QTrax: The Hilarity Continues

noah | January 29, 2008 10:30 am
qtraxxxxx.gif

The saga of QTrax–the so-called legal peer-to-peer service that was set to launch Sunday night with a splashy £500,000 presentation at the MIDEM conference, only to have a lot of egg on its face when it was revealed that the company didn’t actually have any signed agreements with the major labels whose wares it would be hocking–is dragging on, with CEO Allan Klepfisz spinning like mad, telling everyone that his company is “not idiots,” and floating a few conspiracy theories:

“We are not idiots,” he said.”We wouldn’t have launched the service in front of the whole music industry unless we had secured its backing. We feel we have been unfairly crucified because a competitor tried to damage us. Everyone is very upset.”

A competitor? Is he hurling those accusations at the still-croaking ad-supported music site SpiralFrog, or is there another doomed company outfit that’s trying to compete with QTrax out there? I’m guessing it’ll be a while before we find out the details, given that the QTrax higher-ups don’t seem to really be into focusing on the nitty-gritty based on this other quote from Klepfisz:

“As the world’s first free and legal P2P service that has chosen to spend 4.5 years on licensing and not to violate IP rights, we have decided that we will provide activation keys shortly upon final execution of all pertinent contracts.”

Four and a half years and yet you don’t double-check to see if your contracts are signed on your big expensive press-blitzed launch day? I mean, I know the promise of a James Blunt concert could lead some people out there to get distracted by the stars in their eyes, but come on. QTrax: We’re Launching…Someday [Silicon Alley Insider] Music file-share site Qtrax forced into humiliating U-turn [Times Online]

Tags: