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Google Launches Free, Legal Music Downloads in China

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the still-the-underdog-somewhere dept.

Wired is reporting that Google has a launched a new music download service in China to better compete with the leading search company there, Baidu.com. Offering some 350,000 songs, a number set to rise to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.1 million in the coming months, the library includes both Chinese and foreign artists signed by Sony Music, EMI, and Universal Music. Proponents of the new service are also hoping it will combat illegal music downloads simply by offering higher quality songs for download. There are no immediate plans to expand this service beyond China.

8 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Proxy anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds like a perfect way for the US to download high quality music with nothing more than a simple proxy.

  2. Positive Reinforcement by Ahnteis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So let me get this straight -- massive piracy leads to free, legal downloads? I'm going to start installing p2p clients on every computer I'm asked to fix!

    1. Re:Positive Reinforcement by francium+de+neobie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just do it like the bankers - if everyone is a pirate, you're "too big to be prosecuted".

  3. Give it away, Give it away, Give it away now... by geekmux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, let me get this straight. In order to stop the ever-growing black market of illegal music downloading and distribution, Google chooses to open up shop for free?

    So, if I start a massive wave of downloading pirated Microsoft software, when do I get my free copy of Office?

    The Chili Peppers had it right all along I guess...

  4. New business plan by Yetihehe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. Give music away for free 2. ?? 3. ???

    --
    Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
  5. Trying to Compete by hax0r_this · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would assume that Google is paying a small price for every download. From the sound of things they might recover a small portion of their costs in ad revenue, but the real goal is to offer a compelling service to capture more of the massive Chinese advertising market.

    Chinese Internet users now make up something like half of all internet users, and Google is currently losing to Baidu in that market. Thats a HUGE market to be losing in. So even if Google sees a net loss on offering music downloads, if they can become to Chinese internet users what they are to internet users in the rest of the world they just nearly doubled their ad viewers. Sure, an ad view in China is probably worth a little less, but with billions of viewers it hardly matters.

  6. Re:Proxy anyone? Until... by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    '"Born in the USA" will likely get binned...'

    Have you listened to the lyrics?

    Like, REALLY listened to the lyrics?

    I'm not just talking Republican National Convention playing the chorus over and over. Seriously. Born in the USA is not a shining example of feel-good patriotism. It's an ironic intervention against an America that's forgotten its defenders.

  7. Re:So... by punkr0x · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You also have to ignore google for a while so they feel it necessary to lure you back with free songs.