Major Labels Allowing Free P2P Music Downloads - Or Are They?
By Filip Brajovic |
January 28th, 2008
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In this day and age, it seems like a tale as old as time itself: record companies vs. peer to peer file sharers. Finally, a new music download service called Qtrax has apparently struck a deal with record companies to provide free music funded by advertising. Or have they?
According to Wired, Qtrax had established “deals” with enough major labels to represent 75% of music sales, then quickly withdrew the claims after Warner Music Group gave them a slap on the wrist, saying it had not agreed to allow Qtrax to use their content. Qtrax responded Sunday, stating that it was hoping to reach an agreement with Warner shortly. According to Reuters, Universal Music Group also hadn’t yet established a deal with Qtrax but was still at the negotiating table.
Once Qtrax hopefully gets their major record label ducks in a row, they could easily provide a revolutionary music service. While their tracks will still drag the ball and chain of DRM, Qtrax claims that their content will be available for playback on iPods, even though iPods currently only play unprotected tracks or tracks bearing Apple’s FairPlay DRM. Above all, the content will be free for the consumer, while opening up a new advertising gateway for companies to address a potentially enormous audience. As long as advertising can pay the bills for Qtrax and some record label giants, looks like the consumer is finally in for some free, legal tunes.
Greg Wishart – 4 hours 1 minute ago