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Spoke with Ian Penman. He's not happy with Klepsy
http://www.themusicvoid.com/2011/03/lawyer-to-qtrax-were-not-going-to-take-this-anymore/
Here is the post by Ian Penman of New Media Law in London.
http://wp.newmedialaw.biz/?p=36
RR works for NML and I personally know of other lawyers and vendors who have the exact experience. I have seen copies of bounced checks from Klepsy that have not been pursued through the courts for the same reason as Penman didn't sue. Not only that, but if the stiffed parties would win, which they would, they probably still wouldn't be able to collect. Klepsy has reneged on numerous settlements and ignored judgments in the past. In someone case he actually made settlement payments with bad checks.
Is this normal? Is this what one would expect from the CEO of a publicly traded company? I've never heard of this kind of behavior. It's nice to see someone finally publicly call out Klepsy.
There really isn't one, so to speak.
As reported in CNET:
"Qtrax still owes some of the big labels money and must get caught up before the three-month period ends or lose the rights to the songs"
What this means is that he's told the labels that if he can launch a product with 3 of the 4 majors he can get a new investor and then pay them what he owes them---which is significant. After the 90 days I would expect that the labels will have nothing more to do with Qtrax as they have no interest in supporting that model, whatever it really is. The space has moved rapidly and the Qtrax model with very tightly tethered DRM downloads and even their player and website are straight from 1997.
I am sure. Please try to read between the lines.
I happen to know many people who have been burned by Klepsy.
I also feel that he "borrows" other people's ideas...I know he did with us years ago. He's just never had an original thought, He's a copycat. But that doesn't bug me as much as the fact that he really really messed with a lot of friends.
I my opinion he made it way more difficult for others to get legitimate financing. I have no respect for him at all. I hear a lot of stuff, all true. He muddied the water for everyone.
I also don't think that this man should be the stewart of a public company and can't believe that he actually is. The amount of money he has burned through with nothing to show for it is disgraceful. That kind of behavior should not be rewarded and investors should be made aware of it. After all, Klepsy doesn't communicate with the shareholders--or at least hasn't in over a year. Hasn't filed financials in years. It's just unbelievable.
That's it in a nutshell for me.
Billboard Magazine
March 07, 2011
By Glenn Peoples, Nashville
QTrax's Wishful Thinking? Warner Music
-- -- Is something fishy going on at Qtrax? As Wayne Rosso writes at The Music Void, many Warner Music Group titles have been listed at a preview version of the free music download service Qtrax. Indeed, last week Billboard spotted titles by Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Green Day and other Warner artists listed on the site. As of Monday those and other songs are listed but are unavailable for download.
Recall that Warner is the one major that has been outspoken against ad-supported music. "Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry, and as far as Warner Music Group goes, will not be licensed," Chairman and CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. said in February 2010. Two of the four majors - EMI and Sony Music - have signed deals with Spotify for the U.S. Some reports have claimed that Universal Music Group is close to completing a deal, although sources have told Billboard otherwise. The one company that has been not been mentioned in reports of near-finished licensing deals is Warner.
So something would indeed be fishy if Warner had actually licensed its music to Qtrax. It would look a bit peculiar if Warner would not do a deal with an ad-supported Spotify but would do a deal with an ad-supported Qtrax. Even though the two services have their differences in terms of product design and platforms, both are similar in that they offer free, ad-supported music. (Spotify also has paid subscriptions.)
But there's no evidence that Warner has a deal with Spotify. EMI is the only major known to have a deal with the service - an EMI spokesperson has confirmed this with Billboard. Given Qtrax's history of missteps, the existence of Warner listings at Qtrax is more likely to be part of another errant Qtrax launch.
I'll be happy to answer your questions and lay out likely scenario.
If Klepsy gets some money, it will have to be a very significant amount. The only reason he has these temporary licenses is in order to get enough dough to pay the labels what he owes them from the past. And that's a lot. They want their cash and see this as a hail mary pass to try and get what they're owed. He basically said "give me 90 days and I'll get you your money".
Don't forget that he has many millions more out in judgments against him, the latest is actually a personal judgment.
Because of this situation Kelpsy is only allowed heavily drm'd downloads that can only be played on a computer and only with the Qtrax player. They are considered to be the equivalent of streams for computer only--nothing portable. Portability is more than a technical issue, it's a licensing issue. Those rights cost a lot more money, especially if you want to cache as Spotify does. Based upon the existing Qtrax technology, it would never happen The current web site and player are like something out of 1997--totally antiquated. No one uses this stuff anymore. It takes several seconds for a track to play because it has to call home and get a license for every play. That's dark ages stuff. The labels won't give him mp3's to give away. And the certainly won't let him get near anything mobile.
The labels are also very embarrassed about this whole thing. I figure that they told Klepsy to keep this all on the DL--no press announcements--this is only meant for investors to see. So what I think he did was Have his acolytes and pr firm tweet about it and leak it onto forums like this one.It would whip the fateful into a frenzy, as it always does. Klepsy knows what he's doing.This way he can say tp the labels that he never put out a press announcement with a straight face.
