Qtrax and Universal Music Group reach deal for free music downloads

Qtrax along with Universal Music Group have announced that they have reached a deal that will see Qtrax to be able to legally download music for free from UMG. It was back in January when Qtrax stated that it had backing from all of the major record labels, for them to be able to offer music online for free. However; the company then came under fire from some record labels such as Warner Music Group Corp, they stated that Qtrax was not authorized to offer their music for free. This was also the case with other labels such as UMG and EMI Group PLC.

A spokesperson for Universal Music Group has now confirmed that both parties have reached an agreement however; he would not go into the details of the contract. What he did say was “All of UMG’s music available digitally will be available for free, legal downloads on Qtrax,” Shamin Abas who is the spokesperson for Qtrax has said that all of the UMG artists and songwriters will receive compensation for money that was lost with the free downloads that they offered before the deal was done. Shamin said “users will be able to purchase music-related items on the site.”

Could this be the start for Qtrax, you have to now wonder if both Warner Music Group and EMI Group PLC will now follow UMG and sign the same sort of deal.

Source - Engadget