Music industry gives away tunes
- Retreived from ProQuest
Qtrax promises 25 million songs in exchange for listening to ads
<a name="summary"></a><a name="abstract"></a>Nor is a lack of compatibility with the iPod player expected to put fans off. Apple is unlikely to allow tracks downloaded from its rival to be compatible with iPods, but, while the iPod is the most popular music player, it has not succeeded in dominating the market: sales of the iPod account for 50 million out of 130 million total digital player sales. Qtrax has also spoken of an "iPod solution," to be announced in April.
"I'm amazed that we now accept that people steal music," he said. "I was taught not to steal sweets from a sweet shop. But I want to learn how this service works, given the condition the music industry is in."
The service says advertising will be nonintrusive and will not appear each time a song is played. As with iTunes, customers will have to download Qtrax software. They will own the songs permanently, but will be encouraged to "dock" their player with the store every 30 days so it can gather information on which songs have been played.
After a decade fighting to stop illegal file sharing, the music industry will give fans today what they've always wanted: an unlimited supply of free and legal songs.
With CD sales in free fall and legal downloads yet to fill the gap, the music industry has reluctantly embraced the file-sharing technology that threatened to destroy it.
Qtrax, a digital service announced today, promises a catalogue of more than 25 million songs that users can download to keep, free and with no limit on the number of tracks.
The novel service scours pirate networks for songs, then delivers them as downloads to the computers of fans willing to have ads play while they listen.
The service has been endorsed by the very same record companies - - including EMI, Universal Music and Warner Music -- that have chased file-sharers through the courts in a doomed attempt to prevent piracy.
The gamble is that fans will put up with a limited amount of advertising around the Qtrax website's jukebox in return for authorized use of almost every song available.
The service will use the "peer-to-peer" network, which contains not just hit songs, but also rarities and live tracks from the world's leading artists.
Nor is a lack of compatibility with the iPod player expected to put fans off. Apple is unlikely to allow tracks downloaded from its rival to be compatible with iPods, but, while the iPod is the most popular music player, it has not succeeded in dominating the market: sales of the iPod account for 50 million out of 130 million total digital player sales. Qtrax has also spoken of an "iPod solution," to be announced in April.
Qtrax files contain 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 taking a cut of advertising revenues.
The Qtrax team, which spent five years working on the system, promised a "game-changing" intervention in the declining recorded music market when the service was presented at the Midem music industry convention in Cannes.
Singer James Blunt gave Qtrax a cautious welcome.
"I'm amazed that we now accept that people steal music," he said. "I was taught not to steal sweets from a sweet shop. But I want to learn how this service works, given the condition the music industry is in."
Qtrax, a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corp., has raised $30 million to set up the service, which is available in the U.S. and Europe from today.
"Customers now expect music to be free but they do not want to use illegal sites. We believe this . . . has the support of the music industry and allows artists to get paid," said Allan Klepfisz, president of Qtrax.
Ford, McDonald's and Microsoft are among the advertisers signed up to support what is thought to be the world's largest legal music site.
The service says advertising will be nonintrusive and will not appear each time a song is played. As with iTunes, customers will have to download Qtrax software. They will own the songs permanently, but will be encouraged to "dock" their player with the store every 30 days so it can gather information on which songs have been played.
Jean-Bernard Levy, chief executive of Vivendi Universal, said the crisis in the music industry had been overstated despite EMI's radical cost-cutting.
"Look at Universal -- we have double-digit profit margins. But we would like strong competition from the other major record companies to help the industry grow," he said.
Universal has poached the Rolling Stones from EMI and Levy said others could follow as thousands of staff and artists are made redundant.
On the appearance of Qtrax, Levy gave warning that the lack of compatibility between competing digital music players was as big a problem as file sharing.
And Paul McGuinness, the manager of U2, said the sound quality of MP3 downloads was becoming an issue for bands and fans.
"There is a growing consumer revolt against online audio quality," he said.
On the user's computer, the service resembles a modified version of the Firefox web browser. The player is based on Songbird, free media software still under development by digital music pioneer Rob Lord and hundreds of contributors.
Although the downloads reside on the users' computers, they do have some rights restrictions. At least initially, users can't listen to the songs without the player filling the screen and showing ads. They will be able to use the Internet simultaneously only in a window within the player.
The audio will be delivered, along with photos, biographical information about the artist, album cover art and links to Amazon for purchases of CDs or unrestricted MP3s and to Ticketmaster for concert information and ticket sales.
"We're giving away the music, not the profits," Klepfisz said.
| People: | Levy, Jean-Bernard |
| Author(s): | Adam Sherwin |
| Document types: | Business |
| Section: | News |
| Publication title: | Calgary Herald. Calgary, Alta.: Jan 28, 2008. pg. A.3 |
| Source type: | Newspaper |
| ISSN: | 08281815 |
| ProQuest document ID: | 1421262191 |
| Text Word Count | 832 |
| Document URL: | http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/pqdweb?did=1421262191&sid=7&Fmt=3&clientId=12303&RQT=309&VName=PQD |
