[photopress:IT_baidu_emi_logo.jpg,full,alignright]China Tech News reports that China’s largest search engine Baidu.com has closed a deal with music giant EMI to start a free music service.
‘Baidu will set up a special “EMI Music Zone” in its music search channel which will legally stream all of EMI Music’s Chinese repertoire, including recordings from artists such as Jolin Tsai, Stephanie Sun, David Tao, Sandy Lam and Richie Ren. While consumers listen to the music for free they will be exposed to Internet advertising, and EMI and Baidu will share the revenue generated by the advertising.’
It is a deal between unlikely partners.
[photopress:IT_baidu_EMI.jpg,full,alignleft]A traditional music provider fighting piracy with what could be thought heavy-handed methods and a Chinese service one of whose assets was access to pirated digital goodies.
The young model in the spotlight is wearing what I think, think, is a new logo. The deal was signed in the Peninsula Hong Kong and was brought by helicopter which landed on the roof. I think. Try NetEase for the somewhat incomprehensible story. It may well be written in rap or hiphop or some damn thing.
How lucrative the deal is going to be is still unclear. It is part of a growing trend in China — offering free goods or services in exchange for advertising. Video sharing service Tudou.com, three times the size of YouTube.com in China, has recently started to introduce advertisements.
Source: China Herald