how we approach sony
When Sony’s catalogue hits the site later this summer, what will you see? That’s the question the 17 Dots team has been working on, and I wanted to give everyone a peek at how we’re approaching this.
The first thing to note is that, for better or worse, eMusic’s taste is the same. We’re finicky, we get excited about weird records, we like to dork out over awesome songs and we do our best to ignore the hype, focusing on things that either: a) we think are great, b) you think are great or c) we think that you think are great. Got that?
What this does mean is that we just got a whole lot more to choose from. There are tons of classic records in the Sony catalogue, and we’ve been drooling over the idea of having, say, Highway 61 Revisited as a Review of the Day or building a feature around the deep, spiritual connections between Arcade Fire’s Funeral, Mahler’s Second Symphony and Journey’s Escape. (That is, believe it or not, a real feature that Jayson is writing.) The spectrum gets widened considerably.
We’re very focused on drawing (or creating) connections between the small indie records that we live and die by and the big classic records that got us so into music in the first place. Musically, socially and spiritually there are tons of links to explore between the big boys and the little guys, and we’re doing our best to find them with a series called Six Degrees, where we take a classic record (and we’re defining “classic” as everything from London Calling to Miles’ Nefertiti to Tribe’s Low End Theory to Panda Bear’s Person Pitch) and examine five albums that echo it in some way across all genres, eras and styles.
Here’s an example: Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. Obviously an amazing record, and a clear outlier in Bruce’s career. Our Six Degrees of Nebraska connects that album to the Johnny Cash Sun singles, Woody Guthrie’s Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti, Suicide’s first record, the complete Robert Johnson recordings and Kurt Vile’s Constant Hitmaker. Some of those are super obvious; some of those are not. The idea is that if you are into Nebraska but aren’t sure what else to check out, you’d consult one of these. We should have about twenty Six Degrees pieces ready for launch.
You could also take two features we’ve built called Mainstream Goes Indie, and Indie Goes Mainstream. The former chronicles big name artists making weird records (Springsteen’s Nebraska, Lou Reed’s Berlin, the Johnny Cash American Recordings series, the Clash’s Sandinista), while the latter lists indie artists who made it big (Modest Mouse, Interpol, the Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, etc). Again, emphasizing how close musically a lot of these records are.
There are a lot of permutations and riffs on this approach that you will see encompassing almost every genre and style. We feel pretty confident that there will be something for everyone. And so with this enormous, ridiculous catalogue and our shared musical philosophy (listen to the good stuff, ignore the rest), it’ll be that much easier and more fun to find records, to get inspired, to get into some phase that you never expected. That’s what being a fan is all about.
Yancey Strickler
Editor in Chief
Do you have any idea of how long it will take you to get Sony to extend the distribution rights outside of the US? (Are you still trying or are you satisfied with the US for now?)
Thank you, Yancey. This is the post I was hoping for; the kind that reassures me that eMusic will try to remain true to its original focus, and not become a pale imitation of other online distribution sites.
Your CAPTCHA is broken…
“Effective Jul 6, 2009, your plan will change to the new eMusic Plus plan which gives you 37 downloads for $14.99 every 30 days.
We’re sorry that we’ve had to retire your current plan, but we’re confident that you’ll find even more music to love among the many new additions to the music catalog. And of course, you can always choose a different plan by visiting the Plan Options page within Your Account.”
My current plan is (grandfathered) 65 tracks per month for $14.99. This means that your Sony deal results in a 100% per track price increase over what I’m paying currently.
I appreciate(?) that you’ll be adding a lot of music from major labels that I could frankly not give a crap about (Alicia Keys — really?), but literally halving the amount of tracks I get on my current plan is a bit much to take. I’ve been a subscriber since 2000, but I am seriously considering canceling at this point.
Does the price increase at least mean that you’ll finally get the big holdout indies on board: Sub Pop, Drag City, etc.?
umm, can we not have the majors in the UK please, don’t fancy a 50% price hike for Bruce Springsteen. My lists are full to bursting with amazing music from the labels eMusic has been carrying for years….
will the majors only be releasing their back catalogues, or new releases as well?
