Web File-Sharing Service to Relaunch in EMI Deal

The company behind the defunct Qtrax online file-swapping network has signed a licensing deal with Britain-based EMI Music and aims to relaunch this year as an ad-supported recording-industry-friendly music service.

Qtrax was among several peer-to-peer file-sharing applications that emerged after the shutdown of Napster, the pioneering service that enabled millions to illegally copy songs stored in other music fans’ computers.

Creator LTDnetwork Inc. stopped distributing Qtrax a few months after its 2002 launch to avoid potential legal trouble.

The new version of Qtrax will still let users tap into the Gnutella network to search for music but will use technology to block the copying or distribution of music restricted by record labels.

Instead, users will be able to play such songs a few times free, but additional play will require a purchase of about $1.

They may also download unlimited, though not permanent, licensed music by paying a monthly fee.

Although labels are eager to find new avenues for fans to purchase music, enticing those who are accustomed to free and unrestricted file sharing to switch to restricted services such as Qtrax remains a challenge.

“Maybe there’s a small percentage who say, ‘We must have completely unfettered access to free music,’ but the reality is being able to listen to a song five times is not too bad, right?” said Allan Klepfisz, president and chief executive of New York-based Brilliant Technologies Corp., which acquired LTDnetwork about a year and a half ago. “You get a pretty good sense of whether you want to purchase it.”

Pricing for the subscription tier of the service hasn’t been finalized but probably will be comparable to that of other online music services, which typically charge $10 to $15 a month.

Record labels that license content for Qtrax will receive 50% of the revenue from ads displayed during free song previews, Klepfisz said.

EMI is the only major label to have reached a Qtrax licensing deal, but Klepfisz said he was pursuing licensing talks with other major labels and expected to launch Qtrax in the United States as early as the third quarter of this year.

IMesh, an established file-sharing operator that shut down in 2004 and relaunched late last year as a licensed music service, has declined to say how many users it has.