Qtrax? Is it just another peer to peer sharing software?

Recently I was interviewed by RSI Melayu Singapore to talk about this new company called QTRAX. My voice was over the radio for short period of time under this segment called “Mesti IT” in RIA and WARNA. OK I should have posted this earlier so that some of you can catch it over the radio but its already over ah!! Its good to have friends from all over the place, media, entertainment and so on…They just know how to tap you and yes you get free publicity just for giving you expert opinion.

You can read the article here though, http://www.rsi.sg/malay/mestiit/view/20070924151635/1/.html.
They spelt my name “SALAH” but its ok ah…

Anyway back to today’s topic about QTRAX.

Qtrax is a proprietary software developed by LTDnetwork Inc. Recently they have been all over the news talking about their latest innovative P2P file-sharing service which will hit the market coming November.

Qtrax have had already signed deals with Universal, Sony/ATV, Warner Music Group, The Orchard, EMI Music Publishing and EMI Music, TVT Records, Go Digital, ASCAP and BMI to release songs into their system and to reach out to the masses for free.

What it means is that this file sharing service is FREE to use. You can register with them and download as many songs that you want. So what’s the catch??? Well actually there’s no catch its just FREE. What happens is that this company have already covered all the legal areas of distributing the songs.

Now you will wonder how they earn revenue and how can they earn revenue through this peer to peer system. We heard napster being the first company that was sued heavily for this..so how you wonder?

Well basicly what happens is that all the songs distributed will be paid for by advertisers through their system. Since its FREE internet users will have to download their client software just like Napster or Kazaa. When you open this software, i believe you will see plenty of adverts around..ok i hope its not cluttered though but its ok right since we can use it for FREE.

By November there will be millions maybe billions of users already lining up to download this software by then and this figures itself attract Advertisors. Its really a good platform for both advertisers and consumers.

For advertisers, the price of adverts i can say will definitely be a bomb cos of the millions of eye looking at it. Furthermore what makes it different from other current Internet adverts is that Qtrax provides time slots for the adverts. Its already equivalent to TV adverts.. Imagine you need to pay US$100 to only advertise for a mere 30 seconds to 1 minute. That will be how expensive it can be. I’m just illustrating here but this is what my guesses are from my own experience and study of internet marketing and mass media marketing.

OK since this is pretty much news and hype, Qtrax have definitely started on the right track by branding itself and making it known to the world. I wonder how much they have already paid for just to get the word out to the world. Ok nvm that let’s hope when it launches Qtrax is ready for the world because such launches especially worldwide launches requires extensive resources like manpower and fast servers. At the same time, they need to get ready for a war with hackers!!

Song Quality - I guess since we will end up downloading from Qtrax servers, I don’t see a degradation of the mp3 or mp4 quality. But you never know.

I suspect downloading will be slow cos of the high bandwidth but yeah give the company a chance yah. Once they get started earning the revenue, i would see an expansion in their hardware.

A market dominance, great for consumers but not great for Music shops!! Well as we know its a dog eat dogs world out there. There will always be these companies like Qtrax that will spoil the market for everyone. Due to them, possibilities of cd sales at shops will drop and yes they may end up closing shop. I hope not!!! In the long run, I hope that Qtrax will find a new strategy to help instead of killing these music vendors and shops.

My Life Mission: I enable others to discover purpose in their lives and empower them to pursue their dreams and live life to the fullest with God’s blessing.