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Music site Orca announces $20m in funding

Orca Digital Inc, the Chinese company that partnered with Google Inc (GOOG.NASDAQ) to form an online free-music service, has raised an addition US$20 million in its latest round of funding, primarily from China Media Capital, the Wall Street Journal reported. Orca Digital, in which Google and National Basketball Association player Yao Ming both own stakes, is the operator of Top100.cn, a website offering users in China free music streaming and downloading services from the world’s four major record labels. The announcement followed a statement by Baidu this week that it will also carry licensed copies of more than 500,000 tracks from record labels, including Sony Corp’s (SNE.NYSE) Sony Music Entertainment, Vivendi SA’s (VIV.EPA) Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group (WMG.NYSE). Top100.cn provides about 6 million streams and downloads of songs a day, according to company chief executive Gary Chen. Chen added that Yao, who announced his retirement from the NBA on Wednesday, is expected to become more involved in the daily operations of Orca.

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