CHINA / National
Clicks drive boom in legal music downloads
By Joy Lu (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-21 06:11
Cash strapped teenagers are topping up their music collections with cheap
legal downloads, as online music outstrips CD sales.
A rash of copyrighted music download websites have launched in China over
the past few months, offering rapid access to the latest pop hits for
around one yuan (13 US cents) per song.
Of course Internet search engines can still pick up illegal free download
sites, but all the talk of intellectual property rights (IPR) makes some
people feel guilty about stealing music online.
Instead of breaking the law they can now visit legal sites such as
top100.cn, which boasts a million-song catalogue.
Browsers might be looking for Taiwan heartthrob Wong Leehom, for example.
And sure enough, he's there, with his latest album, "Heroes of Earth."
And here lies the new media's real selling point the entire album can be
downloaded for 10 yuan (US$1.25), opposed to about 40 yuan (US$5) to buy
the CD.
A number of copyrighted music download websites, which buy songs from
record labels in the hope of targeting the mainstream market, have set up
shops since late last year.
MP3 maker Huaqi Information Digital Technology opened aigomusic.com in
October; established music website 9sky was re-launched in January; and
newcomers A8.com and top100.cn joined the race in March.
Tencent, which runs the popular QQ online chatting service, is also
testing the waters before launching its own music download service.
The excitement over Internet music distribution is hardly surprising with
Apple's iTunes setting the pace overseas. International Federation of
Phonographic Industry (IFPI) figures show that global digital sales
almost tripled last year to US$1.1 billion compared to 2004, accounting
for 6 per cent of recording companies' revenue.
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