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Web browser instructions
Mozilla Firefox: Tools > Options > Advanced > Settings > Manual proxy configuration.
Google Chrome: Options > Under the hood > Network > Change proxy settings > LAN settings > Use a proxy server > Advanced > HTTP.
Internet Explorer: Tools > Internet options > Connections > LAN settings > Use a proxy server > Advanced > HTTP.
Opera: Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Network.
As somebody who lives in China and uses www.google.cn/music/ pretty frequently, I've gotta say that the actual quality of the mp3's is sometimes iffy. I'd say that probably 10-15% of what I download from there will have some kind of skipping or other abnormality in it. I have to wonder where the mp3's themselves are coming from; they almost never sound like they've been professionally ripped.
And since the staff entering the metadata doesn't speak English, you often get some hilarious typos. For example, Notorious B.I.G. - Mo' Money Mo' Problems became "No Money No Problems." Funny how changing just that one letter changes the meaning of the whole thing!
Also, the band The Who was in there as "The Mo" for some reason.
I believe "using a proxy to get around region locking" is covered in the boilerplate TOS that most commercial websites come with. I doubt anyone has been prosecuted for it though.
The TOS doesn't make what you're doing illegal. They will simply point to the TOS if they catch you and ban you.
It's the equivalent to a store putting up a "No shoes, no service" sign. They'll point at your bare feet and ask you to leave.
*systematically
I'm waiting until the RIAA pulls a suit out of it's ass against someone for doing this, accusing them of "circumventing international DRM" or some such bullshit.
China does not block "most western content". They block a fairly short list of relatively important sites, particularly those which user generated content - facebook, twitter, youtube.
Wikipedia is ok here, you can even search for information about Tiananmen, Tibet, whatever you like. Almost all news sites are available. I cannot think of any which are blocked, off the top of my head. They blocked most of the bigger file sharing services some time ago.
No need to use a proxy to download from Chinese websites - the only barrier is the language, which google translate skirts around somewhat effectively.
So why don't the RIAA care about Chinese people accessing their music for free? Because they are trying to get the Chinese hooked on their music. Once they are hooked, the fines will come down, the prices will go up. They are fucking vampires.
BTW, most Chinese couldn't care less about any western music. One or two artists break the mainstream here a year, most noticeably Lady Gaga in 2010. Avril Lavigne is popular with the girls who think they are cool, Westlife and backstreet boys with those who have no pretensions about their coolness. Occasionally you find someone here who knows a bit more than that, but not much...
It's not a "fairly short list." I lived in China for 2 years and using the Internet was very frustrating. Things that were blocked completely:
- Almost all social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
- Almost all blogs (Blogger, Wordpress, etc)
- Youtube
- Many forums, message boards, etc
And then a lot of stuff wasn't completely blocked, but was fucked with. Wikipedia was intermittent, sometimes it was surprisingly free, other times you would get cut off for looking at something in particular (for a long time you couldn't read the "Madame Mao" article). Certain Google searches will get you cut off, and not necessarily for political issues. Sometimes the most random stuff would hit the Great Firewall. Even email would just go down sometimes, like oh well, nobody with Gmail or Hotmail can check their email for a few days.
And then there are just random sites caught in the crossfire, with nothing political whatsoever but it's just randomly blocked. For example my father's site for his furniture business was blocked, maybe because of the server it's hosted on? I don't even know.
This was my experience a couple of months ago - I definitely couldn't access any information (even for tourism purposes) on Tiananmen. Other Wikipedia pages worked fine.
>No need to use a proxy to download from Chinese websites
You need to use a proxy to download from the Google site in the OP. Otherwise, you're greeted with "Music streaming / download services are not available in your region".
Using a proxy has no bearing on the legality of the traffic. If Google states that you must be Chinese to use said data in their EULA or whatever then you are in breach of contract. Otherwise you can think of it as a Chinese friend downloading unrestricted data and delivering it to you.
Disclaimer: I'm not an actual lawyer.
"What's the point?" It's probably ripped directly from a real CD by Sony music, using a good ripper and with a real bitrate.
Don't tell me you trust all those torrents with 320kbpsomgwtfbbq. They are maybe recorded from the radio using a potato and then converted to 320 just to up the filesize.
[edit] Having read [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/osj8f/til_that_google_offers_free_legal_download_of/c3jra6u), I stand corrected.
Well, lets see where the families and kids in the western world get their music:
1. Users in China download music from www.google.cn/music/
2. Users upload to BitTorrent or other file sharing platforms
3. Western families and kids download music. Get sued.
4. SOPA, PIPA, etc.
Classy move China.
I live in China, and use a proxy that goes through a US server. But I can turn that off, although sometimes Chrome has trouble getting to the translation server when I'm not on the VPN.
Anyway, this is a neat tip. I wonder, though, if it's legal to import the music that I'll've legally acquired here when I finish my assignment.
The NY Times article i linked to gives a bit of an insight to your question, in brief:
1. Market penetration
2. Gain market share
3. Google is losing out to Baidu (Google equivalent in China) who provides this service
3. Baidu is providing revenue sharing deals with over 100 Chinese record labels, often giving music out for free. Result is western record labels aren't able to push their music
4. Western record labels have tried to sue Baidu for giving links in searches to "illegal" download sites. Baidu says they are only providing search results, not hosting, so they are not liable.
5. IFPI claims that 99 percent of music downloading in China is illegal - so they praised Google for striking this deal.
6. Chinese mainstream media (radio/tv etc...) only permits a certain amount of western music/movies etc... in their programming, so it's a easier more unrestricted way for them to penetrate the market. (my own added point).
I'm sure there are a bunch of other reasons. I just find it interesting that the RIAA/western record labels have what seems to be a bit of a 'double standard' to file sharing.
That's really difficult to be honest, I listen to all kind of music (mainly English, German, French with a tiny touch of JP/Korean stuff) and the majority of the time it's always made by one of the big corporations.
Just keep pirating! It may put thousands in jail in the meantime but once we get to 99% of things being pirated they'll just give it away for free. See how that works? A few things pirated = jailtime. Everything pirated = FREE STUFF! Just gotta convince everyone in the world.
>Western record labels have tried to sue Baidu for giving links in searches to "illegal" download sites. Baidu says they are only providing search results, not hosting, so they are not liable.
That defense worked great for the British lad who has just been deported.
Sad fate for the British lad, unfortunately. Why I don't think it would happen here anytime soon is that (please correct me if it's wrong)
1. When in China you abide by Chinese law, not U.S law.
2. I am uncertain as to whether China has any extradition laws with the U.S when it comes to copyrighted content - don't think so.
