Google partners with LyricFind for search results

Google has entered a deal with Toronto-based lyric licensing service LyricFind which is tipped to be "a significant revenue stream" for rights holders.

As the world’s largest lyric licensing service, LyricFind has added licensed lyrics from over 4,000 publishers in 100 countries to Google’s search results and within Google Play Music.

Kicking off in the US this week, Google now offers a featured placement for lyrics. 

Source: Engadget

Terms for the multi-year licensing deal weren’t disclosed; however it reportedly includes international licensing and is expected to create a new source of income for content creators and publishers.

LyricFind CEO and co-founder Darryl Ballantyne told Billboard: "It’s all based on usage," Ballantyne told Billboard. "Royalties are paid based on the number of times a lyric is viewed. The more it’s viewed, the more publishers get paid."

Lyric content is extremely popular online creating room for copyright infringement. According to research by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), there are more than five million Google searches every day for lyrics, with an astonishing 50% of all lyric page impressions recorded on unlicensed sites in 2013.

LyricFind is one of the tech industry’s largest advocates of legal digital content, having inked deals to provide lyrics and licensing services to companies like Amazon, HTC, MTV, APRA AMCOS, Deezer, Shazam, iHeartRadio and Pandora.

Its partnership with Google cuts out many third party websites which may be infringing copyright. Google is also using the deal to push users to its Google Play music service. Each featured placement of lyrics, or snippet card, comes with a link to view the full lyrics on Google Play. From there users can also purchase the song or use it to stream a free Station based on the track.