China has long been notorious for rampant music piracy, but Beijing is now taking bigger steps to crack down on illegal online distribution.
The crackdown indicates the willingness of China’s largest Internet companies – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings ltd. and Baidu Inc. — to work with the government and clean up the online music market themselves, industry experts say. Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu all operate online music streaming businesses.