Google's music service in China, which lets users download Michael Jackson, U2 and Beyonce songs for free, may have helped increase its share of the worlds biggest Internet market, research company IResearch Inc says.
The service, which Google introduced at the end of March, had 22.4 million visits in April, according to a report IResearch posted on its Web site today.
Baidu.com Incs share of the Chinese search market in the first quarter was more than triple that of Googles, the Shanghai-based researcher estimates.
It is likely that Google's music service will have an effect on the second-quarter market share of search engines in China, Julia Zhu, the IResearch analyst who wrote the report, said in an interview today.
Google began offering downloads of licensed music with EMI Group Ltd, Warner Music Group Corp, Sony Corp, Universal Music Group and other record companies to compete against Baidu, which offers a search service that helps users find music on non-affiliated third-party Web sites.
The record companies unsuccessfully sued Baidu in 2005, alleging it violated copyright by helping users find downloads of pirated music.
More than 99 percent of online music in China is pirated, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
China had more than 316 million Internet users at the end of March, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Baidus' share of the Chinese search market rose to 74.1 percent in the first-quarter from 73.7 percent a year earlier, according to IResearch.
Google's share rose to 20.9 percent from 18.7 percent, the researcher said.
SHANGHAI BLOOMBERG
