Baidu, China's largest search engine, said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement with major music studios for the licensed distribution of music through its mp3 search service.
Baidu said in a statement it had signed the agreement with One-Stop China, a joint venture company whose shareholders are Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony Music.
Under the terms of the deal, Baidu will remunerate music content owners on a per-play and per-download basis for all tracks delivered through its mp3 search service.
"Baidu has always striven to provide the best possible experience to our users," said Jennifer Li, Baidu's chief financial officer.
Baidu also confirmed the launch of its social music platform, ting!.
The agreement caps off years of acrimonious legal wrangling between music studios and Baidu whom the studios accused of abetting piracy via its mp3 search that provided links for users to download pirated music.
Baidu said in the statement that the agreement between One-Stop China was accompanied by a conciliation agreement endorsed by the Beijing High People's Court that ended outstanding litigation between all parties involved in the deal.
"ting!" will be supported by advertising and One-Stop China will license to Baidu its catalogues and new releases which can be streamed or downloaded from Baidu's servers.
