Embrace what is surely part of the music industry's future.Baidu.com, the leading Chinese language ISP, and Rock Music Group (RMG), the world's leading independent Chinese language record label, have announced that they have established a partnership to provide an advertising-supported online music streaming service. According to the agreement, a selection of Chinese language music from RMG's music catalog will be made legally available for streaming at no charge to all users of Baidu.com. Internet advertising will be displayed while users listen to music licensed under the agreement with the two companies sharing all ad revenue generated. "This partnership with RMG, the world's leading Chinese language record label, reflects growing industry recognition of the advertising-supported free music streaming model," said Robin Li, Baidu's Chairman and CEO. "Advertising- supported music provides more listening options for Internet users and gives online advertisers a powerful marketing platform."
This deal could be great news for Chinese music listeners in that they will get free music in return for listening to ads, though considering Chinese music piracy is so rampant and seems to offer no content downloads it seems to be little more than a glorified internet radio station. Unlike US-based services like We7 and the one by Warner Music which offer ad-supported music downloads and streaming music videos respectively, this new partnership will offer no real desirable alternative to preexisting music content outlets. Yet, I must say that ad-supported music content is surely the future of the music industry.
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Sam Duann, RMG's founder said, "RMG has long been a leader in original music production as well as a pioneer in innovative music distribution. By leveraging Baidu's leading position in the Chinese language search market and its premier digital music platform, this partnership will bring value to music lovers, record companies and advertisers alike."
