Google Extends to Chinese Music Market

Google plans to make a move in order to bring free legitimate music to China

Google will announce its plans for a joint venture with Top100.cn that will give users free downloads of licensed music in China. The collaboration between the two companies will use online advertisement in order to generate revenue, according to Reuters.

Top 100 was launched using the capital of Yao Ming, the Chinese basketball star, and industry professional Ge Chen at an initial sum of $2.78 million.

Google’s plans to move into the Chinese music market will come as tough competition for other music sites such as Baidu. Baidu.com has developed its stance as the leading music search service China by offering pirated versions of MP3s.

Just last week , IFPI, Warner, Universal and Sony filed suit against Baidu, Sohu.com and Yahoo China for giving users access to infringed copyrighted materials. IFPI's report indicated “more than 99 percent of all music distributed in China are pirated”. China’s legitimate music market holds very little bearing on the global music sales, roughly less than 1 percent.

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the joint venture, claiming the company does not comment on rumors. No other details have been released on the planned deal.