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[Update: Songs] Google Search now links to albums, artists in YouTube Music

YouTube Music in recent weeks has seen a spurt of new features from a revamped Now Playing screen to cloud library uploads. A related change now sees Google link to YouTube Music when you’re searching for albums.

Original 3/6: Like with movies and television shows, looking up music on Google yields useful information like lyrics, track list, and reviews. Search also links to streaming services where you can start listening immediately. On mobile, there’s a tray of icons in the Overview tab, while there’s also a “Listen” tab.

When searching for albums, Google now offers (via Reddit) the work in YouTube Music. A tap opens the mobile app or website to the listing, but does not start playback. The company’s primary streaming services joins Play Music, Spotify, Deezer, and iHeartRadio with other apps varying by region.

At the moment, YouTube Music only appears as an option when looking up albums. Knowledge Panels for individual tracks do not include the new service. This is a particular oversight given how people frequently ask Assistant to identify tracks that they hear, or search for songs by lyrics.

Another oddity is how YouTube Music does not appear when searching for an artist. Other services link to in-app profile pages to view all works.

This hopefully gets remedied, with users currently having to take the extra step of going to details and tapping on the album to perform a new search.


Update 5/3: Google Search now links to YouTube Music when you look for artists. Clicking will open a band’s profile in-app. In the “Listen” card/tab, the streaming service is listed before YouTube, Play Music, and third-party offerings. This integration is still not available for individual tracks.


Update 8/11: Five months after Search started surfacing YouTube Music in results, the Google streaming service is now an option when looking up songs. Like with albums and artists, it is the first result, while Play Music is now the last item listed on the web.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com