I’m kinda surprised that the fact that Google will be providing a music search with the blessing of over a 140 plus music labels, including the Big 4, in China but the rest of us have to watch from the sidelines hasn’t gotten wider traction. Sure there are alternatives, for as long as they last before getting sued into oblivion by those very same Big 4 labels, but they definitely wouldn’t put a candle to what Google would be able to do.
In a weekend post on The New York Times Google says the following
Google executives said they were responding to the phenomenal popularity of free music downloads in China and were acting legally by forming an alliance with the music industry, including Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group, Universal Music and the Warner Music Group.
WTF are we? … sliced cheese?
Just because Google is in a battle with Baidu in China for eyeballs it manages to cut an advertising deal with all these labels but for the hundreds of millions of people around the rest of the world we basically get told – screw you.
I don’t totally blame Google on this one either because they wouldn’t have been able to do this without the blessing of the Big 4 labels. So it shows how once more the consumers of North America and Europe are nothing more than little play toys for these entertainment companies to play with as they feel like.
Well guess what – these little play toys are getting really pissed, if only one by one, with this kind of treatment. It’s no wonder that music is being pirated to the degree that it is when this kind of blatant shut up and put up attitude is made so clear as it is in this deal coming out of China.
Hey there, you got to understand that population does matter!
Hey there, you got to understand that population does matter!