Google offers free music downloads in China

Google is launching a music search engine in China, and the service will give users free downloads of copyrighted songs. Artists get paid from ad revenue split between the music industry and the music download site Top100.cn.

Users in China can search for their favorite music artists and their albums on Google.cn and can then download the music free of charge from Top100.cn's site. Previously, a music search only provided buy links and lyrics, but now users can listen to, or download music, free. Artists will get paid from the ad revenues on Top100.cn after being split between them and the music industry. This initiative is meant to curb online piracy and help musicians gain ground in the thriving Chinese market, which has the largest number of Internet users in the world. Google said in a press release:

"We believe this partnership will help foster a thriving and legitimate music business in China by providing music labels and publishers with a new channel to distribute, promote and monetize their valuable music content."

This Google Music service will not be available in other countries where Google doesn't have the same rights. In China, Google is ranked No. 2 in search with a 26 per cent share of the market, compared to Baidu, which controls a dominant 63 per cent of the search market share. Google wants to change that. Recently Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google's China division, announced plans in April to hire an additional 200 staff to strengthen the company's product offerings. Google plans to become No. 1 in China within the next five years.