Well we thought it was nearly here people free digital downloads. Internet company Qtrax promised to be the first company in the world to launch a totally free legal music download service, but they failed to get the backing of the major record companies.
After years of trying to stop people downloading music for free, it was promised in january that finally the industry was about to give in and give music to the public for free.
But how would this work, who would pay the artists, I hear you say?
Well Qtrax would be the conduit this was supposed to work through and money would be raised via advertising with McDonalds and Microsoft reported to have signed up to the service. QTrax promised a library of 25 million songs from major labels and extras such as live recordings. The tracks would contain DRM Digital Rights Management software, allowing the company to see how many times a song has been downloaded and played. Artists, record companies and publishers will be paid in proportion to the popularity of their music, while also taking a cut of advertising revenues.
The system had one flaw, it would not be compatible with Apples iTunes and iPods which account for over a third of the world digital music players.
Qtrax, a New York firm, launched its service in Cannes at the weekend, hiring stars including James Blunt and LL Cool J. Qtrax spent the estimated £500,000 at the MIDEM music conference in Cannes trying to convince the industry that their site would allow labels to begin recovering the losses that have resulted from widespread illegal downloading and the subsequent decline in CD sales.
After the glamourous launch things seemed to turn sour with record companies seeming to distance themselves from the New York firm and its service.
Trouble in a digital paradise?
A spokesman for Universal, the largest of the labels, said that it was “in discussion” with Qtrax, but that no agreement was in place. Warner music also said: “Warner Music Group has not authorised the use of our content on Qtrax’s recently announced service.”
Both Sony BMG and EMI also said that Qtrax did not have the right to use their recorded music catalogue – contradicting a statement on Qtrax’s site, which was down because of ‘overwhelming demand’.
Alan Klepfisz, Qtrax’s chief executive, insisted that he had not misled the industry or music fans.
“We are not idiots,” he said.”We wouldn’t have launched the service in front of the whole music industry unless we had secured its backing. We feel we have been unfairly crucified because a competitor tried to damage us. Everyone is very upset.”
“We do have industry agreements including the major labels. Even today we are working on more deals,” Mr Klepfisz said. He added that although “ink hadn’t dried” on some of the deals, Qtrax still planned to deliver on its promises “within months.”
Well we’ll wait a little longer to see if it will really happen.