Yancey,
Please ask your CEO “Where is the loyalty to your existing customers?” It seems to me that your business plan is to abandon all of the existing customers who have been loyal to you over the years in favor of attracting new customers who will be willing to pay your higher cots pricing plans. Does emusic care if a large percentage of their existing customers cancel or is that part of the new business plan?
oh dear…is this the beginning of the end?
What’s next, one-world government?
I’ll leave the keys on the kitchen counter. You were the best I ever had…I’m just not into silicone-prone self identity crises girls…call me if you land Sub-pop, we’ll hook up again.
Completely agree with #7. It’s like they’re purposely trying to kick all of us “grandfathers” out.
I am really frustrated with this whole situation and seriously debating whether to keep my subscription or not. If I do decide to stay a loyal subscriber, how do I know that your prices won’t skyrocket with the addition of each new major label (if other labels follow suit)? With this move, eMusic doesn’t seem to care too much about existing and loyal customers… call me naïve, but I always thought you guys did.
Sounds like this is the result of an editorial fantasy more than about meeting the needs of customers. Note how much of this “explanation” was devoted to cool stories to write. It’s like the editors had a features wish-list and thought it was worth it to tick off and screw their ardent fan base just so they could wax eloquent about their musical obsessions. That’s what a blog is for. Leave us out of it.
Strickler, I couldn’t care less. This is A.) not exciting, and B.) aggravating. Thanks for ignoring the massive price increase needed to make Highway 61 Revisited a Review of the Day (is that *honestly* supposed to console us?).
I somewhat echo the sentiments of others above, although not to the point of canceling my subscription. The biggest benefit of this seems to be your decision to lump albums of over 12 tracks into one 12-track unit. I’m appreciative of that, and it kinda takes the sting out of a price increase.
Can you describe some of the other details of the new pricing scheme here, Yancey?
I’m all for whatever can bring new life to music sales, but I have to say my initial reaction was to kill my account come July 1. Quite honestly, if the price goes up when Sony is added, will it continue to rise as you add more major labels?
Still, I’m curious to hear about how the new album pricing will work (from my account page):
“Ever hesitate to download an album comprised of many tracks because it’d eat up so many credits? Album pricing will allow you to download selected albums of 12 or more tracks for the price of 12 downloads. The change will be a boon to fans of classical music and two-minute thrash-masters alike.”
Any more details on that? Sounds like something you guys should be touting pretty hard.
I too am much more interested in the 12 d/l cap on “selected” albums than SonyBMG’s back catalog. The album pricing would take a bit of the sting out of doubling the rates and would do a lot to make me stay.
13 and 14, I believe the key to the 12 or more track albums as a 12 download package is the word selected. That is also probably why they aren’t touting it too much. How many albums will be selected? Will they change from time to time? Will only the new additions be selected since that seems to be the new focus?
How about How you approach your customers? Acknowledging their existance, for instance, might prove a good start.
Ouch. This is like my favorite motorcycle dealer deciding to add tractors to its product line and then raising prices to pay for new inventory that’s of no interest to me. eMusic has been my source for oddball stuff that the major labels don’t carry, and was a really good deal under the old pricing structure. With the changes it’s no longer cost-effective or attractive to me, and I won’t be renewing after this month runs out.
As I put it elsewhere–congratulations, I cancel!
Thanks for screwing up something good, and not caring at all about your current customers. Just flat out ignoring them.
Canceling isn’t enough. I’m so disappointed, so angry, I wish I could mail you a flaming bag of poo. When you stomped on it, you could recall how good you felt stomping on your current customers.
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.
Not sure I like this much at all but I’m guessing that it really doesn’t matter what I think – I’m going from 90 to 50 DL’s per month for the same price. Talk about inflation!!!
First off, I probably already own many of the “major” artists that I care about (like Springsteen & the Clash). Most of the rest I probably wouldn’t DL if you put them up for free. Secondly, like others have noted here, there is plenty of music on eMusic that I have not yet gotten to. I would have preferred to been given some choice – if the addition of the Sony catalogue is what’s driving the overall cost up, then why not just charge more for those “premium” artists & if I want them I’ll pay a premium for them? Been thinking about cutting back on what I spend on music & this just might push me over the edge on emusic . . . but I’ll wait & see how it plays out for a few months, I guess.
