Google has reportedly signed deals with globe’s leading record companies, including EMI Group, Sony BMG, Universal Music and Warner Music Group, to allow the search engine to legally provide music to its users.
Google has also partnered with Chinese music site Top100.cn to provide the music via a library of more than one million songs, reports add. The service will be supported by advertising.
China is the only market worldwide that Google is extending this service into.
The decision to allow free downloads comes after failed efforts to gain a wider percentage of China’s search market share. Baidu, the far-and-away leading engine in the market, claims nearly 65 per cent of all China’s searches, much of which is attributed to its music-downloading capabilities.
Google trails Baidu as the second-largest search engine, claiming less than 30 per cent share.
In October, Baidu launched its first legal music-streaming channel following a barrage of lawsuits by record labels claiming Baidu’s existing downloading service infringed copyright laws.
Through that service, Baidu is also partnered with companies including EMI Music, Emperor Entertainment Group and Rock Records & Tapes, and the launch came one year after Beijing courts ruled that Baidu’s music search 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.
Google has also partnered with Chinese music site Top100.cn to provide the music via a library of more than one million songs, reports add. The service will be supported by advertising.
China is the only market worldwide that Google is extending this service into.
The decision to allow free downloads comes after failed efforts to gain a wider percentage of China’s search market share. Baidu, the far-and-away leading engine in the market, claims nearly 65 per cent of all China’s searches, much of which is attributed to its music-downloading capabilities.
Google trails Baidu as the second-largest search engine, claiming less than 30 per cent share.
In October, Baidu launched its first legal music-streaming channel following a barrage of lawsuits by record labels claiming Baidu’s existing downloading service infringed copyright laws.
Through that service, Baidu is also partnered with companies including EMI Music, Emperor Entertainment Group and Rock Records & Tapes, and the launch came one year after Beijing courts ruled that Baidu’s music search 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.
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