As far as the Warner content goes, here's what I think happened. Klepsy had the content from his previous "trial" a couple of years ago. So he most likely just told his tech guys to activate everything he had, knowing that he didn't have WMG on board. My guess is that he figure that they wouldn't notice and if they did it's always better to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission.
What's most amazing is how the stupid record labels went for this--they're that desperate to get their dough. And I'd love to find the investor who doesn't know how to use Google.
I hope that this helps answers your questions.
Thank you for the kind words.
I try my best not to get hung up in the personal attacks that are launched toward me. I'm here to try to help and educate people so that they can make informed decisions.
The posters who attack and, as of late, threaten, do not bother me at all. I will continue to keep everyone informed about Qtrax to the best of my knowledge and experience. I have several deep throats who have told me many things that I can't repeat in a public forum, but are truly horrifying. Furthermore, it is very clear that Klepsy has his surrogates/acolytes on full tilt to try to discredit me here. Unfortunately the media is wise to what's going on and I'm not worried at all about it.
This must be the shortest launch in product history!
Oops, that's besides MIDEM 2008.
It appears as though none of the download links for music are active any longer, and that includes content from all 4 major labels.
WMG seems to have pulled their content, but they still have no official comment. I'm sure they'd like for this all to go away.
And curiously the artist pages for The Beatles and AC/DC have miraculously disappeared!
The licenses are for 90 days maximum. The labels are owed a lot of money and want it. This is their way of getting paid. As I stated in my post, this is probably Klepsy's only way of attracting new money and if he does the labels will want theirs immediately.
This is no real launch of anything. It's yet another bungled attempt. I'm amazed that Klepsy isn't embarrassed to walk down the street.
You have a great legal mind.
I suggest that everyone buy up every share of BLLN they can get their hands on first thing tomorrow morning. Bet the ranch. This is s sure fire winner! It will be at $10 a share in no time.
Get read for the ride. Buckle your seat belts. It's going to the moon
I did answer and I do not lie.
I have no reason to. May I remind you that I'm the only person here who does not lie--I use my real name! Everyone else hides behind anonymous screen names.
I'd also like to remind you that I'm one of the very few people here who does not make personal attacks on other posters.
I'm sorry that you don't want to accept that, but it's really not my problem.
Once again--I stand by my statements.
I have a lot to say
And you be hearing it soon enough. The fact is that this is no different from the last 2 times Klepsy had a "preview". As far as a real launch goes, EMI for one has made it very clear that Klepsy does not have a regular license--only short term. Nothing has changed. Qtrax is operating on a debit card--no funds, no content.
Now I am amazed that he got some cash. It's absolutely remarkable that anyone would put their money into this.No one ever said you had to be smart to have money. There's a lot of dumb rich people out there and Klepsy's true talent seems to be finding them. But I wonder what these investors are like when they lose their money.
Like I said, at the end of the day absolutely nothing has changed.
And here's yet another reason not to be so joyous.
This time it's $1.3 million. Chew on this for a little while.
http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/C_PDF?CatID=656682&CID=102230-2011&FName=0
Of course! Billboard reporters do everything I tell them to do.
Billboard Magazine
Glenn Peoples of Billboard wrote this analysis of Qtarx. If you refuse to believe what I've been telling you for years maybe you'll believe what Billboard says. But then again you believe what you want to believe.The bottom line of the story is that Qtrax has put out a crappy product and doesn't have a prayer.
Qtrax Inks Short Term Deal with EMI, But Could it Succeed in 2011?
-- After many false starts, is Qtrax on its way to a launch? And is it too late? The "free and legal" download service has completed a licensing deal with EMI and may have more, according to reports at CNET and Wired. Wired got a confirmation from an EMI spokesperson that the company has a "short term agreement" with Qtrax. A source at another major told Billboard that a brief trial period was part of its discussions with Qtrax. The preview version of the service that is currently available at http://music.qtrax.com lists the music of all four majors as well as many indies.
The arrival of a full -- or even mostly -- licensed Qtrax product would be quite a surprise at this point. It was all the way back in January 2008 when Qtrax suffered from its infamous false launch. A year-and-a-half later, in July 2009, CEO Alan Klepfisz wrote a post at the Qtrax blog with a subtitle of "The Impossible Takes a Bit Longer." A "final, unalterable, unmovable launch time" was to come a week after that post. Over a year-and-a-half later, Qtrax is still nowhere to be seen.
If it awakens, Qtrax would appear to a much different world than what existed in January 2008. There was no Spotify, Rdio or MOG. Napster was still a publicly traded company that would be acquired in September 2008. Rhapsody was still a part of RealNetworks and spun off in February 2010. And Pandora was not yet the Internet radio juggernaut it is today.
But maybe it's too late -- for the U.S. market, at least. The Qtrax model, which placed an emphasis on downloading, now seems better suited for an earlier age. In January 2008, consumers were more firmly rooted in downloads. The iPhone had been out for only about seven months. Vevo didn't yet exist. Lady Gaga, who now has over 1 billion YouTube streams, had net yet released her first album.
