San Jose, Calif. - Qtrax, the developer of a free, ad-supported music download service, has reached a deal to license Universal Music Group's catalog, the company's first major label signing.

"All of UMG's music available digitally will be available for free, legal downloads on Qtrax," Qtrax spokeswoman Shamin Abas told the Associated Press.

The company had announced in January that all of the major labels had signed on for the service, but recanted that proclamation after the labels denied that final deals were in place.

At the time, Qtrax had secured deals with the major music publishers, but separate deals with the labels themselves are necessary in order to launch its offering.

Qtrax also has deals with independent labels such as TVT Records, Beggars Banquet and Finetunes.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/27sdz (AP)

http://snipurl.com/27seq (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.qtrax.com