More of the good stuff
eMusic’s customers are rabid, smart and adventurous consumers of music. For 10 years, we’ve been proud to help you explore the best music from independent labels throughout the world and present it with the curatorial excellence that you value. We’ve worked hard to create a corner music store experience where you can get knowledgeable recommendations on the latest releases as well as dig through the stacks to find hidden gems you didn’t know about.
Today, we want to let our U.S. subscribers know that soon we’ll be adding even more of the music you want from the catalogues of labels like Arista, Columbia, Epic and RCA – that means artists including the Strokes, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen and The Clash to name a few. True to eMusic’s standards, we’ll put this body of work in the right context with helpful insight and recommendations from our expert editorial staff with a pronounced emphasis on the places where the legends and our favorite indie artists intersect.
The addition of these bold-face names doesn’t change our mission. eMusic will always be an alternative to mass market digital music stores — a deeper, richer music shopping experience. Over the past year, we’ve added a host of new features to re-create the experience of the corner music store using the technological advantages of the web to supplement our tried and true human touch.
As you already know, musical context today doesn’t exclusively come from an LP cover or liner notes, but rather from many sources throughout the web. eMusic album and artists pages give you the ability to form a deeper understanding of artists you’re interested in by checking out reviews written by the eMusic community of members, writers and editors, as well as related content on sites like YouTube, Wikipedia and Flickr.
We also know that word-of-mouth doesn’t only happen in your local record store anymore; it happens when people introduce their friends to their favorite artists by sharing their experiences throughout a range of social networking sites, so we’ve made it easy to do so by integrating those links on our site.
Finally, we’ve added a powerful new recommendation engine that functions like your friendly music store clerk, absorbing your preferences with every action you take and offering recommendations tailored to your personal tastes.
We’re excited to bring all of these advantages together to help you discover and, in some cases, rediscover, this amazing music.
Independent labels and artists will continue to be eMusic’s core. But now more than ever, the distinction between indie and mainstream music simply does not matter – people love all sorts of music and our goal is to present all of it in a way that creates a community not only of music buyers, but of music lovers.
We do have a question though for our customers. We’ve been requested to carry major label titles for years, but we always have gone back and forth on whether it would change the fabric of eMusic. We don’t think it makes sense to exclude great artists simply because their label partner is one of four specific companies. We look to some of our favorite music — The Sex Pistols, The Clash — and we certainly never think to ourselves “Major Label.” What do you think? Do “major” and “indie” mean anything to you or is this just industry jargon?
Danny Stein
eMusic CEO and Chairman
Wow, Danny, that’s HUGE Fucking news. Good/Bad reactions are both occurring to me. But i keep coming to this: It is the independent feel that matters, and you are correct that there are many independent minded musicians on the Majors, either because needed to survive in this business, because they got into the Majors and their “classic albums” were contracted, or even because when they originally produced the record for a label, it wasn’t owned by the big guy but they came in and bought the label and with it the rights to their albums.
What I don’t want to see happen, and what I fear might happen, is Willy Nilly acceptance of any record or label. It would be a crying shame – maybe even catastrophic to eMusic and it’s die-hard customers – if the charts were suddenly taken over by the latest Brittany Spears shit-song or any of the cry-baby pretend-a-punk that floods our radios and makes us run to our MP3 players for the great stuff we’ve gotten from eMusic in the past 10 years (a little under six for me personally).
But, even our favorite hole-in-the-wall record store carried pop-40 (I’m refusing to call it top cause it ain’t
) That said from your announcement, it seems as though it’s more the classic stuff that we love that you be getting, and stuff like The Streets, M.I.A.’s Kala album, and The Decemberists’ breakthrough “Hazards of Love”, whom are currently unavailable on eMusic in certain countries because of the distribution deals they have in those countries.
Just make sure that what happened to our favorite record stores doesn’t happen to you. That you don’t become Tower Records where previously one could walk into there and find that great hidden Frank Zappa Concert Bootleg that he’d release in a small number secretly as to not alert his Label but now you walk in and all that you can find is 1001 copies of Usher’s latest forgotten in five months Platinum single.
Don’t become the radio stick to your guns and I’m sure there’s so much more to say, besides congratulations. . . but I’ll let others: Frank Hecker, Daniel ESQ, SaraDevil, Ptolemyclark and the 17
other regulars say what I couldn’t think to say.
Again, I must say that though it seems slightly painful, this is GOOD news after all.
This is terrific news. As long as eMusic keeps its focus by concentrating its promotion on indie labels and the spirit of discovery of new music, I’m all for it!
Cool!
The Sex Pistols and The Clash don’t mean major to me, because they were not ‘majorly’ played on the radio when they were released. You’d only hear them on college radio. Mainstream and indie seem better descriptors.
Times have changed. Labels don’t really matter so much to me, except when I try to buy something online, and it’s not available in my country. I find much more of my music online than the radio of past years. I never even paid attention to labels until I joined eMusic and learned about all the distribution nonsense going on.
This will change the fabric of eMusic.
So are Anti and Rykodisc coming back?
To Nergal, it seems there is already willy-nilly acceptance of any label. There are SO many covers, karaoke, etc. But I do get your point about pop-40.
Since Nergal seemed to care what I had to say, I’ll drop a few comments…
First, I’m assuming that what’s going to happen is that at least one major label (apparently Sony, given the mention of Arista, Epic, Columbia, and RCA) has decided to release at least some back-catalog material to eMusic under eMusic’s existing pricing structure — basically what eMusic managements has apparently been urging them to do for ages.
If so, this I think is pretty much of an unalloyed good thing. It gives eMusic subscribers better access to the important works of past musical eras, makes eMusic more attractive to potential subscribers, and if successful may persuade other major labels to do likewise.
To Danny Stein’s point about “major” vs. “indie”: In the past the record labels now aggregated under the term “major” were in fact where the most important innovations in popular music were happening (as Bob Lefsetz never tires of reminding us). I think that including products from some of those labels in the overall eMusic offering is perfectly consistent with eMusic’s current position as “the internet’s corner music store”, especially if eMusic is going to pull out all the stops on providing context and recommendation. (Which I expect will happen — to the extent that this is an experiment, eMusic has every motivation to make it successful.)
I think the major downside (to the extent that there is a downside) is that people will be very mistrustful of having a repeat of the Rolling Stone fiasco. That apparently wasn’t eMusic’s fault, but if Stringsteen or whoever decides that they don’t like their music being “cheapened” by sold at eMusic prices and is successful in getting it pulled, then that’s going to leave a pretty sour taste in the mouths of eMusic subscribers.
I am not happy about higher prices, though. Yeah, I know, big surprise.
It’s mostly industry jargon. There’s a difference between being signed to a major label, and being mass marketed to that large demographic of casual music fans. What I want to see from eMusic is the continuing fascination with music, and the focus on the discovery as well as the price plan that allows that to happen.
I think there’s a lot of stuff signed or distributed by the majors that I would love to have access to on a service like eMusic.
Can we get some clarification on what is meant by ‘US Subscribers’? Do you mean anyone who is using the US eMusic (as distinct from the UK eMusic for example), or do you mean only users who are physically located in the US (leading to the “Not available in your country” message for those of us who have the US version of eMusic, but who aren’t located in the US).
If it is the latter, are there any attempts being made to resolve this issue for users not in the US, or are we going to have to wear the resultant price increase but without any improvement to our service?
“Do ‘major’ and ‘indie’ mean anything to you or is this just industry jargon? ”
Yeah, although I recognize that the differences I see between the terms may mean more in terms of my self-identification than in terms of my music preferences. I’m not sure how I feel about all this yet. I mean, I love a lot of music released on the majors, but there is a crate-diggers music store experience I get from eMusic which I worry will be lost amid major-label titles, and major-label marketing. If you can keep the editorial content at current levels (i.e., top-notch), keep emphasizing emerging and/or underappreciated acts and genres (e.g., dubstep; nu-noise; early 20th-century blues; small jazz labels) and continue to honestly separate the wheat from the chaff, I guess I’ll welcome the change.
I do have a few questions. First, when does all this become effective? When, for instance, will we see the new titles appear, and will they appear in large batches, or trickle-in piecemeal over time? Second, does this mean that the major-labels’ newest and most popular titles will appear here, or is what we’ll receive more of the majors’ smaller-selling back-catalogues (I’d actually be quite satisfied if this were the case, BTW)? Third, what does this mean in terms of eMusic’s subscription prices? Fourth, it’s very reassuring to me to read this, but how do you intend to ensure that “[i]ndependent labels and artists will continue to be eMusic’s core”? For instance, will you keep the core of editors and writers that you have now, who make the eMusic experience so enjoyable?
Major and Indie used to mean a lot more than they do today. My favorite indie stores sell both major and Indie records and i buy both. I’ve never understood the thought process behind “now that they are on a major label, they’e sold out.” Good music is good music, it just gets exposed to more people on a major.
As long as e music keeps its editorial focus on all sorts of music and bring us the best music, whether it’s Indie or Major. I fully support them and am very excited. (when is the Mile davis Columbia stuff coming?)
My only concern is that prices will rise, numbers of credits will fall for everyone who uses the US version, even if we can’t download the major stuff in our countries. If I’m grandfathered, that’s OK for me but I wouldn’t like to see new Australian subscribers subsidize Americans to download Billy Joel, if we can’t get it too. I guess we just await more detail.
I’m not worried it will infringe on the crate digging aspect, as long as there is still the editorial input, user lists and ability to browse via label.
I think this is great news, eMusic should strive to carry as diverse a selection as possible.
Just don’t only recommend/feature/etc the major stuff and it will be fine. Not that I think that will happen
However if prices go up I may change my mind!
Don’t mess with the formula too much. Give Sony Music their own label page like you do for Naxos. And have your critics find the overlooked and out of print nuggets among the catalog that deserve a wider audience. But please guys, don’t turn it into the Columbia Record Club. If your main screen overdoes the promotion of old Sony product, I will be bummed.
And regarding the price increases, why don’t we wait to see how the catalog sells? Are their many members who want to buy ‘The Stranger’ or ‘Born To Run’ for the tenth time?
We all remember how the major labels told us to stop buying LP’s when CD’s came out and then told us to re-purchase those same titles when remastered versions were available. It will be too much deja vu for me if Sony, Warners and Universal Music use eMusic as their shill for MP3’s.
I’m Happy that emusic will now reach a much wider audience & will probably expand. I talk up the site a lot & while I haven’t yet collected any free downloads ( he guy forgot to enter my email address) I’ve personally been quite Content with the Collection. My only Sour Note ( if you can call it that) is that subscribers should be able to buy Booster Packs to fill out their collections at a Good price point. I took Heavy Advantage of the ChristmasHaunakaKwanzaa deal: 50 downloads for $14.99 it is my belief that putting Value into the hands of your subscribers will only increase both the Loyalty & the Bottom Line. That’s My 2 cents
I watched the Top New Albums carefully when the Rolling Stones arrived, and I was struck by how little the rest of the list changed. Sure, you expect Let It Bleed and Beggar’s Banquet to show up high on the list, but they didn’t push Frightened Rabbit off the list. The same month that I downloaded Beggars, Bleed and Majesty’s, I downloaded Andrew Bird, Bats, John Ralston, Alias and Aloha – all of which I discovered on emusic — plus some nifty things from major acts who just happened to be on labels available here: The Notwist, Underworld and Moby.
Of course, I have 90/month. If I only had 30 that month, I might have spent 29 on the 3 Stones records — I just assumed they’d be gone fast.
But as Danny et al point out, Sonic Youth was no less indie on Gefen than they will be on Matador, even if they were eventually exasperated by label meddling. Has anybody been more independent for longer than Dylan?
Which sent me to my boys at Newbury Comics, a Boston mini-chain (24 area stores), to look at their charts. Yes, Dylan, Tori Amos, Depeche Mode, Eminem and Green Day (all at least moderately indie), but also emu artists like Passion Pit (my favorite recent download), Conor Oberst, Iron & Wine, Steve Earle, Fischerspooner, Method Man/Redman, and Dane Cook.
The difference there is that one CD = one vote. I assume that individual tracks contribute to an album’s placement on emu lists? So with more than the Stones to sprinkle in the top list, I could see things getting skewed fast.
Here’s my bottom line, though. I’ve been meaning to replace my vinyl copy of “The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle,” but it won’t push Black Moth Super Rainbow off my list, a group Jayson pointed me to here at 17 Dots.
Call me naive, but I believe in my heart of hearts that the same folks who’ve shined so many lights into so many dark corners here, in front-page features, in newsletters are going to keep doing it. I expect to see some front page features on the new stuff — I WANT to see what emu reviewers have to say to put these major artists in context, like we did with the Stones, ELP, Death Row, Motley Crue — but I can’t imagine that Bon Iver or Viva Voce front-page features will go away, or be pushed any further down in the rotation.
Heck, this might have the side benefit of the Bjork feature having the records of hers that I really want to download.
Assuming that you guys will update some of those.
A note on that: seriously, time to polish up a hub of hubs. We need more than ever to find our own ways to corners of light that you’ve already provided.
Last note: even if they’ve bungled, or done it for the most cynical reasons, majors have used their biggest acts to subsidize the money-losers that comprise the bulk of their rosters. I’m looking at this the same way. Anything that the majors do to enable emu to survive is a good thing in my book.
Hearing news like this actually reminds me of all the things I love best about emusic in general, and 17 dots in particular. Joe’s still going to get his clock cleaned at non-mainstream shows, Yancey’s still going to roll his eyes at releases he’s only heard over a cubicle wall, and the Yankees still suck. That last one’s not a truth I discovered at emusic, but it’s another example of a truth that doesn’t change even if Britney Spears fills the slot vacated by Taylor Swift.
Long live emu. Long live 17 dots.
I’ve got no problem with emusic adding any record label in the world. What is a problem, from my point of view, is the message that the cost to me will be very close to twice what it has been. Having been a member since 2005, I’m on a 65/month at $15 plan. Now I will get 37/month for that same price, I’m told.
Maybe it makes sense, in the aggregate, to drive away people like me.
If there were things that I was dying to get from Sony’s back catalog for $5 per record, I would stay. But there aren’t. So, will be saying goodbye when the plan goes into effect.
…and Canada (hopefully) ???
Major v. Indie definitely does matter to me, and I can sum up why in 4 letters: RIAA. I do not like the RIAA and the way it has attempted to control digital distribution of music in ways that seem, to me at least, like private prosecution of criminal law. I do not understand the motivation or even the ethics of major private lawsuits against customers and technology providers. I do not support the lobby that seeks to constantly extend copyright protection so that it begins to seem as if nothing new will ever enter the public domain.
Don’t get me wrong; I understand the value and importance of intellectual property protection. But the ultimate goal should be to enhance and encourage creativity, which to me means making sure artists get paid, NOT making sure label execs continue to line their pockets.
The copyright clause of the Constitution says: “To Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for LIMITED TIMES to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
Now patents for medicine for example last for 7 years, but the RIAA labels control things for something like the Artists life plus 75 years, but it’s also perennially extended so that it’s essentially permanently locked up not “limited time” like the constitution called for. And then to make things worse, the RIAA goes after any perceived violator with extreme prejudice, and often wins, not on the merits, but because the individual defendant can’t afford to fight it.
I agree with a lot of the people here that there is a lot of good music on major labels, and I do buy some music from major labels, but I like to very carefully control the amount of my money that goes to the majors.
That doesn’t mean I’m about to cancel my subscription; even if prices raise, this will still probably be the cheapest source of legal music around, and at the end of the day that’s why I’m here. I just think it’s maybe a little disapointing.
The thing that Radiohead showed by releasing their own album, and that emusic showed with its Select program was that labels could be made irrelevant by cutting out the middle-man and having music sold directly by artists and distributors. emusic select put the music-lover back in the drivers seat of music distribution, instead of the money maker. That’s why when the first selects dropped I said something like “emusic is the future of the music industry.” Now, honestly, I’m not sure.
I guess at the end of the day if you keep emphasizing the things that make you different then it will continue to be an interesting and different company. And if you settle for being the cheapest MP3 seller, well then you’ll just be the cheapest.
This is great news. In my opinion, more music is always better.
One caveat:the pricing structure needs to remain the same. The worst thing that can happen is that EMusic becomes, even in part, just another Rhapsody or, worse yet, another iTunes.
Having been an early subscriber, and being grandfathered in with a really great plan, I am seriously annoyed that I’m now getting 20 less downloads/mo at a higher cost. Seriously – what is that? If I wanted big(ger) labels at a higher price, would I be *here*?
This is amazing news! I agree that including major label music does not conflict with eMusic’s mission of being an alternative digital music store, so long as the pricing and editorial structure remain largely intact.
My hope for the future is the eMusic uses these major label releases to also steer customers towards smaller label releases via a sophisticated product recommendation engine. Cross-selling can be amazing when done well — look at Netflix!
“Today, we want to let our U.S. subscribers know that soon we’ll be adding even more of the music you want from the catalogues of labels like Arista, Columbia, Epic and RCA”
Well, just as long as the U.S. customers are looked after, that’s what matters, right?
It seems to me that a shift towards “igger” acts has to result in another rise in prices. And I get that, and I wouldn’t mind, except that it seems more and more that I’m paying higher prices for bands like these that aren’t even available outside the U.S. The new passion pit album, the new jarvis album… Nope, sorry, no available in your country. I bet if pasion pit’s label said U.S. subscriber’s couldn’t have the latest album eMusic would get them to change their minds right away.
Are the grandfathered plans permanent? I realize there’s no guarantees, but this isn’t just a transition phase with more pricing changes contemplated for long-term subscribers, is that right?
I’m wishy washy. I love that Sony is adding their back-catalogs, but it comes at the loss of my 90 downloads per month. I would have been happier if there were more options for those of us who should have been grandfathered.
As a 3 year member of eMusic and a loud advocate, I’m happy they’ve gained a major label and a deeper catalog, but I wish they would have been nicer to us older users who stood by eMusic during the lean times and forced our friends and family to sign up.
Congrats, eMusic, I still love you, but I don’t think that my 90/month for $20 plan and my friend’s 75/month for $20 plan should be equal after this. I don’t think it’s fair that my tenure with your site (as shown with extra downloads) is now null.
This might be childish, but I feel a bit betrayed, eMusic.
Is there some way a subscriber could stick with their old plan and not have access to any of the Sony material? i.e. a cheaper (subscribers could stay with their current plan) “Indie” eMusic account vs. an account with access to all the Indie and the new Sony stuff based on the new pricing model? Each subscriber could pick what they want, and, to be fair, once you pick Sony, there is no going back (so you can’t collect all the Sony stuff and revert back.) Those who want access to the new catalog would pay a bit more to have access to it. Those who think eMusic is much cooler without Sony can continue to support the Indie labels they care about without a cost increase.
Otherwise, I’m really disappointed at the pricing model change. Where was there any consideration of your loyal subscribers? You didn’t even include us in any sort of discussion on this matter. I don’t think this is a step in the right direction.
I was looking forward to being a loyal subscriber for years to come, but now I’m seriously considering canceling my account.
I have been very pleased with the current collection, and feel it is a shame that prices are going to increase so that we can add major labels. These major label albums should cost more downloads rather than jacking up everybody’s prices so a some people can download Justin Timberlake. We had a great thing going e-music, but I am not sure if our relationship will weather this price increase.
The only reason I have been a subscriber for as long as I have is because of the great deal. To go from 65 downloads a month to 37 for the same cost is unacceptable. I will also be canceling my account when this change goes into effect.
It’s been great Emusic. I’ll be sad to see you go, but I wish you the best with all your new clients.
@megan – While I agree that the non-U.S. subscribers are getting shafted with this deal, you’ve got to be kidding with your comments about the regional availability of other labels. Guess what – there’s tons of awesome music on eMusic that is not available for U.S. subscribers.
@Daniel, Esq. – Nope. I’ve already seen that once my annual subscription is up for renewal it will drop from 90 d/ls to 35. Actually, it will drop to 0 since I’ll be canceling…
As some have said, I’m not too happy about this. If I wanted major labels, there are plenty of places where I can get those titles. I come here for excellent value and excellent music. I’ve been on the site for 8 years, and have gone through all of the different programs– all you can eat to monthly, and all of the different iterations of labels and artists. Now in order to have the option of DL Michael Jackson or Alice in Chains have to pay 2x what I am paying now and getting fewer downloads a month. I know I am the kind of customer a company is willing to get rid of in order to expand, but it is still a real bummer.
So the “exciting news” is that I lose 40 tracks per month just for the ability to access a lot of music that I either already have or have any number of other ways to access? Hmm. Call me crazy, but I don’t find that exciting. Forget the “indie mission,” which is all well and good, but I fail to see how alienating (and losing) your long-time subscribers (who are the core of your success and, as such, gave emusic the ability to engage in this expansion at all) makes good business sense. Perhaps the increase in new subscribers will make up for the loss of the old guard. If so, more power to you.
All good things must come to an end, I suppose, and so it is that I will cancel my subscription once the new pricing goes into effect. Seriously, I’m losing 44% of my package- clearly you didn’t expect to keep customers like me. Grandfathers of emusic, unite!
With the upcoming changes to emusic, my cost per track will more than double. To help make it potentially worth it for me, two big changes are needed: (1) higher bit rates on all tracks! At least the new ones. (2) better search functionality.
The emusic pricing structure has allowed me to be musically adventurous, but once it changes I will have to be more conservative with my credits. This will limit emusic’s value as a way for new artists to get heard. Also, it strikes me as strange that bands on “indie” labels (who are focused on quality, but lack the name recognition) will price the same as “major” acts (where there is a marketing machine in place, and teenagers can often convince their parents to buy them that week’s hot album.) Amazon and itunes do a nice job with the majors – why sacrifice emusic’s niche by meeting the majors halfway on price?
I’m thrilled with more music to choose from. Not so thrilled with the 33% price increase, but I understand it. I’ll see what July brings and decide from there if I’ll continue my subscription.
I’d just like to second the comments made in posts 25-29. This is a very unfortunate change.
I’ve been with eMusic since ‘04 and was able to retain my 90 dls for $19.99 when they changed their pricing structure a few months ago. Now, I lose it all. Grrrr!
This junk discussion about indie vs. major is just a screen of the real issue here. eMusic had to raise it’s prices to allow major labels to sell it’s music here. I never buy music based upon whether it’s featured on a major or minor label. It just so happens that the vast majority of the music I’m interested in appears on indie labels. I really like that the music I’m most interested in is available here for a drastically reduced price. When major labels are involved, the price goes up. If I stick with this site, I’m sure I’ll be happy to pay only $5 for a major label album, but it really sticks in my craw that I now have to pay the same amount for an indie album that I used to get for around $2-$3. After I typed that, i realized that I’d been living in a fantasy world for many years. eMusic was too good to be true.
You better believe this changes eMusic. it will now be a cheaper alternative to Amazon and iTunes, rather than a MUCH cheaper alternative to Amazon and iTunes. Boo eMusic, Boo!!!!
Post 31 nails it!
Thanks for cutting my downloads in half, and effectively upping the price, emusic.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. And for major label stuff that I can get elsewhere? Even more stupid. Adios to your service.
I’m completely stoked to see emusic expand it’s catalogue, and at this point in the game i think the distinction between indie and major is becoming more and more irrelevant. So, yay to new music!
However, while i understand that the subscription plans much change to accommodate the new catalogue, as four-year customer, it’s pretty infuriating to lose 28 downloads per month to keep my current price, or increase my plan by $5 a month and still have 15 less downloads per month.
again, i totally get that the prices have to change, but this drastic reduction in downloads feels like a lack of value to a loyal, long-time customer.
I just canceled my membership.
I was receiving 100 tracks / month for $24.99. I would now be receiving 50 tracks / month for $19.99.
I really like eMusic in that it gives a great home for mostly independent and lesser known music. The price and selection could not be matched on any other legal service. To essentially double the cost of the service for the “benefit” of having additional mainstream tracks available is an issue for me. Considering I personally would still only be downloading non-mainstream music I would be receiving no benefit for the increased cost.
I sincerely hope that others who feel the same as I do will vote in the only meaningful way they can…cancel your memberships and eMusic will see the error in their ways.
I’m very disappointed with this news. Great! Now I will get access to old music I either have or don’t want, and you will double my subscription price. As you close the gap on price point between eMusic and other non-subscription sites, it makes less and less sense for me to stay on and take chances with new music.
The advantage for subscription for me on this site is this: I can download the albums I’m really interested in for a great price…. but then use whatever downloads I have left at the end of the month to take a chance on some new music or a new band. If I can’t get the premium price.. I might as well only buy the music I am interested in ala carte, without worrying about a use-it-or-lose-it subscription. I think by increasing prices you will drive customers away from willingness to discover new bands and negatively impact smaller labels. In addition, if more subscribers start joining to mine the Sony catalog, smaller labels and bands will be less prominent on the site. I think this is bad for the indie-music customer and indie music labels and bands.
I would second a call being able to maintain current subscriptions and prices, and be denied access to the Sony catalog. Not sure if that is possible, but it would make the difference between cancelling or continuing my plan.
Whatever. This stinks. I go from 50 to 30 DLs a month? Total garbage. Who cares about Sony stuff. If I promise not to DL any of their stuff can I have my credits back?
I promise not to DL any of their stuff. Ever. Pinky Swear.
Chalk me up as another longtime subscriber who is not happy with this. I’m not interested in Sony/BMG and certainly not if it’s doubling my cost as I’m grandfathered in on an annual plan. I’ve stuck with you all through some big labels going and many other changes but I think this is it. I’ll be around until October, which will give me a chance to feel the “new” eMusic out, I guess. But I just don’t know if I’ll still be here, especially if Spotify comes to the US by then*.
*Sidenote: all you EU people whining about US this and US that: well, you guys get access to Spotify. I signed up for an account on vacation and got hooked. I’d gladly trade whatever you think you’re getting shortchanged on at eMusic for Spotify’s “stream anything you want at excellent quality for free.”
Boo, hiss. So sad that what had been a prime outlet for less bankrolled music-makers to reach far-flung ears has sold out, and those of us who had found refuge here from mega-media will now be obliged to pay subsidy to the major labels or, canceling our subscriptions, forsake the lesser labels that drew us here.
Instead of diluting the value of our subscriptions to broaden your new revenue streams, why not differentiate, costing your pricier labels at double dings against our monthly allotment, but dinging us as usual on your signature catalog, preserving your rates, and not alienating us adverse to big-industry bullying?
“This junk discussion about indie vs. major is just a screen of the real issue here. eMusic had to raise it’s prices to allow major labels to sell it’s music here.”
Indeed!!! BREEEEE What the hell is going on?????????? Major vs. indie label means nothing to me. I do not care. I do care, however, that adding a handful of labels results in the loss of 44% of my monthly downloads. On top of that we’re patronized by the 25 song booster pack, ostensibly given in “celebration.” In celebration of what, emusic’s sudden possession of a subpar service?? Seriously, what were you guys thinking?
“So the ‘exciting news’ is that I lose 40 tracks per month just for the ability to access a lot of music that I either already have or have any number of other ways to access? Hmm. Call me crazy, but I don’t find that exciting. Forget the ‘indie mission,’ which is all well and good, but I fail to see how alienating (and losing) your long-time subscribers (who are the core of your success and, as such, gave emusic the ability to engage in this expansion at all) makes good business sense.”
I think this sucks. I lose 13 downloads so people can download stuff like Springsteen which they can get on a hundred other sites. I am on this site becouase of the independent artists. You may say no, but i bet the number of independent artists added will shrink now that you will be adding major label stuff. I think i should be able to keep my 50 independent artist downloads and just be prohibited from downloading your additional major label artists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
on the one hand, i do sometimes find it frustrating not being able to find an artist or track from an artist on emusic simply b/c they are part of a major label. just b/c artists from an indie background becomes a part of a major label does not mean they are in the same league as Kelly Clarkson.
on the other hand, i don’t think the minor frustration i have warrants any kind of strong desire to see major labels introduced to eMusic, especially at the cost of my downloads. my downloads on eMusic far outweigh my downloads on any other site that happen to also include major labels.
furthermore, i’m worried that the introduction to these major labels will start to overshadow the selections of legitimately great indie music. i like the diversity of artists featured on the main page from a variety of labels. but i’m afraid that the army of artists from each of these major labels will be the only ones featured, not that they are of a lesser quality than indie label artists but i like the diversity eMusic displays.
bottom line concern: major labels inadvertently pushing indie labels to the side at the cost of eMusic subscribers
Okay, I’m a little less rah-rah now that I see that my 90 tracks/month goes down to 35!!! An annual plan with the same name as my current one jumps from 18-ish cents/track to 42-ish cents.