Since then, consumers have started to shift away from downloads and toward the cloud. So have investors. The major venture capital dollars have flowed into cloud-based services that emphasize streaming and caching, not downloading.
Most worrisome is the product itself, the preview version, a confusing experience to anyone weaned on more user-friendly music products like iTunes, Rhapsody or, well, anything else but this. Finding and listening to music on Qtrax is a cumbersome experience that seems out of place in a market filled with many slick, feature-rich, multi-platform services. If the hype over Spotify teaches us anything, it's that a music service needs to be an incredibly well designed product. Clutter doesn't work.
The one thing Qtrax has going for it is that it's free. But if it ever launches, and there have been false starts before, will free be enough to make is succeed? (CNET, Wired)
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
I have the tracks and they are ask warner content. sorry bit Zeppelin has always been exclusively on Warner.
Yes, I do.
I can give you a spot on analysis. I was on to this days ago and have been just sitting back. Let me just say that if WMG (who I have been in touch with since Wednesday night) have not licensed Klepsy as reported by Eliot and CNET, then that means that tracks by Zeppelin, Paul Simon, Abba, James Tayor, Fleetwood Mac and others are all being illegally offered. A Warner spokesperson told me that they knew nothing of any deal with Qtrax. In other words, if that's the case, Klepsy is illegally distributing content. And you all have said that you've downloaded Warner content. I have And have appropriately notified WMG.
There's more. But I have to go meet some people now and will continue this later. Bottom line is that Klepsy has issues with the truth and you'll see as things unfold.
A dose of reality
I had an extended conversation last night with a very highly placed digital music executive and I raised the subject of Qtrax.
Here's what he told me:
1. Klepsy is not on the label's radar at all. When my contact ever raises Klepsy's name, everyone laughs. He's a laughingstock and not taken seriously.
2. The labels would not trust him with their content.
3. The labels have turned against the concept of giving away their content.
4. It now takes a minimum of $50 million in aggregate advances to get licenses and in many cases $100 million or more. He has burned the labels in the past by not paying them the advances when they were due. So now no one wants to waste any time with him.
5. Labels have not heard from Klepsy in quite a while.
6.They're not interested in the markets that Klepsy is supposedly "launching" in. That was the only reason that Universal threw him some crumbs in his last "launch". Universal was the only labels to give him any content at all and it was stale content at that. He had to pre=pay the full retail for every track.
7. At this juncture the only services the labels care about are Apple, Google and Spotify. They don't have the resources or desire to deal with any others.
8. According to my source, at this time it is "impossible" for Qtrax to launch a product with full major labels support.
In short, there's no way that Qtrax will ever get off the ground no matter what you may think. Everyone is being scammed.
You are correct. It's nothing but a sham.
Actually the only way to communicate with Klepto is through this board. As I have said many times in the past, he watched this board like a hawk. This I know for fact. That's why he disseminates his misinformation through his acolytes here and not in press releases, blogs or any other legitimate public forum.
I think that if you really can circulate a petition you must send it to the SEC. Perhaps is the SEC sees that more than one or two shareholders are upset then maybe they will devote some resources to it. I'm sure that it would be difficult to prosecute Klepsy as he's not a citizen and is usually hiding out in Singapore or somewhere else in Asia. Even if he was sued, it wouldn't matter. We all know that he just ignores lawsuits and even when he loses he continues to ignore the judgments. Only criminal prosecution would work and then, like I said, try to find him. Maybe if shareholders also concentrate efforts more on Lance Ford they may get somewhere. If he starts feeling heat he may just flip. It's only the two of them now anyway.If Qtrax was such a winner, why would "The A Team" jump ship? Or at least 2 thirds of it. And after years of trying to pull off an impossible business model?
Misinformation
Just for the record, I'd like to point out some misinformation that the company and/or it's unwitting (or possibly witting) proxies are disseminating.
Last Friday someone posted "this weekend should be interesting with plenty of music to share with family and friends." This, of course, did not happen.
The same poster tweeted about 6 weeks ago that the new Qtrax site would launch on Feb. 23. That date, naturally, has come and gone. What you see at the supposed music.qtrax.com is a canard and used as a pumping instrument to make some unsophisticated investors think that something is really happening. Even if you click the Akon advert, it links to the ad network provider. The site is hosted by a completely different hosting service--it all smells very fishy. So much for all of the hardware they supposedly purchased. More misinformation. And no--there is absolutely nothing going on behind the scenes. It's totally amateur hour, as Qtrax has been from its very beginning.
The point is that Klepsy is avoiding making any public statements and instead using surrogates to spread unsubstantiated rumors and thus attempt to manipulate the market. This strategy has proven to be effective with this stock in the past. By avoiding another one of his fame blog rants he dodges possible legal inquiries. He has made this mistake many times in the past by making public claims that were absolutely untrue.
Furthermore advances required by record labels these days run into the multi-millions. Under the best conditions it's difficult to get money today, but anyone with Klepsy's track record is ultimately doomed--as he should be. I talk to industry people all day every day and Klepsy is just not in the game--not a factor--at all. I have done a lot of investigating--know about all of his shenanigans, know many people who have worked with him and people who he has burned and have NOT sued because they know it would be a waste of money--- and will eventually write the real story.
