Doubts over new download model

Users will soon have to start paying to download music from major music service websites in China, but doubt remains over whether this model will work out while there are still companies providing free music, market insiders told the Global Times Monday.

The era for free music downloading might be over in China, as record companies including Warner Music will work with major websites such as Kugou, Kuwo, Baidu and Tencent's music service websites to charge users for downloading their music, China National Radio (CNR) reported Sunday.

The pay model will be launched by the end of this year or early in 2013, and users will have to pay monthly package fees for high quality music downloading, according to CNR.

The news came about one month after Internet search engine giant Google Inc announced it would be shutting down its music search service, after working for three and a half years with Chinese music website top100.cn to provide free and legal music in China.

"We haven't worked out the details for fees, and a more detailed model will most likely be unveiled by the end of December," a member of staff at Kugou surnamed Zhang told the Global Times Monday, confirming the information.

"We are in the final discussions for the fee system… and we will make an announcement after it's settled," Yu Lei, media manager of Kuwo, told the Global Times Monday.

Baidu and Tencent did not directly answer the questions put to them by the Global Times, both stating that they currently still provide free music downloads.

The pay model is a good move to protect the copyright (of musicians), but it will make it more difficult for Internet music service providers to make a profit in China, said Ni Aiyun, a media manager with 9sky.com, an online music service provider that charges fees for music downloads.

The website pays expensive copyright fees to the record companies and therefore cannot make a profit from the downloading fees, which are currently set at 15 yuan ($2.4) per user per month, she told the Global Times.

Internet users can easily find websites offering free music downloads, many of which are supported by advertising, such as Baidu Music.

"The pay model for music downloading is a long-term trend," Wang Qian, a professor at the School of Intellectual Property at East China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times Monday.

Music is (an intellectual) property that is protected by the Copyright Law and it should be paid for, he said. It's just that many users do not accept this concept.

The policymakers should strengthen the fight against websites that provide illegal music downloading, Wang told the Global Times Monday. Otherwise it will be hard for music service providers to operate under the pay model.

"I'm willing to pay as long as high quality music is provided," a netizen named Zhang Yang said on his Sina Weibo Monday.

But Zhang's opinion is unusual. Only about 5 out of 1,000 users are estimated to be willing to pay to download music, Li Yanyan, an Internet analyst with consulting firm Analysys International, told the Global Times Monday.

It will take a long time to adapt to the pay model, she said, so online music service providers are not likely to have a large scale of revenue, let alone profit, from the new model.