Still a bargain, and I’ll still subscribe, but I’d have been happier with an indie-only plan priced somewhere in the middle.
Very, very upset that prices went up. I lost HALF of my credits each month so that a few big name artists could be included? I am here to find new underexposed artists, not pay more to help you attract customers with big names. Where’s that account-cancel button…
Alicia Keys is so underrepped in the music that she needs to be on emusic? Pearl Jam? BILLY JOEL for christmas sakes?! Are you kidding me?
This stuff available EVERYWHERE ELSE BY THE METRIC TON. You’re darn tootin’ theres a difference between Major Label and Independent Artists and smaller more undergorund acts. The difference is that I have heard all that Major label stuff before. We all have. Since I joined in 2005 Emusic has been a music discovery service above all. It broadens the musical pallete in a world of regional Narrowcasting and diluted “alternative” rock radio.
garbage.
I have been a subscriber for years with a grandfathered plan. I always appreciated being shielded by price increases with my old plan. Now I’m offered a plan with fewer downloads for the same price. Everyone has said it already– I can get these tracks elsewhere if I want them. Why not just make those tracks optional and let me keep my plan?
Oh wow. This is a huge shame.
I’m new to eMusic. For the past several months it has been a cost-effective and enjoyable way for me to explore sounds I might not otherwise try. The (what I consider significant) change in price structure alters that significantly. I will get my 100 downloads in June and then, unfortunately, leave the service.
The “indie” v. “major” label question strikes me, as it has others, as a red herring. Are you really asking if your previous (reported) business model was based on… a fallacy? On jargon?
I’d be willing to bet your strategy has been—all along—to entice the big names. And now your efforts are bearing fruit. The other “big labels” will see the competitive advantage of joining as well. Prices will go up again.
Well, best wishes. I will keep an eye out for the group that comes in to fill your current niche.
michaelben
Prices Being raised, Subscriptions majorly altered. Emusic Breaks up tracks that on the album or other sites that are considered to be 1 track in to 2 or 3 thus paying more credits, Damaged tracks, my albums that are supposed to be Gap less/Seamless have pauses with in each track. It its for these reasons. So they are adding major labels who cares?? Higher prices, albums not like the originals, and breaking tracks up to charge more…Whats the reason to Stay. None. Canceling Immediately. What a MAJOR let Down Emusic..Now you are no better than the rest.
“Janine Allen on Jun 1st, 2009 said:
This might be childish, but I feel a bit betrayed, eMusic.
Is there some way a subscriber could stick with their old plan and not have access to any of the Sony material? i.e. a cheaper (subscribers could stay with their current plan) “Indie” eMusic account vs. an account with access to all the Indie and the new Sony stuff based on the new pricing model? …
Otherwise, I’m really disappointed at the pricing model change. Where was there any consideration of your loyal subscribers? You didn’t even include us in any sort of discussion on this matter. I don’t think this is a step in the right direction.
I was looking forward to being a loyal subscriber for years to come, but now I’m seriously considering canceling my account.”
This goes for me, too. I’m here for the indie stuff, and the pricing has allowed me to try out music I wouldn’t have necessarily tried before. Now I get news that my downloads are being cut in half, but I’ll be paying the same price? I could have lived with some reduction, but a 50% cut? I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to feel good about that, or think they’re still getting a great deal.
Shouldn’t this post really be titled “Less of the good stuff”?
Before I saw this would raise prices/cut downloads I thought it might be okay as long as it doesn’t affect the coverage of indie bands, as long as it doesn’t affect the amount of indie albums added after the arrival of the majors. But with the changing of the pricing/downloads this is starting to give me deja vu of the XM Sirius merger. I was an XM subscriber and I always listened to the punk station Fungus or the indie station XMU. Fungus was replaced by 24/7 AC/DC and XMU was still there, but it was different. I cancelled that subscription and am seriously considering cancelling this one as well once the change takes effect. It’s a shame things have to change like that, I’ve been a fan of eMusic for awhile now.
great you are adding new music but very bad timing on the pricing — seems like the wrong economic climate to offer less for more. personally, i’m not so interested in the major label stuff — very happy with what you have here as it is — maybe you should consider two pricing tracks rather than penalize long-time customers w/ higher pricing. my favorite thing about emusic is that the reasonable price allows me to experiment with what i buy — and this experimental/explorative spirit is what makes emusic unique and excellent.
I’m sure this is great news for eMusic itself as they stand to make a lot of money. So good for eMusic, but a mainstream catalog is not why I subscribe to this site. The cost to value ratio just fell off for me. Now that eMusic is turning into iTunes, does anybody know what the next eMusic is?
More? More of the good stuff? I’m with JD on this… from where I’m sitting I’m getting 40% LESS of the good stuff.
Count me with Janine Allen and Darren, and the others who are considering canceling their subscription because of these shenanigans. I love emusic because I love all sorts of music, and the great price allowed me to try out things that I couldn’t afford to buy. Now you jack up the price for music i’m not interested in ‘discovering’. No thank you.
And you think this won’t change the community and nature of emusic? Think again.
List me also as someone absolutely furious about the price change with no carry over of past plans. I usually download full albums, so the 12 track limit for album downloads is something of a benefit, but it’ll save me on average 4 downloads per month- nothing close losing over 55% of the value of my 75/mo plan.
Fortunately, my contract is two years long, so you can’t fuck me over until 2011. Maybe you’ll have come to your senses by then. If you haven’t, and other music services haven’t doubled in price, I’ll drop you. The inconvenience of a strict per-month schedule is acceptable in light of the prices I’m paying now, but insufficient vs. Amazon MP3 once you try to pull that shit on pricing.
This is a price increase for me of 130% per track. My yearly subscription ends next month; it will be very, very difficult to renew.
I can see a more moderate increase for those with grandfathered plans, but 130%? For back catalog? I don’t see how I can justify it in this economy.
Been a subscriber for 4 years and have been happy about the selection up to now — but now my $19.99/month will get me only 50 downloads rather than 75. Wow… so excited about that. Let me tell you. So excited that I’ll be canceling my subscription.
I don’t give a hoot about getting the Sony back catalog — I’m here mostly for the indie stuff. I guess I’ll be spending that $19.99/month elsewhere as of July. LaLa is a pretty good site with a better interface and a better business model anyway.
EMU: If this is the way you choose to treat long-standing customers (with lame press releases that basically say “Great News! You now get less for more!), then I am outta here.
Like JD said above, in what bizarre world is this more of the good stuff? From where I’m sitting it’s 40% LESS of the good stuff.
Count me among those that are seriously considering canceling my subscription because of these shenanigans. I’ve been a member for 4 years because i love discovering new music that the great pricing affords me the freedom to try out. Now you’re jacking up the price for music that I’m not interested in ‘discovering’. No thank you.
And you think this won’t change the nature of emusic? Now that you’ve alienated the real fans that have stuck around all this time, your customers will be the whiny people that post on the messageboard about not finding good music. Well good luck with that… i suppose their money is just the same as the rest of ours. And that’s what’s important right… the money?
Not excited about my downloads going from 90 a month to 35!!!! Long time subscribers should be offered a better deal.
I’m so disappointed. I have subscribed to eMusic for almost 5 years, and now I’m getting my monthly downloads chopped from 65 to 37. I don’t care about adding majors in the slightest. This is horrible news for consumers in a time when other industries are slashing prices to promote spending.
Please surprise your disenchanted long-time users by offering an alternative pricing plan.
Count me “against,” emusic. Liking some of the names you’re flaunting with the Sony deal, but not enough to cool my disappointment that you have said goodbye to your grandfathers. This is, as others have said, unacceptable.
Very disappointed in your pricing plan changes. Most of the time I don’t want/need the things that the Sony collection will bring to eMusic. Will consider canceling my long-term subscription over this.
Count me as another who’s not pleased.
Can you give us the option to subscribe at the old rates without access to the new “good stuff” that many of us really don’t care about?
And to think I just became a “fan” of eMusic on facebook. I’ve had an account since 2006 (so I’ve been getting 90 downloads for $20, and will now get 50 downloads for $20? — granted, I’ve downloaded plenty of crap and have deleted a bunch of my downloads — but this time I’ll be deleting my subscription… If I wanted iTunes, I’d be on iTunes. I guess I’m left with Russian sites that charge only 5-6 rubles a song.
Danny,
Great news on the offering front, and great news no doubt to you and the other eMusic owners, but…. it’s a bit disingenuous as you lay this out for us to ignore the business side of thing from the user experience. Although you pose it that way, the question here isn’t really an interesting philosophical discussion about Major vs Indie… what this is REALLY about is that eMusic is changing for economic reasons (which are perfectly defensible, don’t get me wrong) and especially about your longstanding users being forced to pay much, much more for the kinds of music — whether Major or Indie — they love eMusic for.
Like so many of your longstanding fans, I’ve adopted a two-tier policy for acquiring music — relying on eMusic for the more interesting/obscure/indie stuff I crave and occasionally buying major-label stuff from iT or Amazon MP3. So my needs were already perfectly served. I don’t know that putting everything in the same soup is in my (or the vast majority of your other hard-core fans’) best interests.
So I would’ve liked in your open letter more of an acknowledgement that you really understand your customer — the one who’s been keeping your lights on — and especially that these people might be less than thrilled to know that their eMusic habit is now involuntarily going to cost a whole lot more, just so that you can make more money by carrying the likes of MIchael Jackson and Brooose.
Like I said, it’s a perfectly defensible (and maybe, the only sane) business decision. But please respect our intelligence a little more and don’t position it as “isn’t it great you’ll be able to buy Sony music now?”. I suspect that if you polled your base, you will find that most of us would prefer to keep things the way they are. And besides, we already HAVE all the Clash music, etc. — that’s not why we bought into our annual subscription plans.
Love eMusic anyway. Good job on that. But please be more honest in your communications. You are not a telephone company trying to sugar-coat a rate increase with self-congratulatory asides. You are an essential music company that probably hundreds of thousands of people have an emotional bond with — an envious position, but one which should not be taken for granted.
I have to pay twice as much for my downloads now so that people can download the f$%$ing dixie chicks?!! This is pure and utter shite. Your catalog was just fine. If there was anything you didn’t have that I needed I could search it out elsewhere. Stupid idea!
I agree with the general sentiment that this stinks. Yes, the indie vs. mainstream thing is a little silly, but then again, that’s how you’ve always marketed your service. And that’s what people signed up for. I think Mike put it best when he talked about using leftover downloads to discover new music. That’s really why I’ve always felt a real emotional attachment and brand loyalty to eMusic. And that attachment is very valuable. It’s why I never considered canceling despite routinely not using up all my downloads. In stark contrast, I’ve stopped going to most major record stores and iTunes even though I never pay for anything they don’t give me. I stopped because they’ve done nothing to inspire my loyalty through a combination value and niche recommendations. The drastic price increase, which seems to come in response to demands from a major label endangers the brand you’ve actively worked hard to build. I understand that this will make you more of “player” in the download industry. Good luck with that. I assume you ran the numbers to determine exactly how many customers you will lose vs. how many you will gain with more major label music. Let’s hope for your company’s sake that you’re projections were right (lord knows Taylor Hicks never waned in popularity while her album was available for download). But the way this was handled and the new pricing options definitely weakens the brand and pushes your service closer to any other store.
I’ve been with emusic for years and this new plan will practically cut my music downloads in half. I will give it one month on the new plan to see if any major Christian artists that I like are now on here. If they are not, I’m outta here!
This is awful. As a longtime subscriber of the 90 dl/month plan, I always appreciated the grandfathering of old plans when price increases and plan changes occurred. Now I am looking at a 227% increase per track if I stay with the new default plan with only about 1/3 as many downloads.
Frankly, I don’t care that you are adding major label back catalogs. I already own most of that music and now my ability to sample new and interesting bands will be significantly compromised. Make your money off of new subscribers who will join because of the expanded content, but don’t penalize long time subscribers who benefited from and loved eMusic in it’s current incarnation. It would be great to see a modified approach to this overhaul with some degree of grandfathering still intact.
I don’t think I can justify paying these new rates for expanded content that doesn’t interest me. Congrats, you guys just became junior iTunes. Now searches and top lists will be dominated by people who listen to more mainstream and boring music as well, so good luck getting your features and search functionalities to work for users such as myself.
This is horrible news. I’ve been a subscriber for 5 years, but it looks like that will be ending in July. It was good while it lasted, emusic. What a letdown.
Let’s see.. current plan 50 tracks @ $11.99/month = $0.24/track … new plan 30 tracks @ $14.99/month = $0.50/track. You’re doubling what I pay to use eMusic, and in return I get the privilege of having to filter through what your new pals in Big Music want my to buy to find the stuff that I want to buy. Thanks – it seems that the expanded catalog isn’t the only bit of “mainstream” going on here.
1. Leave the current rates and charge more for the Sony Product so Bruce gets his royalties.
2. Have “rollover” songs that don’t expire. How many songs have I lost since 2003?
3. OFFER FLAC!! Everyone here will wake up one day and want all the audio quality the artists and producers strived for in the studio. I have purchased many albums/cds after downloading them from eMusic or other sites in mp3 format. Boomkat.com
4. FREE Unlimited all you can eat was the first subscription I had (Yes, those days were too good to be true!) Then I went to 300 songs for $50, now I’m at 50 songs for $11.99 up from $9.99 (I threatened to cancel back then), now I will go to 30 songs for $11.99.
I will never go to the $20.79 plan as I’d rather put that money to good use and shop at Other Music or Amazon for a real 14,000 bit cd
5. THE GOOD: downloading the 24 song albums for 12 credits. I’ve been asking for this for a very long time. Now maybe I’ll clear out my saved pile (slowly!!)
5. Cut some Euro Deals so we have access to more and usually newer music. It’s obviously too late for Sony, but when you cut the next deals, have them include their world wide catalog. I want everything from Brazil or Germany available too.
6. Keep your own ediorial, content policy. Don’t push something only the suits like.
I couldn’t read every post, but keep the guides going and make it easier to get to your Editors, so I can see each of their columns and follow what they write.
Also… please re-write your eMusic Remote software (Mac 1.0.0.2) so I can choose where my music is on my hard drive, and so I can SEE where it is within the program or be able to command-R on a song to take me to it. I don’t synch!!
Good Night and Good Luck!!
Be Bop
NYC
Horrible news! To add 200,000 tracks and double the price is not what I was looking for when I joined. I prepaid for two years to get the best price, and not only do you get to use my money, but you then change the plan. I feel duped! I will not renew.
Well, guess it was too good to be true. I’ve stuck around for a couple years now, and this is the end.
I kept increasing my plan to take advantage of the great music I discovered on emusic. Now my plan costs the same, but with half the downloads. No thanks.
I’m with someone above me: I’ll keep a lookout for the next emusic.
Ugh. So I lose nearly 30 tracks a month in my plan, yet have to pay the same amount – and the only bonus is having access to a bunch of back catalog stuff I either never cared about (30 year old Springsteen releases? Billie Joel? Dixie Chicks???) or already have (as do probably the majority of your subscribers – i.e. The Clash, Modest Mouse). I’d gladly pay a bit extra if it meant you were paying the current artists you offer a bit more – or if it brought Drag City back. For this, though – not very happy about it. These artists don’t need my money, my support or the exposure. Disappointed.
This news is so disappointing, current subscribers should definately be offered a better deal. I wrote up an article about the new eMusic plans on LEGENDmag.net (a national independent lifestyle magazine).
http://LEGENDmag.net/thelegendonline/2009/06/01/emusic-adopts-major-labels-kills-indie/
Disappointing change. An almost doubling of my cost here for something I do not even want. There are plenty other choices for that type of music, but eMusic used to be unique. It appears they no longer wish to be such. Maybe if we kept the same pricing for the music we are used to, but charge 3 or 4 tokens for the majors, instead of the usual 1 for what we always had before?
Nothing particularly original to add here, I’m afraid. Count this long-time subscriber among those who will be canceling at the end of the month. Halving my monthly downloads to subsidize the major-label stuff I’m not particularly interested in anyway doesn’t appeal, I’m afraid.
Danny, after reading all the comments here, I have to agree that this is basically a sellout of your brand and your brand’s followers. Worse, you are positioning it like it’s some kind of plus we all have been clamoring for.
It’s dishonest and possibly even illegal. You are facing a potential class action here — this is a clear case of false advertising (how many people here, including me, “paid forward” for annual or longer subscriptions without it being disclosed that eMusic could pull a bait and switch?).
I urge to do the right thing — let all of us who are grandfathered in opt out of the SONY crap. Not only is it the right thing to do for your brand and your fans — it will cover your ass: Before you count the money, you might just want to ask your lawyers about FTC action, and about class certification. Not rock’n'roll terms, to be sure. But since you’re now leaving the safe haven of doing the right thing for the music and entering the shark-infested waters of the majors, you’re going to suddenly need a lot of high-priced lawyers.
Sleep well… I won’t be renewing.
This is a huge blow. I’ve been a three-plus year subscriber and am so disappointed that this change is taking place. I will seriously consider dropping my plan once this is implemented. The major label back catalogues being offered doesn’t even come close to making up for being whacked from 50 to 30 downloads per month. What I love(d?) Emusic for was the ability to find great Americana, country, and blues artists that aren’t being played on the radio. Artists like Scott H. Biram, Robbie Fulks, and Corb Lund have become among my faves after discovering them here. All this move means to me is 40% less music each month for the same price.
My first reaction is your really hurting the indie labels that got you to where you are. You are offering stiffer competition with the addition of established major label artists making it harder for indie artists to compete on the emusic platform.
That would be fine in and of itself, but then you take away the amount of downloads customers have per month at the same time.
It’s obvious what that will do to indie labels on eMusic. You’ve really turned your backs on what has made this site money in the past “10 years” that you talk about.
It’s not about being a “music curator” or any of these abstract terms you’ve mentioned, it’s plain and simple: You have betrayed everything you’re site has been about. “Major Label Aritst” does not refer to a style of music, nobody cares whether the Sex Pistols are identified with a Major an Indie. What is of concern is where that money is going, and now it’s going back to sources that will feed you another “Sex Pistols” band ever again.
Thanks eMusic, as a business owner I can now exclusively send all my customers to Itunes and not have to create seperate links to eMusic anymore since it’s not worth a damn to.
I’ll be joining the ranks of those who leave eMusic when my current subscription ends. I’ve used eMusic to discover and try new (and even some old) artists that are indie based. Leading to actually purchasing CDs from some of the artists. I guess eMusic wants to compete with iTunes and Amazon, but LaLa looks like an interesting option for me. It’s a shame what’s happening to eMusic. I’ve enjoyed the time I spent here.
Count me in as one more very disappointed customer. The change in my plan from 90 to 50 downloads is way more than a “slight” decrease in the number of tracks. So you’ve lied about that, and you’ve lied to the people that were grandfathered in, and told their plans wouldn’t change as long as they were members in good standing.
I also have just about no interest in major label music, so I could care less that SONY is here. I would also like to be able to keep my rate as long as I never download any major label track.
I personally believe the nature of the site will now change, with good quality indie music getting less “shelf space” and (uninteresting to me) major label music being pushed.
I used to use MusicMatch jukebox as my music library software of choice. It was a great program, better than most of the others out there. Then they went mainstream, sold out to Yahoo, diluted the program drastically (while claiming they were improving it) and ran it into the ground. I tried the new program for a short time to be fair, but absolutely hated it, and soon completely stopped using it.
As far as the new eMusic, I will try it for myself, since right now it’s a habit. However, I’m not sure if I will stay with it. I really miss liner notes for the CDs I download, and with other options available for indie music, if the price advantage isn’t there, I may just go back to buying CDs. (Or use sites that allow you to download the liner notes.)
ONE THING I CAN NO LONGER DO IS TO RECOMMEND eMUSIC TO OTHER PEOPLE
As a long time eMusic subscriber, I am now faced with paying twice as much per track when my subscription renews in September. In the past, when eMusic changed their subscription options, I was allowed to keep my existing plan. I no longer have that option.
And even if the editorial content stays the same, the community generated content will certainly change. I expect the charts to contain fewer up and coming artists and more of the same old same old. Add to that the increased cost when taking chances on unknown artists, and you will see a major change. It’s not the experience I’ve consistently paid for annually since 2006.
I guess the first thing I’ll do is switch to a monthly plan.
I think this is the breaking point for me. I’ve been here long enough that I remember the unlimited downloads plan, but 50 downloads for $20 just isn’t cost-effective for me any more. I might as well just use Amazon or iTunes at those prices.
I will also be considering cancelling. I understand that prices go up. However, my plan is essentially being cut in half! I don’t really thing it’s very good service to your long-time customers to increase their prices so dramatically, just so you can add Foo Fighters and Wu-Tang clan to the catalog…
There’s nothing inherently bad about “major” labels, but if adding them causes prices to go up, you’re better off without.
I’ll be keeping my eye out for the next company to fill the niche that Emusic apparently no longer wants to fill.
(I do like the new album pricing, but I don’t know if the money I’ll save from that will make up for what’s being taken away.)
Emusic is dead.
Long live used CD’s and file sharing.
Very disappointed to lose 30 downloads a month. I have been a subscriber since Oct 05 and have enjoyed being able to discover and become a fan of artists I may never had downloaded if the e-music plan was more expensive. The low price of the monthly subscription allowed me to experiment with my downloads and if I ended up not caring for a couple of tracks on an album, I could delete them and not be too concerned about lost downloads.
Now, with the price doubling, I will need to use my downloads more wisely and I know the music I have not yet discovered will suffer.
I liked when e-music encouraged discovering new music, not downloading the same big named artists you can find on other online music sites.
While it might be nice for emusic to have access to more record companies and artists, my major disappointment was a notice I got that once my current 2 year subscription ran out, that it would change from 75 to 30 downloads. So far I haven’t seen any new plans that would accomodate for 75 or more downloads a month (maybe there will be). I can live with a bit of a price increase here and there, but this is major. Personally, I use emusic mostly for music that isn’t readily accessable in other places and have no use for Bruce Springsteen and Dixie Chicks downloads. I also have to wonder if comparative pricing will come into effect. If the cost of a Sex Pistols album download is similar to the price of a good condition used or even new CD elsewhere, which is the better deal? If these “major artists” are what will be driving the price up, how about a system where these artists cost two downoad credits or something similar that would accomodate the cost but still keep the music priced cheaper than other services. Other “unknown artists” marketed by inpendent record labels could continue to have the option to price their downloads cheaper. I have enjoyed my emusic membership, but if there won’t be any larger download packages offered at a good price, I will have to consider whether it is worth it.
Sony is part of the problem, not part of the solution. It hasn’t broken a new act about which I care one whit in thirty years, and I already have all the back catalague, I can handle, in LP, CD, SACD, box set, and MP3 form, many times over. And more to the point, if I wanted Sony back catalogue, I could buy a lot of it at Amazon MP3 Store for $5-$7 per album already, since that’s a big chunk of the “classic” bargain catalogue there.
For the privilege of being able to buy music that I never am going to buy, my grandfathered account goes from about $.18 a track to over $.40. There are things I’ve downloaded for which I’d pay $5 an album (12 tracks at $.40 per), but a ton more that I would never have, because I knew little about the artist in question at the time of the download. (I am willing to spend $2 or $3 based on buzz, generally, but not a hell of a lot more.)
I thought I’d die with an eMusic account. Now I have to wonder whether I’ll be here past my renewal date. (Right now, I am betting “no,” but who knows?) If eMusic were to drop off the face of the earth, I’d still have plenty of music I’ve downloaded greedily but have yet to explore adequately, but I’d rather not face that day due to a pricing decision that anybody would know will alienate the faithful. (And since eMusic is not run by idiots, I presume the loss of some of the faithful is a cost already factored into the decision to revamp the site and pricing so radically.)
All of this new music would be great, except that you are raising prices by quite a bit. I love my 100-songs-for-$25 plan, and now the closest option is 50-for-$20. To me, the major label music is not worth the new price. As many others have stated, if I really wanted this additional music I could get it at another site.
I enjoy eMusic because I can find so many new artists that I would otherwise never encounter. Wintersleep, Modern Skirts, Portugal. The Man, Bon Iver, Frida Hyvonen, Bowerbirds, and many more. And your great selection of old punk classics! Really, this stuff is why I love eMusic. I do not want to pay more for the option of getting major label music. I may as well cancel my subscription and spend the money on live shows…
So I’m losing almost half my downloads but I’m gaining Hall & Oates — wow what a bleepin’ deal! Way to stick to the early adopters who built emusic. the end is nigh…
Read though the comments so far and am in complete agreement with all the disappointed fans of e-music. I hope they read through these comments and come up with a solution to this before subscriptions are canceled.
My first thought when I saw the news (on another site) was “oh, cool”. Then I read further down in the article and saw the bit about pricing. “Oh, cool” switched to “Uh-oh”. Then I came to emusic direct to read the scoop and my fears were comfirmed. So basically, even though I’ve been an emusic supporter (and a vocal one at that, even in the face of my friend’s “emusic sort of sucks” reaction) since 2004, I’m still getting the shaft just so SONY can sell their back catalog? Hmm. Yeah, don’t think so.
I realise there is a recession on that not only hits consumers, but business’s as well. I also realize that emusic was far too affordable to last. However, I also assumed it was a site interested in keeping it’s long-standing members. With this move, you’ve shown that you’re really not. And I’m pretty sure you knew people were going to react this way too – why else would you offer to give free booster packs to us in August (assuming any of us stay around)? You’re trying to soften the blow, soften the change, yada yada whatever. Losing 40 of my downloads just so I can now ignore the Sony catalog seems rather harsh, emusic.
I am not sure I will stick around, if I do, it will definitely be at one of the lesser-priced plans, so yes, less revenue for you. To be honest, I stay with emusic because I enjoy it – the lists, the reccomendations, the pricing. Anything you didn’t have, I could always use iTunes for (and have in the past). But maybe now it’s time to move on.
And wrapping this all up in a “indie” vs “major” discussion was just bad form, emusic. There is no discussion. The indie model has succeeded – musicians reach out to the fans and understand the internet and how to use it (ie pricing and downloading). The Major model hasn’t worked for years and we all know it. The only reason Sony and the like would even enter into a plan like this (and grace emusic with their prescence) is because the music RIAA-driven industry has been in a recession itself for the last decade and a half. They’re now grabbing at straws, trying to hold on and unfortunately, it looks as though emusic been dragged into the fall with them.
Chalk me in the disappointed column. I don’t really care about the major labels. I am mostly interested in the obscure items so this change does little for me except to raise my costs. But I am not ready to cancel yet as this is still the cheapest way to legally get music downloads.
I think it is a calculated move by emusic to get more new subscribers even if they lose some of the current ones. Hopefully, this does not cause a backlash and result in them losing money as I have seen many companies do under when they change their business model in an attempt to expand their business.
Very disappointed at the price change – I am going to end up paying more than DOUBLE what I currently do if I want to get the same number of downloads when this change goes into effect.
I understand why it may make business sense to make this change – emusic used to be a “niche” service of sorts but they are moving into direct competition with iTunes and other major-label MP3 services.
Hopefully another emusic service that is more affordable will spring up because I’m not sure if I want to pay the price you guys are asking or not.
