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Qtrax claims that it will offer the free service by sharing advertising revenue with the music labels.

However, three of the four major record labels have reportedly denied having deals in place with the company. Sony is the only label definitely on board, although Qtrax is said to be in negotiations with EMI, Warner Bros

Counting the cost

DRM technology will count the number of times each song has been played in order to fairly compensate artists and rights' holders, although this will also restrict users from burning tracks to CD.

Peer-to-peer services have been controversial for media companies because the technology enables illegal distribution of copyrighted material.

The music trade organisations have used litigation with varying degrees of success to try and close down peer-to-peer services they argue are promoting piracy.

Qtrax is not the first service to offer free songs for download with advertising support. Last September, SpiralFrog launched an ad-supported free service with music from just one of the major record companies Universal Music. It is still in talks with other labels.