Time For A Walk Down Memory Lane
Well hello gentlemen. Given the time and circumstances I thought that it would be fun just to show myself once again and drop a few reminders. But not reminders of what I had told you boys in the past--although many of you not only did not believe me but got rather hostile because I was truthful with you.
This is not meant to be an "I told you so".
Let's begin by taking a short walk down memory lane and revisit the glorious prose directly from the mouth of Mr. Klepfisz, if not from his officially released propaganda. Let's go back to June 16, 2009. That is when, after calls for corporate accountability, the company posted an update on their web site with the following statements and promises (very little of which came to pass and the post was later quietly removed from the web site):
Qtrax, Inc. ("Qtrax") a division of Brilliant Technologies Corporation (BLLN.PK) today provided this corporate update. Qtrax will provide bi-monthly updates going forward.
Expansion of Music Catalogue
Qtrax will be more than doubling its vast library of songs on or before July 6th, 2009.
Song Download Speed
Users of the Qtrax US Preview software will have noticed that with a broadband connection, song download speeds probably average somewhere between 3 & 10 seconds. This clearly compares favorably to all other music services.
Official Global Launch
Qtrax will officially launch in the United States and in at least 6 other countries with version 1.01 on July 22nd, 2009.
Allan Klepfisz, President & CEO commented:
"This has obviously been a long time coming. We are thrilled to have finally reached this point as we are with the unique product we will be offering. This of course is the first time that free & legal downloads have been offered to the world from a broad catalogue. We will be providing specific country details in our next update".
The Global Launch will involve a number of high profile artists, industry leaders & partners.
Qtrax will be launching an extensively enhanced product. Features include:
• Compatibility with Mac, Linux & PC
• Ability to transfer songs to a wide range of mobile phones & mp3 players
• Elimination of the need for cumbersome installation
• Further developed social networking features
Licenses
On or before July 6th, 2009, Qtrax expects to announce new record company & publishing licenses.
New round of funding
The Company expects to successfully complete a new round of funding during June, 2009. Details will be made available at the time of completion.
Quarterly & Annual Filings
The company expects to file up-to-date audited accounts during July, 2009.
Executive Appointments
Michael Arons has been appointed interim CFO.
Blake Indursky has been appointed Executive Vice President.
Alex Goodman has been appointed Executive Director, Asia/Pacific.
David Musolf has been appointed Global Head Ad Sales.
Agency Appointments
Richard Rubenstein has been appointed to manage PR globally working in concert with Qtrax's in house team, lead by Shamin Abas.
Steak Digital has been appointed to manage online marketing, search engine optimization & traffic build globally.
Cunning has been appointed to create & manage special events from launch onwards.
Qtrax Blog
On or before June 27th, 2009 Qtrax will inaugurate a blog. With regular contributors & occasional executive postings, the blog will deal with Qtrax developments as well as reflections on the industry and anything else that grabs the Qtrax team's attention. It will be lively, irreverent and forceful when appropriate.
The very next day, Klepfisz made the following comment in a rather long blog post:
...people, rightly want some guidelines & timelines. And so we try, not often enough, to provide them. But in a way, it’s too often. Because, particularly, in these unpredictable times, it’s very easy to be wrong. Because even if you add plenty of extra time to account for the unexpected, you can never accommodate a massive delay or a completely broken promise. But none of this is an excuse for being late. Nor is it an attempt to avoid giving what will, we strongly believe, be the final, unalterable, unmovable launch time. And we’ll do that in the next week. And you’ll be able to mark it in your calendar. And we’ll do a corporate update at the same time to give you a few more things to mark in your calendar. The reason we’re waiting until next week is we want to make sure we have the money in the bank. With money comes certainty.
Another blog post on July 27, after news of a legal action initiated by Oracle over a $2million bounced check from AK:
Now, I cannot sign off without a discussion of our launch date. So are we going to set a launch date? Well, I said in the last blog that we will do so when the money is deposited. And I thought it would happen by now. I was wrong. It is not yet deposited. But it is scintillatingly close. So stand by. We will be announcing that FINAL, IMMUTABLE launch date very soon.
Then on August 17, 2009, in a company press release:
Qtrax, Inc. today announced that it would begin its global roll out with a launch in the Asia pacific region on Thursday October 29th, 2009.
