Yesterday, when everybody was hyping the new ad-supported music service Qtrax, we said Qtrax was D.O.A.
We noted that “Qtrax wants you to download software to watch ads to get DRM‚Äôd music that probably won‚Äôt work on your media player.” Not something that we really want to do.
Others are starting to see through the free music fog, too, and realize that Qtrax isn’t all that it claims:
- The Times Online notes that “none of the four major labels had done deals with the site, putting a large dent in the promised catalogue of 25 million songs and prompting allegations that the site’s founders had misled fans.”
- The BBC reports that, despite the fact that Qtrax is saying it has deals with all the major music labels that deals have not been signed.
- Ars Technica says that Qtrax is vaporware, making big promises that it can’t deliver.
The ad-supported music model is going nowhere fast, because people already have a lot of digital music, don’t spend a lot on digital music, and really, really hate annoying advertising.
New music startups need to address a real problem – helping you find music you like among the millions of free tracks that are already legally available on the Internet.
