wax&wires

QTrax: Free, Legal Music Downloads Are Finally Ready

[via ars]

More than a year after its expected launch, free P2P music service Qtrax has finally gotten off the ground with deals with all the major music labels. Universal, EMI, Sony, and now Warner Music Group are now all on board with the ad-supported service, and things can finally get rolling… once the software becomes available, that is.

Qtrax was originally slated to launch in January 2008, when it overconfidently boasted of having deals with the Big Four labels. It turns out that none of those deals had been signed yet, reportedly annoying the record labels and pushing the launch date back indefinitely. In February, Qtrax CEO Allan Klepfisz insisted that the music was still coming, but the first music deal didn’t land until June. Qtrax spent the remainder of the year trying to hammer things out with the remaining labels, bringing us to where we are today.

Qtrax works by offering free, legal music downloads via the Gnutella P2P network. The music is supported by advertising on the site, though don’t go thinking that it’s DRM-free or that your usage won’t be watched.

Read the full story.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 5:26 pm. It is filed under wax and tagged with download, free, legal, qtrax. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.