This sucks. If I wanted to download Journey, I would have gone to iTunes. Emusic used to be a place where I could try new music for a reasonable price. Now its just more of the same. I’ve been a subscriber for 5 years, and now I’m losing half my monthly downloads so you can carry a bunch of crap I don’t want? I’ll be cancelling my subscription next month. What a disappointment.
I have to say I love the complete lack of response to the price increase by the eMusic staff. No response to these blog comments – no response to the message board postings. Get a clue eMusic you have customers and we are pissed! How about a response to the price gouging you have just brought to the table.
Y’know, here’s the thing. I already know what Highway 61 Revisited sounds like, so I don’t NEED it to be a Review of the Day.
“but we’re confident that you’ll find even more music to love among the many new additions to the music catalog.” And as Yancey says, he and his staff will be working on lots of cool editorial ideas to whet my appetite. Except…Houston, we have a problem.
So I’m going to find lots more music I’ll want to download….but after my $15 per month plan goes from 65 to 37 downloads, I’ll have half as many downloads to use! How exactly does that make sense? In today’s economy, how many people will increase their outlay to get back up to the previous number of DLs? I’d bet most, assuming they stay at all, will simply have to accept getting less music every month, and being much pickier and less experimental about what music they choose.
One has to wonder what impact this will have on indie labels here. Fewer DLs per customer, and some of those will be siphoned off by the new major label content. Yes, the major label content may draw in new subscribers, but how many of those will be buying indie? It’s been posited in another thread that the indie labels don’t care about how many DLs they move, that it’s better for them to make more PER download. But if fewer indie artists are being DL’d, how will that help indie labels? How will it help their artists?
Another issue: Potential new customers drawn to the major label catalogue will not be used to a subscription pricing model. How does eMusic plan on hooking those people in and keeping them past their trial subscriptions? They’ll have to spend a lot more time and effort promoting the mainstream content in order to do that. Most of those folks are not going to be 17 Dotheads, won’t care about the connections between the weird areas of major labels and the far-out indies. I foresee many of eMusis’s indie artists feeling squeezed out, as it will no longer be an oasis for them. I suspect many will be looking for greener pastures, though some of the big indies may feel they will benefit from a potentially increased subscriber base. Whether or not they will remains to be seen.
EMusic may survive, and even thrive, under this new constitution, but it will inevitably become a very different place from what it is now.
Let me join the chorus here: I’ve been a subscriber for five years. I fell in love with and became addicted to this site, so much so that for the last few years I’ve had a 300 dl/mo plan (at about .25/song) that I’ve kept despite it occasionally being a financial burden. I never cared, because I was so grateful to have a service like this that I was actually willing to pay more than I could afford. Take note, eMusic: this is what happens when you make customers happy. They give you money.
Now my plan is changing from 300 dl/mo to 100 dl/mo. 300 to 100? I’m sorry, but how could ANY OF YOU have thought that that would be okay? Are you so delusional as to think that this is an acceptable change? And I’m not even going to talk about what you want me to pay for that. And for what? The opportunity to start download Brooks and Fucking Dunn?
Stewart, above has a good point: hands up, please, if you need to be told to listen to Highway 61 Revisited. Berlin? London Fucking Calling? Yeah, didn’t think so. Because you already know these records by heart. You’ve absorbed them for years. You’re here because you want to find new records to love. You’re not interested in “The Canon.” You’re interested in making your own fucking canon. Isn’t that the point of eMusic? Or, to echo yancey, isn’t that what being a music lover is all about?
After my dls refresh in June I’m cancelling. I encourage all of you who are upset by this change to do the same. These days businesses just won’t listen to you unless you make them, and eMusic, you really should listen. You’re alienating a huge portion of your base here, and you should at the very least address it.
I’ve posted a comment elsewhere, but want to add my voice to the chorus. I like eMusic. Do I like it because of a) the nifty recommend-o engine? b) the witty writing? or c) the value of the music?
I’ll give you a hint, Yancey, et. al.: it ain’t you I’m here for. It’s the music, and the artists and labels who are off the beaten path enough to want to be here. Sony’s a bunch of suits. Have they released good music? Sure. Do I care enough to spend twice as much to download new stuff? Not on your life.
