Or, more specifically, remember Qtrax at MIDEM last January? It was at the music industry trade fair when the peer-to-peer service owned by Brilliant Technologies Corporation made headlines by announcing deals with all four major labels, allowing people to share the record companies’ catalogs online.

But the positive spin lasted less than 24 hours when the individual labels said they had not signed off on any deal with the P2P, although Universal Music Group and EMI Group both said they were “in discussions” with the company.

Well those discussions finally bore some fruit. Qtrax recently announced it had landed a deal with Universal. And this time the label confirms what Qtrax is saying, although a UMG spokesman did not give details of the agreement or say if label execs had actually signed anything.

But a joint Universal/Qtrax statement did say artists and songwriters would be compensated. Furthermore, a Qtrax representative said users would be “able to purchase music-related items.”

“All of UMG’s music available digitally will be available for free, legal downloads on Qtrax,” Qtrax representative Shamin Abas said.