Google, the strongest brand worldwide, but still second search engine in China after Baidu, has decided to bring it on against the Chinese competitor by launching a new China based music search service that enables users to download music legally.

Music OneBox brings together some of the major music labels and is endorsed by basketball star Yao Ming. The service is available at the Chinese music site Top100.cn 

The service will generate revenues through advertising exactly like YouTube does. However, there is a big difference in how the two services work: Google will not take its cut of the profits streaming from Music OneBox.

The search engine giant has, in fact, launched the site for two purposes: - Brand building (and Yao Min endorsement acts right on that) - Understanding more about the Chinese music market. In fact, Music OneBox will offer a window to all the data, traffic patterns, and ways through which Chinese find music online that can have much more relevant long term implication for the giant than ads revenue.

Google second in China…for much longer?