Last week's deal between Warner Music Group and China Unicom was a popular news topic last week. The sight of a music company looking to the future left everybody feeling upbeat, almost as if the days of lawsuits and rootkits were in the past.

Billboard looked at the advantages in the deal:

"Reaction to the new deal within the region has been generally positive. 'It makes sense because it takes away a lot of the doubt of working with a service provider,' says Ashley Whitfield, managing director of Hong Kong-based entertainment company Evolution. 'It gives (Warner) much greater control of their content.'"

Red Herring sees WMG as a leader in digital music:

"Warner Music Group continued its real-time metamorphosis from an old-school music company to a digital music industry bellwether with its announcement Tuesday that it struck a wide-ranging deal with China Unicom, the world’s third-largest mobile operator."

Digital Music News:

"As part of the new partnership, Warner Music will license ringback tones, master ringtones and artist greetings by Warner Music artists to China Unicom, a move that will raise the catalog profile considerably. A significant number of artists in the deal are Asian stars."

For the official party line (literally) on legal digital downloads in China, read this article at China Daily.