(Second Post With Spelling Corrections, Please Delete First Post
While it might be nice for emusic to have access to more record companies and artists, my major disappointment was a notice I got that once my current 2 year subscription ran out, that it would change from 75 to 30 downloads. So far I haven’t seen any new plans that would accomodate for 75 or more downloads a month (maybe there will be). I can live with a bit of a price increase here and there, but this is major. Personally, I use emusic mostly for music that isn’t readily accessable in other places and have no use for Bruce Springsteen and Dixie Chicks downloads. I also have to wonder if comparative pricing will come into effect. If the cost of a Sex Pistols album download is similar to the price of a good condition used or even new CD elsewhere, which is the better deal? If these “major artists” are what will be driving the price up, how about a system where these artists cost two download credits or something similar that would accomodate the cost but still keep the music priced cheaper than other services. Other “unknown artists” marketed by independent record labels could continue to have the option to price their downloads at a cheaper price. I have enjoyed my emusic membership, but if there won’t be any larger download packages offered at a good price, I will have to consider whether it is worth it.
To me, “Major vs. Indie” isn’t an interesting debate. Having a staff of energetic and enthusiastic staff with a true love for music, coupled with great discovery tools on the site is what made eMusic special. I think back to my favorite albums over the last 5 or so years, and it’s mostly music that I downloaded on a whim from eMusic based on recommendations or lists. I downloaded these albums because I was paying ~22 cents/track.
My typical month goes something like this. As enticing new albums that I KNOW I want come out, I download them. This usually turns out to be 3-4 albums, so let’s say 30-50 tracks. Then, one night during the end of my renewal cycle I put on the headphones, pour a drink, and start digging. I dig through random stuff I’ve “Saved for Later”, I start clicking on lists and links in the site, and I burn through the remaining 40-50 of my original 90 tracks. I then spend the next month listening to that stuff on the iPod. Some of it I don’t care for much, some of it is okay, some of it I listen to on a regular basis for the next year, and sometimes a band makes it to my personal “Immediately Buy Anything New They Put Out” list.
Under this new, DRASTICALLY changed price scheme, I get 50 tracks instead of 90. Now, I’m going to get the 3-4 albums at 12 tracks/album (kudos on that move, btw) and essentially be done for the month. I’m not really interested in spending more than $20/month here, since I also have money going to the occasion Amazon download, physical CD purchase, or other source.
What this means is this – my fundamental relationship with eMusic will be changing. It’s no longer going to be about discovering new music. AT ALL. It’s going to be a “Oh, eMusic has this album for half the price of iTunes/Amazon, I’ll just buy it there.” sort of relationship. Granted, this is just my personal usage pattern, but I suspect it’s similar to many others.
If this is eMusic’s intent, might I suggest including downloadable liner notes with “whole album” purchases? This would set eMusic apart from the other services. Higher quality rips would also be welcome. Read the message boards for similar suggestions from your passionate fanbase. (Another one that looks good to me off the cuff is variable pricing. Let Sony or any other label charges 2 “credits” per track if they want, or 15 “credits” per album. I’ll simply use my “discovery” credits for 1 credit/track songs!)
The new content is nice and all, but it doesn’t really fit into what I’m looking at a digital “discovery” service for. At this point, I might end up lowering my monthly subscription and using the money I save to look into some sort of monthly subscription service like Zune Pass or something. I dunno, I guess I’ll have to evaluate their selection. I’ve never really looked into any of them before, since eMusic had such a great thing going. I guess I will now, and that makes me sad.
please offer your existing subscribers some sort of choice for the sony catalog. Maybe even have songs from this catalog counts as two downloads for existing members. To me it almost seems as if you all need to change your pricing model in general and are blaming this on the Sony deal. I understand and would much rather hear that you all need to charge ’same for less’ due to economics in general than adding mainstream music from a major label that goes against why many of us subscribe to eMusic in the first place.
I, too, was an eMusic subscriber back in the ‘all you can eat’ days. After they switched to limiting downloads based on payment level, I relied on a useful feature of emusic: if you canceled and signed back up later w/the same account information, all your old downloads were still available to you, and you could download them again as often as you wanted. So I would sign up for one month subs here and there when there were albums I knew I wanted, use up all of my credits, then cancel, knowing I could come back again at any time.
When they changed their rates a few years ago, I got grandfathered in at 90 songs/$20. This was a sweet deal, but it had a catch: if I canceled, I could only come back in at the new, more expensive rates. This encouraged me to keep my sub active, and it got me using emusic as a true music discovery platform. Sure, some of the albums I downloaded weren’t that great. But at $.22/track, I could afford a few duds here and there.
Now that there’s essentially no grandfathering for previous account holders, there’s no incentive for keeping my subscription. Presuming I can still sign up for a month at a time, I’ll just use emusic like a cheaper alternative to iTunes or Amazon, rather than as a subscription to a music discovery platform.
Perhaps this makes more sense to eMusic as a business. Time will tell. From the looks of it, though, this deal with the ‘majors’ (and, yes, Charlotte, there is most definitely a difference between the majors and the indies) appears to look more like a deal with the devil. I hope eMusic got a good price for their soul.
Never one to be short on words, I’ve decided this time just to keep it simple: MY HEART IS BREAKING in many, many, many pieces.
This is full of F-A-I-L.
Clearly with so few other companies carrying ‘major’ labels these days, this is a step in the right direction …….
I want to register my disappointment too. For me, emusic was always a place to find new and old music that slipped through the cracks – stuff you don’t see on iTunes or Amazon. I rarely went to emusic to find a specific album or artist, but mostly used it as a tool to discover stuff I had never heard before and couldn’t hear anywhere else. It still serves that function, but now I get less music for the same cost because emusic wants to attract a broader audience by offering artists that enjoy wider popularity.
I can’t fault emusic for making a business decision that will likely make them more profitable, and I won’t immediately cancel my subscription. I’m just disappointed that emusic sold out their existing customers to reach a wider audience.
There was a lot of brand loyalty before, and this kind of loyalty seems especially important for a subscription-based service. I wouldn’t think that a customer who is looking for a specific, major-label back catalog album would be likely to sign up for a subscription when they can get the same album from iTunes with no commitment.
Good grief,
Why do I lose so many downloads? If I wanted Sony i’d go to Amazon. Want to sweeten the deal EMusic? Instead of using a monthly plan of set download counts, If I paid for them I can download them and not lose them that month if I forget, can’t find anything, whatever…
I joined as an unlimited subscriber. I would routinely get warning letters that I download too much, the next day I’d get another letter stating the previous letter was a mistake. THEN you changed my plan to 90 without warning. I stuck with you anyway. I am disappointed that I’ll get almost 50% less music.
Thank you RIAA/Emusic. I knew you were too good to be true.
This is unacceptable. The whole indie vs. majors debate feels like a smokescreen. The hard fact is that, as I approach my 5-year anniversary as an eMusic subscriber, my monthly downloads are being reduced from 90 to 50 for the same price. I can certainly understand increasing my subscription cost, by a reasonable amount, if only to permit management to provide a pay raise to all the nice folks at eMusic. After all, if my employer was paying me the same salary in 2009 as in 2004, I would be inclined to work elsewhere. That being said, I fail to see how the inclusion of major label releases brings added value to existing eMusic downloads, whether they are from the STAX catalog, indie label artists, crappy knockoff remakes by “tribute” bands, or Karaoke tracks.
I would like to propose an alternative: Designate tracks/albums/artists/labels according to a two-tier pricing structure. By doing so, eMusic can debit my account one download per track for their usual offerings, and two downloads per track for the major label releases being added to the service. If I absolutely must have the latest Kelly Clarkson album, I would rather download it from eMusic than one of the other subscription services, even if it’s going to use up my download credits at a higher rate.
Without a more equitable solution than the one announced, I will be disinclined to continue my eMusic subscription. Brand Loyalty is a two-way street.
Let’s push all the rhetoric aside and call this what it is: slashing the service nearly in half, or doubling the cost for end user like me and many others. This site will no doubt begin to look more and more like iTunes with every passing day, and pretty soon eMusic will be a mere division or adjunct of the Very Very Big Music Corporation of America, a little button on the newest Windows Media Player next to the cute little Napster kitty kat.
Buh Bye….
As a loyal subscriber since emusic’s early days, I I am furious about the significant per track price increase. I have no interest in the music of Bruce Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks and will cancel my subscription immediately. Shame on you emusic! Shame on you!
Disappointing. The major label back catalog does not interest me much, and like most of the other posts, my pricing plan is basically doubling. The current pricing encourages a lot more sampling and taking a chance on lesser known bands. I fear these changes will force people on the look out for cool new acts to find their music from different sources.
As an annual plan member at the 50 songs/month level, the prospect of being changed to a bizarre 210 song/6 months plan just plain pisses me off. I became a member because it was fun to discover new artists at fairly low risk. Now the price is going up significantly and the new plan is, in my opinion, stupid. So I guess when my plan runs out after this coming month emusic and I will be parting ways. It was fun.
Why not flexible “pricing”?
Comedy tracks are overpriced as is (desperately needs album pricing); under the new price structure I predict comedy tracks sales to fall to nearly zero. eMusic needs flexible pricing. My suggestion: Indie label (1 credit per track), Major label (2 credits per track).
I subscribe to emusic to have access to independent music at good prices, since I can take a risk and not lose much if the music is not as good as I thought when I previewed it. I’m not sure it’s worthwhile any more. I can buy much of the music on emusic on one other legal site (if I download the whole album) at prices that are competitive with emusic’s new price structure.
I expect that I will be cancelling my subscription. I don’t need to be tied into a monthly commitment at these prices. I don”t need the major artists to be available on this site. This is disappointing.
I, too, have been with emusic since the early days. I raved about it to anyone who would listen. Now, I’m being rewarded with a double in price and a service that looks a lot more like the competitors. If I wanted major label music I would go to Amazon.
Shit.
Sony doesn’t care about you. They’ll just take downloads from the indies, who will then withdraw. Then Sony will too, leaving you nothing.
Exciting, 10-year-too-late news but a 27% increase for 53% less downloads makes eMusic no longer worth it to me. It does not help that you have continually provided an inferior product (low quality encoding, a behind-the-times website, no rollover downloads month to month). And you have wasted an amazing community by having little to no social networking on your site.
Having Bruce Springsteen in your catalog ain’t gonna help. And most us already have the Clash and Sex Pistols on CD. emusicFAIL.
I too will be cancelling my membership at its next renewal date (mid-October). I don’t know what has led emusic management to believe that its existing customers (or new potential customers) thought that access to the Sony-controlled back catalogs would be a big win. Nobody signed up at emusic to access Sony, and indeed I and many of my friends and relatives have been delighted by the musical discovery process that has resulted. This process has been facilitated by the pricing, and the effective doubling of cost (with no justification other than “now you can get downloads of the sony back catalog”) really undermines that.
The best imaginable explanation I can come up with is that emusic is now going after (a) the existing iTunes/amazon customers by offering them a fraction of those site’s catalog at a discount price (b) younger subscribers who for some unfathomable reason having (i) realized they can get The Clash via other means and (ii) are excited about it. Whether or not these two areas of potential expansion will make up for the losses caused by the repricing … only time will tell.
As for the letter that opened this blog entry: deeply insulting. A lot of angsty hang-wringing about whether “major label” artists would “change the fabric of emusic” when the real news is that in order to add the major label material, you will double our cost per download. There could be other reasons for an increase in cost (“We’ve decided that musicians deserve to earn more”), but there’s none of that, and in fact barely a detectable acknowledgment that this “breakthrough” for a site that helped me discover some incredible new artists comes at a high price.
This is so sad.
I’m 40. I’m old enough that I’ve had 8 Tracks, Records, Cassette Tapes, CDs, and Remastered CDs of the same albums. I sit on about 250G of music that I’ve amassed over 20 or so years of avid record collecting. I’ve had local record stores. I’ve had the place where a guy at a counter recommends something I’ve never heard of…I’ve had the best of the ‘brick and mortar’ experience and I felt it when those places started to dry up.
In 2003 I found eMusic and I started to have the same thing again. I could get recommendations that were driven off one of your Editors making something a ‘Pick’, not an algorithm (like Amazon and iTunes). I have young kids now and can’t go to clubs a lot, but I discovered some great bands through your site and I’m very thankful. For the most part, the reviews were sensibly written by people with similar taste to my own.
Sony will bring the crowds in, but I’ve got to go. I’ve seen the big boys shit on too many things that I hold dear to watch this one go that way too.
I’ve got one month left at the old prices and I’m going to shrink my swollen ’save for later’ list and then I’m out. Good luck in the new world eMusic and Thank You.
I’m just really sad that it has to end this way.
This will end my emusic subscription and my recommending it to anyone. itunes and Amazon, etc… already exist. Time to find another place to get music. This sucks emusic.
This is online music socialism – I am subsidizing the loud minorities desire to download from a major label. Why mess with the formula when it seems to have been working so well already? eMusic has had a loyal following of music lovers who have demonstrated that they are already willing to pay for the non-major label music catalog already available. Throughout my entire eMusic tenure, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve not been able to find the music I wanted here. Therefore, the ONLY thing that will change for me with this is that I will now be forced to pay twice as much for the same music.
Is there really no other way to arrange this in a more equitable manner? For instance, since major label songs appear to cost eMusic so much more, then wouldn’t it make sense to just charge more credits for each of those downloads? Or perhaps create a “premium music booster pack” at the higher prices for the consumption of those clammoring for major label music. Or better yet, just let me opt out of the new music and keep my current plan.
In the past I have always raved to my friends about eMusic and what a great deal it is, but sadly I am now forced to reconsider. It pains me to do it, but unless eMusic management sheds the greed and reconsiders this policy, I’ll have no choice but to cancel with the hordes of others who helped build this site.
As a subscriber, getting my monthly downloads cut in half basically defeats the reason I signed up for Emusic in the first place. I likely will not be downloading much of the major label music and will be forced to pay more for the independent label music.
Had you acquired the new catalogue while maintaining the existing download levels I would be ecstatic. Had you lowered it by 25% percent or less I would be understanding but to half it is unacceptable. Nothing about your service besides the major label content has changed so I am not sure why I should pay twice as much.
To be honest, I’m probably going to terminate my subscription with Emusic. Everything I enjoyed about the site is about to change and of course the music I want is so easily obtainable elsewhere on the web.
Very disappointing. You sold your soul to Sony and we now will pay nearly twice as much per song even though I will not download the “majors.” The closer you get to itunes the less advantageous you become. You have not replaced the music blogs as my source for new music (though you certainly provide a good service) so no matter how much you tout your pretty recommends I feel betrayed.
I know a price increase was coming, but this is silly and certainly not worth it for having access to old Boss. I must rethink membership.
I am disappointed. The Sony deal highlights a rather serious disconnect between eMusic’s management and its user base. I have valued eMusic tremendously for the ability to explore rather aggressively the breadth and depth of song that I did not know was out there. Be it rock from the underground, blues from the delta or funk from Nigeria, the one thing I never found eMusic was lacking in is options and opportunities to explore. This was made possible by the high number of downloads and the truly unique charts, full of compositions and compilations I had never even heard of before (and that you can’t really find anywhere else).
I never thought that eMusic needed a stronger mainstream back catalog. It never crossed my mind. Now the complete orientation of the site is changing. And so will my approach.
I expect nearly static charts, across the many genres. Can anyone imagine a time when Thriller won’t be #1? And cutting the number of downloads so significantly for the same price I was paying yesterday can’t be made up for by the fact that I’ll be able to download a Justin Timberlake record that was a hit two years ago. How will I decide which two albums not to download this month? What new sonic experiences will be denied me so that I have the opportunity of binging out on Hall and Oates?
Mr. Stein, remember that companies like Sony are the source of their own recent decline. Do not let ambitions of Amazon or iTunes parity distract you from the fact that eMusic is a unique (and one supposes) profitable place because it is different. Because it has no lumbering, customer-suing dinosaur of a label to which it is beholden. Because it doesn’t comply with how the majors want things to operate and has charted out its own shining path.
Please bear that in mind the next time a major comes knocking. People who love eMusic don’t need what they’re selling, and if we do – there are plenty of other places to get it. Keep your rep and your brand tight, or hazard someone else sweeping in and picking up where, today, you lost your path.
This is frustrating. I subscribe to emusic because it is a great deal and an excellent way to find smaller, independent bands. And now, b/c they want to reach a bigger market (which is okay), they are going to raise everyone’s prices? (which is not okay) Guess what, I don’t want the lastest Brittney Spears album, and it’s unfair that you raise the prices on the smaller stuff to account for this.
If you are going to do this, you really should have gone with flexible pricing, where “pop” tracks could cost as much as $1.00, and small, little known bands could be as little as $.15.
At this point, I’m seriously considering canceling. This is a shame, because I’ve always loved emusic and have spoken highly of it to others. I’m afraid you will lose many of your die hard loyal customers with this change.
I will be quitting e-music now that I am charged roughly the same price for HALF of the downloads. The beauty of E-music was the amount of downloads of indie music for a low monthly price. I could give two shits about now being able to download Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, and Modest Mouse.
In trying to expand your reach to people not interested in indie music, you will effectively push away all of your supporters who have been here since the beginning. Way to go E-music! Reach for those stars you call money.
I stay with emusic as one of my music sources because of the indie labels. I dont care about the majors as I already have anything that I want from them. I’m also ” grandfathered ” in on a 40 download plan. I will now be paying double for less downloads. I like emusic and have sent them many customers but when my plan switches I will cancel my plan. I have spoken to several of the people that I’ve turned on to emusic and they will also cancel when they switch. I will miss the emusic that I knew and loved but nothing can last forever.
I too am not happy about the huge price increase. I’ve been a loyal member for over eight years, and have recommended many during this time. I have never had a problem finding great music in your collection, and have a “Save For Later” list that continues to grow. But if adding a bunch more mainstream artist causes the rates to increase, I do not see this as a positive move. Sony can keep their back catalog, I’d like to keep my emusic experience affordable and positive.
@Ryan-Great point about Thriller always being #1…the charts are going to become nearly useless as a tool to see what’s new and of value…unless you just know that if it’s on the chart it can’t be either.
Projected Top Ten List on Jul 2:
1) Thriller
2) Born to Run (not bad, just about forty years old)
3) London Calling (see 2, above)
4) some shit by Mariah Carey
5) some shit by Pearl Jam
6) some shit by….I think you get the point.
And we get to pay more for it! Yeah!
I am disappointed in the price hike, eMusic. As another 4 year plus subscriber, I’ve found a huge variety of music to love in your catalog. I don’t need any major label tracks. Please let me keep my current plan without access to your “catalog expansion.”
All these majors are fine I guess, but still no Sub Pop?
Sony now runs eMusic. Good Luck!
Thank you, eMuzak, for contributing to the demise of indie music. Thanks for discouraging me and your other users from discovering new artists. On a personal level, how can you justify cutting my 300 downloads per month to 75 downloads?! I’ve been investing a lot of money in your service to own great music, and this is the thanks I get? At least give your dedicated users the option to not have access to Sony’s muzak and get a price break. I just lost my job, and now it looks like I’m losing e-Music, too, from hereon in to be ever known as e-Muzak.
Yeah, count me in with the disappointed and insulted. My subscription will become less valuable so that people on another continent can download Sony? One of the major reasons I joined eMusic and became a major fan was because of Sony’s anti-consumer practices (DRM, rootkits, lawsuits, etc). Knowing that my money would not enrich the RIAA was a major plus for me. Now, I may have to cancel just to ensure that these idiots (whose stupid and outdated regional practices are causing my loss of value and whose lawsuits against their own customers still continue) don’t get my money. I feared that a sellout was on the horizon when Pakman left. Looks like I was right.Enjoy your new customer base of forum trolls who will still complain that new albums aren’t available
Blargh. Changing subscription plans like this is a huge downside for me. I’ll be canceling when the changes go into effect.
Is it impossible to do what another user suggested: grandfather subscription accounts for people who have no interest in subsidizing Sony?
I want INDIE!!!! I don’t want to even see the names of most main stream artists. I want to be challenged,educated,pushed out of my comfort zone,kept on the cutting edge. I am insulted by your changes. Most of your members don’t give a rats ass about best sellers and charts and pop princesses. If we did we would just turn on the radio.
Basically we get charged nearly double for a back catalogue we already have or don’t want. The charts will be clogged with bands we’ve heard of for ages instead of new bands we get to explore. As a loyal emusic subscriber who has converted many friends to this site, I am very disappointed.
If 95% of the feedback is against this change, will emusic be willing to give the majors the boot? Or is turning a deaf ear to loyal customers “more of the good stuff” as well?
So far I see at least 100 account cancellations from this change, and that’s just from the people who’ve seen this announcement and taken the time to post here. I wonder if eMusic will listen. Everyone I know who uses and loves (loved?) eMusic was here precisely because the Sonys of the world were NOT here. Sigh.
Like a lot of the comments here, I must say that I am very disappointed. I’m OK have the added access to the major label artists, though I suspect I will not use this much. However, I am completely disappointed with the price hike which is incredibly massive percentage-wise, at least for my account given the years I’ve been a subscriber.
I think it is a dangerous thing to alienate your longest, most loyal customers on this. We’re the ones that have kept your business alive when lots of music sites have failed.
Add me to the list – the value proposition is gone. Will cancel.
I’m terribly disappointed by this change to subscription rates under the aegis of disingenuously providing access to major label material. I have only been subscribed for a year but my experiences have only been positive. I’ve recommended emusic to anyone who would listen, I’ve recently upped by subscription rate to 100 songs/month because I’ve enjoyed finding so much new music every month. Frankly, it’s been exciting to pay independent artists (at these reasonable rates and DRM free) rather than getting them through other means — today, regrettably, it can be hard to justify paying for music when other options are available, and emusic makes that experience so rewarding. But it’s now become harder to justify my commitment to a subscription payment plan — it’s been nothing but a thrill, and an increasingly rewarding one — but the price increases (with negligible benefits from the Sony catalog) will make impulse and exploratory buys that much harder. Instead of looking forward to a long-time future with emusic, I’m looking at the 450 items in my Saved Queue and I’m trying to figure out ways to cut my losses before canceling my subscription. I can no longer recommend emusic like I have so passionately done over the last year. I suspect the logistics of a tiered pricing model mentioned above (pay more for access to Sony and other majors, pay the same for current rates and access) is difficult and counter to the negotiation arrangements that got the Sony catalog in the first place, but to me, it seems like the only way to appease the long-standing subscribers. Good luck sorting this mess out.
@Dave – I wonder how many pledges of cancellation they would need to see to actually amend the new policy. 100s may be a drop in the bucket to them if they think that they’ll woo the iTunes crowd and mainstream music listening consumer in general, but maybe if they see that they’re potentially losing 1000s of subscribers they would reconsider due to potentially significant revenue losses.
I’m definitely making sure that my emusic subscribing friends know about this sooner rather than later so that they can add their opinions into the mix if they feel so inclined. They’ve obviously committed themselves to this change, so expected a complete reversal is likely out of the question of course, but I would like to see them consider some of the tiered structures or forms of grandfathering for long time users that have already been mentioned in this string of comments. Such systems would hopefully still give unknown artists more of a chance of being downloaded and allow longtime users to continue experimenting/taking chances on new indie bands and labels.
If I wanted a Pearl Jam record, I’d go to town and buy a used or new copy for 10 or 18 dollars, respectively. eMusic is where I go for smaller label albums that are almost never in town. Sure I have to wait a few months after the albums release date to find it on here, but I’m okay with that. And now with the addition of a slew of big name artists (who I either don’t care about or already own) I’m going to have to pay the same amount of money for ten less tracks a month. Cancel, cancel, cancel.
Its been a good run here for me. I love emusic, been here over 5 years. I always loved getting more for less – and it was conveniently more of what I wanted – INDIE and underground, reggae, bluegrass, and all that great stuff. But I can’t afford my tracks to be cut by 2/3 for the same price.
90 downloads will become 35. Sorry, not worth it for the selection. I can go buy a couple albums (maybe only 2 instead of 3) but I can dl exactly what I want. Since everyone else is going dig rights free, eMusic is losing that edge too.
I’m not really shocked. Yes this will chagne the face of eMusic drastically – but you obviously feel that is the wisest choice and can respect that. I am saddened to be losing an alternative to the big record companies, but I am merely a guest on eMusic (albeit a paying one…until october
I’ll enjoy some of that new back cataloge 
)
I appreciate all the great music eMusic has provided me with! Thanks eMusic and good luck!
yeah, i’m not down with this price increase either…maybe if it meant access to Sub Pop but I don’t care about Sony.
Count me as another long time subscriber who will be cancelling when the new prices go into effect. I understand price increases are a fact of life but doubling the price of a download in one fell swoop is a bit much. I also have no interest whatsoever in the Sony catalog so trying to wave that in front of my face to distract me from the price jacking isn’t going to work. I liked eMusic because it used to be about the music. Now I guess it’s about the money. Disappointing.
Personally, having my 50 downloads per month reduced to 30 per month (at the same price and still non-rollover) in return for access to the Sony back catalog and a 12 unit maximum album price is not a good deal at all! I doubt I will be long for emusic once these changes take effect.
I believe you are grossly overplaying the allure of access to the Sony back catalog.
What a load of crap. I will be cancelling my membership after this month.
Fuck Sony.
I’d be willing to pay a bit more to get more indie labels on board (Sub Pop has been mentioned several times, and I agree), but Sony?! That’s not why I’m a subscriber.
Please eMusic, cancel this Sony deal altogether and work on getting us more of what we’re here for, Independent Music.
So I get fewer downloads for my money because Sony Music Group, a terrible company I refuse to buy anything from since the rootkit fiasco in 2005 (one of the very things that drove me to try eMusic), is being added to your catalog? That’s just great. Very exciting. Thanks a bunch.
This really sucks. I’m going from 40 downloads per month for 9.99 to 30 downloads per month for 11.99? How is that an improvement?
After I get my 40 this month, I quit. I mostly listen to classical, and there is enough free stuff out there to keep me happy.
@Nate – you make a good point. They won’t care about 100s. They might not even care about 1000s. They will count on people who are initially outraged to cool down a little and “give the new system a try.” As it happens, June 5 I get my 12th month’s 50 songs so as soon as I download them I’ll kill my subscription. About all I care to do at this point :-/
And I thought Universal was the Devil when they bought eMusic!!
DANNY STEIN / KIP MORGAN / JDS / Dimensional Associates?
CATHY HALGAS NEVINS? How this for a PR DISASTER?
Are you still going to hit double digit growth this year?
ANY REPLY TO ALL OF THESE COMMENTS??
Long time subscriber with no interest in the Sony back catalog. I cannot justify a 44% reduction in monthly downloads with nothing in return. I will be canceling my subscription once the new pricing schemes take effect. Will continue to support the independent labels and artists that first attracted my to Emusic by purchasing their music elsewhere.
Come on, eMusic, this doesn’t sound like you at all!
You’ve just destroyed most of the advantages associated with eMusic under the guise of expanding my choices. The problem is that you haven’t really expanded my choices in the least. All of the music you are adding was already available on Amazon and iTunes. Yes, those 200,000 tracks will sometimes be a bit cheaper to eMusic subscribers, but the rest of the eMusic catalog (where I have the most interest) will cost me more than twice as much as in the past. If it’s really about the new tracks costing more, why not just use tiered pricing, at two (or even three) credits per track on the new catalog, instead of doubling the price of the whole catalog?
I have always depended on eMusic to let me experiment with new and lesser known artists for a good price. Now, I’ll just have to look for Amazon’s daily deals to find the good values. Even Amazon’s $5 albums are now cheaper than eMusic.
If you need to raise prices a bit to make ends meet, then say so. But don’t add some back catalog tracks, double your prices for everything else, and then act like you’re doing us all a big favor. Seems like you’ve been getting advice from the RIAA on how to treat your customers. I hope that works out well for you.
I’ve been a subscriber for many years, but I won’t be renewing when my subscription expires.
I subscribe to emusic.com because the price makes it safe for me to explore your wide selection of classical music that is difficult to locate or sort through elsewhere, especially new music. I couldn’t care less about the latest Yo-Yo Ma recordings or umpteenth-reissue of an Isaac Stern recording. So I find that emusic.com is effectively doubling the cost of my subscription, but for what? To appease Sony? Very disappointing!
It’s been a pleasure downloading records from BIS/IODA and Harmonia Mundi. But I’m sorry to say that the price change means I’ll be cancelling.
