Qtrax – The Return ;p
p2pnet view Music:- “Music ingestion Down Under is taking a little longer than expected,” p2pnet had Qtrax saying on its site back in 2009.
We went on >>>
It’s on again, off again, up again, down again, and now it’s failed to meet a launch date.
Again.
CEO Allan Klepfisz (right) says he now expects the Australian launch “to take place later this month,” says the Financial Times, going on:
“Qtrax came to prominence in January 2008 when it staged a lavish event at a music conference in Cannes, promising a revolutionary plan for the first advertising-supported free legal download site.
“It was forced to admit, however, that the agreements it had claimed to have with big recorded music companies had not been finalised.”
Now it’s “signed ‘short-term’ licensing deals with three major labels and will launch in 30 countries next week, Evolver.fm reports”, says DigitalMediaWire, continuing:
“Qtrax has signed EMI, Universal Music and Sony Music to new short-term licensing deals, which will enable Qtrax users to download select tracks from the labels in exchange for viewing ads.”
heh – The Big 4 must have seen Qtrax coming. Clean ‘em out then watch ‘em go bust. 
“I immediately started contacting the major labels and got a response first thing Thursday morning from EMI”, says Says Wayne’s World, adding:
“It was the same comment that was sent the next day to news outlets saying ‘We apparently recently completed a short term agreement with Qtrax to enable them to distribute a selection of EMI content as ad-supported streams and conditional downloads’. (I wonder if they saw the Beatles stuff on the Qtrax site. I guess they will now.) People in the know say that’s code for “they paid us upfront so we gave them a few old titles with tight DRM to test and for probably no more than 90 days”. Sort of like a pay-as-you-go mobile phone or a debit card–no credit. Fair enough. This was the most confirmation that anyone could get from the labels. They just didn’t want to talk about it. In their defense, I can’t blame them. It’s really hard to resist a sucker. They all need the money and take it wherever and whenever they can. It’s all about the money and any other rhetoric you hear is pure BS. This sure proves it. These guys would give Charles Manson licenses if he put up enough cash.
“It sounds to me like Qtrax has somehow gotten an unsuspecting investor to front enough cash for them to give the appearance of having a real operational product in order to attract more new investors. Good luck with that. As one former Qtraxer recently told me, ‘Their business model is so last century’.”
Meanwhile, “We are particularly pleased to be launching in Hong Kong“, quoth company president and CMO Lance Ford in a puff piece today.
“The China region is very important in our plans. Obviously, there is great potential in population numbers but also in the high percentage of the population that downloads music and the high piracy rate. We are committed to providing more and more local music. We believe that there is no similar service in Hong Kong and we expect to be able to create significant audience numbers.”
Says Klepfisz, president & CEO, “We have chosen to invest a lot of time and effort in the region. We expect it to be pivotal in our global service. The fast growing internet population, combined with an intense love of music, presents significant monetization opportunities.”
Klepfisz has been trying it on since the death of Napster.
No need to stay tuned.
p2pnet – Qtrax blows it again …, November 11, 2009
Financial Times – Blow to Qtrax as Aussie launch is delayed, November 10, 2009
DigitalMediaWire – Report: Qtrax to Launch Ad-Supported Song Download Service, March 7, 2011
Wayne’s World – Qtrax & Warner Music: Something Fishy In The Air, March 7, 2011
puff piece – QTRAX Launches in Hong Kong Giving Music Fans Free Legal Music Downloads, March 8, 2011
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan
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December 26th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Well, I’ll never get back the time I just spent searching/downloading via Qtrax and I can’t play a single tune. Says something about not being able to communicate with the authentication server and “license acquisition failed”. Free? Sure. Legal? Absolutely. I mean why not, if you’re not actually providing any kind of service, right? Oh, and their support site has apparently “moved”. And… I can’t find any info anywhere on Qtrax that’s newer than Mar 2011. Go figure.