Google and the Big Four music labels have launched an ad-supported music service in China in an attempt to make online music profitable there. The venture, launched along with 14 independent labels, will have to compete with search engines that point users to thousands of copyrighted music files for free, but Google hopes that this will make it even easier for users to find what they want online while ensuring artists get paid for their work.
This appears to be the same venture that Google discussed in August of 2008. The service is actually run through the partially-Google-owned Top100.cn, which is responsible for selling advertising space and divvying up revenues between the music labels. The site will be limited by IP address to those in mainland China, however, so if you're in Taiwan or any other surrounding area and want to get a taste, you'll be out of luck.
"This is the first really serious attempt to start monetizing online music in China," Warner Music Asia president Lachie Rutherford told the Associated Press. Google China president Kai-Fu Lee agreed, adding that today's launch "complete[s] the puzzle" by offering a fully-integrated set of music and advertising services.
Google's music search is, of course, a direct response to the popular Chinese search engine Baidu, which has made a name for itself by providing deep links to seemingly unlimited quantities of illegal music. In fact, Baidu has recently come under fire for its MP3 deep-linking policies, as the Music Copyright Society of China and the IFPI have both filed lawsuits against the search engine for the practice.
The ad-supported music venture is the latest in a long string of efforts by Big Content to compete with piracy in China. In November of 2008, Warner Bros. announced that it planned to offer certain films as downloadable rentals in China for a fraction of the cost in other parts of the world (4 to 7 yuan, or roughly 58¢ to $1.02). Before that, Warner China (a joint effort between Warner Bros., China Film Group, and Hengdian Group) announced that it would start selling certain movies just days after their theatrical releases for as low as 10 yuan. Warner Bros. also joined up with Paramount to start selling legit DVDs in China for about 20 to 25 yuan, or just under $3.
One catch to Google's music service is that it will cooperate with Chinese law and block songs that have been banned by the government. This isn't exactly a surprising move, however—companies must agree to China's rules in order to do business there, or they can go home. "When you're in the music business in China you know you have to follow the regulations," Rutherford said.
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