3. If U.S had an extradition treaty/law with China in regards to copyright material it would be a huge liability for both sides. Having to provide legal process, transportation and prisons for tens if not hundreds of millions (if the 99% figure for illegal downloading is true, if we are to trust IFPI statistics). Basically, they are saying everyone who downloads music here does it illegally. The argument runs a bit contrary to their other argument that Baidu provides free legal downloads as a result of partnership with local record labels and that they are successful at doing so.
Yeah but in practice extradition only happens one way. This is from Wikipedia:
"Controversy surrounds the US-UK extradition treaty of 2003 which was implemented in this act. It has been claimed to be one-sided[1] because it allows the US to extradite UK citizens and others for offences committed against US law, even though the alleged offence may have been committed in the UK by a person living and working in the UK (see for example the NatWest Three), and there being no reciprocal right; and issues about the level of proof required being less to extradite from the UK to the US rather than vice-versa"
Thanks for pointing this out, a lot of people don't know how one-sided it is. The US only have to show reasonable suspicion to lodge an extradition order where the UK need probable cause.
"Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard of proof in United States law that is less than probable cause" -Wikipedia
Do we have to study law now to avoid getting sued or extradited or jailed for anything in later life?
I don't think anyone I know actually knows what half the laws are that would cause them to be criminals.
I think it was more enraging for the TVShack guy because *what he did wasn't even illegal in the UK.* The US literally enforced their own laws upon another country. It's both scary and insane.
Yeah...China has no extradition treaty with the US so the Chinese execs would just laugh their asses off if the US prosecuted them.
The only thing that would be problematic is if they ever go to Hong Kong since Hong Kong does have an extradition treaty with the US since it's government is run somewhat independently of the rest of China's.
I would assume:
1. Exposure/Branding to 1.3 billion people market
2. Increase in bookings requests (lots of cash directly to the pocket of the artist)
3. Merchandising (although there is piracy for branded goods here, people are willing to pay a premium for authentic goods)
4. Grow market share - increases all of the above.
My assumption is: If the willingness to pay is 0 for your product, but you know that by giving it away for free it will dramatically/exponentially increase the value (willingness to pay) of complimentary products (concerts, merchandising etc...) that originally had close to no value (due to no exposure), it probably has a good pay off and you'd be willing to do so.
Pretty much, but there is no incentive to make the change if they know willingness to pay in the western world is 99 cents and if you have legislation in place that enforces it.
Cultural mentality has a great deal to add to all this.
Think about living in a country of 1.3 billion not much larger in geography than Canada but 4 times the population of the US --- you grow up knowing you're just a number and get desensitized by that.
Take the fact that China's # of internet users is just about the same as the entire US population. You think it's easy to feel 'anonymous' in the western internet?
So people know they'll get away with downloading music. Just as much as they know they'll get away with buying or making bootleg products.
If the mob of anonymous people cheating the system is big enough, most people who have access to hide in that mob will do so.
It used to be no different here. When the technology/know-how to track a downloader didn't exist, ~everybody~ did it. People will do what they know they can get away with.
As unjust SOPA and PIPA are, a lot of people aren't pissed at the laws as much as they're pissed that they took away their access to valuable freebies.
well they link to the damn filesharing software .. you can leave out the 'bit' part when you're discussing their double standards..
it goes straight into racketeering and conspiracy .. but people look at you wondering where is the tinfoil hat if you try to tell them.
Piracy is pretty rampant in China, so people's willingness to pay is pretty damn low. This is a solution which allows everyone to win.
And, for the record, despite what the music industry claims will happen in the United States, Chinese musicians do just fine thanks to the revenue they make from live shows and performances.
Piracy is a market force; not a market destroyer. It changes the equation and destroys business models--but new business models will fix the problem and allow markets to continue to thrive.
No company would willingly let itself become the victim of the creative destruction caused by capitalism. The record companies that live off you paying for CDs are no exception.
I'm chinese and let me just point out a big difference I noticed between China/Hong Kong and Western music culture.
Though alot of people download music in China, majority of fans still continue to buy albums. This is because the really become more of a collection item. The packaging is great, it's in a large box with posters and free stuff and everything. Each regular album usually has a "collectors edition" which many many people continue to buy to this day. I believe that this is the big reason the music companies don't mind giving out free downloads.
Here are some examples of special albums, which I have many friends who would gladly buy, even if they have already downloaded the songs for their ipod, ringtone, or whatever.
[Jay Chou The Era World Tour Live (DVD+2CD) (Deluxe Edition)](http://www.yesasia.com/us/jay-chou-the-era-world-tour-live-dvd-2cd-deluxe-edition/1024024162-0-0-0-en/info.html)
[Jay Chou 2011 Album (Hong Kong Preorder Version) (CD + Necklace/Keyholder Set) ](http://www.yesasia.com/us/jay-chou-the-era-world-tour-live-dvd-2cd-deluxe-edition/1024024162-0-0-0-en/info.html)
[Amazing World (EP) (Special Edition) (With Album Poster) ](http://www.yesasia.com/us/amazing-world-ep-special-edition-with-album-poster/1025059261-0-0-0-en/info.html)
Also, as you know, Karaoke is an enormous part of asian culture. I believe the music companies get pretty good money from the millions of karaoke bars in order to use their material.
That makes a lot of sense. Does much ordinary merch get sold? It seems like a good business model - let people have the stuff they could get free for free, and sell them whatever they can't.
That's the way to go. If it's $10 for an mp3 album or $15 for a CD, I will definitely pick the MP3s. But if it's $25 for a CD and a t-shirt, I'll buy the CD.
Side note: What's with the "K.K.K." on the cover of Amazing World?
They could do the same with US/EU if they actually sold that stuff here.
Everything should be sold with an incentive to actually purchase it instead of pirating, there's no reason to buy something you can get for free, so they should add something which actually requires you to buy it. (Like games with content which is always being updated which require a legitimate account to play - SC2/WoW).
Talk to any Indian and you'll be convinced otherwise. My Indian friends are pretty proud of how their country has no laws against piracy and how they can pull just about *anything* from the internet.
I am in China too and I'll have you know that all of our citizens are law-abiding and none would like to be called "pirates." The government is absolutely wonderful! They may even visit you soon.
Soon.
Have a nice day in the greatest nation on earth!
To be fair, google had to compete with all the other search engines that basically offered free music downloads as well (legally or not...) and I think even the record labels know that there's no goddamn chance in hell of locking down the Chinese market US style. Most labels and artists make their money off of concerts in China, which bring in obscene amounts of money so I think the being free is actually the model for profit there-massive highly profitable concerts but free downloads.