I’ve had some time to think about what these changes mean to me. Initially I was excited to see upcoming arrival of back catalog from a major label, but that was before I learned about the significant cost increase. Fortunately, my eMusic Premium Annual subscription (90 downloads, $191.90, about 18 cents per track) recently renewed in April, so I have until April to see how eMusic changes with the addition of major-label content. I’m disappointed that the new comparable plan is the 35 downloads every 30 days at 41 cents a track. I know that 41 cents a track is still a good deal compared to itunes or amazon. I guess the subscription plans at the old rates were too good to last. It looks like the eMusic community on the forums will likely change, with many people cancelling.
Horrible news. First, I had 90 downloads previously. Now, I get 50. I’m not going to download things from Sony. I have nothing against them, its just that appreciate the fact that emusic offered an area to showcase unheard of talent.
I just wonder why you couldn’t give us “old-timers” the option of whether or not we would like to participate. Why not offer 2 different options–like your audiobook segment.
Also, I’m well aware that this isn’t the first change in download policies here at emusic.
What does this mean for emusic? I feel like this is going to completely change the landscape of the service. I expect to see the charts radically reflect the new options–expect Thriller to be the top downloaded record. Also, I expect that Sony probably garnered some type of promotional deal within this agreement, so I expect to see many more banners, and suggestions pointing towards these artists. As I said before, I’m not against the label, just the essence in which it is going to destroy.
First off: I am canceling. Had been at the 65/$15 plan. Makes no sense to get less music for more money. Explain that logic in a recession, and when the cost of music in general seems to be trending downward. Hell, you could round out a pretty swell music collection just by blindly clicking on the Amazon “daily deal.”
I can’t believe the core subscribers care much about anything in the Sony catalog that they don’t already have. And The Clash? Really.
Emusic is trying to compete with Amazon and iTunes, which it will never, ever do. Never-ever. The editorial content is OK, but I think someone has too high of an opinion of it. It’s never sold me any music.
Goodbye emusic. Maybe Sony will buy you.
I could go with supporting the idea of 2 credits for Sony’s stuff and one credit for all the rest. Please keep the number of my downloads the same! I don’t want Sony!
Are we only getting the Sony back catalog? What about the Verve/Blue Note and ECM material available in Europe and elsewhere? Will we get that in the U.S. as well.
Also, as a major jazz nut, I hope you’ll continue to pursue those holdout independent labels such as HatHut and Steeplechase. Hopefully, the new pricing will make eMusic a more attractive option for them.
Just don’t take any music *away* and I’ll be happy!
I have been with emusic since 2002 or 2003, and this is the first time I have considered canceling. I could care less about sony. Any of the albums that will be added that I want I most likely already own, or could pick up at a used CD store. So the new price (reduction in service) gains me nothing. Now if they would bring back some of the good labels (Anti, etc) they lost over the last few years I may reconsider.
As it is iTunes is looking better and better. They have gotten rid of DRM and have a better selection of non-main stream music.
I will keep emusic for the audio books, unless they mess that up too.
I only download Classical music so I can only speak for myself. At first I was dismayed to lose 10 downloads at the same price, but I think you have done a good thing by offering lengthy pieces of music with a max level of 12. I have gone to other sources in the past for operas, for example, because I would have used up my entire month with one opera or ballet or part thereof. Also, I think improved recommendations is only a marginal need, but I hope your next effort is in the area of keywords. I know that for Classical music this can prove a challenge, but at the moment, you barely live up to that challenge. I have found a great percentage of albums by accident.
this is sad… emusic, by doubling your prices overnight, you are going to drive away the loyal customer base that has made this site what it is. just as sad as the price increase is the fact that the major label catalog is going to destroy the charts, so even if i felt like sticking around at the new higher prices, it would be much harder to find interesting new music. i will definitely be cancelling.
this is disappointing news, I really come here for the indie stuff I can discover, not catalog titles. I will get one third of the downlaods I now get for the same price, not a very attractive offer. I guess I’ll say goodbye to Emusic and stick with my Ukranian site where the tunes are about 12 cents each and you pay as you go.
As an eMusic subscriber since July 2002 on the 90/$19.99 plan, this is terrible news. Color me gone.
I’m disappointed and on the fence. I came to eMusic years and years ago when it first started getting off the ground because there was just something awkward and weird about the music selection and because I could legitimately buy tracks for about 25c and not feel guilty (well, maybe a little). I made a conscious decision when I started college that I would pay for my music and somewhere down the line that will end up in the artists’ hands. Paying less than iTunes and still getting music legitimately was and still is a pull for me to eMusic; albeit, if eMusic doesn’t have what iTunes has I’ll revert to iTunes but that means that I always always pull up eMusic first.
With that said, if this deal was made to compete with iTunes, then this is a bad direction. Some battles cannot be won and I honestly believe Apple cannot be matched. Turning eMusic loyalists into collateral damage in order to compete better in a competition war that it doesn’t belong in in the first place, is obviously not a healthy decision for the sake of the company’s philosophy. If eMusic wants to pander to the big wigs and rake in more money, then so be it but it has to make sacrifices—and the sacrifices are the eMusic’s vision and the eMusic’s customers. It doesn’t get as simple as that. eMusic, last time I heard, you’re #2. I think that’s a pretty good place to be in, so let’s not hallucinate about being #1. Again, Apple will forever hold that crown.
One commenter rightly noted that if we want something from the big labels and eMusic doesn’t have it, we’re just going to go to the record store or iTunes and get it. We, as customers, have no hurt feelings when we discover that eMusic doesn’t have a certain artist or track because we all know that eMusic isn’t here to satisfy everyone’s every musical desire and whim—that’s why we choose to be with eMusic because we pay a fraction of that it would cost elsewhere for a quirky, limited music selection that can’t really be found elsewhere with the same ease.
People that are gung-ho-iTunes aren’t going to change. That system is so ridiculously easy and universal, those same people aren’t going to put in the effort to install the eMusic software and set it up to only be reverted back to iTunes to load on their iPods. That’s a technical barrier that many iTunes loyalists won’t want to tackle regardless if eMusic comes out with it’s own iTunes-like software or not. iTunes is iTunes and that can’t and never will be cracked anytime soon. If this deal was made to pull iTunes customers, it’s not going to work.
As far as pricing changes. Disappointed to say the least. This will, unless eMusic listens to us and rids itself of these changes, double the cost of tracks to get half or more the number of tracks. In economics, that doesn’t equate… even counting inflation. Now if the deal was made to keep the company afloat in these hard economic times, then, CEO, please just say it. It’s getting to be a lame excuse but we all understand what that means. Now, I appreciate the free Booster pack but that’s hardly a consolation prize for how much money and time as a member I’ve put in (5 years). If there needs to be a price change, then do it, but don’t make it that drastic a change for members that have old plans and didn’t change it a year or two ago for a reason.
This news is a disaster for eMusic’s most loyal customers. I have been a subscriber for many years. eMusic just informed me that instead of getting 90 downloads for $20, as I have always done, I will now get 50 downloads for my twenty bucks. That’s right: eMusic wants to almost double the cost of my subscription from 22 cents per track to 40 cents. I already have all the old Dylan and Springsteen albums. The chance to by them again for about $5 is meninngless to me. I use eMusic to discover new music at a fair rate. But no more.
Mr. Stein, can you explain to me why I should be happy about this news? Thanks.
I keep re-reading all these posts, and re-reading my account page. I’m sorry that anyone is getting their downloads cut by half, but, seriously, my downloads go from NINETY to THIRTY FIVE. How can that possibly be true?
Is it that I’m getting punished for being on an annual plan these past few years? Because one of the many folks I’ve gotten to sign up for accounts has been going monthly, and is only getting his monthly plan to drop to 50!
Yes, plans change. Yes, prices go up. Nothing good lasts forever. But seriously man, I’ve been here since 2003, haven’t spent a music dime with anyone else since 2006….and I get cut from 90 to 35 when newer subscribers are getting cut “only” from 90 to 50?
Is it unreasonable to say that, on top of everything else, my feelings are hurt? I’m upset, and ready to have anybody at all explain this to me.
Oh, and I almost forgot: In an email from eMusic to me dated November 21, 2006, it says:
“Your old plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.”
Well it only took 2-1/2 years for eMusic to turn this promise into a lie. Explanation, Mr. Stein?
Danny,
Did emusic take TARP money from the Obama administration, and thus have to change your successful business model to satisfy the government? As a member since 2006, I have turned on countless numbers of friends and family to this once great service. I am now seriously considering canceling my subscription. Who is to say an Alice in Chains or Michael Jackson catalog album is more important to me than say the new Saxon Shore, or Jeremy Enigk? To ask your loyal customers to take nearly a 50% reduction in downloads for the same amount of money is not only bad business, it shows arrogannce and a lack of respect to me and all other subscribers…but good luck with your decision.
Bill
Ho hum, this is really a big let down.
For me the price per track has nearly doubled, the trade off is that I can now download some major label music I really don’t care if I explore. I am on emusic for reason after all, If I wanted old Janis Joplin or Wu-Tang albums I’d buy the used record club version for 2 dollars at the local record store or even amazon for that matter.
This was such a wonderful site, and this may just kill it for me all together. My ticked off reaction is to hit cancel and walk away in efforts to somehow show them my pathetic moment of fury; I’ll resentfully hang out another month and see what happens.
What is this complaint worth?
Well really nothing outside of being heard; I don’t think kindness plays into it, its a business move. They’re going after that audience that has had a hang up with the lack of major label music on here. The gains on this will likely be great for them, losing a few of us indie music fanatics is expected, and likely pocket change at this point.
@More Big Disaster: good question!
This isn’t the first time emusic’s prices have changed. It used to be that i wasn’t affected by the price changes because I’d been a longtime subscriber. But now I get screwed for Sony?
Mr. Stein, this feels like a breach of contract to me. It is doubly insulting that you refuse to even acknowledge this in your all-too-transparent smokescreen of a post.
I chose emusic because I prefer to support independent labels instead of majors. Now I have to pay more for music I didn’t even want in the first place. Kinda sounds like the auto industry bailouts, huh?
Oh, and Mr. Stein, in regards to your question of whether ‘indie’ and ‘major’ mean anything, or if it’s just industry jargon: hopefully this outpouring of disappointment will clear that up for you.
Add me to the growing list of ‘grandfathered’ subscribers who are thinking of canceling. Like others, I’m simply not interested in Sony’s back catalog. And as another subscriber said, I’d rather have the Subpop catalog added instead. But overall, I just wanted to add one more voice to this: I signed up – and continued paying my dues – for a certain product that I’m just not going to get anymore. I have really enjoyed the focus on indie artists and indie music even in genres like experiemental electronic music. I’m sure I don’t want to count up how many hours I’ve spent browsing the catalog and adding and subtracting artists from my ‘Saved for Later’. Now that Sony is here and the prices are going up, I’d only be downloading the ‘must have’ releases anyway and not have those extra 10 or so d/l’s for the experiments. I guess the only thing that *might* keep me here is that the MP3’s are at least going to be DRM-free, for now at least. I’ll see what the new Emusic is like, but if this service was Sony some indies back when I signed up I would never have done so.
Big mistake, So sad! The world doesn’t need another Itunes or or Amazon the like. emusic WAS unique. Unfortunately this will be my LAST month with emusic. I will not go from 50 per month for $11.99 to 30 per month for $11.99. It is NOT only the cost per download, but the change in philosophy. I doubt that the current emusic subscribers give a flying rats ass about Sony. I was here for the bands and musicians that are hard to find, not signed to Major labels. This poor decision could be the beginning of the end of emusic. It is the end of emusic for me. Very disappointing!
I have been with emusic for many years. I can understand a slight price hike from time to time, but I can not condone what is happening now.
Emusic, you have TWO choices:
1) Continue to honor the price structure for current members.
2) Lose your customer base (myself included), and try to rebuild it.
Those are your ONLY two options. I truly am sorry that the big music industry may be breathing down your necks, but this is not the answer.
I hope you make the right decision…
My downloads have gone from 200 to 100, and the price per track from 25 cents to 41. 41 cents still isn’t bad compared to iTunes et al, but I am getting nothing out of this price increase. Instead of being able to take risks on obscure indie artists with my big, cheap package, I will now have to be more selective about how I use my credits. Like many others here, I doubt there will be much to interest me in the Sony back catalog (Sub Pop, Drag City and Sundazed would be a different story altogether . . . ). It is sad to see eMusic pander to the major labels (and their fans) and alienate its indie-oriented consumer base. I can only hope they are doing it out of economic necessity rather than basic greed.
“Major” and “Indie” do mean a bit to me, mainly in thinking about who the money goes to and what I expect from their releases. I’m not really apposed to majors, I just prefer indies.
I’m glad to see Emusic’s catalog growing, but not the cuts in the subscriptions. When Netflix made the choice to charge me more for Blu-Rays, I hesitantly removed that option from my subscription. Now Emusic is going to charge more for “premium content” and I don’t have a choice about how it affects my subscription. I understand the change (and maybe it would come anyway), but I’m not happy about having even fewer downloads to budget on your already ample catalog.
goodbye.
I will give this a month to see if I like it. I have been with emusic forever and to lose 20 downloads a month just because you are adding new music to site seem like your mvp custys are getting a bit of the shaft. I am now seriously considering canceling my subscription. Like I said I’ll give it a month. If you are smart you leave the old plan alone and move forward with new custys at the new rate. I will really have to think about this.
“Your old plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.”
It profits a man nothing to give up his soul for the entire world — but to do it for Sony?!?
I don’t want to get ahead of myself by promising to cancel when the time comes, but I am going to give it serious thought. I am one of those who will see my downloads cut in half in exchange for the arrival of music that holds very little interest. This is not what I call added value. It is probably totally impractical, but I am with those who wonder whether there may be a middle ground to preserve something closer to our current arrangements for those of us who would be content not to receive access to the Sony catalog. And it is only back catalog, after all: if we find ourselves in a fantasy world in which Sony suddenly starts releasing new music of interest, we’ll have to obtain it elsewhere anyway, or else wait two years for its arrival on eMusic.
Someone will come out a winner in this arrangement, but it certainly is not current eMusic loyalists.
While I love the addition of the new artists, I don’t quite like the fact that I’ll get less than half the downloads for the same price.
One thing I would request – give us “rollover” credits, instead of having them expire each month. I’m willing to pay a bit more for the music, but I think it would be only fair to allow us to save credits over to the next month.
The more I think about this, the more mad I get. I LOVED emusic! It was THE ONLY source of my music. If this change does actually go into effect, I WILL be canceling my subscription.
–> IF ANYONE KNOWS OF REPLACEMENT OPTIONS FOR EMUSIC, PLEASE POST THEM NOW!!! <–
.
Hmm…
This is a bit unexpected. I remember when the prices changed last time, and my old account was grandfathered in. That was great. This is not. 65 -> 37 for the same price is bad news, IMHO. I loved eMusic for the obscure electronic stuff. Not sure what I’ll do now. It would be great if you’d continue to offer some sort of indie-only subscription at the same rates. I’d definitely stick around if that were the case. Gonna have to think it over now…
I understand the need to raise prices, though this dramatic increase feels like a gut punch (and having eMusic describe it as a “slight” increase is like an extra slap on the face on top of that). The sad fact is, the site will still offer a good deal, just not the ridiculously good deal that it had offered and I really will have to carefully consider whether or not I should maintain my membership.
eMusic served a wonderful niche but have made a decision to move toward being iTunes Lite. I get it–it’s a business decision, eMusic is a business, they need to make money to survive. Can’t fault a company for that. But that doesn’t make it any less sad for the users who enjoyed the service for what it was—and who weren’t here looking for Sony’s back catalog anyway.
This site really has changed the way I consume music. eMusic was where I discovered countless new artists–artists that I never would have discovered elsewhere. I’m deeply saddened that the component of the site I liked the most is being taken away from us (and make no mistake, it is being taken away—less downloads for more money equals less risk taking).
I wonder how many artists like Frederik, Basia Bullat, Sing Fang Bous, The Morning Benders, Liam Finn… geez, too many to even remember… that I WON’T discover now. (For cryin’ out loud, this site was my first exposure to Spoon many years ago).
Sigh. Sad, sad day for the eMusic faithful.
ps. the note about “indie vs. mainstream, does it matter?” just seems so, so transparent and contrived. C’mon. Please don’t insult our intelligence too.
eMusic was doing everything right until this “improvement”. This huge spike in price will cause me to cancel the service. Seriously, “Sony back catalog”??? You lost more than one customer, that much is sure. But hey, CEO’s in this country are there to draw big salaries, not to make good decisions.
today’s my birthday; and what a lousy fucking gift, emusic. total bullshit.
you’re wanting me to pay five dollars more than i’m currently paying for twenty-five less song credits than i’m currently receiving just so i can have access to a bunch of shit that i’m not even interested in. how “exciting.”
thanks for alienating a loyal customer.
Me too, I still buy indie music as a way of showing my distaste for a bunch of far-away suits swooping in, overproducing and overpackaging what is ultimately a collective musical culture. If “indie” vs. “major” is such an outdated distinction, why bother with this whole apologetic announcement….. More choices! Whoop-de-doo, it will be just like shopping for cereal.
Time to cancel my account and go buy some Clash tapes at the thrift store — 50 cents!
I’m sorry to say this appears to be an enormous price hike that is being slipped in with news of an expanded catalog. I’ve been a subscriber for a few years so I still get 90 downloads a month by paying my entire yearly fee in advance. You are cutting my downloads by more than 60% and you still want the entire fee up front!
My renewal date is in January and, like others, I’m not deciding now that I will cancel my membership at that time. But, also like others, I will give it very serious consideration. I already have an enormous music collection that includes more than 2000 CDs as well as many, many eMusic songs. As much as I enjoy the eMusic experience there are almost no services — other than essential ones — that I would not cancel in this economy if faced with a price hike of the kind you’ve announced.
Frankly it’s disappointing that your letter doesn’t really address the price hike in any way. Did you think members would not notice?
Others have mentioned the issue of “rollover” credits. That’s a suggestion you would do well to take. Your current system is frustrating enough because credits expire on a different date every month increasing the chances of forgetting to use them all. I’ll also add this: If you still want all the money up front the least you can do is allow us to use the credits at any time over the course of the year. Even that may not be enough to keep me as a customer but, without some change along these lines you seriously increase the likelihood that I will end my membership. I doubt I will be the only one.
Did they really think this would make their subscriber base happy? Funny I was just talking up this site the other day to a friend. He was excited about it and said he would join. I’ll be sure to stop him now. Great indie music, grandfathered pricing plans, reasonable rates? All this is now gone and makes me look like a liar.
As everyone has been saying, the price point here is perfect to try out new bands. Sometimes you find some good ones, other times not. No big deal. 90 more DL next month, not anymore. The reality is that the longtime labels that have stayed here will be hurt. Why? Because they do not have to compete with the majors here. Most people (especially the new subscribers) will not bother to find them. They will get the Dixie Chicks or whatever Sony band and that’s it. Those that are interested in the indie stuff will have left. This is the end of emusic as we have known it.
I’ll stay til my plan ends and hope something changes for the better (2 DL/Sony track anyone?). At a more than 50% rate increase, I will find it difficult to renew. But the bright side (for emusic) is that they will only need to get 1 new subscriber for ever 2 or 3 that leave. Good luck.
uhhh…a massive price increase for the likes of Billy Joel?
Goodbye, emusic.
I have been a member for seven years and have always told people about emusic. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. 90 tracks for $20 (even though It used to be unlimited) was still a good enough deal to stick around, and indie music has always been more or less easy to get here. But there are albums on labels that emusic carries that have been around for awhile, and emusic still doesn’t have them, or they get them a couple months after everyone else. Still waiting for the new Camera Obscura or St. Vincent to be available (4AD).
What I fear will happen is that emusic will find a way to emulate iTunes and that new albums that are popular will cost extra credits. Songs that used to be 99cents on iTunes are now more expensive, the logic being that mainstream music is better, and therefore, more valuable. 50 tracks for $20? I don’t know.
Fortunately there is competition. I think LaLa is the new eMusic. For people who support legal downloading of music, LaLa has the best of all worlds. You can actually listen to the album all the way through (once), legally. If you want to build up a collection of both major AND indie music, you can “own the song” for ten cents a track, only catch is you can only listen to it on the internet. But that’s not such a big deal with things like iPod touch where you have access to the internet all over the place. And you can of course purchase the mp3 file from LaLa.
If LaLa had it’s same feature set as it did now, but in ADDITION adopted a plan where you pay $20 a month for 50 mp3 dowloads, eMusic, iTunes, Amazon, they would all collapse. As it stands now, I think LaLa is the future. It is going to get a MASSIVE amount of new users as a result of this.
Remember, the only constant in life is change. Things that were once great, stop being great. That’s what happened to eMusic. It was nice while it lasted, but they seem to have changed their priorities.
The difference between major labels and indie labels is that major labels follow the buck, and indie labels follow the heart. Sony doesn’t care about artists, Sony cares about its profits. So I think we don’t need major labels here, and for many of us eMusic is (was?) great because it was a source of music for those of us who love music, rather than follow the charts or whatever.
Obviously, adding Sony’s releases here has already had an impact. As of July, the prices will be raised, we’ll get fewer downloads for the money, and we’ll have to endure recommendations for mainstream shite when all many of us want is an alternative to that crap.
Those are my two cents. I’ll stick with it to see what happens, but I can’t say I’m entirely happy about this news, and how it will effect my account.
By the way, regarding the Clash and the Sex Pistols? Great music notwithstanding (I love both those bands), they sold out a long time ago. Idealism isn’t a one-year plan, it is a lifetime commitment. And once the money started flowing, the Clash did stadiums. And the Pistols re-formed to do the same, lamely. So yes, I do think of them as major label — made safe for general public consumption, de-clawed, and sold right back to you.
Never forget that customers vote with their feet. I’m gone.
I listen to quite a bit of “major label” music (whatever that is). If I found the need for a title outside of Emusic’s catalog, I sought it out without grievance because I understood that my 90 downloads for $19.99 was a bargain and that bargain would be jeopardized by bringing the big boy corporate music machines into the mix. Now, lo and behold, this is exactly what’s happened. It’s okay that my quirky Emusic site, where I’ve found some terrific music, is wanting to carry The Clash but I don’t know that I buy the argument that they’re doing it for the integrity of their catalogue and I’m honestly not sure that I want to pay nearly double the old rate to use the site. I feel we should be grandfathered in as before. If you still don’t own “Born to Run” for some reason, then charge the newbie subscriber premium for it… but I think my two vinyl copies will suffice for now and I don’t feel the need to pay you for it again. Or, if you can’t swing the 90 downloads how about 75? I’m sure however, that some bean-counter at a board meeting has already dictated this castration as a business necessity.
That being said, I’ll probably hang on to the subscription, but I know I’ll long for the old days together, when were both young, our wallets thinner and our integrity intact.
CHECK OUT AUDIOLUNCHBOX.COM
While the average price of the eMusic download is still less than iTunes and Amazon on the face of it, the fact that eMusic customers often lose downloads because you can’t roll them over, and the fact that that the encoding is below the quality of iTunes or Amazon make the value pricing proposition virtually nil.
I am a new subscriber and have to say I’m more than a little furious that a plan I agreed to only a two months ago will now feature 22% fewer songs. And let’s note again that all of the music that’s about to be offered could be obtained elsewhere. Yes, those tracks cost more on iTunes, but then at least it’s my choice.
As for the indie/major label distinction: while it may be only a semantic difference in terms of music (good music is good music, whoever produced it) the real difference lies in business relations. Don’t forget you are talking about an industry that spent all of their time, money, and energy in the last decade suing their customers instead of updating their business model. Now, not only do they want to capitalize on companies (like eMusic) who gave customers a product they actually wanted (a way to find real musicians at legitimate prices) but they want to set the terms. It seems to me that Sony and the other big labels have a lot more to gain from eMusic’s community than it has to offer, so why is eMusic bending over backwards?
I’d like to say I’m giving up my plan in protest, but it’s still the best deal out there. Be cautious though, Mr. Stein. You’ve opened Pandora’s box, and not the good kind that streams music to my laptop for free.
Regards,
Marty
I haven’t read enough (between msgs 50 and 174) to determine if the early outrage entitled me to a grandfathered 30/$12 plan. If so, thank you early dissenters and thank you emusic for listening to them.
My intent joining emusic was to support artists and labels that make recordings possible in a seamless manner. I have numerous less legitimate ways to obtain music, but emusic made sending a few cents per download to an indie artist convenient. Every middleman gets their cut (of course), but that was true when I was buyingmusical physical artifacts too.
My concern which I’d like to hear addressed is how the Sony deal might effect prior contracts made with indie labels. My understanding is that emusic had a standard 50/50 revenue split contract with indie labels, and that monthly aggregate revenue at emusic was dispersed per actual download. If the Sony-deal price model is the new standard, do the indie labels also benefit from revised subscription pricing?
I may never send a cent Sony’s way, even through emusic, but there are a number of independent labels who found the prior licensing deal too financially slight and departed the emusic fold. Perhaps they might be wooed again.
Also, I applaud you for introducing album pricing. I have a long saved-list of compilations and classical works that hitherto simply didn’t make sense (vs discount/used CD purchase).
I might as well add my voice to the grandfathered many: I’ve been around since the ‘unlimited download’ days and now I’m thinking of cancelling. To reiterate: I’m here because of indie music and already own all the Sony music that I care about. Do I wish that itunes would let me get DRM-free music for a reasonable price? Sure. But that’s their problem to remedy – that’s NOT emusic’s niche. I’m here at emusic for the stuff I can’t get elsewhere and to try new music that I would never buy at $15/cd or $1.29/track. This is a huge disappointment *not* ‘great news’.
NO NO NO, wrong direction for eMusic to take, as all the prevailing comments seem to be here. Why not let grandfathered accounts choose to stay and not have access to Sony, I will probably cancel.
This is a big disappointment, as my monthly allowance is being slashed. I like the idea expressed earlier of letting subscribers opt out of the Sony plan in order to keep their existing plan. Looks like I’ll be bailing out soon.
Count me as another disappointed customer. As soon as my June downloads are used up, I’m quitting.
Please reconsider. Leave the current subscribers alone or even charge double for the Sony downloads. Apply the new pricing to new customers.
i’m trying to find the logic in this. cut my downloads nearly in half and double my price per track? a 15 song booster is a poor compensation offer. i’ll be walking away from this one.
I’d be OK with it if the change in pricing structure didn’t appear to be designed to chase off long-time members in good standing. Quite frankly, that sucks and is the reason for me canceling my membership. I’ve been with eMusic a long time. Clearly, Sony carries more weight than the community eMusic has built over the years.
Others make a good point. You can just go to iTunes or Amazon if you want the major label stuff. Keep your integrity, eMusic.
I have to agree with the lion’s share of those who have already commented, that while there is some good to this news, it isn’t enough good to offset the negatives and bad news associated with such a drastic reduction in the number of tracks available within each plan level. I have been an eMusic member/subscriber for nearly 7 years and have always been at a plan level allowing me 65 downloads for $14.99 each month. Now I’m going to be paying the same money for half that number of tracks. I don’t really care what music your adding, losing nearly half of what I’ve been getting is NOT A GOOD DEAL TO ME. A 50% reduction per month is hardly fair.
The reason that I became an eMusic subscriber in the first place had a lot to with the goldmine of emerging artists, world music, jazz, etc., and hidden or forgotten gems that eMusic routinely has on offer and for one reason or another couldn’t be accessible via other means easily or economically. I’d be really impressed if you were adding say, the Universal Jazz (European) catalog instead of making Bruce Sprinsteen available.
I was grandfathered in (as were many others) the last time the pricing structure changed and that was a good deal. THIS IS NOT A GOOD DEAL. I fail to see why you couldn’t come up with some palatable grandfather scheme for those of us that have been long-time, reliable supporters of eMusic. That would be fair. You’re penalizing the faithful the hardest with this new scheme.
I think I may have to start scoping out the competition a bit more seriously. Whether or not I stay with eMusic is debatable at this point unless you guys can come up with something for those of us that have been with you through thick and thin that’s better than what you have on the table now.
