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EMI Does P2P Deal
June 5, 2006 at 2:45 PM (PT)
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EMI GROUP has announced an agreement to make its music catalog available on an advertising-supported P2P service. According to REUTERS, the new service, QTRAX., was developed by LTD NETWORK of NEW YORK, and is slated to launch later this year. Consumers will have the choice of downloading music for free after watching ads, or paying for a premium subscription version of the site.
"We think that any ad-supported model should be offered in a way that maintains, or even enhances the value of music, and we believe QTRAX does that by offering a good consumer experience and significant up-selling opportunities," said DAVID MUNNS, Chairman/CEO of EMI MUSIC NORTH AMERICA.
"There's a lot of pent-up demand for advertisers to get onto peer-to-peer services, but up until now it's been illegal, and highly dangerous territory for them to wade into," said ALLAN KLEPFISZ, CEO of LTD NETWORK's parent company BRILLIANT TECHNOLOGIES, CORP, who added that the service will not launch "until all the majors have signed on."
QTRAX' s free version will allow consumers to download songs in a format called .mpq, which will allow five free plays. Listeners will then be offered a click-to-buy option. Song searches will also will return click-through options to buy related CDs, DVDs and books on Shopping.com.KLEPFISZ said that other music companies may allow more or fewer uses, and that EMI would be able to use QTRAX to gain insights into consumer behavior by gauging how many people sample music for free versus how many buy.

