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11 Oct 2010 23:18

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Music, Tech: By catering to majors, eMusic loses a simple, effective model

  • simple eMusic starts out with a basic, credits-based model which allows you to download tons of indie music each month.
  • busy To win over Sony and Warner Bros., they slightly modify the model to make full albums worth a little more.
  • complex To win over Universal, eMusic will charge a variety of different prices for different songs. This is a bad idea. source
  • » And credits are going away, too: To win Universal over, they’re going to have to charge 89 cents per track for some of their songs. While this is cheaper than iTunes, it’s also nearly twice as much as many of their other tracks. We don’t know what eMusic’s profitability is like, but this, to us, feels like it’s going to backfire. The changes are a little too extreme, and it no longer feels like they’re the cheap alternative. Can we lament the loss of eMusic (circa 2007) yet?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jan 2010 11:06

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Biz, Music: eMusic signs another major label, Warner Music. Hooray!

  • 10,000 new R.E.M. songs to buy source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jul 2009 09:49

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Music: eMusic finally gets a major label – but not without concession

  • What’s up? eMusic is one of those services that we’ve always heavily supported in part because its inexpensive, music-fan-first approach got the experience of downloading music right – even at the cost of major label support. Recently, it convinced one major, Sony, to jump on board. Good for them, right? Well, yes and no. source
  • What’s up? eMusic is one of those services that we’ve always heavily supported in part because its inexpensive, music-fan-first approach got the experience of downloading music right – even at the cost of major label support. Recently, it convinced one major, Sony, to jump on board. Good for them, right? Well, yes and no.
  • The cost It appears eMusic had to give up a lot to convince Sony to let them put Simon & Garfunkel on the site. Longtime users used to paying $20 for 90 tracks will be surprised to see their download numbers cut. And while the selection is killer, the company had to restrict some tracks – the hits – to flat-rate album download only. source
  • What’s up? eMusic is one of those services that we’ve always heavily supported in part because its inexpensive, music-fan-first approach got the experience of downloading music right – even at the cost of major label support. Recently, it convinced one major, Sony, to jump on board. Good for them, right? Well, yes and no.
  • The cost It appears eMusic had to give up a lot to convince Sony to let them put Simon & Garfunkel on the site. Longtime users used to paying $20 for 90 tracks will be surprised to see their download numbers cut. And while the selection is killer, the company had to restrict some tracks – the hits – to flat-rate album download only.
  • Our take We won’t lie. In part because of the sheer novelty, we downloaded Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” ’cause we could. Ultimately, even with the changes, the service is still cheaper than most download sites. Our disappointment is that they bent so much for a major at the cost of the indies. We’re not sure if this is a good long-term approach. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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