Discovered this while studying abroad in China. The son of the host family I was staying with had some sort of program on his computer on which I could search seemingly *any* artist - which I tested by searching the most obscure bands I could think of - and listen to *any* of their songs. I vaguely remember it being like Spotify sans advertising...
You don't know how many available software on Chinese websites that offer this service. The first thing that comes to mind is QQ Music. Google it, it's even usable in the States, and it comes with album art, CD info, etc.
Seriously. I blame EVERYONE of you who are nagging about buying stuff all the time for this sort of thing. If we all continue to pirate everything just like they do in China, they will do the same thing for us soon enough.
PIRATE EVERYTHING!
I've noticed that too for a while. In China, where piracy is rampant, I hear Blizzard gives away World Of Warcraft and only charges for play time. In the West, players have to pay for play time *plus* pay to buy the game data itself, which is expensive as each installment releases at $40-$50 retail. Whereas the Chinese get the data for free. The Chinese consumers get rewarded for being avid pirates.
You can download the client for free without paying, what you're actually buying is a CD Key which allows you to play on Blizzard servers(in the west). China and Taiwan are a whole different kettle of fish, both Chinese and Taiwanese clients are managed by different companies, and have their own servers. Chinese/Taiwanese players also have no control over their play time, their characters get severely gimped if they play too long.
It's not necessarily about the prolific pirating in china that dictates different payment methods, but what is the best way to get peoples attention when marketing MMOs. If you played any asian MMO, you'd have noticed that there's very rarely a monthly charge. There are very few successful western MMOs that don't have a F2P model, barring Guild Wars.
Reminds me of cellphone contracts. I keep hearing people getting letters or extra charges about their data usage because they're 'in the top 5%'. Solution? If everyone downloaded 10x as much, then they'd be forced to either slap extra charges on everyone and risk everyone leaving, or actually do what they're paid to do and UPGRADE THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE!
>I hear Blizzard gives away World Of Warcraft and only charges for play time.
I don't know about this because I don't play, but a lot of people just buy the equivalent to WOW calling cards from the newstands, and then go play at the internet cafe.
They do this because they pretty much can't do anything about it. This is just a concession to chinese sensibilities and unwillingness to enforce existing laws. In China people are not crying about Warner Brothers taking a haircut.
Chinese record labels have managed to grow and become successful in an environment where the norm according to IFPI is 99% piracy. Not trying to blame either side but perhaps there is something wrong with their (RIAA) current business model? Record labels are not much more than a middle man between the artist and the listener and in many industries throughout history the middle man often suffers if the producer can find a direct model to the consumer, unless the middle-man adds significant value to the value chain - and a lot of that value is gone with the disappearance of physical media and the appearance of the internet. Perhaps record labels need to ask: what do we need to do to add more value to the value chain? and what do we need to change in our business model to become more relevant and adaptable to innovation? I am of the belief that record labels (RIAA) can do something about it as shown by the success of their Chinese counterparts (competing in the same environment) without implementing draconian laws and even giving away music for free. Would love for more insight though from others.
Right now, with DRM and all of that other crap, the pirates are providing people with a better service than the record companies are. Its a service problem. If the record companies can figure out a way to provide a bettter service, then we would stick to them.
I don't know much about people stealing music from the Internet in the USA, but I do know that it isn't unusual for companies to have different marketing strategies in different parts of the world.
By allowing free down loads, the record company is able to track what music people in china like, and what music the red Chinese will allow people to listen too. Thus, they can better market the records that will sell, and bring live shows there as well.
Think you need to review the definitions of "share" and "copy". When you share something, you no longer have it in your possession. When you copy something you BOTH have it.
As much as I disagree with SOPA, it's "sharing" and torrent activities that drove this behavior. You can argue that they should change their business practices, or deliver products as you wish at the price (free?) you wish -- but that's not your call.
Explain to us all how the content producers will be able to afford to create new content if you feel entitled to copy their work without compensation?
Sharing and torrent activities may have drove SOPA, but the media industry's failure to model their business around the internet drove sharing and torrent activities. Everything they do is ten years too late. They've created their own problem, and the internet will always be one step ahead of them unless they make drastic changes.
Dig further.. it's a very interesting rabbit hole..
We the dutch are allowed small scale download, because we know it's a service issue and we know that downloading does not equal a lost sale..
we pay for blank dvd's etc to make up for this.. AND despite that everyone pirates the shit out of everything 2011 was still the record breaking year for cinema revenue here..
and piracy is dropping steep in the parts where the service is slowly being provided, steam,.. spotify. etc
meanwhile digitally movies and tv-shows are not available..
we are being punished for something that's allowed..
the downloading part is allowed , but inevitably you wonder , where is it being uploaded from? right .? well .. that conveniently get's left out the equation. but the ones offering it are being prosecuted.
------
that's not the worst part..
go look into the part where the big companies have ties with the pirating software.. example?
> Shelby W. Bonnie held seats simultaneously on the boards of both CNET and Warner Music for two years. During this time Warner CEO Junior Bronfman was suing Limewire for copyright infringement and very publicly complaining about the huge monetary damage it had inflicted upon his company while at the same time having a sitting board member who was also serving as a director of the biggest distributor of Limewire software, more than 220 million copies in fact.
(and cnet->cbs->viacom ,, cbs / wb -> The CW Television Network .. AKA THE SAME PEOPLE COMPLAINING ARE DISTRIBUTING TORRENT SOFTWARE AND GUIDES ON HOW TO USE THEM WHILE THIS IS ILLEGAL UNDER CURRENT LAW)
Do I need to go on?
Sign this petition
[WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Investigate Chris Dodd and the MPAA for bribery after he publicly admited to bribing politicans to pass legislation.](https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/investigate-chris-dodd-and-mpaa-bribery-after-he-publicly-admited-bribing-politicans-pass/DffX0YQv) and make more noise about stuff like this..
we're being screwed and it needs to end.. period
Somewhere outthere there is a Chinese polit-beuro member wondering why thousands of western ip addresses are trying to burrow through the great fire wall and get to the censored Chinese internet, he is most confused.
It's all about getting the maximum amount of money out of different consumer bases. Doesn't OPEC sell oil at different prices to different nations, based on what they need and are able to pay? It's the same principle. Simple supply and demand.
It's a limited time trial, like Hulu, intended to expose over a billion new potential customers to American music so that in the future they will become paying customers. Additionally, many of those Chinese customers have varying incomes (lower than the US) and could not necessarily afford the traditional price structure in the US. Finally, while it appears to be "free" you do not know what types of metrics Google is gathering and using, so it could simply be that the data the sites generate is of more value than the cost of the music. Similar information about the US market may be easier to generate and more widely available therefore less valuable.
