As most people who pay even mild attention to global current affairs are well aware of, China is growing at a tremendous rate in technology, sociology, and its economy.
As Professor Miyazaki's blog alluded to already, China's online presence (despite the fairly limited access Chinese internet users have to outside sources) is a big part of China's continued acceleration as a world power. One of the most interesting parts of this increasing technological capability for China is their use of search engines, particularly their restrictions on many popular engines versus their own custom search engines, and their uniquely lax attitudes towards other information sharing ideas.
Baidu, the primary Chinese search engine (in place of Google), is ranked 6th in the world in global traffic according to Alexa rankings, and a big part of Baidu's appeal for users is the vast amount of multimedia it allows people to search for. One of the main features of Baidu is a search option called "Baidu MP3," where someone can search for an MP3 of a song, and the search engine will come up with direct links to files for users to download for free. This feature is so popular, that a test of recording artist strength and marketability in China is the artist's place on the "Baidu 500," a chart of the most downloaded songs, similar to the iTunes download charts used here for example. The key difference obviously though, is that Baidu MP3s are entirely free, and yet this downloading still continues to take place despite legal concerns from recording artists.
To keep up with this, Google China began offering MP3s as part of its search engine, but in a legal way (partnering with major record companies and sharing advertising revenue in exchange for being able to offer the music files), and yet Baidu is still the main force for music in China.
China is often criticized for its policies towards internet piracy, and as its online presence grows globally, its certainly an issue that China's #1 search engine focuses heavily on allowing users to download music for free to help boost the site's traffic. As it has already been discussed in these blogs, online music sharing is its own controversial topic without a clear solution in the near future, but when the 6th most used search engine in the world (a ranking that can only go upwards as China continues its technological expansion) almost banks on free online music sharing, the problem grows even further.
China's internet community is certainly a bigger concern for U.S. companies then they'd like. With the MP3 aspect of Baidu, I don't see their growth coming to any sort of halt either. It is unfortunate that Chinese policy is no where as strict as U.S. policy on internet piracy, but U.S. companies will have to find another way to stay competitive in the Chinese market until such policies have been strengthened.
ReplyDeleteAs Michelle says above U.S. companies will seriously need to find another competitive edge if they want to make any sort of sizable entry into the Chinese internet market. However, the fact that China's legal system is so lax and allows companies to offer free pirated mp3 downloads to users is a tough competitive aspect to beat. Whereas western companies must deal with pressure from home markets, they couldn't possibly follow Baidu in a profitable manner (paying royalties to recording companies must seriously decrease from Google's profits). Until China's legal system catches up with its economic growth, I can't see too many western companies effectively entering the market.
ReplyDeleteThe infringement of intellectual property rights is only one of the many challenges western companies looking for business opportunities in China have to face. Anticompetitive behavior, corruption and bureaucratic obstacles are common complaints. However, my guess is the massive Chinese online market is so attractive that foreign investors will rarely be discouraged by such realities. I would not be surprised if direct foreign investment in China increases exponentially in the next few years, regardless of the deficiencies of the country’s legal system.
ReplyDeleteThe growth of users of internet in China would generate substantial changes in the standards the net world handles today, and Baidu seems to be one of its principal characters. Baidu's traffic is so strong that it seems today’s top ranking social network; Facebook could be displaced within less than 10 years.
ReplyDeleteLooks like somebody paid attention in Professor Wreiden's class afterall. Great post Chris Morris, China is now one of the largest economies in the world and its global economic power is now being felt on the internet more than ever. The Chinese government is not as strict when it comes to piracy as that of the United States, and the piracy of music is not viewed culturally as illegal to many. However, for China to be more accepted as the global economic power it no doubt is, its policies regarding piracy will no doubt have to change.
ReplyDeleteAs China continues to grow the more powerful it will become. There is no question of China's presence online and it's effect on the worlds and that this presence is only increasing. The online free music is in my humble opinion, no harm to artists. As a matter of fact, it benefits most of them. It's a free introduction to many artists who are not known in the third biggest economy in the world right now and the biggest economy in the near future.
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