Google Launches MP3 Search Engine in China

Posted on 31. Mar, 2009 by in MUSIC INDUSTRY

Google officially launched its ad supported MP3 search engine in China yesterday. Similar services have existed in China for some time, including the most popular and widely used, Baidu. Google is the first to offer the service legally, after cutting a deal with all four major record labels that entitles them to a cut of ad revenue. The deal is something of an about-face for the record labels whose previous strategy was, unsurprisingly, to sue Baidu for copyright infringment – which they have done twice without success.

What is interesting about all of this is that these search engines is that they crawl the web looking for free MP3 downloads, and according to estimates by the IFPI about 99 percent of these downloads in China are illegal. However, instead of trying to shut down these Web sites and stop the illegal downloading Google and the major record labels that set up a system that actually profits from the huge demand for free music. The more demand there is for downloading – illegal downloading – the more people will utilize these search engines and the more revenue is generated for both Google and the labels.

This is significant because it represents a huge concession by the labels to file sharing. By giving their blessing to a service that makes it easier to illegally download music, they are actually going a long way toward legitimizing the practice. It looks like the major labels have realized that the demand for free music is overwhelming and that they need to find alternative ways of capitalizing on it. This is encouraging, even if it is at this point limited to the Chinese market.

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2 Responses to “Google Launches MP3 Search Engine in China”

  1. Rick Tuma

    31. Mar, 2009

    Do you see this idea migrating across the pond to our shores? It’s difficult for me to imagine the record industry admitting defeat on it’s own turf.

    • refe

      31. Mar, 2009

      It looks like the labels were willing to commit to this partnership because of how rampant file sharing and piracy has become in China – they couldn’t beat it, so why not join it? Here in the West they are still intent on exhausting whatever legal and political options available first.