If they sing a song, will you sing along?
I often get music artist recommendations from friends. It’s one of the quickest, easiest ways to hear about new bands that I might like. But when it comes to deciding if I actually like the music, I subscribe to the Ronald Reagan school of “Trust, but verify.” I prefer to get a taste of the artist before handing down my verdict, so it’s useful to watch some videos, listen to a few song samples and learn more about the artist. Today, Yahoo! Search rolled out a music artist shortcut feature that makes it faster and easier for me to determine if an artist is up to snuff.
Let’s use Feist as an example (a recent recommendation from Kevin, who’s posted here before). Entering “Feist” in the search box provides immediate access to the videos, songs and even the official site link (when there is one) — all from the search results page. There’s also quick links to see photos, find lyrics or check the discography (”Albums”).
And, if you’re just looking for a hit of nostalgia, check out an old music video that you may not have seen on TV. I thought U2’s “The Sweetest Thing” video was really amusing (but what’s Bono so sorry for?).
Try it for yourself! May I recommend Spoon or Zero 7? Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen have gotten a lot of attention lately. Or, take a trip down memory lane and check out The Rolling Stones or The Ramones.
And while you’re at it, here are some of the development team’s favorites:
- - Ashley Hall: Angels and Airwaves
- - Swati Raju: Macy Gray
- - Sam Sanchez: Shakira, Bob Marley
- - Felicia Jose: Thievery Corporation, Travis
We’ve got a few thousand artists covered right now and we’ll be working hard to expand the list (a lot of music artists just don’t have music videos). If your favorite music artist isn’t covered, let me know in the comments and I’ll investigate.
Ya-Bing Chu
Product Manager, Yahoo! Search
P.S. The first music video I ever saw was “Shout” by Tears for Fears. Before this experience, it had been 23 years since I saw it on MTV. Good times…
Hi there,
thanks for this new feature. But. I just tried to watch the Sweetest Thing video by U2 and if I click on the video link from this page http://music.yahoo.com/ar-266746-videos—U2 I receive in the new window a completely different music video…
Cheers,
Vittorio
That is awesome! The U2 video is not working though…
Hey, thanks. But, did you actually tested this thing? It just shows whatever video it wants to.
The video links for The Sweetest Thing appear to be working from our end… Vittorio and pooya, could you provide some more info?
1. Are you trying from the music.yahoo.com page or from the shortcut?
2. Does the video start playing if you use the small thumbnail on the Music Artist shortcut?
3. What Browser and OS you’re using?
(for instance, Mac Ffox users will fall back to the music.yahoo.com page, as that combo results in Flash video problems in page overlays)
Cheers,
Ya-Bing
What determines if a keyword gets turned into a Search Shortcut like the one you describe above?
Hi,
I tried on XP with both Firefox and IE. The video links don’t work because I’m in Ireland and if I click on the links I’m redirected to the US Music site where U2 and several other artists videos are skipped for other probably because of georestrictions. If this is the case you should probably make it so that users from outside the US get redirected to the appropriate sites.
Bye!
Thanks Gaetano,
You’re absolutely right. International users using the US Search product may not be able to view certain videos, due to recording label restrictions. We’ll work on making that in-product communication more clear.
Thanks for the feedback, all!
Ya-Bing
Bono’s sorry because he missed his wife’s birthday while the band was in the recording studio. So he wrote a song for her.
BTW, the song dates back to 1986-87. The video is for an updated version they did in ‘98.
Nice feature. Although I’m using Clusty more and more, I’ll give this a try.
I presume it’s only going to work from content on Yahoo! Music, which is a shame - they only seem to cover large artists as opposed to carrying a larger database of artists, like MusicBrainz / Last.fm does (which, as it happens, is where I search for all artist information).
I know it’s never going to happen, but it would be ace to see Pickled Dick (pickleddick.com) and Encyclopedia (encyclopediamusic.com) on there…
Very nice! I see many of the artists I like including Moby, Crystal Method, Chemical Brothers. How about Orbital? They’re on Yahoo! Music here:
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-260371—Orbital
Hi Richard,
Nice choice! Sadly, Orbital has no music videos, so we don’t show the module.
My favorite Orbital song is Lush 3-3. It’s long, but certain parts are simply perfect. Nothing Left and Halcyon are always fun too.
Thanks for your feedback!
yc
Did you remove this shortcut? I’ve tried several searches including the ones linked in this post and don’t see any shortcut. A shame.
Nice improvments of the Yahoo! music service !
Yahoo! the artist
I’ve been using AMG (AllMusicGuide) and Napster to look for new and older music - mostly older. The thing with AMG is that you can get a complete discography of the artist you know and those that you don’t. That way you can fill in those CD’s of an artist you like - if your a rabid collector like me, as well as listen to unknown stuff. If you’re a Stones fan - do you have their first album? It was released in 1964 and is, of course, now on CD - the title is “England’s Newest Hit Makers”. Later.
That is awesome! The U2 video is not working though…
Hi.
My favorite Orbital song is Lush 3-3. It’s long, but certain parts are simply perfect. Nothing Left and Halcyon are always fun too. thanks
Hi! are songs performed by non-american artist could be found here as well?