I had a 200-download plan. I couldn’t get enough of what was already here, so I kept juicing my plan. Booster packs, bigger plan, whatever. I loved finding the music. Was I annoyed that I couldn’t download Journey? No. Would I have liked to find more indies (like the dearly departed Anti or the much-desired Sub Pop)? You betcha. I might even have considered a modest price increase worth that. But eMusic tears me a new one so they can give me Sony?
Not interested. My subscription’s already cancelled. Good luck with the new model, and with the customers who come for the candy but don’t care about the steaks.
Yancy I have no doubt that you guys will do a great job with what you outlined– you always do. Personally I would have been 2x more excited to pay 2x more if drag city, sub pop, Epitaph etc etc were added to the site instead of Sony. It just isn’t a draw for me.
Jeepers! What a way to find out that changes are afoot! I do hope this isn’t coming to the UK.
This doesn’t seem like a fair trade off to me at all. And it just makes a subscription model seem a lot less appealing.
Everything over 2 years old that I want, I already have. I deeply fear the flood of crap coming from Sony (and while much is good, much more is crap–and the crap is more popular) will drown out all revenue going to small labels; at least as I understand your business model.
I could have accepted a price increase to bring in indie labels. But for Sony? And not even new Sony?
Shit.
I appreciate the efforts of the editors to come up with interesting ways to incorporate the Sony offerings into the eMusic catalog, but, frankly, the six degrees idea is exactly the kind of information I can get from reading blogs, participating in online music discussions, and reading reviews. I’m sure the editorial staff at eMusic will do this well–in fact, they’re already making these connections in their current Reviews, Spotlights, and Dozen features. But it just isn’t what I want. I have Nebraska. I have Highway 61 Revisited. I have London Calling. And I have a pretty good sense about which up and coming artists are influenced by these classics. It’s not that I don’t like major label offerings. I just don’t need to get these from eMusic. (And with current remasters, deluxe editions, and boxed sets coming out with excellent liner notes and DVD discs, the rock canon is one area where online retailers are at a disadvantage.)
I can’t see this as anything other than a major overhaul to everything eMusic has been for its customers, and I find this pretty sad. eMusic must know that it is alienating it’s current subscriber base in exchange for a new customer base that will pay more for less–and I mean “less” in multiple ways here. There *must* have been some way to make the transition much less drastic for current subscribers who love eMusic just as it is.
I’m also really disappointed in these last two 17dots posts, as well as the “don’t worry, we’re not changing (oh, and by the way, we’re cutting your monthly allotment by nearly two-thirds and you’ll be paying twice as much for that)” message on the eMusic home page. “This will be good for you, trust us” is an all-too familiar a stance that corporate marketers take toward their consumers. But it’s particularly disheartening to have it come from people who I’m pretty sure know better than to engage in these kinds of tactics. That the most serious change–the steep price-hikes–isn’t being addressed is odd, to say the very least: “Grumbling about price-gouging? I don’t hear any grumbling about price-gouging. Do you?” I know I’m naive to have believed that eMusic would forever have remained different, just as I shouldn’t be surprised that there are only a handful of used book and record stores left in my community. I know that these golden ages never last, but it’s no less disappointing when they pass away.
I haven’t yet made a decision about whether I’m sticking around (my current plan ends in a month, so I don’t have the luxury of seeing whether the “new-and-improved” eMusic will be worth the renewal at such serious price hikes), but if you asked me today, I’d say no.
Somehow, I doubt that you’ll be able to “wow” your existing thousands of customers with these new “connections” ideas, especially “mainstream goes indie.” I feel that you’d seriously be undermining some of your loyal music fans out there. Don’t you think that we could’ve and perhaps already have made connections like that on our own? Or know what is derivative of another album?
This is bullshit.
Keep those fingers in your ear eMusic…we wouldn’t want you to acknowledge how pissed off we all are.
Did you keepers at Sony tell you how to respond to your loyal customers? Nice customer service model you have now.
Yancey,
Please be honest with us. We’re not idiots. Your good name means something — a lot, in fact. Be honest now. If you were not being paid to toe the party line, which side would YOU the fellow music fanatic be on?
