Google to Shut Down China Music Service
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444620104578009941960495424.html
As the largest
and single most coveted market on the planet, China is filled with immense
opportunities for the entertainment industry if the content can break through the strict Chinese regulations. So
many forms of media and entertainment vie for the Chinese marketplace (Film,
TV, Books etc), but music’s incredibly unique characteristics place a greater
challenge in entering foreign markets alike. Film and TV have visuals,
gestures, dubbing and subtitles that allow any market to adapt to the content due
to foreign markets understanding “universal language.” Books also have the
option to be translated into different languages for each respective language.
Music does not have this flexibility or ability to modify itself for individual
markets – the content is consumed only in its original form. The beat and
melody can only drive foreign listeners towards the music, but the lyrics are
what give songs meaning and how listeners can relate to the emotions or message
of the artist.
Chinese Internet
users are also notorious for downloading illegal entertainment and media. In an
attempt to minimize piracy, Google developed a music search engine for China
called Google Music. With Google Music, users can unlimitedly stream any song
they want for free with higher sound quality than a pirated song. Record labels
teamed up with Google to license their music to develop the Google Music
software as a way to try and cut their revenue losses from pirating, cater to
the new style of music listening through streaming and cater to the Chinese
market. Google Music and the record labels would split banner advertisement revenues
on Google Music in exchange for their licensed music. However, Google Music
recently shut down after three years of service because of a lack of traffic to
not just Google Music, but Google itself.
Baidu is search
engine giant of China with 80% of the market share. Already the minority search
engine with 15% of the Chinese market, Google faced an uphill battle from the
get-go of getting users to even know about Google Music let alone use Google
over Baidu. In addition, Google Music’s only attractive service was the sound
quality being better than a pirated song. Yet, piracy triumphed over Google
Music because pirated songs allow for offline listening and Google Music only
had a narrow selection of music available because not every record label agreed
to license their music for this project. Using an underdog search engine and battling
a heavily pirating Chinese population, music industry executives should be more
hesitant on endeavoring in foreign markets because of preexisting, cultural practices
and music’s unique characteristics cannot bend towards other languages or
cultures like other entertainment forms can.
- Tejada, Carlos. "Google to Shut Down China Music Service." Wall Street Journal. N.p., 21 Sept. 2012. Web. 21 Sept. 2012. <www.online.wsj.com>.
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