New York - Qtrax, an ad-supported peer-to-peer music download service, announced that it has added Jay Berman, former head of the record label lobbying groups the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), as co-chairman of its advisory board. "After assisting Qtrax over the past year, it is both satisfying and exciting to see its ambitious plans coming to fruition. Qtrax represents a paradigm shift for the music industry," said Berman.

San Francisco - Project Playlist, a service that aggregates streaming music links into playlists, and has been sued for copyright infringement by three of the four major record labels, has hired former Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) CEO Jay Berman as a consultant, CNET News.com reports. Project Playlist CEO Jeremy Riney told News.com that he will shut his site down if he is not able to license music legally from the labels; the sole major not party to the lawsuit against the company, Sony BMG, is reportedly negotiating with Project Playlist.