I am incredibly disappointed by the pricing changes. I have been a subscriber since February 2004 and have preached the eMusic word to countless friends and have turned many of them into subscribers. Now my 90 songs for $19.99 has been cut to 50 songs for the same price and that is unacceptable.
The semantics of the major vs. indie debate are meaningless. What this is about, for me at least, is the value of an eMusic subscription. My current price plan allows me to get the music that I know I want while also taking chances on recommendations from friends and fellow subscribers. I have discovered so many great records and artists over the last 5 years and eMusic has been a major part of my music buying habit, which still includes vinyl and cd purchases. Now that my number of downloads has been cut in half I will seriously reconsider whether or not to continue subscribing.
Several people have suggested alternate pricing solutions and I think you need to consider doing something. Obviously, a large number of your core customers are unhappy with your decision and I would hope that you are concerned with your loyal customer base.
The flexible pricing plan (1 download for an indie label song, 2 for a major label song) doesn’t make sense to me. The value of those songs is inherent to each person. How many downloads is an Acid Mothers Temple song worth compared to, say, one by the Offspring, depends on the person. I favor the suggestion offered by a few people before me that let’s current subscribers keep their current plan and not have access to the Sony titles while offering new pricing plans to those who want access to everything. I have nothing against Sony and, in fact, I buy many of their Legacy titles every year. I’m just not interested in my subscription being worth considerably less just to have access to music I will not likely purchase.
I certainly hope that you address the issues that have been raised in this forum. You began your post with “eMusic’s customers are rabid, smart and adventurous consumers of music.” Thanks for the butter up but to think that giving your post a title like “more of the good stuff” and then move into the tired major vs. indie debate is cynical and completely dodges the essence of the situation.
Like many of the others who are writing, I came to eMusic for the Indy stuff. I became a huge Alt Country fan because of eMusic, finding all kinds of singers/bands I would have never known. Now I’m going to have to pay more money to get fewer songs each month so that eMusic can carry the type of music I was running away from? If I wanted those old Sony songs I’d already have them.
I completely agree with the previous poster:
Emusic, you have TWO choices:
1) Continue to honor the price structure for current members.
2) Lose your customer base (myself included), and try to rebuild it.
If my price structure changes as drastically as you plan only to accomodate music I do not want….I will be one of the loyal customers who leave. Maybe you’ll make it up with people who want to buy cheaper old Sony songs. If so you made the right call. If not, you screwed up a good deal. Not only was I a fan of eMusic I was an Ambassador/Salesperson/Evangelist. I personally signed up friends and family members because I loved eMusic.
Sad
Well I have been very happy with eMusic and sort of sorry to go from 75 songs to 50 songs, but the times are “a-changing”. So as long as the service stays as good as it has been and you keep the feature of being able to re-download my songs, then I will stay here and enjoy the new music. I hope you stay True
Thank You for the heads up. we do not like surprises..LOL
Cuggie
How do you think your service will compete at these prices? I’m looking for more difficult-to-find and independent albums through this service, not major label pap I can just torrent without a guilty conscience.
I and others are cancelling..
As a few other people have mentioned, I’d be much more willing to take a cut for Sub-Pop, Anti, Epitaph, and similar great labels.
I’ve been a loyal eMusic subscriber for 4 years now and this makes me very sad and angry. 20 less downloads a month for the same price? For what? Music I already know of and can get elsewhere! For shame, eMusic. All you’re doing is bending to the pressures of the big labels and their big prices, and in the process screwing your loyal customers who want quality indie music. I can no longer recommend your service.
At first, I was upset that I’d go from 75 downloads to 50 downloads if I spent the same every month as I was before. But, I thought about it. When I had 75 downloads I was taking risks on stuff I was only marginally interested in. Some of it was good, some of it was so-so. I figured for 27 cents a track it was worth the risk. What the new pricing structure means to me is that I won’t be doing as much risk taking. Oh well. On the positive side, even at 46 cents a track it is still way cheaper than iTunes, Amazon, etc. So, if I get a little more options on what to get I’ll still be okay. Maybe I’ll jump up to the next tier. We’ll see. I look forward to see what the Sony catalog is bringing.
just another voice stating the obvious… I’m leaving when the price change goes into effect.
I really like emusic, have recommended it to tons of friends, and do always find my plan’s 100 songs to download, but will not pay almost the same amount for half the downloads.
no way.
I’d have to think that amazon and itunes are jumping for joy at these new prices, they’ll certainly be getting a lot more of my money.
I use eMusic to explore relatively obscure new music; I could care less about the Sony back catalog. I just went from being a longtime enthusiastic subscriber to feeling betrayed and insulted by this “indie vs. major” red herring. Slashing my downloads does not mean “more of the good stuff.” I will be canceling my account and spending the extra dollars at Other Music.
Echoing everyone else: I’ve been around for 3 years, and generally loved my time at emusic, but I think I’ll be canceling my account next month. This change just chases off old subscribers; doubling prices in the middle of a recession makes no sense, especially when it’s for content for which there’s little demand. An indie plan might keep me around, but without that, it’s just not worth it.
This is an intresting development…is this all going to happen in the UK too?
I’m all for more music on emusic, but can we have some more indie labels too!
(Sub Pop, Tzadik, Domino (in the UK – where they are based!), PSF etc.) (I might pay a bit more for that, especially if it meant the indies getting enough to make it worth their while to put stuff on emusic)
Well, then, what’s next? I was wondering when this was going to happen, but I thought it might not happen for a few more years. Peace to you, emusic! I’m cancelling at the end of June.
like others are saying, if I wanted major label stuff I would be elsewhere. I’ve been a subscriber for three and a half years, and I’ve gotten a lot of music that I wouldn’t have sought out or purchased if I weren’t on eMusic, and I felt free to do that because I had 65 songs to burn through a month. Now I’m getting cut down to half that, and frankly that takes all the fun out of eMusic. Looking through the sample list of artists that will be available from Sony, I’m not impressed. I have a lot of that stuff already. I don’t want to pay more for this service because you’re adding a bunch of music I don’t want. I’ll most likely be taking my $15 a month elsewhere … times are tough, and I get that, but I too have to be more careful with money and I guess I’d rather save it and buy a CD off the artist at a show or something. sigh.
Booo!
My download price just went up 240% when my current subscription expires. Way to alienate your best customers, eMusic. I wasn’t thrilled when the plan changed from unlimited downloads to a monthly limit, but I understood. This change I don’t understand at all. If I wanted Sony dustbin items at high prices, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.
Consider this another vote for a non-Sony payment plan like the one I have now.
Yep, I have 28 FEWER downloads for the same price so you guys can afford some back catalog stuff from corporate labels? Do you really think it’s worth it?
We don’t want anything like Amazon or iTunes. That’s why we’re here.
I could give a little, but you ask too much. I don’t think I can continue my subscription. Very disappointing.
Charging me 1.5 or 2 credits for Sony’s catalog would have been preferable to charging me more $$$ for the same content I already come here for.
I was super happy to pay emusic for the hole-in-the-wall labels, and digital versions of 12-inch records, etc. I think its garbage that I have to pay to access that same content, all because of Sony that I won’t be downloading.
The unfortunate things is that you have little immediate competition, so although I would love to see you shortly regret this decision. I have a feeling that even I won’t find a satisfactory alternative by next month. However, I will be leaving as soon as I find one.
I bet you’re going to shrug off the dissenters as missing the bigger picture.
That’s cool. we all have the right to convince ourselves of what we want to believe.
But all you have done is help slow the downfall of an obese greedy whore of a company, who has been raping the actual talent pool of music for a long time.
Congrats on your short-sighted business decision.One word: torrents.
That being said. I would have been happy to pay more for the content you already have in order to bring back some of the small labels that were squeezed by the existing model. But not the 40% increase for the arrogant heavy handed Sony.
You say “eMusic will always be an alternative to mass market digital music stores — a deeper, richer music shopping experience”
That statement is a big contradiction. If you’re going to be an alternative to digital music stores, then the last thing you would do is try to be MORE like them. By getting Beyonce and others, it’s clear that you just want to make more money.
I will also be one of the people who cancels my membership. What makes me most angry is the fact that eMusic just decided to change everything one day and now my plan went from 100 downloads to 50 –half as many — and I have no interest in most of these new artists. I wouldn’t be mad if my plan stayed the same price.
The real headline should be “eMusic nearly doubles prices for subscriber”
I agree that this is bad news. eMusic has always been tha best way to discover new (or old) artists that you may not have been aware of. I have also been a longtime subscriber and sucked it up when downloads stopped rolling over. But to penalize not only the subscribers, but also the artists that I have found – and usually love – bu subsidising Sony is unforgivable. My losing half of my monthly dl’s is bad enough, but I believe a lot of eMusic users besides me also use this as a discovery tool, and the doubling of the costs will hurt the artists. I’m not the type who threatens cancellization, however, I am taking a “wait and see” attitude. I am concerned that it may become too costly to continue my search for new music via downloading based on stuff I read on eMusic.
Don’t sell-out, eMusic!
Bummer. I couldn’t afford my subscription before, even though it’s $14.99 / mo.; now that the number of downloads are being butchered for radio crap (mostly), I gotta go. Thankfully Cleveland still has a few good college stations that play the independent art I came here to buy. Now that I think about it, I have suggested emusic to at least a dozen people who’ve ended up subscribing! Can’t do that anymore…
Good lord, are all the first responses from e-music stockholders/employees? I hate this idea and the more I think of it the more I hate it. If I want old music, I’ll go to a thrift store. E-music has long been the only place I download from, not because of the number of tracks available, but because It offers something unique: It is inexpensive enough to experiment and diverse enough to discover something new. This move puts it squarely in the corporate mediocrity of Amazon/iTunes/Clearchannel. I was an early adopter, but I fear that I will likely be an early casualty of this move.
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Now that the truth has come out, DANNY STEIN, it is clear you were being duplicitous in your post here.
It’s a night and day difference to be DOUBLING prices for long term members.
If SONY music is not so different from any other music then it should cost the same too. Personally I don’t want it anyway.
I don’t consent to my account being changed. If you change my price or number of downloads, I will be gone, period. Maybe you don’t care, but I have been here for years and I doubt I am alone.
This could have been a great moment for eMusic but now it’s looking more like the final nail in the coffin.
Oh well.
I’m listening to the entire new Swing Out Sister Album on Lala right now (been waiting for a long time for this one, must have just come out recently) for FREE. If I want to buy the album, I can listen to it online forever, for 80 cents (web album). If I want to buy the album to listen on my iPod, that’s $7.50 (mp3 album), which seems to be the standard price for an album at lala.
Again, lala has stuff emusic does not have. The new St. Vincent album? Listen to it free on Lala. Emusic still doesn’t have it.
This deal offers me nothing. I’ve been a subscriber for 4 years and it will mean a halving of my download quota and a doubling of the price per track.
Bye, bye e-music.
I saw this in an article in the New York Times today. First thought: “Oh shit, how long before they raise prices AGAIN?” Didn’t wait too long, huh, Danny Douchebag?
As a long time subscriber (hell, I can remember when you could download unlimited songs for a flat fee, but that was before eMusic added a boatload of great indie labels, so I was cool with it), I can’t see any advantage to this. I have an internet radio show and have come to rely HEAVILY on eMusic as a source of new music for the show. I could easily list 100-200 great unknown bands and labels that I NEVER would have heard of were it not for eMusic.
I was a Connisseur subscriber at 300 DLs for $75/mo. Now you’re cutting my DLs by 67% and cutting the price by less than 50%? How am I supposed to be “excited” about that? So some goober can download Michael Jackson albums? The irony is now all those idiots who show up after Christmas every year and complain that eMusic sucks and there’s nothing good here will finally have a site they can enjoy. It’s too bad that the people who have supported eMusic through the years get kicked in the balls so the masses can have their Springsteen a little more cheaply.
Now I’ll have to go steal music just like everyone else!
Buh-bye, eMusic!
So, emusic offers more mainstream music, and the customer gets less downloads for the same money. Old number of downloads? More money. And the benefits of this? Beyonce? Pearl Jam? Michael Jackson?! No thanks, no thanks, and no thanks.
Something has gone wrong with your vision. I was paying less than 30 cents per download, and now that will double to over forty cents per download. I will mass download in June and sign off for good. Thanks for a good year. And, BOOO HISSSSSSS. Click.
You guys owe us an explanation — and fast. Or a plan that addresses our concerns (everybody’s favorite: grandfather us in, and let the new people you will undoubtedly attract — and who will change the indie culture of eMusic — pay your higher rates).
For now, as you can see, people are drawing the worst conclusions, and you are going to be hemorrhaging a LOT of memberships. And for what?
To compete with behemoths like iTunes and Amazon — who will crush you with their pricing power if they feel even remotely threatened by you? (And who, by the way, have ALL the major labels and allow people to download at higher rates and only what they want and when they want.)
A risk of US government (FTC or DOJ) action or a class-action lawsuit? (You are on record as telling us: “Your old plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.” Bait and switch, plain and simple. It’s against the law, in case you don’t know it.)
Remember “New Coke”? Remember Sony’s disastrous attempt at putting malware on their own customers’ computers?
WHY…? Why? WHY intentionally alienate virtually your entire customer base, which you have so long and lovingly built up, in order to try to be the last whore in this tawdry major label marketplace?
One day, the eMusic disaster may well be taught in business schools under the rubric of “how to trash your brand, sell your soul, and STILL lose everything…”
PLEASE wake up before it’s too late.
In a way it’s kind of cool that I will be quitting eMusic. I will save money and time and I can listen to the music I have and start going to CD stores again.
Thanks eMusic for forcing me out as a customer, I will definitely make the best of it.
I was pretty shocked when I first read this news, but after thinking about it for awhile, it makes a lot of sense for emusic.
There are only so many indie music lovers out there, whereas casual music listeners number in the millions, if not billions.
I’m sure the head honchos at emusic understand they will be losing a big chunk of their current subsriber base with the price increase, but they will probably make a net gain in new customers once news spreads about the type of bands available on the site. It’s tough to find people like me who love to find new bands that no one has ever heard of, and it’s much simpler to convince the average joe to subscribe when they can find stuff they know and love.
I have yet to make a decision whether I will continue to subscribe. I’ll probably give it a few months.
Frankly, we were spoiled with the old pricing structure, but that doesn’t make me want it back any less.
Good luck trying to take on iTunes and Amazon at their own game while not even having your current subscriber base to back you up.
No wonder David Pakman left.
”
Danny, after reading all the comments here, I have to agree that this is basically a sellout of your brand and your brand’s followers. Worse, you are positioning it like it’s some kind of plus we all have been clamoring for.
It’s dishonest and possibly even illegal. You are facing a potential class action here — this is a clear case of false advertising (how many people here, including me, “paid forward” for annual or longer subscriptions without it being disclosed that eMusic could pull a bait and switch?).
I urge to do the right thing — let all of us who are grandfathered in opt out of the SONY crap. Not only is it the right thing to do for your brand and your fans — it will cover your ass: Before you count the money, you might just want to ask your lawyers about FTC action, and about class certification. Not rock’n’roll terms, to be sure. But since you’re now leaving the safe haven of doing the right thing for the music and entering the shark-infested waters of the majors, you’re going to suddenly need a lot of high-priced lawyers.
Sleep well… I won’t be renewing.”
Pretty much my sentiments.
See you later, eMusic. I will miss you dearly.
The added collection is not worth the price increase. I had plenty to download as it was. I may have to cancel my subscription.
For now I will be keeping my subscription, but I have one foot out the door. I want to see how this shakes out–I’ll hope for the best (emusic listens, comes up with a fairer plan, continues to have the indies be the driving force behind the service), but I expect the worst. The drastic price increase is harsh, but I’m more upset about losing downloads. The wonderful thing about this service was the way it encouraged experimentation and serendipity, but no more. Fewer downloads means fewer risks, and then what’s the point?
The sad thing is that if emusic had said “Look, we need to raise prices reasonably so that a) we can keep the indie labels we have, b) make sure performers are fairly compensated, c) maybe bring back indie label we’ve lost, AND d) keep the majors on the outside looking in; so we’re going to increase your subscription but let you keep the same number of downloads,” I think you would find a very different and more positive response in these messages. The addition of the Sony catalog along with the slap-in-the-face delivered to loyal subscribers makes it pretty clear that emusic has a new target demographic of listeners who feel it’s their purpose in life to make sure Mariah Carey keeps livin’ large.
DISCLAIMER: yet one more long-time Emu fan bitching and moaning about price increase
I understand eMusic’s need to change with the times and be ready to respond to market trends and demands – however, with this news of eMusic’s ‘big changes’ – this news of my plan being irradicated is unwelcome.
i now pay the same price and lose 20 downloads a month. how is that rewarding consumer-loyalty? quick answer: it’s not.
i’m crying foul on this one. heck, i might even cry fowl. chicken. caving in to the weight of major labels because their business model is dying. so, eMusic throws them a line at MY expense? the expense of an independent music fan? i could really give two craps about BMG/Sony – LET. THE. MAJORS. DIE. don’t let them pollute the eMusic charts.
the major labels are drowning and eMusic is going to let them take it down with them.
how about you reward your long time consumers by grandfathering their plans into the new model instead of making us shoulder the financial burden of this new deal with the devil.
the word lame was invented for situations as this.
So my annual plan, which I have had for 5 years, and which gives me 90 downloads a month, will be downgraded to 35 downloads a month come December.
This is a BIG increase. Right now I pay $191.90 a year for 90 downloads a month, or $0.18 a song. Next year I will pay $171.99 for 35/month, or $0.41 a song — a 128% price hike!
Way to reward old and loyal customers, Danny.
Oh well, it’s been a good run, and now the party is over. I hope these big price increases mean than the indie, jazz and international artists whose music brings me to eMusic will get more money now. But I really doubt it, especially when “Born To Run” crowds them off the best-seller lists.
I have to think carefully now about whether or not to renew in December. You will probably lose me. And I certainly won’t be proselytizing for you anymore. In the meantime, I look forward to sucking down my 90 songs a month until it’s done.
Good luck with your new major label “friends.” Pay attention — they will teach you so much more about screwing your customers.
Yep. Ditto. Rewind, repeat.
Adding major label does nothing for me, and cutting my downloads from 90 to 50 is only hurting me. I’ve found a ton of great music through experimentation and discovery (lfmseek!), but I won’t be able to do that anymore.
It’s been since April of 2003. I’ll be around until the price change, but I just have to quit after that.
eMusic bosses, your silence is so incriminating. Did you not expect us to be upset?
I feel like someone bought my favorite record store, forced them out, and then acted like they were the same store as before.
Epic Fail.
I just canceled by the way; and I took the 25 DLs you offered me to stay, then canceled. I never would have done that to the old eMusic. You want to act like a big boy, I hope you fall like a big boy.
And the longer you sit silent the angrier people are going to be…jerks.
Gotta add me to the list of long-time subscribers who will probably drop if this goes through – Sony releases are uninteresting to me, I have all that I want, etc. If you seriously expect long-time subscribers to continue with this service, you need to do a much better job with describing what to expect with the new labels: will we get the entire catalog, or just whatever Sony wants to give us? Will we get albums on the day of release, or will we have to wait weeks or months (as we now do for some indie releases)? Why should we not expect another gigantic rate hike if we sign up for a year-long membership like loyal customers?
Add me to the list of the extremely disappointed. After a few good years, it looks like it may be time to move along. Having my downloads cut almost in half just to have access to music that I have no interest in? No, thanks. Not to beat a dead horse, but the average eMusic subscriber is here because it ISN’T like every other site that pushes major label artists. As a business, if it makes you more money, you have every right to make the transition. It just seems to require a huge turnover in your subscriber base.
I am not interested in the Sony back (or forward) catalog. 90 downloads a month for $20 was my chance to take risks, to buy and try new things. It’s not worth the cost with 44% less downloads.
It’s been a good run Emusic; you won’t have me as a customer after July.
Just to add my voice, but I’ll be canceling after the next batch of albums in June. I could care less about the Sony catalog and since you’re doubling the pricing and not offering much of an explanation beyond “corporate happy talk” I get the feeling you don’t love me anymore, eMusic.
I’m not only a passionate eMusic subscriber, I’ve been a frequent contributor and am proud to have my own album available through you (via Sunnyside). Your hook-up with Sony is not welcome, not particularly good news and does nothing but dilute your brand and make you a somewhat cheaper alternative to iTunes. I don’t go to eMusic to find new Sony releases (and frankly haven’t needed to find any music on Sony for a long long time. Had you chosen an alliance with Nonesuch or Island (especially to give us access to the Mango/Antilles back catalog, that might have made sense. But Sony represents the last gasp of the old music biz. it has consistently turned its back on anything new or vibrant (they signed a distribution deal with T Bone Burnett for his DMZ label, then decided not to promote the albums they released and cut the label loose…typcal); it has neglected the gems in its own archive, has been consistently negligent in the mastering & packaging & repackaging of its better artists and has very little new to offer.
Anyway, there are plenty of others who can bash Sony.
You want to distribute their music, that’s your business. But doing so at your customers expense is our business. My plan would change from just under $200 a year to….just under $500 a year. For the privilege of downloading Journey? No thanks.
BC
There’s nothing wrong with adding more labels/artists, but not at the expense of the customer. I thought you guys “got it.” The labels are DYING, but music (and art in general) is flourishing. Now isn’t the time to ally yourself with a dinosaur when there are warm blooded vertebrates popping up left and right. Someone get these people a copy of THE LONG TALE!
Thanks but no thanks, emusic. You and Sony can have fun without me. I’m off to go buy music directly from the artists and cut you guys out altogether.
eMusic, I’d just like to say:
****WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!!!!!****
You’re going to KILL the smaller artists! EVERY self-respecting current eMusic subscriber is going to leave, and the new subscribers you so desperately seek will NOT be downloading albums from smaller artists… wiping out this source of revenue to them.
I’m not an idiot. The rest of the people posting here are not idiots. Don’t TREAT us like idiots by telling how GOOD this is, when there is NOTHING good about it.
I wish nothing but a swarm of locusts upon Sony and the other big labels… do you want this fate to happen to you also?!?
Locusts… or happy customers. Which do you want?
Question back at you, emusic, who exactly is it that you expect to be happy with 2-year old major label material? (and from Sony, of all places — not exactly been a paragon of virtue, have they? but okay, these will be drm free, virus free, etc. I trust you.) The kids who log in and complain about not finding the latest pop song will *still* call you swindelleeers for not having it. And the older folks, who currently complain about not finding their favorite greatest hit from the 70’s 80’s and 90’s? Somehow I doubt they are type to spend a whole lot of money pursuing new music, no matter how easy you intend to make it for them.
I’m afraid, emusic, you’re going to lose.
Thus, I’m going to lose too. I’m the type who will download the whole album, based on the strength of a song clip or two. At about 3 bucks per album, I can afford to take a few losses. At $5 or $6 per gamble? less so.
*sigh* I’m here until Feb 2010. Don’t know where the wide wonderful world of singers, songwriters and musicians will be at that time … but I want to be with them.
I’ve been a subscriber since 2003. I am seriously thinking of canceling.
I think you are making a huge mistake. I hate the subscription model, but eMusic has still been acceptable to me because of the price and the commitment to independent artists. With these new announcements you are stepping away from the reasons that I am a subscriber in the first place. The cuts in downloads are drastic and I’m pissed off by the fact presenting it as something for which I should be excited. An apology is more suitable under the circumstances. More good stuff?!?!
Jeez, emusic! I’m so pissed right now I can’t even think straight to use the downloads that I just got!
Fact: the big labels are dying.
Fact: by instituting these changes, you risk running the business into the ground.
eMusic have lots of AMAZING artists right now. eMusic, are you REALLY in such a financial bind that you HAVE to do this? Or do you REALLY think it makes sense to jump in the same waters as iTunes and Amazon?
PLEASE tell us why you’re doing this. A little honesty can go a long way…
Fewer downloads. More money. Nothing of interest to me in your expansion. I’ll see if you’ve made any moves to treat existing members right when my prepaid plan comes up in January.
I don’t care that it’s half the cost of iTunes – I have never bought a single track from them. You just raised the cost of experimenting above my threshold. How do you figure that you’ll expand your membership enough by this move to more than make up for driving off your current uber-loyal members?
A very disappointing move, one that many poorly managed companies make. Instead of controlling costs, add the cost to the customer. I made a career out of not only advising these poorly managed companies, but also designing and installing management controls to focus their (management’s) attention on business rather than on internal conflicts.
While some may want major labels, others do not. Forcing every customer to accept major labels is a dictatorship, and we all know what happens to dictatorships.
While I occasionally will download a major label artist, the track or tracks would be ones that I like, not particularily ones that are played 4 or 5 times each day on a radio station. And, as they are major label artists, I expect to pay more for those tracks.
I enjoy finding superb music by relatively unknown artists, and subsequently I support those artists by purchasing their music. Now I am forced to pay major label artist fees for those previously offered at a reasonable rate. Those reasonable rates were presumably agreed with the artist who recognized that in order to become successful they needed to get their names and tracks published. That avenue for them is closing quickly with your change. You are becoming commerical radio.
As others have mentioned, I will download a complete album based on a clip, and many times I end up downloading a track that lasts 20 seconds and offers nothing in the way of music. Seems to me you should have made huge profits on those tracks.
I am sure you (eMusic) are aware of many sites today that offer free downloads of selected music. In fact, many of them offer these tracks at 320, not just streaming.
Given my experience world-wide for over 20 years at teaching managers how to pay attention to business and reduce costs, I expect eMusic to meet extremely serious times in the very near future. Perhaps you have heard of companies going under due to lack of customers?
Perhaps instead of paying top dollar to hire ‘publicity experts’ to tell us the GOOD NEWS, you might have considered spending the same amount of money to hire specialists to straighten out your organization. Taking that action would have given you an opportunity to save money not just this year but for years and years, provided you continued to follow their directions.
Instead you took the weak manager’s position: raise prices and ignore customers and solvable problems. Easy to solve? Absolutely not, as it takes balls to be tough.
Respond already, Danny Stein. You are alienating the vast majority of those who got eMusic to where it was.
This point has been made a few times above, but I’ll reiterate it: I don’t like the idea of my subscription money making it into the pockets of the major labels. I pay my $12 every month because I feel that the small, niche artists that make their music available here are richly deserving of my financial support.
In contrast, I feel that Sony, Columbia, etc. do not need or deserve my money. For example, I have a deep, unceasing love for Pearl Jam; but the artists and their label have profited enough from their work, and they will continue to do so without my help. I realize that if I don’t download any of their tracks, little of my subscription money will go to these newly added labels; however, I still find it objectionable — especially since their being added to emusic has resulted in an increased price-per-track for all tracks. In this way, I feel like I’m paying for music that I won’t even listen to. (In fact, since I already bought most of Pearl Jam’s music 10 years ago, it feels like I’ll be paying for it again).
I can see why emusic made this move, but I think that the price hike does a disservice to those emusic customers that won’t even consider downloading these new tracks. My perception was that such people were the “core” customers of emusic — the loyal customers that allowed emusic to grow and survive.
Hmmmmm. Better be REALLY good additions for a 33% increase in price per song. Not a particularly customer friendly way to support your exisiting users. Maybe you should have considered the way Netflix supported its early adopters by grandfathering pricing. Virtually 100% retention and very high upgrade rate. Again, hmmmm.
Right now I split my purchases across sites. eMusic is often expensive when the entire album is downloaded since you don’t offer album pricing. With this increase, the reasons for eMusic subscription are plummeting.
Tally me down for the terrible decision vote. It’s been said quite a bit already that THE major demographic of this site is being pushed away rather than further integrated. Business is business, and maybe it’s the best decision for eMusic, but the last thing I want to do is spend more money so people can have access to the Boss.
Thanks for the great music since 2005. It was a real great way to get to know indie bands for cheaper than what iTunes and now Amazon wants to ask from us. While the new pricing guide suggests downloads still cheaper than what those two offer still, I am very very disappointed that in order to please the mass market, everyone has to pay for it.
So thanks, but good bye
I doubt this is about what your customers want. Short and sweet: I will not pay higher prices, I will cancel my membership.
