository company, Genius has repeatedly tried to contact Google since the last two years, to discuss thing pertaining to this issue. Back in April, Genius wrote a letter to the search engine giant that broadcasting lyrics without paying a separate licensing fee quantifies to breaking the site’s terms of service and breaching antitrust law. Add to it – the letter was sent at a time when technology companies were already under the regulatory radar, facing antitrust investigations.

Genius’s accusation of Google is definitely not the debut instance of music companies blaming streaming sites for displaying lyrics. Music publishing company Wixen has recently filed a copyright lawsuit against Pandora for displaying their lyrics without an authorized license. The company had made it to the headlines last year as well, for having filed a lawsuit worth USD 1.6 billion against Spotify in the California Federal Court.

In the face of the current scenario that is tense with repeated investigations by government regulators, Google, in response to Genius’s accusation, announced that it will now start attributing credits to the third-party partners which provide lyrics in the site’s information boxes.

The technology giant has also released an official statement claiming that investigations pertaining to Genius’s accusations are underway and that Google would refrain from working with lyric providers that do not uphold good practices.

Source Credits:

https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/18/google-will-start-attributing-lyrics-in-its-search-results-to-their-third-party-providers/