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Google's lyrics are licensed from Musixmatch. They are not scraping them from websites who as always are completely free to exempt themselves from searches via

Google's lyrics are licensed from Musixmatch. They are not scraping them from websites who as always are completely free to exempt themselves from searches via the sitemap.xml file.

cblconfederate 6y ago
The license is basically a death sentence (or alternatively a fragile lifeline) if the lyrics page is not being linked to. Former content producers for the open web have turned to content producers for Google. This is how serfdom works
- aahortwwy 6y ago
  You could've chosen a better example of "content producers for the open web" than lyrics websites. Musixmatch didn't write Money For Nothing.
- adriancr 6y ago
  Lyrics are not produced by the page hosting them, if anything those are a cancer of ads and malware that I steer away from. Google can probably do voice recognition now on songs and get the lyrics without outside parties (see youtube cc which is pretty good). Or they can strike a deal with music companies to get lyrics when they get the songs...
- sukilot 6y ago
  You've got it exactly backwards! Lyrics are copyrighted. Google is the serf here, renting lyrics from musixmatch.
JimWestergren 6y ago
>exempt themselves from searches via the sitemap.xml file Nitpick: you mean meta noindex and/or robots.txt
nabla9 6y ago
I think what cblconfederate is getting into is the business environment with nothing but bad options. It's the Walmart conundrum for suppliers except for internet content production. Google and Facebook are the Walmart in this. The success of Walmart created an environment where only good business decisions in a short term destroyed of the brand and profits in the long term. (1) If supplier did not deal trough Walmart, their market gradually declined because Big-Box Retailers squeezed out alternative channels. (2) Eventually supplier made deal with Walmart to stop decline in the market share. First years saw profits increase and huge increase in sales. But Walmart buyers come in regularly every year and demand smaller price. And they don't take no as an answer. They are ruthless negotiators and religious about cutting prices. First supplier profit margins drop, then absolute profits, then they must cut the quality of the product. Eventually they have destroyed their brand and the product. There are hundreds of suppliers who suffered this fate. Destruction of Levi Strauss brand and quality is classic business case.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
  All businesses operate under constraints, and the constraints change over time as technology and tastes develop. Most possible businesses face constraints that make them unviable, and so they are never created. Music lyrics sites just seem like an unviable business. They license low-value data from the owner, surround it with a crapton of ads, then serve that up to users. They have very little stickiness and one is about as good as another. From a user perspective, having those results directly on Google is better about 90% of the time. There are only two lyrics sites I'm aware of that offer any value above Google's version: songmeanings.net and genius.com, and the little value they provide comes from the hosting of user comments. Lyrics sites come up a lot on here, but I do not really understand why. Consumers do not get much benefit from their continued existence. The only people who benefit are the site owners themselves.
- yyyhhh 6y ago
  But isn't this also why prices are do much lower today? Internet content making is someone anyone can do. It's hard to make it profitable. Is this really the fault of big tech?
tyingq 6y ago
This claim seems credible: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/thr-esq/genius-says-it-caught-google-lyricfind-redhanded-stealing-lyrics-400m-suit-1259383 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/thr-esq/genius-says-it...

Google's lyrics are licensed from Musixmatch. They are not scraping them from websites who as always are completely free to exempt themselves from searches via the sitemap.xml file.

cblconfederate 6y ago

The license is basically a death sentence (or alternatively a fragile lifeline) if the lyrics page is not being linked to. Former content producers for the open web have turned to content producers for Google. This is how serfdom works

aahortwwy 6y ago
You could've chosen a better example of "content producers for the open web" than lyrics websites. Musixmatch didn't write Money For Nothing.
adriancr 6y ago
Lyrics are not produced by the page hosting them, if anything those are a cancer of ads and malware that I steer away from. Google can probably do voice recognition now on songs and get the lyrics without outside parties (see youtube cc which is pretty good). Or they can strike a deal with music companies to get lyrics when they get the songs...
sukilot 6y ago
You've got it exactly backwards! Lyrics are copyrighted. Google is the serf here, renting lyrics from musixmatch.

JimWestergren 6y ago

>exempt themselves from searches via the sitemap.xml file Nitpick: you mean meta noindex and/or robots.txt

nabla9 6y ago

I think what cblconfederate is getting into is the business environment with nothing but bad options. It's the Walmart conundrum for suppliers except for internet content production. Google and Facebook are the Walmart in this. The success of Walmart created an environment where only good business decisions in a short term destroyed of the brand and profits in the long term. (1) If supplier did not deal trough Walmart, their market gradually declined because Big-Box Retailers squeezed out alternative channels. (2) Eventually supplier made deal with Walmart to stop decline in the market share. First years saw profits increase and huge increase in sales. But Walmart buyers come in regularly every year and demand smaller price. And they don't take no as an answer. They are ruthless negotiators and religious about cutting prices. First supplier profit margins drop, then absolute profits, then they must cut the quality of the product. Eventually they have destroyed their brand and the product. There are hundreds of suppliers who suffered this fate. Destruction of Levi Strauss brand and quality is classic business case.

asdfasgasdgasdg 6y ago
All businesses operate under constraints, and the constraints change over time as technology and tastes develop. Most possible businesses face constraints that make them unviable, and so they are never created. Music lyrics sites just seem like an unviable business. They license low-value data from the owner, surround it with a crapton of ads, then serve that up to users. They have very little stickiness and one is about as good as another. From a user perspective, having those results directly on Google is better about 90% of the time. There are only two lyrics sites I'm aware of that offer any value above Google's version: songmeanings.net and genius.com, and the little value they provide comes from the hosting of user comments. Lyrics sites come up a lot on here, but I do not really understand why. Consumers do not get much benefit from their continued existence. The only people who benefit are the site owners themselves.
yyyhhh 6y ago
But isn't this also why prices are do much lower today? Internet content making is someone anyone can do. It's hard to make it profitable. Is this really the fault of big tech?

tyingq 6y ago

This claim seems credible: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/thr-esq/genius-says-it-caught-google-lyricfind-redhanded-stealing-lyrics-400m-suit-1259383 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/thr-esq/genius-says-it...