I personally am ok with them adding Sony and even raising the prices a bit. I’ve already been through one price hike, but didn’t mind that because I got more downloads a month too. I really don’t like going from 50 to 30, but this place is still a way better deal than iTunes and Amazon both of which I rarely use. It would be nice if the service reduction is less… like 50 to 40. Honestly, I guess this was too good of a deal to last.
I think a lot of people on here are going overboard with the complaining though. eMusic still has the best selection for the price even with this rate hike, and if you leave here what are you going to do? Pay more money for the same stuff at iTunes and Amazon, wow that’ll show ‘em. Please. I love the subscription model personally. The other services don’t have that. I won’t be leaving because there is no other service like this.
While I may already have some of the Sony catalog on cd that interested me back when I bought those things, there is still quite a bit I never picked up and always wanted but refused to pay 9.99 or more for a download of if from iTunes. Sony has a great back catalog of music that doesn’t suck, that’s a plus to me.
I’ll also agree that I think it is rather annoying to add Sony yet we still don’t have Sub Pop and some other important indie labels. Even In The Red seems to lag really far behind as we don’t have any of their new albums. I actually had to go to the store and buy the new Blank Dogs album.
Anyway, it’s cool to add Sony, just a shame our plans are losing so much value. I understand that price hikes will happen, but this is pretty steep. Just please don’t lose the indie focus and don’t let the majors run the show here. They are great examples of total failure in the digital age, don’t follow them.
Count me among the seriously unhappy! I don’t come here for major label fare. I come here for the indies, and I was always thrilled that your company championed indie labels and artists in the face of the festering leeches the major labels have become, promoting over-produced, over-hyped flavor of the month while cheating many an artist out of profits they should be receiving, or simply dropping them mid-stream while high-jacking the rights to their unreleased material. And when business sours? Blame the consumer!
So now I should be happy that in order to offer us their old leftovers you are cutting out fully a third of my downloads??? For the same price I’ll be getting 2-3 fewer albums per month? This really sticks in my craw.
This is crud. I went through a rate increase, but they jumped up the number of songs, now I am paying for what I originally paid $9.00 for a month for $12 a month. I can find oversold albums like the strokes and prince at the local flea market and garage sales for a dollar apiece (or less) and rip them in the same amount of time that it takes to download an album. I am going to probably stick with amazon daily downloads that mainly feature the same top albums at emusic and their $5 album deals to supplement my disc digging at used stores. The added bonus is that I will not have to automatically have money drained from my bank account each month, I will be free to make a decision based on what I want to spend. No thanks emusic!
Been on eMusic since Sept 2005. Sad, but my subscription ends July 2nd 2009. I will not pay 33% extra for Celine Dion.
The end of a good thing. If I want this type of “upgrade” I can bottom-fish at Amazon. eMusic has been a great place for experimenting and exploring without being exploited. Not anymore. Why not a 2-tier pricing model? Would that have been so hard to figure out?
How about the increase in price for existing albums going 100% to the artists that produced them? So many opportunities to do this right, all squandered.
emusic, you are screwing your independent artists with the mess that you are creating. The blog posts on 17dots trying to rationalize this sell-out are nothing more than a total cop out.
You are ripping me off! Changing my plan without option. I don’t care about your expanding catalog. You told me before that I was grandfathered in… now you are ripping me off. SHOCK. Do you run credit card companies also? This is how they change their interest rates. BAM. Too bad. This just do it. Until there has been laws passed against credit card companies. I know what’s this got to do with emusic? Can’t you see the similarities? Terrible how you treat your customers. Come on, you should think of your customers that are already members. I have been for years. That may end. After all there are more download sites than itunes and amazon. Don’t have that thought,
‘ well, cancel if you don’t like it” Why wouldn’t we. Shisters?
This is very bad news. I’ve never posted a response to anything online. I’ve been a member for years and will have my 90 downloads cut to 50. This means I will not want to take any chances on the music I select to download. In fact, after a couple of months I’ll probably just quit so I can spend my money more specifically on exactly what I want to buy. I don’t care about these major labels that are being added to the mix. Those artists don’t interest me. If they do, I already own their music. eMusic should be about finding new artists. That’s it, eMusic. The end.
FIRE THE CEO DANNY STEIN
Twist and Shout . com offers independent downloads and they are the best independent record cd store in the United States. Check it out. They ship.
Another long time subscriber here. I couldn’t possibly care any less about Sony, or any other major label. eMusic has been my gateway to discovering tons of new music over the years that I never would have taken a chance on at a higher price point. After October, that will be over. I’ll spend the money on cd’s or vinyl of stuff I already know I like.
I have been a subscriber to eMusic for many reasons. The major ones were value and quality. I loved the idea that no major labels were involved because I knew that it would affect pricing. Now that they are coming onboard I will no doubt have to move on. I guess I would rather use Amazon’s service than eMusic simply because it didn’t change. If eMusic wants to fit in it can. It will just have to do so without me. Hopefully another service will appear to take up the mission of providing underground/indie music at a good value.
Until then I’ll have to get by with bleep, enpeg, and Amazon.
“Hopefully another service will appear to take up the mission of providing underground/indie music at a good value.”
It’s called lala.com
Lets get the point out of the way first: if this change really happens, I’ll be joining the stampede of loyal eMusic members right out the back door.
I’ve been stewing over this all day long, and increasingly my biggest grievance is now the lack of transparency with the whole thing. If there really is a rock-solid or inevitable reason for this change, THEN TELL IT TO US STRAIGHT. Don’t insult me with the whole “Great news! We’re giving you half as many songs for the same price!” bit – just explain to me candidly why you thought this had to happen.
Great example: How many people on here participated in the Campaign to Save Paste? They’re a great company who fell on hard times, so they turned to their loyal customers in complete honesty with a plea for help, and the money came pouring in in droves. They valued and respected their customer base, and the customers in turn took good care of the company when they needed it. There’s a lesson here, eMusic. Don’t treat us like idiots or collateral damage – we are the one who built you and have made you what you are today. Are we really that expendable?
SHOW US SOME RESPECT AND DO THE RIGHT THING, MR. STEIN, AND PUT TOGETHER A CANDID RESPONSE TO ALL OF THIS JUSTIFIED OUTRAGE.
It’s the least you could do.
From unlimited downloads for $8/mo. to 40 downloads for $8/mo. to 210 downloads over 6 mo. for $96 ? Less than half the downloads for twice the price ? Sorry, folks, that ain’t gonna work for me.
I am appalled that my plan should change from 90 downloads per month to 35 downloads per month for nearly the same cost per month. This is a reduction in my downloads of nearly two thirds. Is this more of the good stuff? Absolutely not! What a disingenuous title for this announcement. When my plan was grandfathered in, assurances were given that the grandfathered plans were permanent as long as we remained members. If this matter is not rectified by the time my plan is supposed to renew, I expect I will quit emusic. Getting the major labels is not worth such a price increase to me.
eMusic (long known as a good place) Sony (well known for the RootKit)
Why would you even go near these people, I would not give a dime to sony, and will now cancel since you are obviously giving them something. Bad Move !!!!
This is just an excuse for a 50% price increase. You add more stuff and then cut the number of downloads and don’t have any annual plans with 100 or more downloads.
You’ve just became iTunes Lite.
FRAG YOU!
Not going to re-hash, but I will be cancelling my subscription no later than July 19–the day before your new, outstanding, blah blah blah pricing plan takes effect on my account. Good luck, but this was too bitter a pill to swallow. Particularly since I sometimes forget my downloads…
This is Horrible news!!!!
I do not download any tracks from these companies nor will I ever. Big companies like these actually destroy the purity of music in my opinion. Why should the addition of these Labels drive up the cost of my subscription when I have no interest in searching through their catalogs of music. This is really terrible, I have been using emusic with pride for a long time. I would tell my friends how great it is to use this site as an avenue for independent artists. I’m totally in love with the catalog it currently has and I do not see the needed to change. I cannot speak for everyone but I know that I will be canceling my subscription if the cost of adding these labels drives the cost of my subscription. I will lose 40 downloads a month for music that I have no interest in. This is ridiculous! If Emusic can engineer a way where they can remove the new and added catalogs from Arista, Columbia, etc from my searches and allow me to keep the same subscription I’ve had I’m here to stay. If I lose 50 percent of downloads for music I don’t care for, I’m definitely saying goodbye…. It was fun while it lasted…..
-Mike
Fergus wrote:
When my plan was grandfathered in, assurances were given that the grandfathered plans were permanent as long as we remained members. If this matter is not rectified by the time my plan is supposed to renew, I expect I will quit emusic.
No, Fergus, you (we) should sue. It’s against the law. That’s why I keep mentioning to Danny that this is a risk of class action (or government action) against eMusic.
Here’s the thing. I’ve been thinking about this since I heard the news, and it occurred to me on my drive home that eMusic customers now have a pretty safe card to play:
Since we’re losing the grandfather pricing, it’s no longer in our interest to remain loyal to eMu.
However, if enough of eMu’s customers walk, then it will die a well-deserved death, and something else will come along to do its job. Like it or not, eMu, you’ve created a niche for music-obssessed indie fans and that market void will get filled. Maybe not by a company as stylish or as (formerly) cost-conscious as you, but that niche will get filled. Hopefully, the current indie labels associated here might band together with a Matador or Sub Pop leading the way to create a truly indie(and jazz, folk, etc.)-only concept.
The only way that we loyal fans can lose is if we adopt the new insipid major-driven formula and limp along with it in a half-baked version of what we actually want. Zombies like that can live for a long time. In the end, if we go along with this new format, we’ll belie our major reason for being here, and obscure the fact that a truly independent music market actually exists.
The new eMu is better off dead. Time to unsubscribe.
This is an insult, but I should have seen this coming. Previous comments have covered how I feel very well, so I won’t be redundant.
After June, I’m outta here. I’ll be visiting lala.com, and I want everyone to be aware there are FREE music sites with good high quality music downloads from unsigned artists such as alonetone, Soundclick, MacIdol, etc.
I’d rather not add a major label and keep prices where they are. I’m sure I won’t last long at the new price level. A 5 or 10 % increase is one thing, a 35-40% increase, for music that I’m not really interested in, is another. I have the major labels; I come to emusic for the indie labels. Your aditions of Soul Note, Black Saint, Honest Jon’s and so forth were really exciting to me. Sony/Columbia, eh, I can get those anywhere.
Here are things that will happen when you raise prices in the face of customers whose dollars are already shrinking.
1. You will get cancellations from breaking your agreements.
2. Independent artists will get less exposure.
3. More peer-to-peer and illegal downloading sites will spring up.
4. The world will hear less music.
Is any of that good for any of us?
Emusic really should be ashamed with the way you have framed this debate. Instead of increasing the profit margins for the Artists and indie labels who have made you, and the loyal customers that followed, you are instead lining your pockets and the coffers -if not coffins – of majors like sony.
As it’s been said here at least 250 times before me, I’ll certainly be canceling in the future and paying my money to people like othermusic.com and local record stores who consistently adapt and sacrifice to ensure that there loyal customers keep coming back. I feel like shit that I ever supported eMusic. It’s like a deal with the devil. I had truly sold my music soul for cheap downloads, only to see my favorite stores begin to disappear, telling myself that this was the future of independent music, because I really believed emusic would figure out how to make it work. Meanwhile, their unstated goal was to simply make more money, under the auspice of authenticity and revolution – I cry foul.
I celebrate your move to mediocrity and hope you all prove us wrong – then I won’t have to feel bad about supporting you for all of these years while artists got exploited by your cheap pricing schemes.
I’m rather perturbed. I was told I was grandfathered in the last time prices increased. Now I have lost 40 downloads per month and all I get is a bunch of crap mainstream music that I wouldn’t have wanted in the first place. I’ve expanded your subscriptions through word of mouth about the greatness on eMusic. I loved the affordability, the insights, and the ability to help support indie bands. Now you are giving your support to major labels as well. Shame on you. Do the indie bands get reimbursed in the same manner as the major label bands? I never saw any info as to what the bands are getting out of my subscription. I will be seriously considering cancellation of my membership.
lame. i already miss you eMu. it was fun while it lasted…
Maybe someone from eMusic’s legal department could explain their legal interpretation of this statement which they sent to me and many others in October of 2006.
“Your old plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.”
I can only echo many of the comments here. My downloads are going down almost 50%, but I’m not very interested in what I’m getting in return. I suspect I’ll cancel as well.
I agree with most who have already posted. I am having to pay twice as much per track to have music available on the site I am not interested in. If I were interested, there are other places for me to get it.
If I increased fees by 2 times in my buisiness, I would surely go out of business. I fear this is the new fate of emusic.
The main draw for me with emusic was being able to sample music for low risk/price. With that benefit gone, I will simply discontinue my membership. It has been a good 4 years but I guess it had to end sometime.
Finally, a plan which benefits the rest of the world while screwing over the US. I LIKE!!! NZ ftw!
You really blew this transition, emusic. Clearly, indie labels have been trying to figure out how to release music on the site in a way that’s profitable for them; a couple years back, Drag City decided there was no way to do that and dropped out. If this transition had something more in it for long-term subscribers than a one-off booster pack and was more explicitly about providing more cash to the indie labels, I think you’d have avoided a subscriber revolt. Pegging the change on Sony was a mistake; whoever decided to do that has one hell of a tin ear. I’ve been an embarrassingly vocal advocate of emusic since I started in 2006–so much so that I sounded like a shill, even to myself. The site seemed too good to be true, and apparently was.
The only reason I’m holding on to my subscription at the moment is in hopes that you’ll reconsider your decision not to honor any of the grandfathered accounts. Don’t much expect that to happen, though, and if it doesn’t, I figure I’ll probably be a subscriber 4 months out of the year.
Rick, if you are serious. In fact we (I am in Australia) are getting screwed over more. We use the US version of the site so we get the price increases and credit reductions but we will not (according to eMusic’s own statements and the depressing reality of geographical distrib ararngements) be getting the Sony catalogue.
Higher prices for fewer downloads. Looks like emusic is losing its independent feel already. The virtue of the independent record store is that you can get alot of stuff for cheap — we’re not the people who shell out $18.99 for one blockbuster Coldplay or Britney cd every 4 months. We’re the obscurists, the experts, the guys with massive record collections who look out for stuff that’s under the radar, left of the dial. This price hike (and download cut back) seems totally antithetical to our aesthetic as listeners.
And, really, if you don’t have the essential cds from megastar acts like The Clash and The Sex Pistols – what are you doing on emusic, anyhow?
BAD MOVE. Pretty much everyone I know on emusic is thinking about cancelling.
I for one don’t need or want any major catalogue choices. I have a hundred save for later and need all the downloads I can get. This is a typical marketing ploy from some exectutive to try to make more money and leave the loyal subscriber in the dirt. thanks for 7 years I will be canceling my subscription
“Your old plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.”
where’s the integrity?
Prediction:
Jobs sues emusic and Sony and delays emusic rolling out the Sony back catalog. (Why wouldn’t he? emusic is getting a better deal than iTunes.)
emusic pisses off most of its customers and a bunch of its independent artists and has a big, big problem.
I’ve been wrong before, but this development has to stick in Apple’s and Amazon’s craw and I would think that they are contemplating action.
And one last point: I”m going to miss my fellow grandfathered members – folks who knew what the fuck they were talking about. You guys were great. I can’t tell you how many albums I’ve downloaded based on the user reviews. Sigh. Get ready for pages and pages of misspelled and irrelevant reviews. I’m going to blow the dust off my torrent client…
I am very upset. i don’t want that major label music. That’s why I joined emusic… but then you tell me you are going to cut my downloads in half or will make me pay double. I may as well just use Rhapsody… or, dare I say it, iTunes. This is very disappointing.
Add me to the growing list of disappointed, long term customers. All along I appreciated everything that made Emusic different than the rest…now they’ve simply become the rest. It had been a tolerable “use it, or lose it” business model. Let’s see how many customer’s enjoy that crap at double the price. Goodbye emusic.
I’m sorry to hear this. I signed up with emusic because I wanted to find interesting, obscure music that wasn’t signed with the major labels, and to read that I would now have to pay more to get less is a deal-breaker for me. I’ve just cancelled my account.
I’ll be back if emusic decides to change your mind on the pricing change. I honestly don’t care about the new additions.
Danny, you’ve just been had. Sony couldn’t care less for the $$$ from emusic sales, but it’s been a sore in their eye. People like us, having a CHOICE in music selection, FREEDOM to experiment, taste — it’s a threat to their business model: music industry by numbers. What they want is to invest money in promotion, MTV/radio play, cash in their 20% margin, and get out. This used to work great with the Top 40 radio crowd, and the same 10 artists in rotation. This model falls apart in the net age, thus the “majors” are the dying skunks. New diverse labels and artists, trading directly to the public, will finish it off. Despite the e-music’s sell-out. It still hurts, though. This used to be a great place for the indy artists to find their listeners, among the people who wouldn’t mind experimenting a bit, for a low fee. Now, in the time of crisis rivaling Great Depression, you’re jacking up prices, reducing the choice (cause people will experiment less after the downloads have been slashed) and trying to spin it as a pure goodness to us?
I think we’ve made ourselves heard. Your move now.
My guess is this change has been coming for a long time and is the reason David Pakman left eMusic….because he knew this would be a disaster.
Either that or as a result of him leaving, the people steering the ship have no clue. Well that last part is true either way.
Given the economic climate at the major labels, the distinction between majors and indies in terms of promotion has been blurring for some time. However, the main difference is that major labels tend to sign acts that they think will sell units whereas indie labels tend to sign acts they are passionate about, so it’s more of a difference of intent more than anything else.
From a business standpoint, this makes perfect sense. Danny and eMusic are not doing this as a charitable institution; this is his livelihood, as well as that of all those who are employed there. It is part of the responsibility of eMusic’s management team to keep the business viable. Nobody profits if eMusic can’t survive because they can’t attract new subscribers. The simple fact of the matter is that indie music is a niche market in a lot of ways, and while obviously eMusic has done very well up to this point, being beloved by indie music fans is only going to take them so far. I, for one, will be happy to see original tracks from artists rather than lame cover versions by one or two members of the original band recorded 20 years after the fact. I hope that Sony will make an effort to release out-of-print tracks by artists that eMusic subscribers would be passionate about (such as the Icicle Works) which would help differentiate eMusic from other services like Napster, Amazon and iTunes.
I don’t find it necessary to cancel my subscription. Oh, I’m not happy with the price increase, but the price of everything has gone up and quite frankly, eMusic is still a bargain compared to every other site out there. My only concern is that eMusic doesn’t over-promote within the site Sony artists who don’t need it so much as other artists on smaller labels that could use the spotlight more. That would be a shame.
Count me as another long time subsciber that you are loosing! I have been paying $15 for 65 dloads for many years, and you are rewarding me by cutting my downloads in half??! I don’t want the big label stuff, and if you are going to offer it don’t make me pay for what I don’t want. If you want to keep me, provide two plans: one the way it was, with no access to the majors, and one at the higher price for people who want it. Believe me, other carriers have this market already, by doing this you are going to lose the market you already have. And you are going to lose them, just read some of the above posts.
NOT HAPPY AT ALL! This seems like the beginning of a bad thing…
I came to this site to find cutting edge indie tracks, not Sony’s back catalog. This is NOT where I feel eMusic should be heading!
And the thing I’m most upset about is the change to the “grandfathered” plan I’m in… yeah you’ll drop the price about 11 bucks a year, but cut my downloads from 90 to 35 a month!!!!!!! That truly, truly sucks ass!
I’m seriously thinking about not renewing… and hand pick what I want from Amazon.
I don’t want to subsidize Major Label “classics” and super-platinum-flavor-of-the-month with my credits. So I get less of the little-known music I love so someone can say “oh look, they have Wu-Tang Clan!”
I’d be happy if I got less credits in exchange for lossless files or something, but why pay more for something I’m not going to use? I can get that stuff elsewhere.
I’ll keep my subscription for now, but what used to be a no-brainer auto-renewal is now going to be something I really think about the necessity of every month.
boo. you mutts totally gutted my plan. not worth it at all. what garbage.
To address the final question in Danny’s post: it doesn’t matter what I think, because eMusic clearly does believe there’s a difference between “major” and “indie.”
As of July, I’m getting 17 less tracks for the same amount of money. I don’t think there’s a difference between the “major” and “indie”–there were some artists I thought might download of the many new artists being offered here, but just having the *opportunity* to do so means I get less for my money than I did previously.
So despite what is said here, “indie” artists like Sufjan and The Grizzly Bears and Earl Hines and Vladislav Delay and Okvervil River literally aren’t worth as much to eMusic as the artists eMusic is bringing in next month…and my value as a current “indie” customer isn’t worth as much to eMusic as all the “major” music fans it should be able to bring in.
Nice work building your brand on my back, eMusic. I hope now that it’s allowed you to cut deals and reach a new audience, you’ll be able to sustain it, because I suspect much of the loyalty and identity you’ve commanded up until now from customers like me will not be there for you.
Danny –
I wrote before as an e-music subscriber, but now I am writing as a Marketing man, which is my profession. Having read all of the comments, I would say that you might want to reconsider your new plans. Perhaps raise the price $1 month for us current subscribers and charge new subscribers anything you want — they won’t know the difference just as we current subscribers had no points of comparison when we joined. A basic marketing premise is not to alienate the customers you already have. And you clearly have a savvy and loyal core audience. And one on the verge of alienation.
Well, crap! This just sucks. Pardon my French. I am on the 780 annual downloads (65 a month) for $143.90. After November, when my year expires, I would go to 288 downloads (24 a month) for $129.99. Great! I save $13.91 but loose 492 downloads!
Well, I will give this place a chance until it is time to renew. But unless I am wowed by the new catalog, it is Amazon for me. Keep in mind that the vast majority of time I download compete albums and both iT and A already offer discounts for album download. Advantages? Better bit rate and I don’t have to worry about downloads expiring.
Re: Springsteen and B. Joel
Don’t get me wrong, I love them. I’ve loved them since I was in my teens. So I have had plenty of time to buy the CDs. And rip them. Why on earth would I want to download stuff I already have? Or I can get cheap as a used CD.
it was fun while it lasted… a long time customer here that has made dozens of referrals over the years.
.:.the scene changes (bud powell)
This is harsh.
I have been with you since the very beginning. Back then it was $9.99 for unlimited downloads. Then I was forced to accept 40 downloads for the same price. I was disappointed but I also felt that allowing unlimited downloads was business suicide and I sure wanted you to continue!
I was then forced to pay $11.99 but you gave me 10 more downloads per month for staying and paying. Fair enough. But NOW you just lop off 20 downloads – taking me BELOW the $9.99 amount – and I still pay the higher forced price?
Believe me, I find fantastic music everywhere – major and indie labels – and I have especially wanted Blue Note recordings to be on eMusic, but to drop to the lowest number of dloads ever for a higher price that was forced on me is too much and even suspect.
Reconsidering everything.
What do I think? I think emusic promised me that I would retain my current 90 downloads for $19.95 plan as long as I’ve maintained my account in good standing. Which I’ve done.
And now, they’re telling me that that guarantee is meaningless. Didn’t mean anything. Unethical, irresponsible, and absolutely unacceptable. The lawyers will get rich trying to straighten this out.
Shame on you emusic. Shame.
This is a sad day, you are letting your niche slip away, emusic. I’ve always been passionate about supporting struggling, independent artists. Your new role with major labels, that take advantage of musicians, will alienate your loyal customers.
Arn’t you guys thinking about this? Theres a reason why people choose this service over itunes! The price hike I can take, but to see that extra money (30-40%!!!) go to a major label is terrible. We know that money isn’t going to the indie artists.
You guys provided a great service, connecting artists with music fans, but it looks like that time is up.
I have been subscriber for very, very long time. At leaast 7 years.
This is just not right: My per song price is going to jump from 23 to 41 cents!!!
Almost double!!!!!!!!
The least emusic should do is to leave option for current customers to remain with plan they already have.
I don’t care in particular for Sony’s back catalog and other commercial-low-quality music, otherwise I would use itunes.
What is going to be difference between emusic and itunes anyway after this price jump?
How are indie labels going to survive drop in sales and revenue due to fact that emusic is going to lose most of customers???
Shame!!!
So long, emusic. Nice service you had there.
I mean, shoot, I can’t even think of one Arista release worth the vinyl it was stamped on since 1978. I’m supposed to be excited about paying 40 cents a track and $6 or more per album for that?
A 60% price increase?
Arista! As if!
Sad. I was a 200 a-month user (only since about January) and have been going hog wild downloading tons of great stuff indie, jazz, classical, poetry, folk… loved the catalog, loved the price, my only frustration was running out of downloads with a week or more to go. Now you bump me down to 100 a month? for about the same amount of money? To pay for Sony’s back list that’ll probably be available at amazon and iTunes for less by August?
I finally joined emusic after my best friend’s local record store finally went bust; Our many discussions about why that happened (mostly greed and ignorance at the top of the industry) show that emusic is continuing in the glorious tradition of music industry bean counters pretending that music fans are such obsessional suckers that they’ll stand for anything as long as they get their music. It seems obvious from the previous posts that, yet again, not so much. I teach high school and have a pretty good handle on what people under the age of 30 are up to: of my four friends who are serious music fans, two of the three over 35 are longtime emusic subscribers (the third is the ex-record store owner); the 25 year old kid steals all his from some pirate site, along with most of my 18 year old students. I was just saying the other day, in regards to the b.s. bonus track/special edition swindle the majors are running for target, walmart, etc. as reported in the New York Times, actually makes me want to steal. (Which is saying a lot, from someone who has supported art, artists and musicians his whole life.)
I’m not going to start stealing, but I won’t be buying here after July.
Good luck counting your pennies from the millions who have been ignoring sony’s back list for the last 20 years in every used cd bin around the country, waiting patiently for the chance to download it here for 40 cents a song.
The votes are in guys. Are you going to listen to your customers and reverse this poor decision?
Hmmm, for me to lose 25 downloads per month and still have to pay the same price, just to have access to Sony’s back catalogue? Bullshit, I may just cancel my subscription to eMusic. It was the place to go for the hard to find indie stuff, but I may as well have a subscription to iTunes or Amazon. Stupid move on your part, but then again, when did a big corporation give a damn about the little guys who helped them get to where they are now…
It’s a bit disappointing to see this. I was going to try my darndest to keep my eMu subscription going when my annual plan re-upped next February, but I don’t think that’s realistic anymore. I’ve already found myself hard at work whittling down my saved list to make sure I didn’t have 30 albums left over when my subscription came back around, and now I’m glad I’ve made the effort.
eMusic has led me to discover so much good music that I can’t be outraged or angry; after all, it’s just business. But forcing everyone to take on Sony (when a “plus Sony” or double download cost would have worked just fine) while increasing the price by near-double is going to leave a terribly sour taste in any person’s mouth, guaranteed.
I’ve got too much to thank eMusic for to be angry, and I’m thankful that my current plan is being honored (50/month for 12 months) instead of getting some retro treatment, but I find it hard to see myself re-upping next February, which is a real shame.
I hope some more thought goes into this between now and then, because I’d like to argue for it when my extra money is so limited, but as it stands, I don’t see it.
Briefly, good and bad:
1) Disappointed in a major way because I think ultimately emusic will water down to the masses and indie music will suffer;
2) Okay with this because I”ll have a source of popular music download for my wife and daughter at prices lower than I-tunes.
As a littel bit of a concession, maybe you can let unused downloads go into an account isntead of expiring each month. Maybe cut it off at 100 or something. Often I find myself downlaoding stuff at the end of the month I ahe no real interest in jsut to avoid wasting downlaods….
I’m in agreement with the idea to charge extra downloads for Sony/deluxe content, while leaving the hundreds of thousands of independent tunes eMusic is built on at 1 download! And keep the established accounts structure intact! Let Sony pop garbage there and most (myself included) won’t buy it.
I’ll give eMusic a chance for a month or so since I owe the site that much for years of 90 downloads/month for a bargain basement $19.99. However, if I were taking bets like Vegas, I’d put the odds of me dropping my account by August at 75%.
I know I’m very much not alone here – I wouldn’t want to see the balance sheets of eMusic come August/September.
