When it comes to China, western companies have often thrown their principles overboard. But the free music search service launched by Google together with the music industry this week breaks new ground even in this area.

The music industry, which has fought internet piracy, is resigned to the fact that Chinese internet users will not pay for music downloads. The labels settle for the revenues that they hope will be generated through ads on the download site. The revenues are to be shared with Top100.cn, a local company in which Google has a stake.