Throw another shrimp on the barbie!
I hate to throw cold water on all of the excitement over the "new" qtrax, but guess what? There's been another lawsuit filed! How could that possibly be since Klepsy is about to launch?
Anyway Klepsy's been sued again, this time in NY Supreme Court by John Fife and Chicago Venture Partners. Index number: 102230-2011. Document have yet to be scanned, but we can almost write the complaint ourselves. I'm sure it's Klepsy borrowed money, didn't repay, made promise after promise, may even have written another bounced check, etc., etc. We all know the story.
This whole relaunch is nothing more than a canard, a red herring, misdirection. If you'll remember, Darth tweeted over a month ago that the "new" qtrax would be launching on Feb 23. Well, it didn't.
I don't know what it would take for many of you to get the picture here. Everything, EVERYTHING, is wrong with Qtrax. What is being disseminated oaths forum by many is nothing but lies and misinformation. If everyone hasn't learned that by now then you deserve to lose every dime you have. Any partially sophisticated investor would see through this. And by the way, am I mistaken or are there crimes that may be in commission with Qtrax? Is intentionally bouncing a check a crime? I guess not.
Look guys. I know more about this stuff than anyone here, whether you want to admit it or not. And this is just not going to happen. Even if he somehow managed to launch something, anything, it would be inferior, outdated, and undercapitalized. The entire model is, as one of his ex-employees recently told me, "so last century". Spotify is launching soon in the US. Google will be launching eventually. Itunes is launching a streaming service. With all of the locker and streaming services consumers don't want or need drm'd music, free or otherwise. The business passed Klepsy by 6 years ago. It's over. You're all being scammed.
Rick Riccobono guest columnist for The Music Void
http://www.themusicvoid.com/2011/02/non-exclusivity-direct-licensing-and-the-granting-of-digital-composition-rights/
You forgot...and no web site either
You're most welcome.
I'm happy to answer any questions you may have anytime.
Frankly I'm just amazed that Klepsy is not in jail. It's really stunning.
Actually you are partially right. It's page 30. I stand corrected. The reason I missed it was because I didn't bother looking at the list for US services as we all know that Klepsy no longer has US licenses.
Klepsy essentially admitted this when he started his "global" rollout to concentrate on the Pacific Rim and Asia. I believe that is a matter of record. He gave up on the US over a year ago.
In order to provide some context to my previous post, I'd like to draw your attention to the IFPI's Digital Music Report 2011 released today.
http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2011.pdf
It gives a very thorough overview of the entire global digital music market, including profiles on the leading services. I'd like to draw your attention to page 28 where the report lists EVERY one of the over 400 music services in the world. Needles to say, Qtrax is not to be found anywhere in the report. Nada. Nothing.
This is yet further proof that Qtrax is a non-factor in digital music. If these guys had licenses they'd surely be at least mentioned in a major annual global music report that does nothing but brag about how many new services the industry has licensed.
You can certainly continue to criticize me and doubt my credibility, but this validates what I and many have been saying for some time. I'm sure some will continue to look for excuses why its either a lie, or me spinning the facts, or irrelevant, or whatever. Facts are pesky little things that often get in the way.
Thank you for the kind words.
Here are my thoughts and observations. To begin with, there is absolutely no reason for this stock to be trading let alone going up in price. I got a call from a reporter with a major financial publication a week or so ago regarding Klepsy. It appears that Darth Vader was tweeting that Qtrax would launch on Feb. 23. He didn't believe it, of course, but asked me if I had heard anything. I could only tell him what I will tell you.
I have not heard Klepsy's name or Qtrax mentioned at all in any conversation I have had with every record label. None of the labels have heard a peep. Any licenses he may have had at one point in the past are no longer in force. I really don't think that he ever really activated any of them since he never had any money. These days the advances have gotten to be so outrageous that investors run from the space. It's just not worth it anymore to mess with the recording industry. They are terrible partners, there are paper thin margins and advertising is down the toilet.
It is coming on 3 years since Klepsy lied to the world at MIDEM. He has burned every bridge that he had or could possibly have with the press. That's a fact. With the cost of marketing a consumer service, you need the "free" exposure that the press provides. That door is shut for all practical purposes. He has cried wolf so many times that no one in the media believes him anymore. He's a complete joke. And every time he puts out a press release everybody I know in the press just scoffs at it.
In my opinion he is and always has been a complete fraud. I have a lot of information about his shenanigans that unfortunately I can't reveal in a public forum, but I told Rick Riccobono 4 years ago that the guy was a scam artist and I told Robin Kent as well. I've know Rick for 35 year sand he's a nice guy who just found himself in a bad set of circumstances. But I glad that at least he's out of the Qtrax muck.
