Beijing - Google (NASD:GOOG) on Monday
launched a free, ad-supported music download service in China, with backing from the four
major record labels, Reuters reported. At launch, the service offers around
350,000 songs, a library that will expand to 1.1 million in coming months, Gary
Chen, CEO of Top100.cn — Google’s music partner in China — told Reuters. "This
is the first serious attempt to start (monetizing) the online market in China. I can’t
overestimate how important this is," Lachie Rutherford, president of
Warner Music Asia Pacific and Asia chairman of
the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), told Reuters. Read the rest of this entry »
Last year was the worst on record for the U.S. newspaper industry. Total advertising revenues (both print and online) declined 16.6 percent to $37.85 billion, according to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America. That is $7.5 billion less than in 2007. Print advertising alone declined 17.7. Classifieds were down 29.7 percent. And even online advertising was down 1.8 percent to $3.1 billion.