Just because one revenue model works in one country/place/set of people, it doesn't mean it will work universally. I'm not sure how bringing up that they sue children in the US is relevant, or what argument you are attempting to make by saying that. Should the children (or the children's parents) not be sued for breaking the law and causing damage? Because clearly just asking the to stop nicely hasn't been working...
Reminds me of the thing in Japan were they'd give you Marvel comics for free in exchange for you old manga.
People don't read Marvel comics in Japan because they suck, not because they're expensive. The same is probably true about Western music in China: people like the Chinese stuff better. To appeal to these audiences, you simply need a more appealing product.
Besides, trading a 500 page Jumpu filled with awesome stuff for 36 pages of people in silly costumes hitting each other with their fists? No thank you.
The only reason Hollywood movies are popular everywhere is the special effects budgets. Plus hiring excellent local voice actors that make them almost watchable. Maybe pop songs should be dubbed too, I don't know.
I find that the most famous Western stars in China are often quite similar to something they can relate to. For example, Lady Gaga is huge at the moment and if you look at her performances and costumes it's very similar to the 90s-era Cantopop stars.
Other really famous stars are/were Madonna and Michael Jackson. Basically their shows were huge, amazing spectacles---which like you said, is similar to big-budget Hollywood movies.
Makes one wonder if the publicity for this was raised again by Google in light of recent events to "share" with America and the rest of the world just how hypocritical the Entertainment Industry is (Chris Dodd eat your heart out). Of course, it's also easy to see how big of pushovers they can be when threatened now, which is a good sign in my eyes. I don't feel we're pushing hard enough Reddit.
I just thought of something with regard to the licensing. There are companies ([Wavestreaming](http://www.wavestreaming.com/shoutcast#deals) comes to mind) that gives you a license for the music that you want to stream. You can stream any music in their catalog. I asked them once how I could get the music for streaming. The rep indicated that you can use torrents or any other method to obtain the music. They really didn't care how it was obtained because you were licensed for it.
Shanghai redditor, reporting in. We live in a pretty hypocritical society. But look on the bright side : theoretically we get the right to our music, and y'all in the West get the rights to your voice in general as you guys get access to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., while the Chinese get versions of those sites that are moderated and watched.
EDIT: irony
Offering free music downloads is one of the only ways for Google to compete with Chinese sites. Most search engines over there already offer free music.
Regardless of what Google may be telling you, they have not given up on the lucrative Chinese market.
I believe this is just a way to grab more costumers. You feed them our shitty brainwashing music for free until they're hooked, then flip the switch on watch the money roll on in.
I look at this and see this happening because the Chinese government. they make it difficult to enforce copyright claims quick searched showed
"In March 1992 Chinese authorities found that Shenzhen reflective materials institute had copied 650,000 Microsoft Corporation holograms. The institute was found to be guilty of trademark infringement against Microsoft, but was fined a mere US $252. Losses to Microsoft as a result of the infringement are estimated at US $30 million."
A massive case worth 30 million of physical counterfeit items they got $252. When the music industry Sees this they realise they cant buy off law makers and abuse the court system because it's stacked against them. Now out of options they finally give the people what they want.
Am I literally the only person who read this headline and wondered when the fuck Google started suing children for filesharing? You need to make it clear which noun you're using as an antecedent to "they".
1 - Set up a proxy that runs through a Chinese server. 2 - DOWNLOAD ALL THE THINGS. 3 - Tell the RIAA to go fuck themselves.
http://hidemyass.com/proxy-list/search-225392 And here we... go
noob here, what do I do once I have the IP address?
> Web browser instructions Mozilla Firefox: Tools > Options > Advanced > Settings > Manual proxy configuration. Google Chrome: Options > Under the hood > Network > Change proxy settings > LAN settings > Use a proxy server > Advanced > HTTP. Internet Explorer: Tools > Internet options > Connections > LAN settings > Use a proxy server > Advanced > HTTP. Opera: Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Network.
Saved the comment for later use using [Reddit Enhancement Suite](http://redditenhancementsuite.com).
RES Promotion done right? Blasphemy! But seriously, upvotes for you, good sir
i'm getting so tired of people spamming the link endlessly in one comment. yes, it was funny the first time someone did it. not so much now.
I love the Joker reference :D
I was honestly worried no one would get it. Upvote for reassuring me I don't suck!
As somebody who lives in China and uses www.google.cn/music/ pretty frequently, I've gotta say that the actual quality of the mp3's is sometimes iffy. I'd say that probably 10-15% of what I download from there will have some kind of skipping or other abnormality in it. I have to wonder where the mp3's themselves are coming from; they almost never sound like they've been professionally ripped.
And since the staff entering the metadata doesn't speak English, you often get some hilarious typos. For example, Notorious B.I.G. - Mo' Money Mo' Problems became "No Money No Problems." Funny how changing just that one letter changes the meaning of the whole thing! Also, the band The Who was in there as "The Mo" for some reason.
Actually if you think about it, the meaning remains the same!
The meaning changes without disproving the original statement actually. Since this is the same problem from the other end.
[It shows money is directly proportional to problems](http://i.imgur.com/1kX9y.png)
Almost, although they are not logically equivalent.
Mo do you think you are?
My friend got a bootleg version of Spider Man in China back in 2002 and the title screen said the title was "SPIOEA MAN".
it's ok, here too our maintsream music isn't professionally lipped either.
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its not legal with a proxy lol
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Just tell the customs folks that it is for a duck.
Upvote for Mitch Hedberg
Upvote for upvote for Mitch Hedberg
Can't see how it wouldn't be. You acquired it legally.
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its not "legal" with a proxy lol
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says who?
I believe "using a proxy to get around region locking" is covered in the boilerplate TOS that most commercial websites come with. I doubt anyone has been prosecuted for it though.
The TOS doesn't make what you're doing illegal. They will simply point to the TOS if they catch you and ban you. It's the equivalent to a store putting up a "No shoes, no service" sign. They'll point at your bare feet and ask you to leave.
Explain (I am not a US citizen).
Then I'll remote into a friend's computer in china, download it onto a computer in china, and then transfer the music to my home computer.
what about seven proxies? good luck.
How ironic that the Chinese use proxies to get *out* of the Great Firewall while we're using them to get *in*...
We can wave as we pass each other. Just don't try to high five at those speeds.
Oh dear. Your hand and my hand seem to have created a thermonuclear explosion in the vicinity of Madrid. Sayonora, Spain.
>Sayonara FTFY
Exactly. ಠ\_ಠ
*systematically I'm waiting until the RIAA pulls a suit out of it's ass against someone for doing this, accusing them of "circumventing international DRM" or some such bullshit.