I think that Klepsy is under a lot of pressure from some of his broker pals to do something about the stock because they're sitting on millions of share that they can't dump. They need out. Klepsy knows how to work this board and knows that the faithful buy into his garbage, so he takes advantage of it. What he did was put up a stupid slash page, the latest in a string of similar stupid splash pages, and float the rumor that he is launching on the 23rd of Feb. He knows that there are people on this board who have a limited knowledge of how the business really works and he knows how to play them. They are so invested, both financially and emotionally, that they blindly listen to him and reject any facts or evidence to the contrary. He may indeed launch, but I doubt that he'll have any content of consequence. He may have been able to con some little record labels in India or Singapore or the Phillipines into giving him some content without any advance money, so he may try to pull off that as a "launch". But no major label stuff.
It is virtually impossible for Qtrax to succeed, even if they beat the odds and launch something. It just doesn't matter any more. The market is set and there's little to no opportunity for new services, especially with Google's imminent entrance into the market.
I really don't think that he even has the money to build a new site. If he does, then he's hiding it from judgment holders. Let's be honest. The guy's looking at about $4 million is judgments and those are the ones that we know about. God knows how many more are ut there as well as the vendors who haven't filed lawsuits yet.
As far as the supposed model goes, once again friends, it will not and cannot work--for a number of reasons. But let's save that for another time. Don't forget that Spotify is definitely launching in the US and with their freemium model, who needs a stupid "free" drm'd download model? It's really useless. Also, the labels are just not behind that model anymore. They don't want to hear it. That's just fact. It would take a war chest of many millions to launch these days, and I cannot see how any semi-intelligent investor would trust Klepsy as the stewart of their money. After all, his track record speaks for itself on the truth meter. You've all read his ranting blog posts with all of the righteous indignation, self pity and empty promises. None of it, and I mean NONE of it, has ever come to pass. EVER. That too, my friends, is fact.
Frankly I don't care about Klepsy or Qtrax at all. It's merely mild entertainment for me at this point. I won't even write about him on my blog any longer as he really doesn't deserve the attention. And I'm not the only one who feels that way. The truth is that posts about Qtrax just don't get any traffic, so why bother? Nobody cares.
I was talking to a top digital media exec yesterday at a major label and asked if they'd heard from Klepsy. The answer was"not a peep". See, he owes them all money! Money that he doesn't have.And yes, if he walked in the door of a label with several million in cold cash in a suitcase they'd be happy to deal with him. But that's not going to happen and they would gladly take his money but would never really back him. They know that he would go out of business and they could then keep the balance of the advance money with paying anything out to the artists. Sheer profit.
So I honestly believe that this is nothing more than a typical Klepsy pump and if people can make money playing the pump, fine. Frankly I think your odds are better in Vegas.It's just like craps. But there is absolutely no long term viable play here and I really don't even think there's even a short term play either. The time for Qtrax came and went 4 years ago, minimally.
I first ran across Qtrax in London about 7 years ago and knew it was a BS play then. Nothing has changed as far as I'm concerned. The guy is toxic.
And he's lucky that they don't have debtor's prison any longer.
Absolutely shocking, isn't it?
I just can't believe that Klepsy not only got more money and blew it with nothing to show for it but is also actually getting away with it!! I'm amazed that small shareholders haven't filed a lawsuit yet.
More good news for Klepsy fro the NY court system!
Here's the latest: Klepsy is now being sued personally.
Court: New York County Civil Court
Index Number: CV-063043-10/NY
Case Name: FAIRLANE CREDIT, L.L.C
vs.
KlepFisz, Allan M
Case Type: Civil
Classification: Consumer Credit
Filing Date: 11/23/2010
Fairlane Credit is owned by Ford and specializes in automobile financing. It appears as though Klepsy has defaulted on his car loan!!! It's really tough as since he has probably lost his world headquarters and now has nowhere to sleep since the Volvo is gone.
But that's not all, folks.
2 confessions of judgment have been entered against Klepsy, one for over $368,000 and another for over $78,000. Total is more than $446,000.
http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/C_PDF?CatID=632079&CID=114786-2010&FName=0
http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/iscroll/C_PDF?CatID=633479&CID=114787-2010&FName=0
And let's not forget about the landlord at the world headquarters
Court: New York County Civil Court
Index Number: CV-061600-09/NY
Case Name: ADMIRAL INDEMNITY COMPANY, ASO PERLBINDER REALTY CORP.
vs.
KLEPFISZ, ALLAN M
Case Type: Civil
Classification: General
Filing Date: 12/31/2009
Disposition Date:
Calendar Number: P-10-NY-009106
So I'm sure that investors will be lining up to give Klepsy more money. With the greatest business plan ever, who cares about a few million of judgments? Big deal. If we can get financing, all of our problems will go away. Where have I heard that before?
This is a total sucker play.
For those of you who may still be interested
It appears as though your CTO, Chris Roe, left the ship several months ago, finally joining the awakened Rick Riccobono and Robin Kent. It looks at though this is truly a 2 man show now.
Good luck with that Klepsy.
Klepsy MIA
Looks like our hero is nowhere to be found. Not only has there been no shareholder communication since Dec. 24, 2009 (with the exception of a couple of bs press releases about beta launches in Tasmania) but if you go to the web site (remember--new website in coming days?--that was several weeks ago, btw) click the about tab at the bottom right of the home page and what to you get? NOTHING!!!! Same under Contact tab. And Legal Disclaimer tab.
