How does the business deal behind Google Music Search work?
We made an investment into the company Top100.com. They’ve gone out and made deals with all the major labels and hundreds of indie labels. We just provide the search experience on top of this content: albums from Sony, BMG, EMI, Warner and over a hundred indie labels. We place banner ads on the search page and the music player page, and all the revenue goes to Top100. Of course, we at Google know that the first step is to make the product really good and gather a lot of users before we ever try to make money. So today the ads are very small. In the next few months and quarters, we’ll be focused on both improving the product and improving monetization. Google is expected to launch an Android-based phone in China before the end of the year. Combined with Google Music Search, does Android in China represent a mobile device that can download or stream any song or album? It’s a nice idea, but the carriers have a unique business model in China. Much of their revenue comes from ringtones and
