Almost every search engine in China now offers an mp3 search (Baidu, Sougou, Gougou, etc.) and it looks like Google is going to follow suit… with caution.

The first mp3 search engine in China was provided by Sougua in 2001 and Baidu, China’s top search engine, followed in 2002. Music search engines in China aren’t particular to whether the download is licensed or not, providing access to pirated versions. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google plans to launch an MP3 search, allowing users to search free and licensed music downloads. They state that this will allow Google to better compete with Baidu whose mp3 search (which does not filter for license). The proposed venture would offer downloadable mp3s with a “digital watermark” that would make the files traceable and provide data on downloads for record labels participating in the search.

In a country where most people users don’t think twice about whether their music is pirated or not, I’m not sure how much of a competitor Google’s mp3 search in China will be, but it might provide a new direction for the international music industry to go.

There are a few music search engines in the US market, but they are quickly becoming targets of the recording industry, as in the case of SeeqPod, a flash-based music search engine that is being sued by Warner for copyright infringement. Songza is another search engine with a very user friendly flash interface and an ability to rate, email to a friend, Twitter and embed any file.