But to his credit Klepsy does have support (after being humiliated into paying his zendesk bill). This, my friends, is a living example of the perfect CEO. Wouldn't you just love to have him running your company? Oops..I forgot. He is.
What's funny about this is that I don't think that Klepsy is stupid enough to buy this stock, even if he could afford it.
This is why Qtrax will never make it, even if Klepsy is able to find another sucker somewhere in this world.
Billboard Magazine
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/magazine/features/e3ic1b8d33f8a6797cd0cb1b54717520503#most
IS SPOTIFY REALLY ALL THAT?
November 06, 2010
BY GLENN PEOPLES
The much-ballyhooed subscription service is about to launch this week. Or next month. Or not. As a free service. Or only paid. Maybe. Amid all the uncertainty, Billboard plugged in its earbuds to find out if Spotify is actually worth waiting for.
In the United States, the streaming music service Spotify is more myth than reality. Few people here have used the service—apart from a handful of Kool-Aid-glugging bloggers and biz types—while more than 10 million people in seven European countries are registered users. Based in the United Kingdom, with R&D in Sweden, Spotify has created such a buzz overseas that American digital media outlets track the company as if its postmark was Cupertino. Each week brings new, feverish speculation that Spotify, which is still negotiating deals with the major U.S. record companies, is about to launch and blow up the marketplace.
It's the next big thing that almost no one has experienced.
People often ask me if I've used Spotify, and, if so, whether it lives up to its hype. The answers are "yes"—it's my job, after all—and "hell yes." To people bred on the ease of iTunes downloads and wary of subscription services, my keenness for Spotify may come as a surprise. And without actually using it, people may have a difficult time understanding what makes it special. It's hard to describe some of its small, yet important, aspects. Eventually I usually tell them that Spotify makes music fun again, just like the iPod did nearly 10 years ago.
I've been using the Spotify desktop application for more than a year and the mobile app for a few weeks. There was hardly a learning curve. It has never crashed. It has rarely disappointed. The sound quality is more than adequate. Songs stream at 160 kbps, and temporary downloads can be as high as 320 kbps (160 kbps on the mobile device).
In Europe, Spotify has three versions: a free, ad-supported version; a &euro4.99 ($6.91) PC-only version; and a &euro9.99 ($13.83) premium version that adds mobile access to the PC version. The company says it has more than 500,000 paying customers, although it doesn't break down PC-only and premium users.
In the United States, such competitors as Rhapsody, MOG and Rdio charge now-standard prices of $5 for PC access and $10 for mobile. When Spotify launches stateside—"by the end of the year" continues to be the company line—it's likely to have this standard pricing as well. Less likely, but possible, is a free, ad-supported version. U.S. executives have been burned by ad-supported services—the late imeem, MySpace Music—and could be hesitant to allow a free version onto these shores.
So what should you expect as a potential user once the company finally throws the switch stateside? Here's how Billboard scores Spotify in seven crucial categories: design, speed, social, offline listening, mobile app, the "lean back" experience and catalog.
DESIGN (GRADE: A-)
Like an Apple product, Spotify is more than just a collection of functions and features. It's well-thought-out and well-executed.
"It's actually very easy to create a different thing," Apple senior VP of industrial design Jonathan Ive says in the book "Deconstructing Product Design." A number of clunky and unsuccessful MP3 players preceded the iPod, but it was different, Ive says, because Apple strived to make it such a simple device.
That simplicity makes Spotify intuitive. The desktop client will be familiar to anyone who has used iTunes. The left sidebar houses a list of playlists—the dominant organizational mode on Spotify—as well as main features like the inbox, starred items (selected as favorites) and a link back to the home screen. The design is relatively sparse and utilitarian. There aren't any bells and whistles that distract the user or the service from the task of efficiently organizing, sharing and listening to music.
Spotify's design succeeds because the company understands that less is more. It may have north of 10 million songs, but it doesn't force-feed all that music. The service offers numerous ways to find music—search, radio, sharing with friends—but it doesn't clutter pages with charts, genre lists and other information. It does have "top song" and "top album" lists but none organized by genre, staff picks or editorial.
Other services tout this type of hand-holding. Spotify succeeds without it.
SPEED (GRADE: A)
Speed matters. Steve Jobs famously drove his engineers to lower the startup time of the Macintosh computers. He knew a shorter wait would result in a more valuable product.
Spotify is the fastest music service on the market. Even the mobile app is noticeably faster than its competitors. Fast page loads and quick download times mean less time spent waiting and more time listening.
When I read that Spotify's premium users outside of the United Kingdom were given a one-week head start on the new Kings of Leon album, "Come Around Sundown," I opened the Spotify app on my iPod Touch, searched for the album, added the entire set as a playlist and then downloaded the 13 songs to the device over a Wi-Fi network. From start to finish the entire process took far less than a minute.