I’d still love you if you could but say — OK, guys, I agree with you. But this is the new reality and we’re going to make the best of it. Here’s how… and THEN continue with the column you wrote.
Because every time you eMusic folks try to dress this up like it’s what we’ve been dreaming of all along, you degrade your own personal integrity. And I think you know it.
So please, can someone – ANYONE – there at eMusic face the music and at least *acknowledge* that 99% of the people who have put you where you are feeling gypped? At least say you understand.
What hurts the most is not the price increase. It’s this bullshit “up with people” attitude that is as fake as a three-dollar bill. It’s being treated like we’re idiots-consumers like the rest of the major-media fans.
What you’re talking about in your column is good journalism — not a music store. The two used to be related, but now they are severed.
Look… if you guys could be transparent and show us the numbers — proving, for instance that our now-doubled per-track prices were going to pay the indie artist we DID join eMusic (and had all our friends join as well!) you’d get solid buy-in.
But EVERYONE knows where that money is going — part of it to eMusic’s ownership and part of it to the MAJORS.
Do you get that? It’s called betrayal. Followed by whitewashing.
A brand is built on loyalty which is built on emotional attachment. A subscription service is built on trust. When you trash both in a lowlife bait-and-switch you lose EVERYTHING.
A Pyrrhic victory.
Thank you for stating the obvious. I would not have been able to verbalize it nearly as well as you did. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
It may have already been stated here, but it occurs to me that the biggest blunder (beyond no acknowledgment of any kind of the outcry) is a total misunderstanding of your customer base. I, like many others here, joined eMusic because of what it offered as an alternative to other outlets. I already buy from those other outlets. I buy compact discs, mp3s, aacs and vinyl. I’ve got a physical collection up in the 4,000 piece range. I already own bloody Nebraska. I’ve already heard London Calling. I’ve already discovered Bob Dylan. I come here to discover new music, obscure rarities, to take a flutter on odd-ball genres and tiny labels. I don’t come to eMusic for Music 101; if I wanted to subsidize the musical education of others I’d do it in my own way.
“(Springsteen’s Nebraska, Lou Reed’s Berlin, the Johnny Cash American Recordings series, the Clash’s Sandinista.)”
This quote highlights the problem for me. I already own each of these albums. Hell, the Clash and Lou Reed I own in Vinyl, CD and recent remasters. I don’t need a digital version as well.
Maybe you’ll have some luck getting people who cam looking for Michael Jackson to download them, but I doubt it. They’ll just switch to trolling about why this site only has old stuff.
MarcF said it far better than I ever could.
Great post Mark F.
The overall silence is deafening. I just canceled. Fittingly, my last download was a Spoon album that I’d been sitting on for a while.
Like so many others, I am very disappointed that a company I have been loyal to for nearly 8 years has seen fit to raise my cost per track by 178%. That’s right, 178%. I cannot think of a single area of my life where I would accept a 178% increase and stay with that particular vendor, regardless of what other options exist. 178% says quite clearly “we don’t care about you, you’re just a number now”. 178% says “it’s OK if you go somewhere else, cuz we’ll get our profit from someone else”. 178% says “F you, Bluesboy. We don’t care how many people you recommended eMusic to in the past, what checks have you written for me lately?”
I’ve been trying to take a bigger view of this, especially since there are parts of the Sony catalog I’m excited to get (I’m short on a couple of Springsteen albums, shamefully I own no Clash or Dylan, etc.), but at $0.41 per track I can pick up a used LP or CD and feel better about it. Sure, eMu will still be cheaper than iTunes and Amazon (although the Big A has some great deals from time to time), but it’s the principal of the thing.
Anyone ever see “Empire Records”? That’s what’s going on here.
Yo people! Calm the fuck down! Life is not over. You’re still going to get a supreme deal over any other site. Yeah, price increases suck, but did you really expect that any business could survive on the $0.20 you paid for that track? And did you really think any label really loved that either? And did you really think it was going to last forever? Nothing is forever.
Having said all that, I lost my job so I might have to cancel anyway, but my Basic plan isn’t changing which is a nice deal. Maybe I’ll spend some of the $400 the government gives me every week on an emusic sub. Buckle down people and just see how it plays out.
