Despite being found not guilty in a previous case, China’s most used Internet search site Baidu is in legal trouble again.
Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, and Warner Music Group have all sued the site again over illegal music downloads, deeming it a winnable cause after last month’s ruling against Yahoo China. The companies are being represented by the IFPI which noted that the record companies had also sued Sohu.com, China’s third largest Internet portal.
The IFPI has stated that China’s market of legally distributed music files is a minuscule $76 million USD, less than 1 percent of the global market.
“It’s a matter of great regret that, despite the clear precedent laid down by the Yahoo China judgment, those Internet companies are instead choosing blatant violation of copyright” and the litigation that accompanies it, said John Kennedy, CEO of the IFPI.
Result for: files
The decently popular website Play.com has begun offering high quality, DRM-free MP3 music downloads for the relatively low price of 65p in the UK, and the company says it will start with about one million tracks from EMI and indie labels.
The files, which will be 320kbps, should be playable on most if not all media devices on the market, due to its MP3 format. Apple already offers EMI tracks DRM-free as well but in AAC format which is mainly supported by its iPod line. The price is also cheaper and a Play.com spokesperson has said that “we’re going to be cheaper than [Apple's] iTunes. Whatever price iTunes goes down to, we’ll be looking to go lower.”
In a recent decision, the EU has told Apple it must standardize its prices across Europe and so the tracks are expected to drop from its high 79p current price.
Play.com should also see competition from Amazon MP3 which already undercuts Apple’s track prices and offers DRM-free music from all major labels. So far Amazon MP3 is only in the US but it will hit the UK later this year.
The company says it is talking to the other major labels, “and if one or more had been quicker we might have held off the launch. We think that within the year, the others will be on board.”
Result for: files
Google has announced plans to enter the Chinese online music market for the first time by joining up with the popular Top100.cn, which allows users “to listen to and download licensed music files for free”.
The reports come via the major portal Sina.com and the portal added that the venture should generate revenue through online ads on its music search pages.
Google nor Top100 would confirm or deny the rumors however.
The new venture should help Google compete with the market leader Baidu which holds 60.1 percent share of China’s search market and has become very popular “by providing search services for and access to music files, or mp3s, many of which are pirated.” The popularity has however been monitored by the international music industry, especially the IFPI.
The IFPI has recently claimed that over 98 percent of all music files distributed in China are pirated and that the legal music market, a meager $76 million, stands as less than 1 percent of the global market for sales.