Spotify's speed is most noticeable when clicking on a track or an album. The audio stream starts almost immediately. Other services have a noticeable lag time. It's a small difference, but multiply that small difference by a few hundred track selections and it becomes the difference between good and great.
Other examples of Spotify's speed are the lists of the top 100 tracks, albums and artists for any Spotify territory. Select a country and the list of songs instantly falls into place. The list is laid out with the no-frills efficiency of Craigslist, a website that has also traded flash for effectiveness.
SOCIAL (GRADE: B+)
Spotify was built with sharing in mind, co-founder Daniel Ek has often said.
It shows. Songs and playlists can be shared through Facebook, Twitter and Messenger with just a few clicks. Songs shared between friends on Spotify end up in the inbox.
In fact, an entire cottage industry has sprouted up around Spotify playlists. Through a link at the company's blog, I found a 179-track playlist of '80s songs at a site called Share My Playlists that allows people to do just that with their Spotify creations. It had less-celebrated songs by Madness and Tears for Fears, hits like the Rolling Stones' "Emotional Rescue" and ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" and lots of early-'80s R&B like Levert's "Cassanova."
A handful of ancillary sites—Spotify Playlists, Spotify Lists and Spotify Share among them—allow people to post their playlists. At Spotify Share, I ran across a playlist with 508 rock and indie songs from the last 10 years. With a click of the "subscribe" button the playlist was added to my collection and instantly appeared in my mobile app's playlist section. If U.S. music blogs started posting such playlists, music discovery in this country would be taken to a new level.
MOBILE APP (GRADE: A-)
Spotify's mobile app is a natural extension of the desktop application.
Completing tasks requires little time and is extremely intuitive. It's easy to select playlists, add tracks or albums to playlists, share songs and navigate from one thing to another.
U.K. users can stream music over a cellular network. Here, I use it on my iPod Touch, which means I can't stream music just anywhere. To listen to songs while offline, I've stored tracks from about a dozen of my 50 or so playlists.
Spotify allows mobile users to store up to 3,333 songs for offline use.
OFFLINE LISTENING (GRADE: B+)
Like other music services, Spotify allows for "offline caching"—a euphemism for tracks protected by digital rights management that are downloaded from a subscription service.
Offline caching is especially handy on mobile devices. While connected to a Wi-Fi signal, I can stream anything in Spotify's catalog. But when away from a signal, offline caching comes in handy. Plus, tracks on my hard drive that aren't in Spotify's licensed catalog can also be stored on my device.
Using the desktop application, I added those unlicensed tracks to what Spotify calls a "local files" folder. This allows my unlicensed songs to be integrated into a Spotify catalog. Without this feature, Spotify couldn't be a one-stop music player. Mash-ups and songs from many independent artists' websites aren't usually licensed to music services. And in the music business, people are often listening to advance music that has yet to hit stores.
THE 'LEAN BACK' EXPERIENCE (GRADE: C+)
Radio is now a standard feature of music services, and Spotify has its own.
The PC application offers two ways to enjoy a "lean back" listening experience: a flexible radio function and an artist radio function. The mobile app has neither. (Unlike noninteractive services like Pandora, a Spotify user can skip back to previous tracks and skip around within a song.)
Spotify's radio screen offers users lists of genres and decades. Users can select as many genres as they like but only one decade. Choosing "new wave" and " '80s" brought up Adam & the Ants' "Mohawk" followed by David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" and Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls."
A recent listen to Lou Reed's artist page offered a surprise: The second song played was Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen," in between Reed's "Berlin" and "Think It Over." Surprisingly, it worked: The song's chugging guitar riffs bear a striking resemblance to the propulsive rhythms on the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat."
The radio feature is merely average, but it comes with a caveat: It doesn't matter. Like most other on-demand services, with MOG being the exception, Spotify doesn't specialize in radio-like features. And it isn't expected to. CATALOG
For this U.S.-based user, Spotify's U.K. catalog is both brimming (many releases not available stateside) and lacking (a lot of independent U.S. artists are missing).
The catalog is missing the occasional hit. On the Official Charts Co.'s top 40 tally for Oct. 16, two tracks weren't available on Spotify: Katy B's "Katy B on a Mission" and the Wombats' "Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)." But all of that week's U.K. top 40 albums were available.
At more than 10 million tracks, and despite a few holes, the U.K. catalog meets the threshold expected of an unlimited music service.
OVERALL (GRADE: A-)
Spotify's strengths combine into a different value proposition than other music services. Competitors tend to boast about the size of their catalog and their tools that help users make sense of their massive amount of music.
In contrast, Spotify assumes what people want most is a fast and easy-to-use product. That approach makes the service the best way to listen to music.
Being best in class doesn't necessarily mean Spotify will be able to lead a music subscription revolution in the United States. One user's must-have product is often 20 others' waste of money. Given their limited success, subscription services' viability and their ability to compete with free options are still questionable.
And it's not like Spotify is without competition. Rhapsody has an established user base that gives it stability. MOG has a great product that creates artist playlists and allows users to fine-tune their desired level of discovery. Rdio's clever use of social features and easy-to-use interface make it an excellent tool for collecting and discovering music. Thumbplay offers similar PC and mobile offerings.
