Baidu launches legitimate music channel

According to Chinese reports, the channel, called New Song Debut, legally pairs Baidu with labels including EMI Music, Emperor Entertainment Group and Rock Records & Tapes to offer albums from nine Chinese artists for streaming.

This comes nearly a year after Beijing courts ruled that Baidu’s music search - which linked to sites that allowed users to illegally download music - was not classified as copyright infringement.

The ruling cleared the Chinese search engine of lawsuits issued in 2005 by seven international record labels, including EMI and Warner Music.
Baidu had announced a planned partnership with EMI in January of last year and another deal with Rock Records in July 2007 to provide legal streaming content.

The free streaming site will be supported by digital advertising.
Meanwhile, EMI competitor Universal Music Group has also entered the Chinese online media market by announcing a partnership with video site Youku.com. Universal announced yesterday that it will host an online talent contest across China via the video-sharing platform.