Should Google do more to combat music piracy?

A lot of criticism has come Google's way from artists such as Tinie Tempah, who claim that search-engines aren't doing enough to combat online music piracy. Enter a search term like "tinie tempah MP3" and your SERP will look something like this:

Tinie was amongst the artists who signed a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron stating that search-engines should "play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites," effectively pushing legitimate sites up the rankings.

Which sites might Tinie expect to see for this search?

Amazon

Amazon MP3 is a Labrinth (get it?) of session IDs. In fact, Amazon breaks all the rules when it comes to e-commerce SEO. Google has e-commerce ambitions of its own and hardly wants to reward its biggest rival for not following its guidelines – especially not with Google Music on its way to the UK.

Google Music

Google's own MP3 store still isn't available outside of the US, due partly to drawn out negotiations with record labels. The fact that Google does now demote sites which receive multiple copyright complaints is "helpful background music to these discussions [between Google and the labels]" according to the chief executive of the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI); suggests it's probably fair to say that the power really rests with the record labels when it comes to rolling out Google Music in the UK. Maybe they're the ones who should be doing more?

iTunes

Even if you manage to find Tinie Tempah's iTunes page in a Google search, you have to download Apple's monster of a music management program before you can buy his music. In fact, iTunes ranks in a search for "tinie tempah download" because the meta description says Apple wants you to "download iTunes now". Chances are that if you're going to download your music from iTunes, it's because you already have it installed on your computer, where Google penalties for scraped content don't apply.

Tinie's website: tinietempah.com/downloads/

One site which does show up when you search for "tinie tempah download" is the rapper's own website. Every major artist in the world has a social media presence, since they know how important it is for their careers; so why are they neglecting their own websites?

People landing on tinietempah.com/downloads/ will only find some sexy Tinie Tempah wallpapers, which is unlikely to be what they're looking for.

What they're actually looking for is his online store, which is sat on a separate domain with comparatively little authority (Open Site Explorer says tinietempah.com has 578 linking domains, compared to tinietempahstore.com's three) and doesn't really appear in the SERPs.

Tinie and EMI obviously know that people visit Google and search for "tinie tempah MP3s" so why don't they make the effort to rank for that term when they own a site that sells them? It doesn't matter if Google demotes pirate sites if the legitimate sites aren't even relevant for the search terms.

Easy wins for EMI and Tinie

EMI's own website has massive authority, but doesn't currently link through to Tinie's webstore. When EMI reported that Tinie's album is nominated for the Mercury Prize, pointing readers to a place where they can Buy Tinie Tempah MP3s would be the most natural, relevant link in the world. Edit Tinie's title tags and Google will have a genuine result to display which already sits on a keyword rich domain.

If it was simply a case of uploading your content (whether that's a blog post or an MP3) and waiting for the money to roll in, nobody would be reading B3Labs (or SEOmoz or any of the other great blogs out there) hoping for insights on how to make that happen. Likewise, record labels need to learn that waiting for other websites competing for your key terms to get hit with a penalty is not the way to do SEO.

Just how many people actually are searching for "Tinie Tempah MP3s"? Google's Keyword Tool says 5,400 people in the last month.

Compare this to how many people asked the search-engine "how do I download music" and it shows that record labels might be better spending their marketing budgets making it easier to find music legitimately, than trying to make it harder to download it for free.

How much does online piracy cost EMI each year? Probably a lot more than some simple SEO would.

BY Stephen Kenwright AT 12:06pm ON Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Stephen graduated with an MA in Renaissance Literature, and gained experience as a Copywriter and SEO professional at agencies in Manchester and London. Missing Yorkshire, Stephen came to Branded3 as part of our Web Outreach team earlier this year, on the same day Penguin was released - coincidentally!