As a part of its "play the web" mission, Yahoo has partnered with Rhapsody to offer free audio streams to Yahoo search results (read press release). Search results for some artists -- 10,00 at the time, reports Alley Insider -- will have an artist short cut at the top of the page. There are also links to lyrics (Yahoo has licensed lyrics from GraceNote), videos and albums.

Selected songs are played through the FoxyTunes music player near the bottom of the page. Yahoo acquired FoxyTunes in February.

The pros: You can pick from a small sample of songs and stream up to 25 in a month (the bar keeps track for you). It can be minimized to take up a very small and unobtrusive place to the left of the search results. And it's all very easy. An Internet user of any skill level can enjoy these functions.

The cons: Some search results do not come with audio stream (I'm sure Yahoo will add to the number of artists). Also, the audio stream will be interrupted if you navigate away from the page. That's a bit frustrating since the reason for a search engine is to follow the links it gives you (though it can be solved by opening a link in new window or tab).

Alley Insider's post has some tidbits not found in the press release:

Next month Yahoo will take it a step further, opening up its music pages to widget/apps from other services, including iTunes (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN). MySpace Music may eventually join the mix, Yahoo Music head Michael Spiegelman tells us. All of them will follow the same model, which Yahoo is now introducing throughout its site: The outsiders get a bit of Yahoo's valuable real estate to promote their stuff, and Yahoo gets more stuff to sell ads around.

Yahoo's "play the web" initiative is coming into focus and looks promising. The cloud that hangs over ad-supported music is the uncertainty of the outcome. Will offering free music act as a substitute or stimulus for music purchases, and what will be the net effect? There is evidence that satellite radio users purchase less music than non-users, for example. It's the same debate that pits broadcasters versus record labels and artists in the fight for radio performance royalties. At this point I would encourage as much experimentation and openness as possible. It's time to engage listeners and give them robust and easy-to-use online services.

Related: coming soon is a new Yahoo home page.

Posted by Glenn at 11:27 AM | Link
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