Tag: Qtrax
Qtrax redeems itself with a June 18th relaunch date for Universal and EMI downloads
After the initial controversy surrounding Qtrax, they’ve managed to improve upon their image and actually become a fairly legitimate download service. Having signed up their second major record label, they’ve now announced that June 18th will be the relaunch date for the beta version of the service.
Currently you’d be hard pressed to actually find a song that’s worth downloading on Qtrax – if you can find any that actually will download – however in just five days songs from Universal Music Group and EMI will be available to download, although it’s still unclear whether EMI songs…
Qtrax adds fourth record label to free P2P deal, Warner/Chappell
After a shaky start that’d make even Michael J. Fox sympathise, Qtrax has signed up their fourth record label, Warner/Chappell.
You might remember that late January Qtrax claimed they had support from Universal Music Group, Warner Music, Sony BMG and EMI, when in actual fact they’d forgotten one important thing…to run it by all four companies first…
Universal Music Group pens deal with free download site Qtrax – one step closer to audio utopia
So, it looks like the 100% legal and free music download website Qtrax has finally pulled off something near to what it claimed to have achieved when it launched to a stutter back in January. Finally one of the major record labels has seen sense, with Universal Music Group putting pen to paper…
After a wobbly start, Qtrax announces licensing deals with EMI, Sony and TVT Records
The ‘world’s first free, legal P2P service’ Qtrax has redeemed itself since it ‘launched’ at the end of January, when they failed to deliver music from Universal Music Group, Warner Music, Sony BMG and EMI as promised.
Wired’s Listening Post scored an exclusive scoop on the Service That Embarrassed Itself, and reported that Qtrax has succeeded in signing up EMI, Sony/ATV Music Publishing and TVT Records. Not quite the big four as first claimed, but it’s a good start for what’s essentially a legal BitTorrent.
The files contain DRM, however…
Opinion: Free music file sharing was never going to hit the right notes with record firms
Jonathan Weinberg writes… You don’t get anything in life for free. So the saying goes.
And so, I’m not surprised that a website which promised us the world’s first legal file-sharing service has had to backtrack on the plans after the record companies said they were not yet supporting it.
Qtrax made a big song and dance about their launch over in Cannes with stars including James Blunt there. They secured quite a bit of coverage in all the national newspapers too in Britain.
But maybe it would have made sense to secure the record firms first, after all, as the gatekeepers of the industry, they are pretty important don’t you think? It’s like saying you’ve got a No1 song, without actually having the lyrics written or the musical score penned…
MidemNet 2008: Qtrax launch crashes as major labels deny deals
Call me a fusspot, but if I was launching a high-profile new music service in front of the entire music industry, I’d make darn sure I had signed’n’sealed contracts from all the labels I was announcing were taking part. Sadly, it seems Qtrax didn’t have the same view.
QTRAX launches, claiming legal access to 30 million tracks. Server overwhelmed
QTRAX, which originally launched back in 2002 but closed down due to avoid the risk of legal action, has relaunched today.
It claims that users will be able to find and download between 25 and 30 million copyrighted music tracks, with the blessing of a large proportion of the music industry.
“QTRAX is a magical and game-changing service that revolutionizes the way fans consume digital music,” said QTRAX President and CEO Allan Klepfisz.
Well, possibly not revolutionary. We’ve seen a shift towards “free” ad-supported music streaming and download services recently.
Opinion: Ad-supported music downloads hit all the wrong notes
Stuart Dredge writes…
The music biz is an industry in search of a viable business model right now. Figures released by the IFPI earlier this week showed that while legal music downloads rose 85% last year, that growth was outweighed by an 11% drop in physical CD sales – meaning that overall, global music revenues fell by 5%, which represents more than a billion dollars less than in 2005.
