Record Labels Say No Deal With Qtrax

by Jarrett Martineau | January 28, 2008 at 11:13 am

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An update to a story from earlier this morning. It appears that Qtrax does not have "the unparalleled support of the major record labels and all of their respective publishing divisions" as it had first claimed. Warner Music, and others, are stepping forward to state that they have not made arrangements with Qtrax to authorize use of music from their catalogue. It might have been a good idea for Qtrax to ensure that all their deals with the major labels were, in fact, signed, sealed, and delivered before they made any public announcements. Oops.

The world's biggest music companies, including Warner Music Group Corp and Sony BMG, denied that they have agreed to license songs for a free download service that was launched by Qtrax on Monday.

A revamped online file-sharing service that promised to offer unlimited, free music downloads from all the major record labels hit an apparent snag Sunday after one denied it had given the service permission.Qtrax touted in a press release Sunday morning that it was the first Internet file-swapping service to be "fully embraced by the music industry," and boasted it would carry up to 30 million tracks from "all the major labels."

New York-based Warner Music undermined that claim, declaring in a statement that it "has not authorized the use of our content on Qtrax's recently announced service."

Universal Music Group and EMI Group PLC later confirmed they did not have licensing deals in place with Qtrax, noting discussions were still ongoing. A call to Sony BMG Music Entertainment was not immediately returned.

EMI Music, Sony BMG and Warner all previously had agreements with Qtrax, which was testing a paid music download service. Sources say those agreements expired in the last year and did not cover the new free, ad-supported model now being promoted by Qtrax.