hypebot

Qtrax Inks Universal...It's Real This Time

Months after a flashy announcement at MIDEM that Qtrax had deals with all four major labels, they have finally inked Universal.  Details of the deal were not announced, but given UMG's recent negotiations it's likely that ad supported P2P Qtrax paid a hefty price for North American access to the world's largest label group.

Unlike the first million dollar party announcement in Cannes, yesterday's news came via a quiet release from Universal that said only, "Qtrax will now have access to the most extensive digital music catalogue of chart-topping artists in the world".

SpiralFrog Hires Russ Rieger As VP

SpiralFrog, the free ad-supported music service, has appointed industry veteran and former Maverick and Pipeline GM Russ Rieger to the newly created position of vice president of strategic initiatives.

Rieger will be responsible for securing and maintaining strategic partnerships within the music, media and advertising industries. (press release)

SpiralFrog Adds RoyaltyShare And MPress

SpiralFrog has announced a licensing agreement with RoyaltyShare to add its independent label customers to the free ad supported service.  Indie label MPress has also been added to the SpiralFrog catalog which now tops 1 million tracks.

More on the deals: RoyaltyShare, MPress

SpiralFrog Adds Warner/Chappell Music

SpiralFrog has signed a deal with music publisher Warner/Chappell Music to add their catalog to the free ad-supported download site's growing offerings.

Signing rights from music publishers is a critical element in SpiralFrog’s push to make ad-supported music downloading available. Licensing sound recordings and music videos requires more than just obtaining rights from the recording artists  and record labels. The writers and composers of the songs themselves must also be compensated and music publishers license these underlying compositions.