EMI Group, which lost a copyright infringement lawsuit against the leading Chinese Web site Baidu.com, said Tuesday that it would drop its appeal and work with Baidu to win advertising by offering free online samples of its music.
Under the agreement, EMI authorizes Baidu to provide free use of all its Chinese music on Baidu MP3 search. Baidu and EMI will share ads revenue. Besides, the two companies agreed to continue the search for free music download supported by ads.
The agreement with Baidu, which has triple the market share of its closest rival, Google, in its home market, may help EMI gain sales in China, where 90 percent of music is pirated.