Qtrax appearred to be a big thing in the making, a p2p based music distribution network with all of the big four record labels on board for free distributed music paid for by advertising built into the software. However I've just read on news.com.au that three of the four are denying that they've reached agreements. So despite qtrax.com website still saying they are launching the beta today at midnight it doesn't seem likely to happen.

I'm trying to find more information but seems like things aren't all up to date on other news sources.

looks interesting!

Just reading about this on SA. A user called "Megiddo" posted this, which is interesting even if it is also bulls*** :P

I almost cannot believe the bulls*** that some media outlets have swallowed from this company. Here's what I've gathered, and I should point out that I know virtually nothing about financial markets, filings, etc. For starters, Brilliant Technologies tried to use a struggling Georgia-based flooring company called The Flooring Zone (a failed laminate flooring chain of all things) as a shell to get an OTCBB securities listing. That deal fell through and Brilliant Technologies is still listed on the Pink Sheets, a high-risk securities listing for developmental and small ventures that aren't required to submit filings to the SEC or be audited. They can't get on the OTCBB themselves because they have been late submitting three filings with the SEC, hence they tried (unsuccessfully) to hoodwink the poor folks at The Flooring Zone, who need cash desperately, but not desperately enough to deal with these guys.

The filings they have made consistently state that they have "entered into" deals with EMI, WMG, and SonyBMG (the implication being copyright holders, not publishers), though they also claim to have made deals with majors' publishing rights arms. But the next paragraph says that all that is necessary to launch is "...finalizing Agreements with the Major Labels which is expected in the near term." And they don't even claim to have a deal with ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Then much later in the filing they list the actual agreements, all of which deal solely with music publishing rights, not with rights to distribute copyrighted content - and they are in default on some of the agreed payments.

But by far the best part is that their Director (accountant?) Chai Ong has an MBA from "Canada."

Apparently the only 30 million this company will ever be associated with is the $30 million they've lost since 1999.

Sounds like the kind of company to stay the f*** away from, which I guess is what the big labels are doing...

last edited by qmass at 23:27:12 28/Jan/08