Rich Fiscus
28 Jan 2008 22:39
Several hours after their announced launch, and even a few hours after an Afterdawn member posted a link to the much anticipated client software, Qtrax now officially has a download link on their website. But before you rush to out to download it and start looking for free music you should know that there isn't any yet. In fact right now, the Qtrax client basically amounts to a music player with ads.
And there isn't any schedule for when they'll be coming either. Despite claims that they're on the verge of getting contracts signed with each of the four major record labels, the company isn't talking about when they expect those to be in place. Actually they've had contracts with more than one of the labels already, but at least one has expired, and another was made in the context of the original plans for the service, which would have limited the number of times free songs could be played, and added a premium tier of service for unlimited playback.
So what's the company's motivation for announcing a service they apparently knew they couldn't deliver? Given the amount of money they spent hiring stars like LL Cool J and Don Henley for the launch event at the MIDEM music industry conference in Cannes there seem to be two plausible answers. They might honestly have expected the labels to get on board once they found out how much interest there is. The overwhelming amount of traffic in the last 24 hours certainly seems like what they would have wanted if that were in fact their goal. Of course it could be that they had no expectation of actually offering the client yet, but wanted to make a big splash in preparation for a "real" launch later in the year.
Whatever their motivation, it's more than a little disturbing to read the comments that Alan Klepfisz, Qtrax's CEO, has made. "We feel we have been unfairly crucified because a competitor tried to damage us. Everyone is very upset" he told The Register. But it's hard to feel too sympathetic since he's still claiming label cooperation, but won't mention the name of a single label involved. In fact, Klepfisz has apparently changed his tune from 25 million tunes available right away to delivering on promises "within months."
It's hard to feel too much sympathy for Qtrax. Many people would like to believe Klepfisz is saying, but so far he's not really saying much. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.