Google has issued swift response to allegations it has been scraping song lyrics from a popular site to show them within Google Search.
Earlier this week, the Genius lyrics site claimed it rumbled Google via a watermark (of sorts) hidden in its use of apostrophes. Genius says it alternates between straight and curved apostrophes, as a means of catching who is lifting its content.
Now, in a wider blog post about how it brings lyrics to Search, Google has it will “soon” give credit to the those sites who provide the lyrics listed in search results. The company said it doesn’t “crawl or scrape” third-party sites and says the information boxes are sourced by its lyrics content providers.
The company said it wants that third-party provider to look into its practices to ensure they aren’t robbing from Genius. That could implicate the LyricFind service, which is known to be a Google supplier.
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Here’s what the product manager Satyajeet Salgar had to say on the matter in the blog post today: “News reports this week suggested that one of our lyrics content providers is in a dispute with a lyrics site about where their written lyrics come from. We’ve asked our lyrics partner to investigate the issue to ensure that they’re following industry best practices in their approach. We always strive to uphold high standards of conduct for ourselves and from the partners we work with.
“To help make it clearer where the lyrics come from, we’ll soon include attribution to the third party providing the digital lyrics text. We will continue to take an approach that respects and compensates rights-holders, and ensures that music publishers and songwriters are paid for their work.”
The statement from Google may not please Genuis, which continues to think its content is being thieved by someone, regardless of whether its Google or one of its suppliers.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
