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Song lyrics and trivia website Genius has accused Google of stealing its work for its own search results, according to the Wall Street Journal.
When you search for a song title using Google, the search engine will often display its lyrics in an information box at the top of your search results, along with videos, release date, song writers, and information on where to listen to it.
According to Engadget (who also reported on the story), the website claims Google is ânot only hurting its traffic with its lyrics cards, but sometimes grabbing Geniusâ lyrics verbatim,â which it says it can prove by looking at the apostrophes in the lyrics.
[ul]
[li]Check out our Google Home Mini review[/li][li]After something a little bigger? Try our Google Home Max review[/li][li]If you want to check out the competition, read our Amazon Echo Show review[/li][/ul]
This is because Genius alternated between straight and curved apostrophes âas a form of watermarkingâ â the website claims that there were âover 100 instancesâ were Googleâs search result-generated lyrics contained the exact same apostrophes.
Amusingly, these apostrophes have a secret meaning, reportedly spelling out âred-handedâ when converted to Morse codeâs dots and dashes.
[IMG alt="hn7aqR9fkbsBLH8DcQ4XqV" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hn7aqR9fkbsBLH8DcQ4XqV.jpg[/IMG]
Searching âWe Are The Championsâ in Google brings up the song lyrics along with a video from YouTube. (Image credit: Queen Official / EMI)
Google responds
Google has responded to the claims with a statement, saying: âthe lyrics displayed in the information boxes and in Knowledge Panels on Google Search are licensed from a variety of sources and are not scraped from sites on the web.â
âWe take data quality and creator rights very seriously, and hold our licensing partners accountable to the terms of our agreement. Weâre investigating this issue with our data partners and if we find that partners are not upholding good practices we will end our agreements.â
Genius says that Google is âboth violating antitrust law and its terms of serviceâ, and claims that it alerted the search engine to the problem in 2017.
Itâs unlikely this case will ever make its way to court, as itâs unlikely to go in Geniusâ favor â after all, Genius doesnât own the copyright to the song lyrics themselves, only having the right to display them.
For its part, Google doesnât admit to being caught âred-handedâ. However, the fact that itâs investigating the issue with its partners, and is willing to end agreements with those who donât âuphold good practicesâ could bode well for Genius, whose traffic has suffered dramatically since Google started displaying song lyrics in its search results.
Itâs not clear whether this will affect the âvisual lyricsâ feature that came to Google smart displays like the Google Home Hub and the Lenovo Smart Display in late 2018, and more recently, the Google Nest Hub Max. The feature automatically displays song lyrics on your smart display when playing music through Google Play â it doesnât work on every song though.
Still, itâs not all bad for Genius. Spotify subscribers get Genius-sourced lyrics shown in the Spotify app during songs, and the company has also integrated with Apple Music.
[ul]
[li]How to reverse image search with Google or Bing[/li][/ul]
Via Engadget
Continue readingâŚ
When you search for a song title using Google, the search engine will often display its lyrics in an information box at the top of your search results, along with videos, release date, song writers, and information on where to listen to it.
According to Engadget (who also reported on the story), the website claims Google is ânot only hurting its traffic with its lyrics cards, but sometimes grabbing Geniusâ lyrics verbatim,â which it says it can prove by looking at the apostrophes in the lyrics.
[ul]
[li]Check out our Google Home Mini review[/li][li]After something a little bigger? Try our Google Home Max review[/li][li]If you want to check out the competition, read our Amazon Echo Show review[/li][/ul]
This is because Genius alternated between straight and curved apostrophes âas a form of watermarkingâ â the website claims that there were âover 100 instancesâ were Googleâs search result-generated lyrics contained the exact same apostrophes.
Amusingly, these apostrophes have a secret meaning, reportedly spelling out âred-handedâ when converted to Morse codeâs dots and dashes.
[IMG alt="hn7aqR9fkbsBLH8DcQ4XqV" width="690px" height="388px"]https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hn7aqR9fkbsBLH8DcQ4XqV.jpg[/IMG]
Searching âWe Are The Championsâ in Google brings up the song lyrics along with a video from YouTube. (Image credit: Queen Official / EMI)
Google responds
Google has responded to the claims with a statement, saying: âthe lyrics displayed in the information boxes and in Knowledge Panels on Google Search are licensed from a variety of sources and are not scraped from sites on the web.â
âWe take data quality and creator rights very seriously, and hold our licensing partners accountable to the terms of our agreement. Weâre investigating this issue with our data partners and if we find that partners are not upholding good practices we will end our agreements.â
Genius says that Google is âboth violating antitrust law and its terms of serviceâ, and claims that it alerted the search engine to the problem in 2017.
Itâs unlikely this case will ever make its way to court, as itâs unlikely to go in Geniusâ favor â after all, Genius doesnât own the copyright to the song lyrics themselves, only having the right to display them.
For its part, Google doesnât admit to being caught âred-handedâ. However, the fact that itâs investigating the issue with its partners, and is willing to end agreements with those who donât âuphold good practicesâ could bode well for Genius, whose traffic has suffered dramatically since Google started displaying song lyrics in its search results.
Itâs not clear whether this will affect the âvisual lyricsâ feature that came to Google smart displays like the Google Home Hub and the Lenovo Smart Display in late 2018, and more recently, the Google Nest Hub Max. The feature automatically displays song lyrics on your smart display when playing music through Google Play â it doesnât work on every song though.
Still, itâs not all bad for Genius. Spotify subscribers get Genius-sourced lyrics shown in the Spotify app during songs, and the company has also integrated with Apple Music.
[ul]
[li]How to reverse image search with Google or Bing[/li][/ul]
Via Engadget
Continue readingâŚ