Baidu signed an agreement with One-Stop China, a joint venture owned by Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony Music to distribute songs through its mp3 search service. It will put an end to years of criticism for sponsoring illegal mp3 downloads from its servers.

Baidu entered into a deal with One-Stop China for its music catalogues and new releases that can be streamed or downloaded from Baidu's servers.

"It (the agreement) will be very positive for Baidu in terms of user experience and it also fits in with Baidu's 'box computing' strategy which is to make a lot of information available on the Baidu site," said Dick Wei, a Hong-Kong based analyst with JPMorgan.

Under the terms of the deal, Baidu will remunerate music content owners on a per-play and per-download basis for all tracks delivered through its mp3 search service and its Ting platform.

"Our partnership with One-Stop China marks an exciting new beginning. I'm confident that Baidu, the Chinese music fans, recording artists, and the record companies alike will all benefit from this win-win partnership," Baidu's Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Li said in a statement.