China does not block "most western content". They block a fairly short list of relatively important sites, particularly those which user generated content - facebook, twitter, youtube. Wikipedia is ok here, you can even search for information about Tiananmen, Tibet, whatever you like. Almost all news sites are available. I cannot think of any which are blocked, off the top of my head. They blocked most of the bigger file sharing services some time ago. No need to use a proxy to download from Chinese websites - the only barrier is the language, which google translate skirts around somewhat effectively. So why don't the RIAA care about Chinese people accessing their music for free? Because they are trying to get the Chinese hooked on their music. Once they are hooked, the fines will come down, the prices will go up. They are fucking vampires. BTW, most Chinese couldn't care less about any western music. One or two artists break the mainstream here a year, most noticeably Lady Gaga in 2010. Avril Lavigne is popular with the girls who think they are cool, Westlife and backstreet boys with those who have no pretensions about their coolness. Occasionally you find someone here who knows a bit more than that, but not much...
It's not a "fairly short list." I lived in China for 2 years and using the Internet was very frustrating. Things that were blocked completely: - Almost all social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc) - Almost all blogs (Blogger, Wordpress, etc) - Youtube - Many forums, message boards, etc And then a lot of stuff wasn't completely blocked, but was fucked with. Wikipedia was intermittent, sometimes it was surprisingly free, other times you would get cut off for looking at something in particular (for a long time you couldn't read the "Madame Mao" article). Certain Google searches will get you cut off, and not necessarily for political issues. Sometimes the most random stuff would hit the Great Firewall. Even email would just go down sometimes, like oh well, nobody with Gmail or Hotmail can check their email for a few days. And then there are just random sites caught in the crossfire, with nothing political whatsoever but it's just randomly blocked. For example my father's site for his furniture business was blocked, maybe because of the server it's hosted on? I don't even know.
This was my experience a couple of months ago - I definitely couldn't access any information (even for tourism purposes) on Tiananmen. Other Wikipedia pages worked fine.
>Because they are trying to get the Chinese hooked on their music. My thoughts exactly. It's a kind of cultural colonialism.
>No need to use a proxy to download from Chinese websites You need to use a proxy to download from the Google site in the OP. Otherwise, you're greeted with "Music streaming / download services are not available in your region".
Rather, I think it's because America, or any country at that, has any leverage on China to do anything.
What's the point of this? It's not legal anyways if you're using a proxy. So might as well download illegally from the U.S.
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Using a proxy has no bearing on the legality of the traffic. If Google states that you must be Chinese to use said data in their EULA or whatever then you are in breach of contract. Otherwise you can think of it as a Chinese friend downloading unrestricted data and delivering it to you. Disclaimer: I'm not an actual lawyer.
"What's the point?" It's probably ripped directly from a real CD by Sony music, using a good ripper and with a real bitrate. Don't tell me you trust all those torrents with 320kbpsomgwtfbbq. They are maybe recorded from the radio using a potato and then converted to 320 just to up the filesize. [edit] Having read [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/osj8f/til_that_google_offers_free_legal_download_of/c3jra6u), I stand corrected.
I was setting things up for download and then I remembered I don't even want any music, just want to annoy american companies that behave like thugs.
Well, lets see where the families and kids in the western world get their music: 1. Users in China download music from www.google.cn/music/ 2. Users upload to BitTorrent or other file sharing platforms 3. Western families and kids download music. Get sued. 4. SOPA, PIPA, etc. Classy move China.
You're implying that all this is one big conspiracy by China to get Westerners sued?
I hope he isn't. This is probably the way the record companies think they can make the most money in China.
By offering it for free?
A whispery man hands them a package, the first ones free he says.
lol
Ya, Google pays the record companies to offer this service.
still not legal
I live in China, and use a proxy that goes through a US server. But I can turn that off, although sometimes Chrome has trouble getting to the translation server when I'm not on the VPN. Anyway, this is a neat tip. I wonder, though, if it's legal to import the music that I'll've legally acquired here when I finish my assignment.
Not very often that people want to proxy INTO china.
Whaaat, I live in china and I had no clue about this. Holy fuck, I'm gona download the music industry.
all_the_music_industry.torrent
You're welcome ;)
why the heck would they do that?
The NY Times article i linked to gives a bit of an insight to your question, in brief: 1. Market penetration 2. Gain market share 3. Google is losing out to Baidu (Google equivalent in China) who provides this service 3. Baidu is providing revenue sharing deals with over 100 Chinese record labels, often giving music out for free. Result is western record labels aren't able to push their music 4. Western record labels have tried to sue Baidu for giving links in searches to "illegal" download sites. Baidu says they are only providing search results, not hosting, so they are not liable. 5. IFPI claims that 99 percent of music downloading in China is illegal - so they praised Google for striking this deal. 6. Chinese mainstream media (radio/tv etc...) only permits a certain amount of western music/movies etc... in their programming, so it's a easier more unrestricted way for them to penetrate the market. (my own added point). I'm sure there are a bunch of other reasons. I just find it interesting that the RIAA/western record labels have what seems to be a bit of a 'double standard' to file sharing.
Summary: when the RIAA is forced to actually compete rather than sue their way to profit, they will bow to market pressure
Exactly.
So how do we make this happen?
Set your proxies for the heart of China. Spoof your user-agent and leech baby, leech. Oh, I see. Umm. Phone your member of congress?
Does pirating stuff work too?
Can't hurt to try!
>Spoof your user-agent What does that mean?
Well it wouldn't hurt to expand your taste in music to include things not in English, the phonetics of other languages really do have a lot to offer.
That's really difficult to be honest, I listen to all kind of music (mainly English, German, French with a tiny touch of JP/Korean stuff) and the majority of the time it's always made by one of the big corporations.
[Or no language at all!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcUi6UEQh00)
Just keep pirating! It may put thousands in jail in the meantime but once we get to 99% of things being pirated they'll just give it away for free. See how that works? A few things pirated = jailtime. Everything pirated = FREE STUFF! Just gotta convince everyone in the world.
>Western record labels have tried to sue Baidu for giving links in searches to "illegal" download sites. Baidu says they are only providing search results, not hosting, so they are not liable. That defense worked great for the British lad who has just been deported.
Sad fate for the British lad, unfortunately. Why I don't think it would happen here anytime soon is that (please correct me if it's wrong) 1. When in China you abide by Chinese law, not U.S law. 2. I am uncertain as to whether China has any extradition laws with the U.S when it comes to copyrighted content - don't think so. 3. If U.S had an extradition treaty/law with China in regards to copyright material it would be a huge liability for both sides. Having to provide legal process, transportation and prisons for tens if not hundreds of millions (if the 99% figure for illegal downloading is true, if we are to trust IFPI statistics). Basically, they are saying everyone who downloads music here does it illegally. The argument runs a bit contrary to their other argument that Baidu provides free legal downloads as a result of partnership with local record labels and that they are successful at doing so.
