British Vision Issue 91 歌迷们的福音

Now a music download site called Qtrax with a library containing over 25 million songs will launch on Sunday, offering customers free and legal songs to download. It is set to revolutionize the way fans access music and shake up the whole industry. Benjamin Cohen reports.

They've been fighting it for years, but at last, the music industry as a whole has caved in, accepting the inevitable¹ that the market of paid music is shrinking. Launching on Sunday with the blasting of the major labels, Qtrax will give 25 million songs away for free online if you accept their advertising².

"Qtrax is the first free legal downloading music site. So this is rather unique because this is actually an ad-supported site. So in exchange for downloading music and being able to have access to over 25 million tracks for free, you will be exposed to some advertising. That revenue generated is then directed back towards the labels and the artists that are currently losing out on the music that has been downloaded illegally."

Illegal downloads have caused UK album sales from artists like the Spice Girls to fall by 11% last year. In the US, the drop was almost 20%, all meaning billions of pounds of lost revenue to artists and their record companies. The R&B singer Mary J. Blige, starred in adverts³ of Apple, whose i-Tune's music store has sold four billion songs since 2003, but she now accepts that giving away her music for free is unavoidable.

"I think we are in a time where, you know, if it gets to the point where people can download music for free. I mean apparently⁴ it is what it is and you just, you know, as the artist, you always gotta start think(ing) about why are you doing what you are doing, or you are doing this to connect with your fans, you know or you are doing this to pull somebody else to do something. And, you know, just kind of, you know, kind of accepted for, you know, for now, you know, until someone stands up and says, ok, let's pull the plug on this."

"Apple's model is tried and tested. Qtrax is a wonderful exciting idea, but that hasn't yet been tested in the market place. I think one of the key strengths of the Qtrax model is that they do have seemed to have a large library of content available and that is one of the key challenges that they seem to have already addressed."

Adverts will be shown every time you hear a song. Initially⁵, it won't work on i-Pods, but we understand it will do within a month, posing a real threat to Apple, the dominant⁶ player in legal online music.

1 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

2 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

3 adverts   

advertisements 广告，做广告

参考例句：

• the adverts on television 电视广告
• The adverts are not very informative. 这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。

4 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

5 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

6 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。