Qtrax: Still Vaporware
by
on March 04, 2008,
Qtrax had some “big” news today; they renewed their existing licenses with EMI Music Publishing and Sony/ATV. When I read the news, I went looking for a press release on their site and couldn't find a thing. I'm guessing at this point, Qtrax just wants to launch, and any intermediate steps between their current status and launch are just reminders of how badly their one botched attempt went.
The new-”ish” deal doesn't really help Qtrax in their quest to get up and running; while renewing the deals (some of which lapsed due to timing and others due to a change in the terms of service for the site) does put them a bit closer to their eventual goal of launching a service, they still haven't inked deals with the people they really need to ever supply music. As Engadget points out, the real hang-up here is with content-distribution rights. Most of the original agreements limited the number of plays per person per track, with a pop-up to purchase the track when the limit was reached. With the new “business model” using unlimited tracks, the labels are understandably balking. Anyone who has paid even an iota of attention to the antics of the RIAA should have seen that coming.
Qtrax may want to take advantage of a study by The Wharton School that iLike promoted last month that claims that users of iLike bought 250% more music than they had previously. While I think that Qtrax has mishandled nearly every step of their launch, the reality is that the music industry NEEDS online methods to expose people to more music. Trying to cram the same 10 acts down our throats and expecting everyone to buy those in order to make money isn't a sustainable business model. I do hope that Qtrax is able to pull it out here, because it's going to be companies that expose us to new artists and new music who save the music industry.
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This is the worst article I have ever written. Do you even bother to verify what you are saying? How stupid can a person get?
first,I have to read for verify to you..hmm lets take a look this article
I’m getting both comments and emails about this article, but I stand by my statements. Launching a product without contracts in place that would actually make it a product is not a good move when it comes to public perception. Without contracts, the company should have been in stealth mode until it could actually launch with a working service.
I did state something in the article that’s unclear, and will edit to fix it. I looked for a press release on the Qtrax site itself and didn’t find it. Most companies will provide a place on their site for their press releases, but Qtrax’s “press” link on their site only includes favorable mentions in the media.
They have a great idea, but without that paper signed on the dotted line, it’s nothing but an idea. Launching a product for download without the service that’s supposed to be behind it isn’t the best way to generate the kind of buzz you want for your company to be successful.
If every article written about your launch is either negative or mocking… Yeah, you screwed the pooch. Don’t try to sugar coat it and call it a misunderstanding or gloss over it by only showing positive press clippings.