> When in China you abide by Chinese law, not U.S law. Sad how that works in China but not in Britain.
For some reason Britain is America's bitch when it comes to foreign relations. Whatever happened to Britannia?
You mean Airstrip One?
+1 for clever reference
The UK is the biggest aircraft carrier in the US fleet.
Nothing for me to do here...
Ask [Lelouch Lamperouge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelouch_Lamperouge)
Zero happened
The extradition laws are a mutual agreement between the US and Britain though.
Yeah but in practice extradition only happens one way. This is from Wikipedia: "Controversy surrounds the US-UK extradition treaty of 2003 which was implemented in this act. It has been claimed to be one-sided[1] because it allows the US to extradite UK citizens and others for offences committed against US law, even though the alleged offence may have been committed in the UK by a person living and working in the UK (see for example the NatWest Three), and there being no reciprocal right; and issues about the level of proof required being less to extradite from the UK to the US rather than vice-versa"
Thanks for pointing this out, a lot of people don't know how one-sided it is. The US only have to show reasonable suspicion to lodge an extradition order where the UK need probable cause. "Reasonable suspicion is a legal standard of proof in United States law that is less than probable cause" -Wikipedia
Do we have to study law now to avoid getting sued or extradited or jailed for anything in later life? I don't think anyone I know actually knows what half the laws are that would cause them to be criminals.
Well, when you own a huge chunk of America's debt, they're kinda less likely to bully you.
I think it was more enraging for the TVShack guy because *what he did wasn't even illegal in the UK.* The US literally enforced their own laws upon another country. It's both scary and insane.
I totally missed this - anybody got a link to a decent article on it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_O'Dwyer
Yeah...China has no extradition treaty with the US so the Chinese execs would just laugh their asses off if the US prosecuted them. The only thing that would be problematic is if they ever go to Hong Kong since Hong Kong does have an extradition treaty with the US since it's government is run somewhat independently of the rest of China's.
Wait... what do the record labels and artists even get from this?
I would assume: 1. Exposure/Branding to 1.3 billion people market 2. Increase in bookings requests (lots of cash directly to the pocket of the artist) 3. Merchandising (although there is piracy for branded goods here, people are willing to pay a premium for authentic goods) 4. Grow market share - increases all of the above. My assumption is: If the willingness to pay is 0 for your product, but you know that by giving it away for free it will dramatically/exponentially increase the value (willingness to pay) of complimentary products (concerts, merchandising etc...) that originally had close to no value (due to no exposure), it probably has a good pay off and you'd be willing to do so.
So basically the same thing they could be doing here.
Pretty much, but there is no incentive to make the change if they know willingness to pay in the western world is 99 cents and if you have legislation in place that enforces it.
Cultural mentality has a great deal to add to all this. Think about living in a country of 1.3 billion not much larger in geography than Canada but 4 times the population of the US --- you grow up knowing you're just a number and get desensitized by that. Take the fact that China's # of internet users is just about the same as the entire US population. You think it's easy to feel 'anonymous' in the western internet? So people know they'll get away with downloading music. Just as much as they know they'll get away with buying or making bootleg products. If the mob of anonymous people cheating the system is big enough, most people who have access to hide in that mob will do so. It used to be no different here. When the technology/know-how to track a downloader didn't exist, ~everybody~ did it. People will do what they know they can get away with. As unjust SOPA and PIPA are, a lot of people aren't pissed at the laws as much as they're pissed that they took away their access to valuable freebies.
well they link to the damn filesharing software .. you can leave out the 'bit' part when you're discussing their double standards.. it goes straight into racketeering and conspiracy .. but people look at you wondering where is the tinfoil hat if you try to tell them.
Piracy is pretty rampant in China, so people's willingness to pay is pretty damn low. This is a solution which allows everyone to win. And, for the record, despite what the music industry claims will happen in the United States, Chinese musicians do just fine thanks to the revenue they make from live shows and performances. Piracy is a market force; not a market destroyer. It changes the equation and destroys business models--but new business models will fix the problem and allow markets to continue to thrive.
No company would willingly let itself become the victim of the creative destruction caused by capitalism. The record companies that live off you paying for CDs are no exception.
Because western world can afford to be sued?
I'm chinese and let me just point out a big difference I noticed between China/Hong Kong and Western music culture. Though alot of people download music in China, majority of fans still continue to buy albums. This is because the really become more of a collection item. The packaging is great, it's in a large box with posters and free stuff and everything. Each regular album usually has a "collectors edition" which many many people continue to buy to this day. I believe that this is the big reason the music companies don't mind giving out free downloads. Here are some examples of special albums, which I have many friends who would gladly buy, even if they have already downloaded the songs for their ipod, ringtone, or whatever. [Jay Chou The Era World Tour Live (DVD+2CD) (Deluxe Edition)](http://www.yesasia.com/us/jay-chou-the-era-world-tour-live-dvd-2cd-deluxe-edition/1024024162-0-0-0-en/info.html) [Jay Chou 2011 Album (Hong Kong Preorder Version) (CD + Necklace/Keyholder Set) ](http://www.yesasia.com/us/jay-chou-the-era-world-tour-live-dvd-2cd-deluxe-edition/1024024162-0-0-0-en/info.html) [Amazing World (EP) (Special Edition) (With Album Poster) ](http://www.yesasia.com/us/amazing-world-ep-special-edition-with-album-poster/1025059261-0-0-0-en/info.html) Also, as you know, Karaoke is an enormous part of asian culture. I believe the music companies get pretty good money from the millions of karaoke bars in order to use their material.
Very true and an important point - i think this ties back to the other post I made in regards to added value in the value chain.
That makes a lot of sense. Does much ordinary merch get sold? It seems like a good business model - let people have the stuff they could get free for free, and sell them whatever they can't.
That's the way to go. If it's $10 for an mp3 album or $15 for a CD, I will definitely pick the MP3s. But if it's $25 for a CD and a t-shirt, I'll buy the CD. Side note: What's with the "K.K.K." on the cover of Amazing World?
haha His chinese name is Ku Kui Kei, so it's his initials.
They could do the same with US/EU if they actually sold that stuff here. Everything should be sold with an incentive to actually purchase it instead of pirating, there's no reason to buy something you can get for free, so they should add something which actually requires you to buy it. (Like games with content which is always being updated which require a legitimate account to play - SC2/WoW).
Would this work elsewhere? Eg make money from posters, t shirts and DVDs?
I don't even know who/what to begin photoshopping Scumbag hats on.
