“Harlem Shake” Is Bigger Than You Think: Google Inc (GOOG)

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s YouTube will continue to be the tastemaker of choice here. YouTube is now serving more than 4 billion hours of content a month, and a lot of that comes in the form of music videos.

A Neilsen’s Music 360 survey last year showed that 64% of participants between the ages of 13 and 17 turn to YouTube for music. Why not? It’s free, even if they have to put up with the ads. A YouTube playlist can just stream in the background, and that beats Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P)‘s ad-supported algorithm-generated playlists with limited skips. That same survey found that just 35% of the participants listen to Pandora.

In the end, “Harlem Shake” will be another meme that comes and goes. Many will argue that it grew tired one or two weeks ago. However, its role in redefining the way that the music industry approaches copyright violators and the growing power of Google as a hit maker won’t be ignored or forgotten.

The article “Harlem Shake” Is Bigger Than You Think originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rick Aristotle Munarriz.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Aristotle Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google.

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