Music website Qtrax seeks Mideast investors

The proponents of Qtrax, an advertiser-supported free and legal peer-to-peer music download service based in New York, are currently in discussions with a Middle East investor to help boost the initiative here in the region, Emirates Business has learned.

The download service, which will be officially launched in April this year, claims to have the support of the music industry especially the big four music companies: EMI, SonyBMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The service is 100 per cent advertising supported and there is no registration fees or download fees.

"We would like to launch this service to this region about 60 days after we launch it in the United States, so we need to close the deal within a month," Robin Kent, Co-Founder of Rebel Digital whose lead Client is Qtrax, said. "We are looking at capital [injection] absolutely. I don't know the percentage from here but we're looking financing globally in a total of $40 million (Dh146m).

"We are also looking for somebody who can provide marketing, PR, advertising, sales and Arabise the site as well because we need to make it local."

Qtrax is the world's first free and legal P2P digital music site.

It guarantees to offer new music and legally download full-length, high-quality versions of popular songs while compensating both the artists and the record labels through non-intrusive and relevant advertising.

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