Not so Neutral: Google, Bing, and Online Music Market

Both Google and Bing are searching for ways to position themselves as the best entertainment discovery tool.  While Bing's offering is slightly more robust than Google's; it may not take them long--as recent rumors suggest--to catch up.  Since, two weeks ago, the recording industry demanded that Google needs to stop linking to the Pirate Bay; it opens the big question as to whether or not they will sustain search neutrality, if they do open their own download store. 

Since removing the infringing links would likely ease the negotiation process with the major labels and drive profitability to their entertainment content strategy, like Bing has done, it remains to be seen if Google will take the same path.  Not doing so, could stall the negotiations required for Google to enter the digital music market and likely lead to an even bigger lawsuit than the Viacom case that was brought against YouTube.  As industry analyst Mark Mulligan framed this unique situation, ..."Google is going to need to decide whose side it is on."

Reporter Antony Bruno correctly states, “Successfully tying together a cloud-based music service with an online search and discovery system and a path to mobile phones--not to mention advertising around it all--is the digital content battlefield of the immediate future."