IF HAVING SONY WOULD DOWNGRADE MY PREMIUM PLUS PLAN, AND HAVE MY DOWNLOAD COST INCREASED 95%, I AM NOT USING EMUSIC. A BIG “NO”!!!
Pricing is going to make a big difference in eMusic’s mission.
Not just that the new rate is less of a bargain; you come to eMusic because you can splurge credits on bands you might not buy otherwise for the chance you might like them, because it’s low risk. You don’t have to be careful — you can be adventurous.
If tracks now cost twice as much, we’re now going to be half as adventurous.
Major label albums — you pretty much know what they are and whether you want them or not. If i really want Kind of Blue, I have no problem with buying it elsewhere for $10.
Not a lot of happy campers. Though looks like there might be some pretty happy lawyers lining up….
Not much to say that hasn’t already been said.
Consider this my Hancock on the petition.
It’s been good, eMusic.
I agree with a lot of the others here that I would download stuff just out of passing curiosity that I never would have before, because the price per download was worth it. But 40 cents a song? For that price, it’s going to have to be an artist I already like. Playing it safe. I am a big electronic music fan and I definitely won’t be downloading all the remixes I would have before. I used to download a single with several remixes, knowing there may be one or two I really like. Not worth it now. And 30 second previews don’t cut it for electronic music.
I agree with the majority of the posters here. This will most likely end my time here…..which I have enjoyed immensely. This will turn Emusic into a me too music provider ….with the lowest bit rates provided for their songs. I could justify that at the old prices but doubling the cost for a bunch of dinosaur music I either have on CD or I’m not interested in leaves me cold to say the least. I hope the research statistics are telling them they are getting a lot of new customers. They are alienating their base. A very risky business indeed.
As a subscriber for nine years, I have weathered my share of policy and pricing changes from eMusic, but I have always continued my membership. I have to say that this new change is a hard one to accept. The price increase is far more than I would have ever expected given (what I thought was) the underlying focus of eMusic, their catalog and their membership. For years I have rushed to eMusic to check out music that I heard in a club, in a music shop, on independent radio, or that was recommended to me by a friend, and I have always felt so free in trying volumes of new music. I work in sales and marketing, so I understand how improvements can raise the price of a product, but I also know that if I raised the price of my product by almost 50% overnight that my customers would say unpleasant things to me before switching to one of my competitors.
Even if I continue my membership, I will now be forced to treat eMusic no differently than I treat iTunes or Amazon, and this — more than anything — is what’s incredibly sad to me. iTunes and Amazon are fine, but I think of them like I think of a grocery store or an appliance warehouse — impersonal, utilitarian, get in and get out, know what you need before you go in. I have always thought of eMusic like my local record store, or like a friend’s basement in high school where I would just sit and discover new music for hours.
As a lifetime insomniac, I have spent literally hundreds of nights reading up on artists that were available through eMusic, downloading albums, listening, analyzing, rating songs, recommending tracks to friends etc., all while my family slept soundly and thought that I was insane. This has been my favorite place online to burn through hours of my time without feeling guilty, or like I was being unproductive.
I was disappointed when unlimited downloads went away (which was probably eight years ago or something), but I learned to love my subscription and my 90 downloads per month. I bought booster packs until I was told that I went over my limit for the month and would have to wait until the beginning of my next billing cycle. I set up a second account just to get more music. I even changed one account from a grandfathered 90 downloads to a connoisseur plan because it was cheaper than maintaining my booster pack habit.
I have been mainlining music through eMusic for nine amazing years and I am sad to see that relationship change. eMusic has outlasted relationships, jobs, cars, apartments, laptops, and countless hard drives of ever increasing size. I have not decided whether to keep my membership yet, but I won’t let the unfortunate changes affect all the great music I have downloaded and the time I have enjoyed on the site. I just feel betrayed by what I perceive as an enormous amount of greed, and a wildly inappropriate price increase.
Good luck in your new business model. Doubling the price for less than half the amounts of downloads during a recession is not a wise move. I am moving on to http://www.efolkmusic.org and elsewhere. At best if you did not want to grandfather in longtime members to their existing price structure, you should have at least given them a free month or a meaningful number of free downloads. Good luck building back up your customer base, you’ll need it.
Another disappointed customer here. Emusic’s value to me has always been twofold: firstly, a deep and comprehensive catalog of independent music, and secondly, a very low per-track cost that encouraged experimenting with that catalog. The complimentary nature of those two features made Emusic a no-brainer, and the new price structure more than halves the benefits of an account by disrupting the relationship of those two features.
I’ll be leaving when my sub is up as well, provided the planned changes are not revised in some way. I’ll miss Emusic…
Thanks emusic, this is such exciting news! So exciting that I will have to calm myself down by cancelling my subscription.
I’m another longtime customer, always telling my friends that they should give emusic a try. Thanks for screwing your loyal customers, I feel like an idiot now that I have been touting the greatness of emusic for so long. What a colossal bummer.
Well, first I want to say that the anger expressed by many in the comments is a little over stated. The per track price is still much lower than a purchase from iTunes or Amazon. I realize that this has taken everyone by surprise but we need to put everything in perspective.
I have been able to build up a great collection of jazz due to emusic. If emusic needs to increase its prices in order to survive I can understand this. I hope that the new pricing will allow emusic to provide more money to the artists or survivors (since most of the music I select is by people who are no longer with us). I think that explaining it this way and then saying that you will offer major label artist would be a better message.
I do not plan to cancel my membership. I understand that a company needs to make a profit and that economies change. I am waiting to see what additional jazz content will be added to emusic.
My current plan: $143.90 for the year, 65 downloads a month.
What eMusic proposes: $129.99 for the year and gives you 24 downloads every 30 days.
Wow – I save about $14, but I get only 1/3 of my current subscription. From $.18/track to $.45/track.
When my account renewed in early May, I considered not renewing because of the competitive prices on Amazon, especially their album of the day which I faithfully check daily – and end up buying regularly. But I renewed my eMu subscription for the year, and it looks like this will be my last year. I’ll take my $130 – $150 I spend here annually and be more experimental when Amazon offers an interesting album on sale.
My guess is, eMusic can’t handle the prices they offered long-term subscribers who have grand-fathered plans, so they’re offering us ridiculous plans that we won’t want to keep. Looks like they’re succeeding. I just wish they would have kept their word and actually honored the grandfathered accounts like they said they would.
I’ve been with you guys for about 3 years, but will be canceling once my current plan expires. Also, if you seriously intend to try to change my annual plan before it expires, I will be seeking a full refund or getting you guys investigated for fraudulent business behavior.
Ok…You had me at hello. You had me at exploring music. You still have me at the indie electronica recordings i *love*
I do NOT support RIAA affiliated labels
I do NOT want to pay a PREMIUM for RIAA affiliated music that I WILL NEVER DOWNLOAD
You have likely lost a long time customer.
Back to torrents I go.
At the end of the day you have doubled the cost of my subscription. Good for your bottom line….. leaves a very bad taste for a long term and devoted subscriber who cares little about what the major labels have to offer. Forget brand loyalty from this consumer…. knwo its all about $$ and cents.
Good job, corporate bozos. Oh boy, we get tired & lame Sony Catalog for double the price (and half the downloads).
Wow. What a massive corporate %$# you. I’ve been a subscriber for over 5 years and you just change the terms of the contract like that! Have you guys been taking tips from the credit card industry? No “thank you for your business” bonus downloads, no grandfathered subscribers. Nothing. Just – suck it and like. Honestly, I feel like I have no choice but to cancel my membership just to say “no – $#@! you
When I joined e-music the downloads were UNLIMITED. Granted that was always too good to be true, but you’ve progressively been charging more for less and now this – doubling the price in a recession!
I think you guys don’t really understand what the relationship between your subscribers and your product actually is. We’re not just bargain shoppers looking for the hottest new music and the cheapest prices. We’re people who love exploring.
The thing I loved about my deal before – 90 downloads for $25.00 (not as good as mu previous 100 for $20) was that I could try things I’d never have bought otherwise with little risk. It was really fun – I could download something, check it out and if it sucked, well, it was no big deal – DELETE! And don’t think you don’t have clunkers in your library b/c you soooooo do.
I didn’t mind that the music I DL’d wasn’t from major labels, it was a great chance to expand my library in other genres: Comedy, Bway, and lots and lots of Jazz.
I really wish you’d consider some tiered pricing. Now at 40 cents a pop, experimenting with lesser known artists, exploring an album b/c someone wrote a cool review or I like the band name just isn’t going to be worth it.
Additionally, you may want to consider a “whole album” option, b/c some of your DLs were borderline rip-offs as it is, specifically in Comedy where one album might be broken up into 20-25 tracks, each under 2 minutes. Those albums will now be cheaper in iTunes. For a while tracks that were under 1 minute were free – you should consider going back to that as well.
What a disaster. At least now when I give my $ to Steve Jobs, I’ll have the satisfaction of NOT giving it to you.
Not a great way to treat the customers who’ve been with you for years. Corporate, Major, Indie, whatever. Making good to the people who’ve got you to where you are, that’s the sign of a company that values its customers, and you are no longer that company. Negotiating to allow existing subscribers to maintain current plans, was it really that tough? Or was it the bottom line that made the difference?
Nice knowing you, Emusic.
This is unbelievable! Cutting my downloads in half, doubling the price, for a bunch of crap music that everyone here has already memorized and half-hates? Seriously? Sony? Who the heck is crying out for a ton of Sony labelled bands? You really think that your target market is interested in a bunch of has-been bands? They are looking for cutting edge music, stuff you can’t find on ITUNES! I can’t believe that you guys SO badly miscalculated this move. It’s really amazing to watch a successful business make such a huge misstep.
You are going to be hurting starting today, and you’ll feel the pain for some months, and likely years. What you’ve done with this move is not only failed to add substantial value for the price increase, but you’ve forced the burden of paying that price on loyal customers who didn’t ask for it to begin with and alienated them. You’ve also motivated them in completely the wrong way.
Congratulations on the brilliantly stupid strategic move.
Not impressed enough with the new catalog to be happy about having my downloads CUT IN HALF for the same price. Seriously, did you think I’d be soooo happy to get Michale f***ing Jackson that I wouldn’t mind losing half my downloads per month????? I really doubt you’ll be able to get enough new Top 40 customers to make up for all the indie fans you’re screwing over. THIS JUST PLAIN SUCKS!
You said you’d honor grandfathered accounts.
You lied.
Then you cut the number of downloads I get for my money almost in half.
I don’t do business with liars.
Lame sauce. I’ve been with emu for a few years now and like most of it’s users, I couldn’t give 2 shits about anything sony. Fuck sony. Fuck the price hike and Fuck Danny Stein. That’s right buddy. Thanks for the response to your loyal customers. Oh wait, you didn’t write one. Great work.
You guys really screwed up. You’re tossing a lot of customers for this nonsense. Did you really think this through?
I’m out with the rest. peace. been fun.
If I cared about CBS/Arista/Epic, etc. I’d patronize iTunes. As many others have said, you’re essentially halving the value of my subscription to subsidize the acquisition of artists I either own already or have absolutely no interest in (the latter more than the former). I’ll be gone soon as well. Sorry.
So now I get half as many downloads a month for about the same price? I don’t care for much of the Sony catalog, but I am stuck with the new plan regardless? You make $50 a month of recurring revenue off of me, and I’m feeling ripped off.
Seems like eMusic is subsidizing Sony to the detriment of smaller labels. Not to mention hurting loyal customers. That is just wrong guys.
Here’s a free suggestion: allow current subscribers to keep their existing plans and block us from downloading Sony material. Change the plan for anyone opting into Sony downloads.
You guys screwed up.
Fix it.
Danny,
Wow. I am pretty disappointed with the new pricing plan. I have been with emusic for 4 years. Since first becoming a customer, I have increased the amount of money I’ve spent here by upgrading my service plan. I loved the fact that I was able to purchase a 1 or 2 year annual plan. When the pricing plan was changed recently and emusic “grandfathered” in those with the older plans, I was grateful and spent even more money.
When I first came here, I was instantly drawn to the ‘”not mainstream” vibe. I liked that I could find music left of center. I really felt as if I was in a small music shop “sorting through” the different “bins” of music. I’ve found some amazing music here. I have loved everything about this site and passionately told my friends about it. I post links to the site on my facebook page. Hell, I even tell strangers about your site.
While I appreciate the wider variety you will be offering, the new pricing plan really hurts us long time customers. I will be losing 180 downloads a year while paying almost $50 more per year. That is hard for me to swallow. My download per track price has jumped from about 24 cents per track to 46 cents per track. Granted, that is still a great price, but I’m not sure it’s a price I’m willing to pay, especially since it means less music for me.
I will acknowledge that you have been good about taking care of your long time customers in the past. I respect that and truly appreciate it. Perhaps once September rolls around I will renew my plan at the higher cost. If I felt I was getting “more for my money” I would do it in a heartbeat. However, as a consumer, paying more for less doesn’t seem to make sense to me. I guess we will have to wait and see. I hope you re-consider the new plan, or at least, find a way to make your long time supporters feel a little bit better about what they are getting for their money. While the “wider variety” is a plus, it hurts that it comes with such a heavy price.
With respect,
Scott
This letter is disgusting. That my allotted downloads are being cut to just over half of what it is now and that the price per track will come very close to doubling is some of the most dissapointing news I’ve heard in years. May sound pathetic, but that’s how much I valued what I had. But what really pisses me off is how disingenuously it’s being pushed on us. Others have commented on this so I won’t repeat it here. I’m not the type to diss on bands I like when they sign to the majors. I’ve even begrudgingly accepted some of my favorite artists allowing their music to be used in car commercials. They should make money for making good music. But emusic has always preached against what you’re doing now. I remember when Epitaph left. I was really disappointed at losing Tom Waits (whom I had just come to love thanks to emusic but never would have spent $10 on based on samples) and a few others, but I bought emusic’s line that you weren’t willing to compromise on your pricing. And now you’re doing exactly that for Sony, music we can get pretty much anywhere else.
Been a member for well over 4 years now. I’ve recommended emusic to EVERY friend and family member of mine that loves music. When my roommate said he was going to cancel his $12 subscription to save a little money, I offered to pay $12 of his part of the utilities so he’d keep it. Although I’ll now be getting the bulk of my music from Amazon and my local independent record store, I just might keep a small emusic subscription. Modifying your pricing plan to throw a bone to your longtime users would help, but I’m guessing the cost-benefit analysis has already shown that it’s not worth it to you. Not sure yet. But I am sure that I won’t be recommending the service to anyone in the future.
Just need to add the voice of discontent. How does this make sense. I’m sure I’ll stay for the first month to see what’s up, but after that I can’t see it. I’m still flabbergasted and shocked. You write this as a plus? Why can’t Sony be double credits or something? My 90 downloads is nowhere near enough. I went nuts over xmas with your booster pack sale–losing 40 downloads for $20 I really can’t afford for crap I don’t want is really a low blow and I’m pretty sure is going to lea to my canceling my (since 03?) long time subscription. I love all the noisy, bleep-bloop, sqwack! crap. Sometimes that’s only worth $0.18 a track.
The 12 download a;bum thing is a great idea. Too bad it comes with such a crap change. Lucky us!
I agree with Zeus, I’ll be paying the same as last year but instead of getting 75 downloads a month, I’ll be getting 35? Count me out! Maybe a cool music service like what emusic was will pop up that offers music that I want to listen to at a price I want to pay.
I have to say I am actually quite disappointed in this development. Going from 90 downloads a month to 35 a month is not what I consider a good deal. The attraction to emusic is that I could afford to try new artists, albums, genres, etc. The albums / artist that you mention will be added are artist that I already have or are probably not interested in. This is a sad, sad day for the small independant artist that rely on emusic to reach their audience. A typical album next year will cost me almost 3 times as much under the new plan than it does today. I fear that while this move may save eMusic it will only hurt the small artist that eMusic has championed over the past 10 years.
I would have been much happier if eMusic would have provied two plans one with majors and one without.
i’m an emusic member for mass quantities of small label music. if i wanted sony shit i wouldn’t be here. i have two 90/month subs, both will be canceled in their last months. FUCK YOU SELLOUTS. i’ll buy from the indie labels directly.
I am not likely to stay a customer for long. The current deal is great, I have discovered a lot of music that would have remained unknown to me. I don’t need the major labels.
1. Customers were well-awared and expected NOT having titles from Big 4, before joining eMusic.
2. Users who don’t have access to Sony’s items, such as geographical restrictions, should not suffer the price increase anyway!
The price increase is unacceptable. I simply don’t see the value in a subscription model where the per track price is double the current price. As such, I dont expect to maintain my subscription.
Others have already said it but it seems pretty straightforward to me…
If the new tracks cost eMusic more $$ then that cost should be passed on to the consumers of those tracks.
The idea here seems to be grow the base by adding mainstream stuff (nothing wrong with major label music – just the pricing), ignore the disappointment of hard-core heavy users by slashing their plans to please Sony. Maybe it’s necessary for emusic’s survival – I don’t know. The hard core crowd is getting screwed. Going from 50 to 30 downloads a month simply means I get less music at the given price, and it sounds like the truly big time downloaders are getting reamed even worse. There was plenty of independent stuff here I wanted, so fewer tracks a month in exchange for Sony material available elsewhere is no deal.
The question is whether a broader base will gravitate to a pay per month subscription with what remains a fairly low profile site. Is there really a sweet, exploitable middle between people who download every now and then from iTunes and Amazon and those who “rent” their music (access everything for monthly fee) of mainstreamers who want to buy 30 tracks every month? Do the people who want to download Dylan, et al legally ALSO want to download a set number of tracks a month? Better hope so, as the hard core music-heads who DO want that steady flood of tunes are only being alienated by this move.
What eMusic should do, and will never do, is allow those of us who don’t give a rip about downloading “major-label” tracks via eMusic to keep our old monthly pricing plans and track allotments, with access to download only independent artists, nothing from the major labels. The new pricing structure would of course apply only to those who elect to have access to the major-label tracks. This is what would be fair, so of course it will never happen.
I’ll be canceling my subscription.
This is the death knell for my relationship with eMusic. One of the biggest reasons I gladly subscribed to this service for 3 years was that I knew that the money was going to a lot of artists I liked and it had no monstrous corporation thumbprints on it. Now they are here, big foul, nausea-inducing fingerprints that I want no part of. I will blow through my last two months of dls and then I will seek out another independent site. I don’t know the economic situation eMusic finds itself in, but if it came out in defense of the priniciples I thought it had and just told us that they likely wouldn’t survive without a price increase, then I would understand. Embracing Sony is something I do not understand. Giving your subscribers a shill about how great this is for the future is so insincere it is almost like you are mocking us; like what I would expect from a corporate giant. I feel dirty.
Dear eMusic,
As a loyal and longtime subscriber, I am very disappointed to learn about your new arrangement and pricing plan. This will probably be the push I need to end my subscription when it expires at the end of the year. And because I introduced my father to your service and I purchase an annual gift subscription for my brother, you will probably be losing two additional customers. Amazon has done a nice job with their MP3 download program and they don’t try to rope customers into an expenisve long term deal. While I understand that this is a business and that you need to make a profit, I don’t understand why my cost will be doubling while receiving fewer downloads. That is not good business. Thank you for all of the great music and best of luck to you and all your new customers.
Sincerely,
Glenn
Another longtime subscriber lost (nearly 10 years — back to the era when they added FAX label & you got a free mp3 player for joining).
Haven’t seen much on Sony that I don’t already have or cannot live without. Couldn’t I just join the BMG record club??
I am also a long time subscriber. I want to add my two cents to this debate. I’m finished with emusic. Listen, let’s be honest. We can all find other ways to find music. Torrents, limewire, soulseek. Our options are endless. Many of us are on Emusic to try in some small way to contribute to independent music. I’ve downloaded many albums on emusic that have sent me straight to an online distro for the Lp version. I’m not the only one using emusic this way. We are all pissed. I’m cancelling in July when my account is up for renewal. I’m not happy about it. I love the editorial content of emusic and I love the virtual community that is absent in local music stores. But to tell me I’m getting something I never wanted and pretending it’s worth twice the money is rediculous. I’ve known Keyes for years and have stuck by this site even when I was wasting credits every month but this is insulting and I hope you see the mistake you’ve made when many of your costumers cancel. If you change your mind, let me know.
Dan K.
This stinks, in my opinion. I have been a member since 2002 and now I feel that all my loyalty has been for naught. Basically I get half the number of downloads for the same price because of labels that offer stuff that I have absolutely no interest in at all.
Why are I and other long time customers being punished? That’s what this works out to, Danny, though you may not conceptualize it that way. The whole point of being an eMusic subscriber was to find the great stuff that the Big Pig Label Whores (Sony et. al.) would not produce or promote. Now I get to download the same unknown artists at twice the price so that other people can get Sony at half the price of downloading it from iTunes or Amazon. Hello? (How much was the tab for the wining and dining for that series of corporate stroke sessions?)
Here at eMusic I was free to experiment and support artists who otherwise would not get a fair shake from the RIAA prostitutes. That’s gone. I supported eMusic because it seemed to give those artists a forum that they could not otherwise get, and I could buy my music legally. Danny, I have never heard of you, but I imagine you are picking up a pretty good salary making lame-brained decisions like this.
In this case you made a huge mistake.
Your decision is a complete catastrophe for your business model. Why you think that I would hang around paying twice as much for the same thing I am getting today so that someone else can download something they could easily get from Amazon at half that price is sheer lunacy.
As you can see from the overwhelming negative response to your sudden and obviously ill-considered decision to dictate to your loyal customers that they are now supposed to pony up so that the bean counters at Sony can keep themselves in the style to which they are accustomed, you will lose a large number of subscribers.
If this is your decision, rather than a tiered pricing structure based, I’ll be canceling my account. I can use Pandora to find new music, and then purchase it in other ways, perhaps directly from the artists, or in the very active used CD market. Or for that matter from Amazon, who HAS ALWAYS BEEN FAIR TO ME as a LOYAL CUSTOMER and has yet to screw me.
I hope that you will reconsider this absolutely moronic decision.
You are now just the same as the others. Thanks for giving me nothing for my years of being a loyal subscriber. I will be dropping my account as soon as you reduce my account by TWENTY downloads a month, but still charge me the same amount. Way to go.
While it might be nice to add additional labels, having been a member for many years I haven’t nearly exhausting the interesting material already carried by Emusic. I have to say with the price nearly doubling for me, it will no longer be worth it to subscribe. It’s a shame, especially in this ecomony, to pillage your long term, loyal customers. Maybe you could have an EMusic “classic” that would preserve the old rate structure but not include these “new” labels.
It seems that’s a significant price increase to have access to a catalog of cut-outs or bargain bin music. E-Music is losing it’s luster.
It’s clear that this new pricing structure is not aimed at us Old Faithfuls here. They have laid plans for the future. This is for the new customers, those who haven’t had unlimited downloads or paid 1/9 what Apple charges per track. This is for people they want to steal from iTunes. They are looking at a much, much bigger market than we music nerds/crate diggers/nose pickers. And I have to admit, it makes business sense. They’ll never get rich supporting an audience that complains about paying $5 for an album.
So where does that leave us, the wretched refuse, the “loyal customer”? Stuck between coughing up the extra bucks for less or back to illegal downloads. Same place we’ve been heading for years but now our hand has been forced. Yes, it sucks but remember…it’s not about us. It’s…the future…
whatever, soon some other service will figure out what emusic was doing right, and then i’ll pay THEM for music. i’m done with emusic.
I’ve loved emusic because the great price structure allows me to explore a wealth of new, obscure, exciting and odd music every month This change is disappointing -I can already go to itunes or Amazon when I want to buy what everyone else listens to- I don’t need emusic to supply major label stars too. I’ll reserve judgement for a little while, but I am readying myself to find a new source for music discovery.
E-music is selling out at the expense of loyal purists who champion the concept of keeping the majors out in order keep costs down. To me, E-music represents music as art rather than marketed drivel. Fine; great artists will soon be incorporated into the catalog: (Bruce, The Clash). Their mass appeal is/was incidental (there was a time when good art infiltrated the pop charts) rather than intentional via the corporate suits who mass produce pop. Thus, the price boost is understandable, as it still somewhat represents Emusic loyalists/purists who don’t do what their told or listen to the radio. Emusic offers reactionary choices, in which there are those (perhaps in a particular demographic) among us who miss or relate to a particular sound. Personally, I blame grunge for routing the airwaves away from at least an occasional good or even so-laughable-it’s-infectious tune and into the whiny rock that lessened the appeal of new wave and sex, drugs, and rock & roll oriented stations simultaneously. Sure, Nickelback and Tool may not wind up at Emusic (a glorious thing, particularly since it would mean that E-music became iTunes and had similar prices to pay these overwrought drivelers), but a purveyor of whiny, psuedointellectual “rock” soon will: Eddie Vedder – the jerkoff who took the fun out of rock via his 4th-grade rhetoric and incomprehensible snarling, middle class woe-is-me, humorless, no-account, pissant excuse for punk. Thus, Email has announced on this day that it is moving into the 90’s and wants us (ok, me) to help pay this jerkoff because too many people think he’s deep and important.
The new E-music is bringing some of the good with the really, really bad, and the presence of Ed Ved makes me violently ill. Still, I still have not determined whether or not I will continue subscribing to E-music because I am spoiled by my current plan: 100/$24.99. I don’t need any of the Springsteen or Clash albums because I already have them on Vinyl and CD and will soon own an MP3 converter to transfer them over.
The classic rock riff-riff will soon pollute bulletin boards all over the site (“Oh! That Jeremy song made you suicidal, too? We sure are cool, serious, middle-class dweebs!”) so profits shouldn’t be an issue for e-music executives. However, long-term subscribers – those who have been here for at least, say, 6 months – shouldn’t be punished via their pocketbooks to accomodate said riff-raff oriented rock.
I say – not to sound like a mutineer (speaking of Mutineer, is Warren Zevon on the way? Well, I do have 9 of his albums already, so I don’t really care) – that we loyalists walk if we don’t dig the forthcoming adjustments. We should demand that our plans not change – what we came here with should/must gosh darn remain. I want my 100/$24.99!!!!! That’s why I joined!!!!! Then again, our strike may not matter; on this potentially sad (almost green) day (yech!), E-music announced that they are one (accelerated at their own chosen speed) decade away from becoming iTunes in disguise.
Please, E-music, say it’s not so. Please don’t change my current killer subscription rate!!!!
eMusic lied, so I will not be renewing my plan when it comes up for renewal in April of next year.
“Your selected plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.”
Too bad emusic is choosing to reduce the number of download by 40%! I wonder what kind of business model they are looking at. I am extremely unhappy and will be canceling my subscription next month. Way to go emusic.
absolute SHITE!
enough said.
eMusic…don’t do it you morons!
Did the major labels finally figure out how to kill eMusic? Or is eMusic simply killing themselves? Most likely both.
Sorry emusic, this isn’t good news at all. Less credits to explore music out of the mainstream isn’t my idea of a good deal. This brings emusic closer to being just another download site. I’ve felt an affinity with emusic until now. It never pays to take value away from your customers. Disappointing.
Ref #738:
I had a typo: where I wrote “their” when I meant “they’re.” Even Masters students make mistakes.
Are the leaders of eMusic reading these? It should be read into the minuets of the next board meeting.
Good Luck Your going to need it
cuggie
Dear loyal eMusic subscribers,
I’ve been trying to find a way to get rid of you pesky customers for years. When Sony recently contacted me to see if eMusic would be interested in their back collection, I realized this problem I’d been having was finally solved.
What do eMusic fans loathe the most? The Big Music industry! What do the despise the second most? NOT being able to download their favorite independent/indie tunes. Eureka! Combine the two, and I knew I’d be able to clear this place out in a single day. They don’t pay me the big bucks for nothing.
Some of the staff members were concerned about our customers’ fierce dedication to eMusic, so I decided to add the final cherry on top: insult their intelligence WHILE breaking the news! By including such classic lines, such as “More of the Good Stuff” and “Do “major” and “indie” mean anything to you or is this just industry jargon?”, I knew the fight had been won.
