Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Merges With Songza

In a step in the ever increasing consolidation of the online music business, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) revealed that it had purchased Songza, an app that makes customized playlists of recommended songs, and competes with the likes of Pandora and Spotify.

The price was not disclosed by Google, but a person briefed on the deal, who was not authorized to publicly speak about its terms, revealed that Google paid more than $39 million for the three year old music app. Both representatives from Google and Songza did not comment on that number.

Now that Google owns Songza, the search engine giant could improve its ability to create personalize playlists of songs that are tailored for each user’s taste. Songza specializes in matching playlists to particular times of the day or to specific activities, such as studying, relaxing, entertaining friends. The music app had also stuck a deal with the Weather Channel, allowing it to tailor its music recommendations to the user’s current weather conditions. This collecting and sorting of digital content is known as “curation” – one of the hottest buzz words in the industry right now.

Songza said in a statement on Tuesday, “We can’t think of a more inspiring company to join in our quest to provide the perfect soundtrack for everything you do.” This statement was released on its website.

The Songza deal is not as impressive as Apple’s recent deal for Beats, which cost the search engine company $3 million. Beats, in addition to its line of trendy headphones, operates an up and coming subscription service that offers playlists curated by music experts. Most of that purchase price Google paid was attributable to Beats’ lucrative headphones business.

We shouldn’t expect to see any immediate changes to Songza. In an announcement, Google said that it plans to merge Songza’s services into the company’s existing features, such as Google Play Music or Youtube. Google Play Music features a music store that allows users to download music, very similar to Apple’s iTunes service. Google’s All Access offers subscribe services to streaming music, much like Spotify. Executives in the music industry complain that its appeal is limited, despite All Access being available in 28 countries within a year of being released.

Songza offers its playlists for free as well as advertising, could give Google a free ready-made music service , complete with experts in creating playlists.