Google has announced the launch of a music service in India to help users search for legal online music streams and downloads. The move is being seen as as one meant to fight piracy which has been bleeding the music industry.
The official Google India blog announced on Friday that the service is now currently in the labs stage. Using the Google Music Search India service, users in India (and even those outside) can search for Bollywood/Hindi songs from current hits to old classical numbers. The selected song will then be streamed by Google's partners over a pop-up web player. There are no restrictions on the number of times one can listen to the entire song. In the US, on the other hand, Google only allows short previews of the songs to be streamed.
"We think this will make your search and exploration for music content faster so that you spend more time enjoying music and less time in finding it. Above all, this streaming will be fully legal as Google Music Search (India) Labs offers music from partners who have legal permission to stream online," the announcement said.
As of now, Google has catalogued songs only from three sources ― SaReGaMa (India's largest music label), In.Com and Saavn.com.
According to a study conducted by Ernst & Young for the the US India Business Council (USIBC) in 2008, 64 per cent of the market estimated to be pirated. The total loss to the music industry in India is estimated to be $325 million, of which optical disc piracy takes a sizeable chunk of $255 million. Internet piracy costs $58 million, while cassette piracy is estimated to be $12 million.
In India, the music industry is primarily dependent on the film industry.