Don’t get me wrong… I want good music just as much as anyone. I just happen to want a job at Sony even more. I’d been trying to find some way to prove my dedication, and I think driving eMusic into the ground should do it. I think this move shows that I’m more than capable of working for a major record label. I’ve shown that I can ruin a business and ruin independent music labels in record time. With business decisions like these, how could they NOT hire me?!
In conclusion, I think that… aw, f*** it. Why would I even bother saying anything more to you.
Sincerely,
Danny Stien
Count me as another subscriber who is feeling cheated by the new pricing. Clearly this is, as noted in some of the above comments, a move intended to expand emusic’s subscriber base by offering more mainstream artists. Have you even considered keeping the old pricing for your loyal subscribers and charging the higher rate for newcomers, who will presumably be attracted by the expanded selection? The last time the price was raised, you added more tracks to my plan, which seemed fair. What made you think that anyone would be happy to pay the SAME amount of money for LESS content? How about letting us keep our current plans if we pay a year at a time, or some such? That would insure a steady,reliable cash flow and still allow those of us who have been with emusic for a number of years to feel as if you value us. I am disappointed. As another subscriber put it so elequently, “Boo! Emusic! Boo!
Mr. Stein, with all due respect, you’re lying to us by putting “more of the good stuff” as the title of your post. I am one of your annual premium customers, and I see that when my plan rolls over, it will go from 75 downloads per month to *35*. That’s less than 50% of the downloads I had before, and it’s happening because you’ll have 200,000 more titles that frankly, I could care less about.
I have been an emusic customer for 4 years, because it gives me a great selection of international, jazz, and classical titles that I can’t get anywhere else. Now, I’m having that value taken away so you can offer titles from American pop musicians. That’s not more of the good stuff – that’s less value, and more “access” to the crap that the corporate music machine has jammed down our throats for decades.
I really hope that your new relationship with Sony doesn’t mean that you’ll be putting any less effort into getting titles from some of the diverse labels that have helped support emusic for years.
How about offering two types of subscriptions: one for pop music customers, who want access to the Sony catalog, and one for the rest of us who care about access to diverse labels?
It’s really sad that access to the Sony catalog has to come at the cost of reducing the value for the customers that have stuck with emusic the longest. Here’s an opportunity to provide great customer value: figure out a way to bring Sony in *without* cutting our value.
For me, this announcement is no cause for joy. Emusic will no longer be unique.
1) The addition of THE MAJORS will have a huge impact on the daily/weekly/monthly download charts. I used these charts to discover music you won’t hear on radio. Thanks to the charts I discovered my favorite album of 2009- Lost Channels by Great Lake Swimmers. Sadly, the charts will be taken over by the major artists–making it harder to discover “undiscovered” gems.
2) The pricing structure is definitely a deterrent. I loved the sense of discovery that your subscription format afforded. Unfortunately, I’ll be discovering a lot less music.
Have you considered offering two pricing structures: one as is, the other for those seeking major releases? Or how about keeping the pricing structure as is and simply charging “double-downloads” for major releases. That way subscribers who love independent music can continue to enjoy Emusic.
Good luck with the changes…but I really don’t see this working. The indie spirit community and sense of adventure/discovery you’ve cultivated will be:
a.) watered down by more commercial releases
b.) and restrained–in the economic sense–by giving users fewer downloads.
c.) Fewer downloads gives people less new music to discover and talk about.
Sigh…………………..
Here’s another grandfathered eMusic subscriber who has discovered that his 90 downloads will be cut nearly in half in order to grant access to music he has no interest in. Like many of the other commenters, what drew me to the service was the freedom to explore new music, a freedom which was fostered by the interface, cost structure, and subscription format. These are the qualities that made eMusic stand out, and which led to my frequent referrals of the site to my friends (a reaction which I discover is not unique to me, after reading these comments). While I’ll likely wait to see how the slick new eMusic works, I expect that I’ll be looking for another service by the end of summer. What an unpleasant surprise, considering I had intended to keep my eMusic subscription forever. Well, we can always hope that the voices on this page will be heard, and that an “indie option” could be added to keep us sequestered from the major label back catalog dreck. I’m sure that most of us wouldn’t mind being second-class citizens, if it means that we will retain our current value from eMusic. Let the new crowd into the velvet-roped vip lounge; I only ever wanted to stay in the indie basement.
You’re going to double my yearly subscription and offer me fewer/same downloads? Did anybody at e-music ever work at a gym or ymca or something? (Okay, that was rhetorical.) There’s a reason businesses don’t just double people’s memberships every few years.
I wonder… are the staff of emusic looking for new jobs yet?
Hmmm….
I wonder… are the staff of emusic looking for new jobs yet?”
—–
I don’t know. But I’m sure glad there isn’t emusic stock! That stinker would have made a sonic BOOM from plummeting so fast!!!
Why, emusic… why?
This is a really, really unfortunate development, but I guess we shouldn’t be shocked. We’d like to think of emusic as the local used record shop owned and operated by music lovers. But emusic is a business. Nothing more and nothing less. Sure, the business succeeded because of the loyalty of its customers. These customers put emusic in position to make even more money with the only “catch” being that, in order to grab that bigger pot of gold, emusic has to dump its existing customers to chase after a different set of customers (who desire mainstream, major-label music, and who could be pulled away from itunes so long as the price-per-download is a little bit lower).
It was an easy call from a business perspective — so long as more money gets made, it doesn’t matter if the loyal customers who built the company are kicked to the curb. Yes, independent artists suffer — the new customer base isn’t going to downloading the Rural Alberta Advantage if there’s a Simon & Garfunkel album to enjoy. But that’s the Rural Alberta Advantage’s problem, not emusic’s.
Good luck with the business venture. But please don’t pitch this as “good news” to your existing customers. It insults our intelligence. It’s a bad economy, and you’re offering less service for more money.
“this is a business” is the worst possible rationalization for what happened today.
They are running their business into the ground. This is flat out bad business.
They can’t compete with iTunes with their pathetic site and still lame selection (as far as mainstream users are concerned). They are alienating their core customers, which are all they have. Competing with iTunes is a going out of business strategy.
Man, all good things must come to an end I suppose. I really hate that eMusic, a once great service that I introduced countless number of friends to has finally sold out. I wish there would be a way to keep my current plan without a rate increase being forced. Sadly, I think I will join the list of loyal users who will look to other services and quit my eMusic account unless a change is made that allows me to keep my current account settings. In this economy, with people losing jobs and having salary cuts enforced on them, I wonder who thought it would be a “brilliant” idea to do this? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
THE SILVER LINING: for the first time in my life, i am reading a very long string of comments/posts and feeling deep solidarity with 99.9% of them. how often does that happen to anyone? it is truly uplifting to know that i have so many compatriots who see right through to the bottom of this pathetic, two-faced (“more of the good stuff”??), back-stabbing sellout. to all of you whose love of music is greater than your willingness to follow a once-great music subscription service wherever it might see fit to lead its members by the nose, in its bizarre efforts to help a teetering, worm-eaten industry stay on life support: let’s find something better…and if we can’t, let’s build it ourselves.
Does e-music realize that a lot of devoted subscribers still buy music in the form of CD’s and vinyl? The closer in price that downloads get to CD’s, the less I want downloads. Plus, the CD or LP has resale value if I get sick of it. If downloads cost $6 an album, I’ll be bummed if the album sucks.
Is a deepening recession really the best time to be doubling memberships? It doesn’t sound like you guys researched this.
Truly sad. My subscription will be canceled – for sure. I’ll miss our community, the exploration and discovery of musical treasures, and the ability to take a chance on an artist (that your low prices allowed). This change does not seem like a wise business move — drop your niche market and lose your loyal subscribers, to compete with the firmly established providers of mainstream music?! And I most certainly do not buy your condescending letter and crappy “deal”. Please!
Like so many others, I’d forego the Sony crap to get grandfathered in. But I’m afraid it is too late to save the eMusic we love. The service is obviously in the hands of people who no longer value their existing customer base.
This indie-lover needs a new home!
Where are the ex-eMusic subscribers congregating?
Hope something comes along to fill the void…
Plenty of other folks have pointed out how unfortunate this is. Consider my subscription cancelled
Well, I gotta say I’m pretty disappointed in this decision. As I’m sure it’s been said hundreds of times already, I’ll be paying the same price and getting less for it.
As for the “new” major label content, I definitely won’t be purchasing any of it (from emusic or anywhere else). It has nothing to do with the definition of “indie” vs “major label”, it has to do with the world-raping attitudes and bullying practices (legal and otherwise) of the RIAA and the rest of the major labels.
Why the hell would I give them even a cent of my money (little or none of which would actually go to the artists anyway) which they could then use to sue me, crippled children, college students, or anyone else who’s downloaded more than a few songs “illegally”? It’s obscene, and stupid as it may sound, I’ll admit that it gives me a bad taste to see emusic dealing with these people.
In the end, I might be canceling, I might not. But I fail to see how enraging your most loyal of customers to the point of cancellation just so you can POSSIBLY keep “morbidly-obese-women-who-accidentally-subscribed-to-emusic-without-knowing-what-it-was-and-instantly-became-enraged-because-they-couldn’t-find-any-Shania-Twain” resubscribing is a good idea.
Dammit.
Is this a joke? After having a subscription for years on this site I promise you I will be canceling the day before this “improvement” happens.
This is incredibly disappointing. I’ve been an emusic member since 2000. The addition of the major label content by no means makes up for the fact that I’ll be losing 40 downloads per month while paying the same monthly subscription fee. As many here have noted, I can purchase this major label content elsewhere when I so desire and I presently do so. I’ve absoultely loved my emusic subscription up through this point in time and I’ve recommended the service to countless friends and aquaintances. Unfortunately, I really don’t see myself sticking around after these changes take place in July.
I wish that all the negative feedback being posted here could actually have a chance of impacting this decision although I know it would be naive to actually believe that might be possible. This is a big business decision. The important distinction between the indies and the majors is really less about musical differences and more about the way business is carried out. It seems that as we may gain some major label content we’ll also sadly be moving much closer to that major label big business model. It’s a shame. So long emusic… It’s been nice while it lasted.
——Forwarded Message——-
To: dstein@emusic.com
Subject: New beginnings
<<Hi Danny,
<<We love the direction you’re moving in over there! Your subscription model is the <<new frontier in bringing profits and customer satisfaction back to the record industry.
<<We’ll help you out in any way we can with this partnership! For starters, we’d love to
<<get some cross-promotion for our bigger artists who might appeal to your “indie-<<minded” audience.
<<This is the beginning of great things to come. We look forward to working alongside <<you.
<<Regards,
<<Ronald Lipshitz
<<Director of Online Marketing, Sony Records
Meet the new boss…same as the old boss.
What everyone else said. I’ll be canceling as soon as I use up this month’s credits. This is a sad day.
I can see more money for less product if you up the bit rate to something like flac or maybe even go to wave. I like some of the comments, don’t care for the so called major lables and would like to see the independent only. But like everything else in the world the price just goes up and the quality goes down. The quanity also goes down in your case since I will get much less for more money.
I guess I will have to find a replacement for emusic in the future. I really don’t think this is such great news to spring on us and will have to think hard and long about staying with you
I’m underwhelmed, to say the least. How can anyone be excited at having the cost per plan essentially being doubled for the privilege of the option to download Sony’s catalog titles? As a metalhead, I have no interest in music put out by major labels. Here are things I would consider a good value for a modest price increase:
1. Adding content from significant labels that are missing (Metal Blade, etc.)
2. Availability of new titles on the official release date (most new releases I want are delayed)
3. Rollover of unused downloads
4. Complete catalogs of labels (there are major holes in the catalogs from labels such as Nuclear Blast and Century Media)
Doubling the prices on emusic is quite steep. Without rollover of unused downloads, emusic’s new pricing is much less attractive, especially with having to be locked into a year-long contract. I honestly don’t know if I will renew my subscription next year. The availability of $3-5 used CDs without a contractual commitment is seeming very attractive.
Count me in with others who believe that emusic should have variable pricing for record labels and artists who insist on higher royalty rates. If Sony believes their catalog is worth more, let their tracks cost 2 credits. Let them see what people download when competing music from independent labels are available for 1 credit. Increasing the price on everything to placate Sony is the wrong approach. I’m impressed that emusic is asking from feedback; I just hope that they reconsider the new pricing structure.
Count me as another disappointed subscriber. Increase my selections with music I don’t want, and then reduce my downloads, seems like I lose on both counts. My continued membership is doubtful.
First of all I didn’t join this site to get music from the majors. i joined this site because it gave me an affordable option of downloading the smaller guys and giving new unheard music a try.
I think this totally screws the audience that has brought this site up. You guys are completely neglecting your core audience and now competing with majors like itunes. Bad idea. And you just destroyed your own niche by doubling the prices. I’ve been a member for 3 years and will be canceling my account more than likely as soon as the change happens.
Thanks emusic for the years and it’s unfortunate you had to mess with a good thing.
Is GM running Emusic now? Great timing! It’s always a great idea to bite the hand that feeds you. Adding Michael Jackson and Billy Joel to this site was pure genius. How many people will “celebrate” with the “free” 15 tracks and then cancel the service? Soon, you’ll have new subscribers who complain about all those “weird” bands on the site that “nobody cares about”.
I was here during the last great controversy over limiting downloads per month. I left then, and your good offer brought me back. I wonder what it will take to bring me back this time……
This disappoints me. As others have mentioned, I specifically joined eMusic so I could take chances & discover new music. While it will be nice to download a few “major” albums that I don’t yet own for a relatively cheap price, it will come at the expense of taking a chance on an old blues or new, interesting-looking indie album. I don’t want to make threats like “I’m canceling my subscription”, but honestly this takes a lot of the luster off of eMusic. I can’t say that I’d recommend the site to any friends at this point.
My old friend Amoeba is going to be seeing a lot more of me. I CANCEL!
Your pricing structure always sucked, even iTunes recognizes that music is purchased on albums.
I just thought I’d glance at the tail end of the comments, but they turned so opposed that I thought I’d share my own reaction, which was: Sure, okay. Great.
I’ve enjoyed the service and gotten a lot out of it, and yes, of course, listened to a lot of music that I wouldn’t have otherwise. So I’m willing to put forward some trust to see where this goes, and to see what new music becomes available. (And to see how much of the Sony classical and jazz catalogues go up. Riches.)
I wish you the best with this, and I’ll stick around.
As for the business criticism this seems to have generated, I offer some thoughts…
Am I disappointed that the pricing changed? Yes, yes I am. But things change, this changed. Oh well. I can keep things in perspective. The value I get from emusic, and what leads me to try out new music, is the pricing *model*, not cost per track. Once the monthly fee is paid, that’s sunk cost, and each download represents only opportunity cost. i.e. Downloading X means I can’t download Y, but there’s no marginal price difference. The fact that the tracks are relatively cheap is nice, but the real incentive to try new music here is that the tracks are paid for. Keep that. Well, and there’s the pseudo-community record store feel. That works too.
Now I get 74% as many downloads. I’ll live, and hopefully I can make up some volume on new 12 track album pricing. Like I said, I’ll stick around.
Worst news, now tell me my cat just died………Thanks
What needs to happen is varied pricing. Let me keep my 90 downloads as “Credits” and charge me 2 credits to download the major label stuff. I’m glad to see it here, but it’s going to make me less adventurous… fewer, more expensive credits and the lure of familiar names and catalogues will leave a lot less room for exploration for many of us.
Add to that the fact that most of this old back catalogue stuff can be had on Amazon for dirt cheap and no, as a member for almost five years I’m not excited.
Try variable pricing and make everyone happy! Is that soooo hard?
How many remember this: “Your selected plan will be guaranteed as long as you keep your account active and in good standing.”
BIG MISTAKE !
I agree with what everyone else here is saying. Radio is dead, and the majors are ruining the music business. Well maybe not, as long as they can get dumb clones to buy the crap they’re putting out. Have enjoyed emusic while it lasted. Found a lot of great artists who would never get radio time. The more it costs the less you buy and try, which ultimately hurts the artists. Might stick around for a bit to get a few things I want, or might not. Thank God Im on a month to month. Certainly there’s little to lose by cancelling your sub plan. The only thing I do agree with is that an album with more than 12 tracks or so should be a set point value.This is the year of the big sellout it seems, and the major one is in the whitehouse. Too bad we cant point this kind of angst in that direction also.
The beginning of the end for emusic RIP
Terrible, terrible idea. Just stupid. I do not want nor care about the pop nonsense which will now be on offer, and I have no idea why I should be penalized for emusic executives’ craven decision. I have enjoyed the service up till now but in the light of the price hike I will probably cancel. By the time emusic realizes what a mistake this is many more will have done the same.
What’s next? We get to pay 75 cents a download to get access to Miley Cyrus and Hoobastank? That would be great news for a lot of people, but non of them are currently eMusic members.
Of course, eMusic is hoping this move will bring them some mainstream attention. But why try and go toe-to-toe with Apple? eMusic had carved out a great niche, it’s too bad they’re trying to grow out of it.
What a bunch of whiners. Everybody says they have broad taste in music, but in fact there are only 2 kinds of music you guys like: Free, and very, very very cheap. “I’m here to support independent artists, but if you dare charge me more than 24 cents I’ll go to bittorrent!” What the hell kind of support is that? You get a d/l, the artist gets a nickel. An indy musician can’t eat rice and beans at that price.
Never mind emusic, what we need, something like what Snocap tried to do, is to make it easy for indy artists to sell directly from their own websites; plus social networks for us to help one another find the good stuff. And, we need consumers who will pay for the stuff they like, even if it is free on limewire. I know I’m much more likely to pay a buck per song when the artist is keeping 80 cents, rather than 15.
What bad timing this is. Just today, I finally convinced quite a few members of my mailing list to give Emusic a try. I was so excited about the great music and indie artists that I had found on here for the last year. But alas, more of the same BS that other services offer. Not to beat a ‘dead horse’ here, but the increase in price and reduction in downloads is just a crime. Now I have to appologize to all those other music fans on the mailing list and tell them that I am sorry that greed has taken over another otherwise great music service.
After the end of June, I’m outta here !
You can’t even get your act together enough to carry many of the current titles released on the actual indie labels you currently carry. Why should I be excited about paying more for access to archives that I already own or don’t want?
I have been a very happy customer of emusic and often talk about it to my friends. No more. “the distinction between indie and mainstream music simply does not matter”? You’ve got to be fucking joking. Don’t get me wrong, I like many “mainstream” bands but emusic was something different. I appreciated the lower prices and the ability to discover lesser known bands that I may not have heard before. If I wanted Billy Joel and Boston, I’d go waste my money on iTunes. You have just destroyed what made emusic so attractive.
Dear Emusic,
I have been an avid fan for almost 2 years now. You were the holy grail of independent music. We don’t want Sony!!! We love you because you bring us great indie labels!
Increasing our plan to reward the independent artists. I can live with that. But for Sony????
Hell no!
I’ll give you a few months, but I’ll likely be gone by the end of summer.
It’s been a good trip.
-stev
Very disappointing. I guess this is e-Music’s way of getting rid of grandfathered accounts.
Hopefully a “new” e-Music site starts up in the near future. I may stick around for a month or two after the change, but will most likely go back to buying CD’s from the local record stores after that. Adios e-Music!
Hmmm. One of the reasons I subscribed is to expand my musical boundaries. I have spent much time listening to the clips, searching for stuff I might like, looking in nooks and crannies I haven’t even considered until I got on this site. Sure, some of the stuff I’ve downloaded turned out to be disappointing, but then that also happend quite a bit back when I payed full price for my vinyl! On the plus side, I’ve discovered some real gems. I’ve looked forward to my 40 song “POP” every month now for some time now, not to download stuff I know I will like, but to take advantage of the low price to take some chances with new (to me) artists.
So, now I’m asked to pay the same price for 10 less songs per month? This is going to put a damper on my experimental side, and I’ll probably end up downloading more of the new more popular stuff that’s soon to be offered here.
I guess I’ll have to see if the trade off is worth it.
I’m not baggin it just yet, ask me again in a few months.
SO as many above have already said, you’re adding craptacular corporate pop that can be found in thousands of places and significantly raising prices to do it? Are you fucking nuts? The only reason I’m here is because emusic *was* a great service. Since you don’t rollover unused credits the 33% decrease in downloads each month is completely untenable. Enjoy following GM into bankruptcy. You won’t be getting another penny from me.
Well, most of you guys have done a good job of expressing how I feel, so forgive me for sounding redundant.
The great thing about my grandfathered plan (65 for $15) was it allowed me to try out new and emerging indie artists (This is where I first discovered The Decemberists many years ago, for instance) and catch up on Indie-type artists that I somehow missed when I was younger (how did I go through my 20s without running into Galaxie 500?) without having to pay 15-17 bucks a CD, cause I can’t go exploring at that price. The changes obviously mean a lot less exploring, and that’s quite sad, but 65 for 15 did seem too good to last. But at least the new album-as-12-downloads-max pricing might take out some of the sting (although I notice the wording “select” albums. hmmmmm) or it may just mean that I download only “select” classical albums. It *could* mean that under my new plan, I *may* be able to get 3 Indie/unknown/emerging/forgotten classic/classical CDs a month. And if I can do that, I may stick around. But that price comes close to what I can pay at local used CD shops and I’m a guy who tries hard to give my cash to local businesses, so at some point, I may just decide to cancel and spend more time at the used CD shops. We’ll give it a few months and see. Even if I abandon ship, thanks for the music, eMusic.
I think eMusic should consider a tiered pricing scheme similar to the iTunes model. Let the Sony catalog cost 2 downloads per track. Longtime users who avoid Bruce Springsteen at all costs won’t be affected, and new users will still feel like they are getting a deal relative to the $.99 iTunes store.
I certainly don’t expect eMusic to freeze the prices on subscriptions forever; as a longtime subscriber I’ve seen my cost per download go up a few times. The first time was, as someone mentioned earlier, expected, as the unlimited downloads were too good to be true. The latest increase, however, is both ill timed and too steep to be shrugged off. I can think of no restaurant, gas station, book store, car dealer, or record store that would dare increase prices by nearly 50% and expect to keep my business.
Since eMusic is imposing a 44% increase on my download cost, I’m curious to know if the artists will receive a similar pay raise, or will the increased revenue go to the musical acts who are precisely the ones who need it the least – Springsteen, Billy Joel, Aerosmith, Brooks and Dunn, Kelly Clarkson, et al.
Another disappointment. I have a lot of the Sony back catalog on CD anyway–I can rip it for free. (At least until the R.lI.A.A. goon squad catches up with me.) I can’t imagine any technical reason why current subscribers couldn’t opt out of access to the Sony material in exchange for more downloads. Maybe the business argument for getting hitched with a major outweighed the customer-loyalty argument? Anyway I’m not an automatic cancel–yet. (Even at 2x the current price the available labels here have a lot of great music at half the cost of Amazon.) But I’d be way more inclined to stay if, instead of explaining why the new plan is such a great deal, Mr. Stein were willing to acknowledge long-time members’ concerns about the plan.
selling out all the artists to sony after pretending to care about them. i guess it is true that $$$$ is the bottom line. shame on you. it was said the best up above: meet the new boss same as the old boss.
I think the solution that would keep people happy and keep a good number of the existing customers in is this:
Major label or Indie labels like Sub Pop Epitaph who didnt want to accept the current pricing 1.25 current credits for a download, which is basically the current cost for people going from a 30 song to a 24 song plan.
1 download credit for a standard indie song. So basically Emusic, indies and major labels get their cake and eat it too.
For subscriptions, we should be able to purchase an EMUSIC standard subscription, and an EMUSIC plus subscription. We should be able to have the old and the new at the same time.
Coming from a small town where it is difficult at best to find indie music, eMusic has been my lifeline. I can get major label stuff anywhere. Decreasing my downloads by nearly half for the same price just means I’ll be doing a lot less exploring. I’ll stick around awhile (as long as the music that I have saved for later doesn’t go away) and see what is offered, but I can’t imagine there will be enough content I’m interested in from the major labels to sooth the sting of this price hike!
Long term, non-US customer here. Getting downloads almost halved (or prices almost doubled, depending on how you take it) for nothing in return? Terrible.
We like the service, but why screw us over like this? Throw us a bone! Do some territorial deals already and at least give us access to some new existing indie content, let alone major stuff.
The funny thing that seems to get overlooked about iTunes/Amazon is they don’t necessarily charge $1 or more per track. (In reference to the “We will never sell music for $1.29 per track grandstanding). If you are buying complete albums (which it seems a lot of eMusic customers do based on what I’ve read) then the per-track price can be a lot lower. At current eMusic prices there are even albums at this moment that are cheaper on iTunes or Amazon based on number of tracks. That ratio is going to get a lot worse when the prices change in July (yeah they said they would introduce a 12 track album download cap, but note they said that would be on SELECT albums only…and iTunes and Amazon have plenty of $5.99 albums anyway).
Now that iTunes is DRM-free why would users put up with the eMusic inconveniences such as requiring a subscription (where you can lose downloads you paid for to boot—what does that do to the PER TRACK price??), crappy broken website that never gets fixed and actually gets worse over time, broken and missing tracks that never get fixed, and a still very limited selection of major label releases? It makes absolutely no sense as a value proposition. Sorry but ‘editorial content’ is not going to make up for that. The other sites have that too and it’s better organized.
When an album is the same price at eMusic as at iTunes or Amazon, only a fool would buy it on eMusic because there is no longer any advantage. Good luck with that business model. If iTunes still used DRM on most things then there could be a business case but NEWSFLASH!….they don’t.
No matter what anyone here thinks or the threat of canceling their subscriptions, this is going to happen. Money talks and the whole idea of running any business is to make money….lots of it. While they toss around their rhetoric about how freakin great this will be, it will only be great for their pockets not ours. We’ve already seen the pricing go up and the downloads per month go down with the last regime change. This sucks! As much as I would love to have access to the toe tappers I hear on the local radio I also liked the idea that I can save money and find new up and coming artists without resorting to the BS pricing and limited independent catalogs at Amazon or Rhapsody. I have totally denied myself even considering lining that arrogant ass Jobs’ pockets by installing the bloatware Itunes on any of my machines so I’m not even considering them as competition. I left emusic once and came back as the catalog grew and became more rich and diverse. Now I’m afraid that I will probably leave for good until another provider comes on the scene that “gets it”…at least for a while until they get greedy.
Remember Emusic….You can’t take all that money with you at the end and while your sipping your martini’s on your yacht I hope that you remember what you sacrificed….the people that supported you through thick and thin.
Only in America…I’m sooo ashamed.
This is fascinating and sad to watch.
Mr. Stein is going to look at these comments and say, “Well, it’s a price hike. There’s always going to be bitching after a price hike.” But what he apparently doesn’t understand is that eMusic’s strength is evangelism. It’s been obvious to most of us longtime members that eMusic has always somewhat relied on the uninformed – the person who signs up not realizing they won’t find the music they want there, or the person who pays for a subscription without downloading a thing. The uninformed user isn’t really losing anything here, and for all I know, that’s what Mr. Stein sees as his most important market.
But what eMusic has just pissed away – and so AVOIDABLY, my god – is the evangelists. I don’t mean the vocal minority on the eMu message boards, but those of us who have been spreading the good word to music lovers for years.
Reputation, brand – gone and gone. There’s some money to be made without those two things, but it’s gonna be a tough row to hoe.
I feel terrible for the majority of the eMusic staff. You know – KNOW – this is disheartening to watch from the inside. I can completely relate. Sorry, guys.
Oh, yeah, I’ll also chime in as a marketing professional – hey, a few of us here. The messaging here is HILARIOUSLY inept. This “so-so news (price hike btw) HEY NEW FEATURE” bullshit with the recommendation engine – who the hell wrote that? How stupid do you think 17 Dots readers – who obviously represent the vocal but passionate minority and not the free trial noobs – really are? Your best recommendation engine WAS the people now leaving comments here. Come on, man.
Very well said Jeff Morris. I agree with everything you wrote, I find it sadly fascinating as well. I also feel bad for the eMusic employees who had no say in this decision and can imagine how horrible this is for them.
Congratulations on selling out.