Baidu to launch cloud music locker service later this year

Chinese search engine reveals plans as it signs licensing deal with three major labels.

Chinese search engine Baidu has inked a licensing deal with three major labels, as the first step in plans to launch legal music services with cloud locker features.

The company has been seen as a villain by the music industry in the past for the way its search engine deep-links to free MP3s on unlicensed websites. The deal with One-Stop China - a joint venture between Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony Music - will see it remove infringing links and instead offer streams and downloads from their catalogues.

The New York Times has the details of the two-year deal, but it's the cloud music element that's most relevant to ME readers. It reports that later this year, Baidu will launch a paid service allowing people to download music to computers, tablets and mobile phones from their lockers.

Amazon and Google have launched cloud services in North America, while Apple has revealed its upcoming iCloud service. However, Baidu is likely to be first to market in China, a potentially huge market.