[Cc-hk] Google offers free music to China

Joichi Ito jito at neoteny.com
Thu Aug 7 01:50:05 EDT 2008


Can we get CC music in this somehow?

- Joi

On 7 Aug 2008, at 14:04, Rebecca MacKinnon wrote:

> http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/08/google-offers- 
> m.html
> Google offers free music to China
>
> 5:50 PM, August 6, 2008
>
> In China, Baidu is the powerhouse, the "it" girl, the search engine  
> to beat. It's a treasure trove of music, most of it illegal. But  
> Google may have found a way to increase its market share there --  
> offering free music legally.
>
> The U.S. search giant launched a beta version of a Chinese music  
> service called Music Onebox, which is available only in China at www.google.cn 
> .
>
> "We are launching Music Onebox to give users an easy and legal way  
> to find the music they're looking for, and to give music labels and  
> publishers a new channel to distribute, promote and make money off  
> of their valuable music content," said a Google spokesperson.
>
> The way it works: When visitors to Google's home page search for  
> artists or bands, they are directed to www.top100.cn, a music site,  
> to download or stream music. The site has financial backing from  
> basketball wonder Yao Ming. Yes, the very tall one.
>
> Google said it would not share in the money made off of ads on the  
> music service. Instead, the ad money would be split between www.top100.cn 
>  and the music labels and publishers.
>
> The new service is a direct challenge to Baidu, at a time when Baidu  
> is under increasing pressure to pay up for facilitating music  
> piracy, says ArsTechnica. At the moment, the selection on top100 is  
> limited, says Music 2.0.
>
> Google's Music Onebox is the YouTube model all over again, said  
> Brian Zisk, executive producer of the SanFran MusicTech Summit and  
> technologies director of the Future of Music Coalition: Make itself  
> the center of media and then try to figure out how to monetize it.  
> Except in this case, Google is using the lure of free music to draw  
> people to Google.
>
> "They are establishing their presence there," Zisk said. "One way or  
> another, they can turn it into money."
>
> If Music Onebox works in China, why not here?
>
> In the U.S., such a service is unthinkable right now because the  
> U.S. market still pays some of the music industry's bills. But in  
> China, not so. The music industry is willing to gamble there because  
> it says to itself, " 'Well, we're not making money in China anyway,'  
> " Zisk said.
>
> -- Michelle Quinn
>
> Image of the Chinese music site top100.cn
>
> Permalink	| Comments (0) 	 		
>
>
> -- 
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>
> Rebecca MacKinnon
> Assistant Professor, Journalism & Media Studies Ctr.
> University of Hong Kong (http://jmsc.hku.hk)
> E-mail: rmack at hku.hk | Tel: +852-2219-4005
> Blog: http://RConversation.blogs.com
> Co-founder: http://GlobalVoicesOnline.org
> "The world is talking. Are you listening?"
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