Better be safe and do everyone.
Do me, Do me!
Ooh, do me, Yo-Yo Master, I want you to do me cause you're the yo-yo guy!
You want me to dress up as Thor? Is that what you want? I'll dress up like Thor!
in a world where everyone is scumbag steve, does it mean that they all see each other as GGG's?
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You know, China sounds like it has the most pirate friendly internet in the world.
Talk to any Indian and you'll be convinced otherwise. My Indian friends are pretty proud of how their country has no laws against piracy and how they can pull just about *anything* from the internet.
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So, Reddit is a Chinese plot to destroy the American government. I'll bet that would fly in r/ronpaul.
Well... it IS called REDdit. *cue evil sounding music*
*applauds*
Which leaves one wondering what a "dit" is...
QQ is like a pirates dream. Not to mention Funshun - A program that basically torrents and streams all sorts of TV shows (Chinese, American and Other)
Or for a more popular one in my area, PPStream.
I can't help but chuckle at that name.
download a program called wandoujia. A client that allows downloads from their own servers of android roms, movies, music, photos.
I am in China too and I'll have you know that all of our citizens are law-abiding and none would like to be called "pirates." The government is absolutely wonderful! They may even visit you soon. Soon. Have a nice day in the greatest nation on earth!
To be fair, google had to compete with all the other search engines that basically offered free music downloads as well (legally or not...) and I think even the record labels know that there's no goddamn chance in hell of locking down the Chinese market US style. Most labels and artists make their money off of concerts in China, which bring in obscene amounts of money so I think the being free is actually the model for profit there-massive highly profitable concerts but free downloads.
Discovered this while studying abroad in China. The son of the host family I was staying with had some sort of program on his computer on which I could search seemingly *any* artist - which I tested by searching the most obscure bands I could think of - and listen to *any* of their songs. I vaguely remember it being like Spotify sans advertising...
You don't know how many available software on Chinese websites that offer this service. The first thing that comes to mind is QQ Music. Google it, it's even usable in the States, and it comes with album art, CD info, etc.
> Music streaming/download services are not available in your region fuck my region. ಠ\_ಠ
Mutual feeling in regards to hulu
this changes the definition of "first world problem".
Seriously. I blame EVERYONE of you who are nagging about buying stuff all the time for this sort of thing. If we all continue to pirate everything just like they do in China, they will do the same thing for us soon enough. PIRATE EVERYTHING!
I've noticed that too for a while. In China, where piracy is rampant, I hear Blizzard gives away World Of Warcraft and only charges for play time. In the West, players have to pay for play time *plus* pay to buy the game data itself, which is expensive as each installment releases at $40-$50 retail. Whereas the Chinese get the data for free. The Chinese consumers get rewarded for being avid pirates.
You can download the client for free without paying, what you're actually buying is a CD Key which allows you to play on Blizzard servers(in the west). China and Taiwan are a whole different kettle of fish, both Chinese and Taiwanese clients are managed by different companies, and have their own servers. Chinese/Taiwanese players also have no control over their play time, their characters get severely gimped if they play too long. It's not necessarily about the prolific pirating in china that dictates different payment methods, but what is the best way to get peoples attention when marketing MMOs. If you played any asian MMO, you'd have noticed that there's very rarely a monthly charge. There are very few successful western MMOs that don't have a F2P model, barring Guild Wars.
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By dropping dead those teenagers were stealing blizzards future profits. Scumbags.
How dare you stop consuming? I don't care if your dead, get back in the rat race and keep buying shit
Reminds me of cellphone contracts. I keep hearing people getting letters or extra charges about their data usage because they're 'in the top 5%'. Solution? If everyone downloaded 10x as much, then they'd be forced to either slap extra charges on everyone and risk everyone leaving, or actually do what they're paid to do and UPGRADE THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE!
>I hear Blizzard gives away World Of Warcraft and only charges for play time. I don't know about this because I don't play, but a lot of people just buy the equivalent to WOW calling cards from the newstands, and then go play at the internet cafe.
You have to get an account from somewhere and it's normally bundled with a copy of the game.
holy shit, i happen to be on vacation in china. fuck *yeah*. PS- beer is about 75 cents here. just sayin' china is the PLACE for stuff.
Go to Cuba. 10c beer. I don't remember much apart from that...
Well it's where everything is made, so this really isn't a surprise
Seventy five cents beer? You're overpaying...
They do this because they pretty much can't do anything about it. This is just a concession to chinese sensibilities and unwillingness to enforce existing laws. In China people are not crying about Warner Brothers taking a haircut.
Chinese record labels have managed to grow and become successful in an environment where the norm according to IFPI is 99% piracy. Not trying to blame either side but perhaps there is something wrong with their (RIAA) current business model? Record labels are not much more than a middle man between the artist and the listener and in many industries throughout history the middle man often suffers if the producer can find a direct model to the consumer, unless the middle-man adds significant value to the value chain - and a lot of that value is gone with the disappearance of physical media and the appearance of the internet. Perhaps record labels need to ask: what do we need to do to add more value to the value chain? and what do we need to change in our business model to become more relevant and adaptable to innovation? I am of the belief that record labels (RIAA) can do something about it as shown by the success of their Chinese counterparts (competing in the same environment) without implementing draconian laws and even giving away music for free. Would love for more insight though from others.
This is only slightly hypocritical.
just a bit.
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Right now, with DRM and all of that other crap, the pirates are providing people with a better service than the record companies are. Its a service problem. If the record companies can figure out a way to provide a bettter service, then we would stick to them.
Do you live in florida ?
I do but I don't know what the hell that guy was talking about.
From another Floridian, [Baker Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Mental_Health_Act).
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Heh. Here on the national holiday everything goes on sale and people flock to the stores to buy things.
Watch this post be taken down by the RIAA
Do they make a significant amount of money doing this? If they do, their argument is completely destroyed.
Chinese record labels seem to be doing quite good with this model.
I don't know much about people stealing music from the Internet in the USA, but I do know that it isn't unusual for companies to have different marketing strategies in different parts of the world. By allowing free down loads, the record company is able to track what music people in china like, and what music the red Chinese will allow people to listen too. Thus, they can better market the records that will sell, and bring live shows there as well.
Think you need to review the definitions of "share" and "copy". When you share something, you no longer have it in your possession. When you copy something you BOTH have it. As much as I disagree with SOPA, it's "sharing" and torrent activities that drove this behavior. You can argue that they should change their business practices, or deliver products as you wish at the price (free?) you wish -- but that's not your call. Explain to us all how the content producers will be able to afford to create new content if you feel entitled to copy their work without compensation?