And additional competitors are expected soon. Both Google and Apple are reportedly planning subscription services. Google appears to be further along and has already made some key hires. Both companies have the ability to create a game-changing service that will push subscriptions from niche status to mainstream product.
For Spotify to succeed, it will need to become a top-three service in a subscription market far larger than exists today. Such services require massive scale to be profitable. Content owners will take the majority of their revenue. Marketing to those apart from the earliest of adopters is expensive. And running an infrastructure capable of providing a seamless music service has its costs. With luck, a little money will be left over for continual product innovation that will keep the service relevant with consumers. After all, good programmers don't come cheap.
Spotify could very well make its biggest impact if allowed to operate a free, ad-supported service. The goal is to reach a tipping point where it becomes the standard platform for sharing and discovering music—a free version would help it attract a maximum number of users. Content owners, however, may decide what's best for Spotify isn't in their best interest.
What happens in the subscription market is distinct from the quality of any one service. Without a doubt, Spotify is the best subscription service on the market today. It has set the bar high for current and future competitors. It's so good, in fact, that mainstream acceptance of subscription services doesn't seem so far out of reach.
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The point here is that there are far better offerings out there that have a huge head start that Klepsy could;t and isn't even capable of catching up to. Besides having no money, he has no talent. Some may argue that these are paid services and Qtrax is free. But Qtrax is so bad that free doesn't even register in this case. Sometimes free is just garbage. Like clicking on an ad touting free ipads and then discovering that you have to participate in 13 different spam campaigns. Even better thought our "free" services haven't made it, like Free All Music and Guvera. And don't forget that Spotify has a very viable "free" component as well.
Making a success of any music service in the best of circumstances is extremely difficult, even with tons of money at your disposal. Almost impossible. Klepsy doesn't have the money, this we all know, and will never get enough financing to make a run. No professional investor will put money into a company with millions in judgments against it. That's forgetting his total lack of talent and originality. And should I address his trustworthiness as well?
No. I don't believe a word of it. Not only that, but judging from some of the statements made by Techcrunch, they clearly don't know how digital music deals work. Two things in particular:
1. Of course licenses can stay with the company in the event of a buyout or merger.
2. There's no such thing as a five year license. Usually 12-18 months. If you're really lucky maybe 24 months. But that's the outside max.
Apple is truly afraid of Spotify and it is much cheaper for them to continue to block them as opposed to acquiring them. Believe me, Apple has no intention of paying big advances to the labels for a subscription service and whatever they pay will still be cheaper than acquiring Spotify. And I truly don't believe that Spotify wants to sell at this juncture. I, and they, believe that that the company will be worth much more in a few short years.
When I first saw this, I knew instantly that it was ridiculous.
No more debtor's prisons in the US. But I am in total agreement with you. If ANYBODY can make this happen it is Klepsy. He's an absolute visionary-- a man with integrity, honesty, credibility, altruism, brilliance--he's actually Jesus, I think. He cares so much about his shareholders that he puts his health and family life at risk. I'm really not sure what he does all day, but you can bet that your well being is constantly on his mind. Anyone, myself included, should be ashamed of themselves for criticizing him in the least bit. Although the US government might see things a bit differently at which point it is possible that Klepsy could have a taxpayer financed vacation at one of our beautiful federal resorts. I wonder how he would look in khaki walking around with a long stick with a nail on the end spiking paper debris from the "grounds". Or perhaps mowing grass on the shoulders of interstate highways.
It's such a pity that he and Qtrax are no longer relevant. BTW, they never were. But that certainly doesn't detract from Klepsy's dedication to you, his loyal and devoted shareholders.
Long live Klepsy!!!!
The condo was both Klepsy's home and office. Let's face it. A guy who works that hard (besides acting as his own attorney) has to save commuting time by sleeping where he works. That is, if he sleeps at all. With his grueling schedule and tireless efforts he deserves every creature comfort possible. After all, he is doing this all for you shareholders. So what if you can't contact or communicate with the head of a public company. Big deal. Did Jack Welch ever talk to shareholders? Well, maybe at the annual shareholder's meetings. And maybe to big shareholders. But never to the little guys. Who better to compare Klepsy to than Jack Welch? Let's have a little respect around here!
I think you're right. Last December, Klepsy was sued by Perlbinder Realty Corp. What is the significance of this? Perlbinder is the developer of Morgan Court Condos at 211 Madison Ave. in NYC. Coincidentally this happens to be the address of Klepsy's "world headquarters".
http://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcivilLocal/LCCaseInfo?parm=CaseInfo&indexNumber=Hlhciim4PrDRGhcB87oPpw%3D%3D&courtId=PoLRU0SrEubPFonIfkMCdg%3D%3D&motionCount=&documentCount=&appearanceDate=09/02/2010
Looks like Klepsy has been evicted! But no need to worry. This is nothing that funding can't solve. And besides, great things are around the corner. The business model is so exciting that nothing can stop Qtrax. And with management that works its fingers to the bone with 25 hour work days, this can't miss.