Google and the Big Four music labels have launched an ad-supported music service in China in an attempt to make online music profitable there. The venture, launched along with 14 independent labels, will have to compete with search engines that point users to thousands of copyrighted music files for free, but Google hopes that this will make it even easier for users to find what they want online while ensuring artists get paid for their work.
This appears to be the same venture that Google discussed in August of 2008, now located at http://www.google.cn/music. The service is actually run through the partially-Google-owned Top100.cn, which is responsible for selling advertising space and divvying up revenues between the music labels. The site will be limited by IP address to those in mainland China, however, so if you’re in Taiwan or any other surrounding area and want to get a taste, you’ll be out of luck.
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