Initially Qtrax will operate in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand.
Before the end of the year it will launch in the US & Canada and the UK. Within the first half of next year it will roll out to the rest of the world.
Then on October 28, the very day before the scheduled launch, the company issued the following statement:
-- Qtrax (www.qtrax.com) today announced its rollout schedule for its free and legal music download service in the Asia Pacific region. Qtrax will launch as follows:
Australia & New Zealand- Nov 5th, 2009
Singapore- Nov 12th, 2009
Malaysia- Nov 19th, 2009
Philippines- Nov 26th, 2009
Indonesia- Dec 3rd, 2009
Hong Kong- Dec 10th, 2009
China- Dec 17th, 2009
Taiwan- Dec 24th, 2009
Qtrax intends to continue its roll out to other territories from the beginning of the New Year.
Qtrax will begin to accept email addresses tomorrow at midnight to preview its new product.
Then in a Nov. 2 company press release, a rather vague deal with Baidu was announced:
Qtrax (www.qtrax.com) announced today that Baidu, China's leading Internet search engine, has agreed to direct music related search inquiries from its Entertainment Portal, and Qian Qian Music Online sites to Qtrax's independent, free and legal download service, wherever Qtrax has the queried artist or song in its catalogue.
Allan Klepfisz, President and CEO of Qtrax, commented: "We are very pleased with Baidu's decision. As the dominant search engine in China, Baidu will provide us with substantial traffic from its music and entertainment portals. We, in turn, will provide the visitors they send to our independent free and legal site, a superior music discovery and download experience. In the coming weeks, we will progressively launch in each of nine Asia-Pacific countries and begin to divert and monetize traffic - for the benefit of artists and copyright holders - that previously found its way to non-licensed sites. We believe our offering, including information about the artists, is vastly superior to these unauthorized sites."
Of course, none of this matters if you're not launched.
Then, a blog dated Nov. 6, 2009:
Today we were supposed to Launch in Australia. We didn’t.
Every announced launch date comes and goes with not a word from the company.
Then on Dec. 15, another blog post:
We’ve been silent for some time. We are now just about ready to talk. And on Thursday, Dec 24th , 2009 @ 11 am we will. Via an audio press conference. We will have some major things to say. Publilius Syrus, a Roman author from the1st century B.C said it well: “Delay is hateful but it gives wisdom”. Perhaps, in our case, wisdom to be silent until we are ready to speak. As someone wise once said: “Do not speak unless you can improve on the silence”. With that standard in mind, we’ll be speaking on Thursday, Dec 24th, 2009. Hopefully, we can bring a bit of holiday cheer.
Then on Dec. 24, the following appears on the blog:
For the record, let’s sort out the truth from the BS, if we may:
Yes, it is true that we intended having a Press Conference today. And it’s also true, that in the last week, our CEO, became ill with a generally non-life-threatening but quite painful ailment- kidney stones. And it is also true he was admitted to hospital & thankfully is leaving today. So we’ve decided to cancel the conference.
What were we going to say? Pretty simple really. That we were finally launching in January. Are we? Yes. Have we been wrong before? Humiliatingly, yes. Will be wrong this time? No.
Given the turn of events, we’ve also decided, no need for another conference- we’ll just launch. Let the fanfare follow rather than precede.
What are the pre-requisites for launch? Many- but to perhaps overly simplify it, technology and funding. We feel, in our humble opinion, that we are more than right on the technology and recently we’ve proudly raised money and had more committed. So we can finally get out of the gate. During January.
It is now Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, almost 2 years to the date of the MIDEM fiasco, and still you guys are hanging on. You, my friends, are terrific investors! I've never seen such determination, loyalty and patience.
But I digress.
The so-called "A Team" ( I love that. Whoever came up with that one is completely clueless) is one-by-one looking for escape hatches.
And if you think that Jay Berman (who I thought had expired several years ago) can save this you're crazy. Do you really think that Edgar or Elio give a $$it about that old putz?
But what I find endlessly entertaining is how your boy AK falls into his rambling rants about his "detractors"--which are clearly pointed toward me. Let's be clear. If anyone thinks that some guy sitting in his home office in his boxer shorts can derail "the next Google", then somebody has to get a clue. But I must confess, I really do love the power he gives me.
Well, on second thought---I told you so.
AI
