Google, Facebook Plan to Beef Up Music Features

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Both Google and Facebook are reportedly planning to beef up their music features by allowing users to find and stream music more easily on their services, the New York Times reports. According to sources who have been invited to a Google event next week at Los Angeles' Capitol Building, the search engine giant is expected to reveal "a more efficient way" of finding, streaming and learning about music, which will reportedly involve Google linking up with music sites like Lala, iLike and Imeem.

Google has not aligned itself with any of the major labels as of yet, the NYT reports, but will respond to searches for songs by presenting a 30-second stream — or in some cases, a full track — powered by its partners. Essentially, it's a shortcut for users who may go directly to YouTube or the iTunes music store to be able to search and listen to music without paying for it.

Facebook is developing the option for users to send songs as a gift to friends, the NYT writes. As it stands now, Facebook users can send virtual birthday cakes and dogs and other tiny graphics for a small fee to other Facebookers. However, after a deal with Lala, for 10 cents, users will be able to send a song stream from the music service to other friends on Facebook. For a dollar, the song can be downloaded and imported into iTunes or other music players.

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Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

More Song Stories entries »

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