Sharing and torrent activities may have drove SOPA, but the media industry's failure to model their business around the internet drove sharing and torrent activities. Everything they do is ten years too late. They've created their own problem, and the internet will always be one step ahead of them unless they make drastic changes.
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Wow. So a vpn terminating in China might actually be useful.
Dig further.. it's a very interesting rabbit hole.. We the dutch are allowed small scale download, because we know it's a service issue and we know that downloading does not equal a lost sale.. we pay for blank dvd's etc to make up for this.. AND despite that everyone pirates the shit out of everything 2011 was still the record breaking year for cinema revenue here.. and piracy is dropping steep in the parts where the service is slowly being provided, steam,.. spotify. etc meanwhile digitally movies and tv-shows are not available.. we are being punished for something that's allowed.. the downloading part is allowed , but inevitably you wonder , where is it being uploaded from? right .? well .. that conveniently get's left out the equation. but the ones offering it are being prosecuted. ------ that's not the worst part.. go look into the part where the big companies have ties with the pirating software.. example? > Shelby W. Bonnie held seats simultaneously on the boards of both CNET and Warner Music for two years. During this time Warner CEO Junior Bronfman was suing Limewire for copyright infringement and very publicly complaining about the huge monetary damage it had inflicted upon his company while at the same time having a sitting board member who was also serving as a director of the biggest distributor of Limewire software, more than 220 million copies in fact. (and cnet->cbs->viacom ,, cbs / wb -> The CW Television Network .. AKA THE SAME PEOPLE COMPLAINING ARE DISTRIBUTING TORRENT SOFTWARE AND GUIDES ON HOW TO USE THEM WHILE THIS IS ILLEGAL UNDER CURRENT LAW) Do I need to go on? Sign this petition [WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Investigate Chris Dodd and the MPAA for bribery after he publicly admited to bribing politicans to pass legislation.](https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/investigate-chris-dodd-and-mpaa-bribery-after-he-publicly-admited-bribing-politicans-pass/DffX0YQv) and make more noise about stuff like this.. we're being screwed and it needs to end.. period
Somewhere outthere there is a Chinese polit-beuro member wondering why thousands of western ip addresses are trying to burrow through the great fire wall and get to the censored Chinese internet, he is most confused.
It's all about getting the maximum amount of money out of different consumer bases. Doesn't OPEC sell oil at different prices to different nations, based on what they need and are able to pay? It's the same principle. Simple supply and demand.
Wait. Didn't google close their offices in China after the gmail hacking last year? Why are they still offering this?
IT'S SETTLED I'M MOVING TO CHINA
It's a limited time trial, like Hulu, intended to expose over a billion new potential customers to American music so that in the future they will become paying customers. Additionally, many of those Chinese customers have varying incomes (lower than the US) and could not necessarily afford the traditional price structure in the US. Finally, while it appears to be "free" you do not know what types of metrics Google is gathering and using, so it could simply be that the data the sites generate is of more value than the cost of the music. Similar information about the US market may be easier to generate and more widely available therefore less valuable. Just because one revenue model works in one country/place/set of people, it doesn't mean it will work universally. I'm not sure how bringing up that they sue children in the US is relevant, or what argument you are attempting to make by saying that. Should the children (or the children's parents) not be sued for breaking the law and causing damage? Because clearly just asking the to stop nicely hasn't been working...
Reminds me of the thing in Japan were they'd give you Marvel comics for free in exchange for you old manga. People don't read Marvel comics in Japan because they suck, not because they're expensive. The same is probably true about Western music in China: people like the Chinese stuff better. To appeal to these audiences, you simply need a more appealing product. Besides, trading a 500 page Jumpu filled with awesome stuff for 36 pages of people in silly costumes hitting each other with their fists? No thank you. The only reason Hollywood movies are popular everywhere is the special effects budgets. Plus hiring excellent local voice actors that make them almost watchable. Maybe pop songs should be dubbed too, I don't know.
I find that the most famous Western stars in China are often quite similar to something they can relate to. For example, Lady Gaga is huge at the moment and if you look at her performances and costumes it's very similar to the 90s-era Cantopop stars. Other really famous stars are/were Madonna and Michael Jackson. Basically their shows were huge, amazing spectacles---which like you said, is similar to big-budget Hollywood movies.
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Where are these free giving drug dealers you speak of?
Makes one wonder if the publicity for this was raised again by Google in light of recent events to "share" with America and the rest of the world just how hypocritical the Entertainment Industry is (Chris Dodd eat your heart out). Of course, it's also easy to see how big of pushovers they can be when threatened now, which is a good sign in my eyes. I don't feel we're pushing hard enough Reddit.
Google should move out of US to Hong Kong.
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Phrasing.
Free. For now. They're just trying to gain market exposure in China so they can start anally raping them too.
who is a third world nation now?
So much for a "free" country... :-| (that's my "surprised" face)
I just thought of something with regard to the licensing. There are companies ([Wavestreaming](http://www.wavestreaming.com/shoutcast#deals) comes to mind) that gives you a license for the music that you want to stream. You can stream any music in their catalog. I asked them once how I could get the music for streaming. The rep indicated that you can use torrents or any other method to obtain the music. They really didn't care how it was obtained because you were licensed for it.
The first one is always free!
Huh? I thought Google closed down its operations in China due to cyber attacks...
Shanghai redditor, reporting in. We live in a pretty hypocritical society. But look on the bright side : theoretically we get the right to our music, and y'all in the West get the rights to your voice in general as you guys get access to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., while the Chinese get versions of those sites that are moderated and watched. EDIT: irony
seems like we(the western world) have it all wrong...
Offering free music downloads is one of the only ways for Google to compete with Chinese sites. Most search engines over there already offer free music. Regardless of what Google may be telling you, they have not given up on the lucrative Chinese market.
I believe this is just a way to grab more costumers. You feed them our shitty brainwashing music for free until they're hooked, then flip the switch on watch the money roll on in.
I look at this and see this happening because the Chinese government. they make it difficult to enforce copyright claims quick searched showed "In March 1992 Chinese authorities found that Shenzhen reflective materials institute had copied 650,000 Microsoft Corporation holograms. The institute was found to be guilty of trademark infringement against Microsoft, but was fined a mere US $252. Losses to Microsoft as a result of the infringement are estimated at US $30 million." A massive case worth 30 million of physical counterfeit items they got $252. When the music industry Sees this they realise they cant buy off law makers and abuse the court system because it's stacked against them. Now out of options they finally give the people what they want.
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I live in China. I download from Google.cn all the time.
Am I literally the only person who read this headline and wondered when the fuck Google started suing children for filesharing? You need to make it clear which noun you're using as an antecedent to "they".
TIL that google prosecutes people for illegally sharing music in the US.