The eighth part of our end-of-year roundup, originally published in the Music Ally report. New to the series? Start from part one.Google's relationship with the music industry is the definition of the term 'frenemy'. With YouTube and Vevo it has become a strong partner to labels, but has fallen out spectacularly with GEMA. Its attitude towards copyright has been the biggest sticking point, until this month's surprise announcement at least.Google's peculiar status can be summed up thus: it owns the biggest music consumption platform in the world in YouTube, yet also the biggest index to illegally downloadable music in the world in its search engine. It launched a piracy-busting ad-supported downloads service in China, yet its AdSense ads are regularly spotted generating (theoretical) revenues for pirate sites. Oh, and did we mention it wants to launch a locker service…YouTube remains at loggerheads with GEMA and several artists in Germany, yet it settled its dispute with PRS for Music in the UK. Its copyright infringement case against Viacom was a salutary reminder of how far the video site has come since being acquired by Google though: its ContentID system has been a qualified success in helping labels make money from user-uploads of their content, although publishers have complained about how Google recognises rightsowners in this area.In a way, many of the historic problems between Google and the music industry have been down to a culture clash – epitomised this year by a tweet from Google's Nikesh Arora saying “Going to talk to the British music industry this week. Thoughts from all of you on what to enlighten them about?” It did little to dispel the perception of Google as arrogant and unconcerned about rightsholders' issues with the way it did business.This is why the recent announcement on copyright infringement is so important, notwithstanding the concerns of some music industry bodies – notably the BPI – that Google's steps do not go far enough.The company has committed itself to making its takedown notice process easier; tweaking its search Autocomplete feature so that users aren't prompted to add 'torrent' and other piracy-related terms to their queries; bumping up its AdSense anti-piracy tools to boot pirate sites off the service; and working with legal music services to offer preview samples within its search results.What Google isn't doing is removing infringing sites from its search results automatically – not without a takedown request, anyway. It's this that provoked the BPI's ire, with boss Geoff Taylor saying it “still ignores the heart of the problem – that Google search overwhelmingly directs consumers looking for music and other digital entertainment to illegal sites”.However, other stakeholders have told Music Ally that Google's steps correspond to their wishlist for changes on its services. The important point is that Google has listened to the industry and acted on many of its concerns. Unsurprising, given that it is simultaneously in negotiations with rightsholders to launch its own music service, which will require as much goodwill as possible given its proposed cloud storage elements.If 2010 was about that listening process, 2011 will be the proving ground for whether Google Music can really make a difference to the music industry – as WMG's Edgar Bronfman Jr hopes it might, judging by comments in his most recent quarterly results call. This month's launch of Google eBooks provides ample proof of the company's ambition: a service that lets people buy e-books and read them across different platforms, devices and browsers.The history of iTunes has made music rightsholders wary of trusting technology companies promising to revolutionise their business, but it has also made them keen to foster genuine competition for Apple in the music space. Google could fit the bill, which is why 2011 may see the music industry clasping its frenemy close.Music Ally Trends of 20101. Growth and Decline2. Pressure on ISPs3. Pirates Under Attack4. Mobile Apps Mania5. Clouds and Silver Linings6. The Economics of Streaming Music7. Music Gets Socialised8. Google versus the Music Industry9. Music Investment10. Music TV Makes a Comeback