Hey so my price is basically doubling too but because I’m not in the US I don’t even get access to the major label stuff as some kind of compensation?
Guess I’m cancelling then. “On account of the economy”, to quote Columbia Recording Artist Bruce Springsteen. You have no idea two that actually profoundly saddens me. Yancey, you probably do but you aren’t allowed to say so.
Count me as another seriously disappointed subscriber. I ADMIRED you guys for not getting into bed with the majors, and to have pulled this move without consulting your existing customer base is just shitty.
Marc F. ftw
More on the eMusic decision to add Sony and its impact on indie labels and eMusic subscribers here on Hypebot.com
eMusic Adds Sony, But Could Pay A Price
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/06/emusic-adds-sony-but-could-pay-a-price.html
This is a big letdown. As with many of the people who read this blog daily, for years I’ve stayed with eMusic for all the albums you CAN’T get at any old big box store. When labels like Black Saint, DIW, and Soundways appeared, it seemed like eMusic was dedicating itself to make sure all that “hard to get” music was actually really easy to get (unlike, say, Bruce, The Clash, and Tribe). How soon before Sony and other majors bump the unique, interesting, and obscure, turning eMusic into just another iTunes?
Also, the price hike just plain sucks.
Ditto to what JM said. I continue with my membership, even in months when the money is very tight, because I had a good plan and love, well, did, love Emusic. If I have to continue to pay that much every month and don’t get generous downloads, I also will have to just CANCEL.
and I agree, all of us loyal customers for years, should just cancel and let them try to just win over the flock of sheep who can’t think for themselves.
I’m not cancelling. I’m certinly not happy with 25 fewer downloads per month and there are many folks here who make Sense. Sony’s catalog could have been put at the higher prices. I don’t need more of the Clash- I have it all. If you are going to share the increase with the indies, paying everyone better , many of your subscribers would cheer & not leave and many more would see this as you defining Fair Trade in the industry. Let us Hope that you know how to reach your customers by providing real value for money or…
I’m really glad my 66.6% price hike will subsidize your self-indulgent musings.
“How We Approach Sony”
May I suggest backwards and well lubed?
I think there are some of us who would like to hear a bit more about the “album pricing” structure with regards to the percentage of the catalog that will be accessible as such. It won’t make up for the large increase, but it could help – assuming that by “selected,” you don’t mean limited to 20% of the catalog.
I’ll add that I don’t really care for the increase, but even with the near doubling in the cost per track, emu still comes in at roughly half of the alternative, so the prostration and rending of garments seems a bit overwrought to me.
I expect that I’ll still be able to access the same music and labels I did before the addition of the SME catalog, so my choices haven’t been limited, just the number of items that I’ll be able to get in a given month.
We’ll see how it pans out in time, but I’m not going anywhere until there’s a better alternative, and I have a feeling that is the reality for a number of the plaintive posters here, as well.
Yancey, one more thought then I’ll shut up, I promise!
If it’s REALLY about something we could call eMusic taste, then OK, sell the Sony stuff — but ONLY the Sony stuff that is artistically relevant, that follows one of your critical theses, as expounded on above.
ALSO, go get the good stuff on other indie or large-indie or major labels that people here are clamoring for (Sub Pop, more jazz, etc.). At least then you are consistent. At least then eMusic continues to stand for something. Curated music. Take it or leave it. Like a fantastic radio station-cum-zine. That’s what you’d created — and why we’re all here. Why you have so much fanatic loyalty and growth, while the rest of the biz is in a self-inflicted nosedive.
It looks like, however, you are only doing your best to follow the Politburo line, and basically window-dressing a future Wal-Mart store with a few old-style eMusic records getting more and more diluted in the sheer volume of raw sewage now bilging in.
I don’t blame you, I guess. Everyone has to work. But couldja at least please not sully your own good name (not to mention, our intelligence) by trying to pull this lipstick on a pig trick on us? I mean, what’s next: “The Man can’t bust our music”…!
Were I a respected critic, the first thing I’d ask myself is, “What would Lester do?”
Sorry if I’m being presumptuous here. I realize you, like everyone else, have to eat.
But look at it this way: The degree of the anger you are reading on this post should reflect the degree of the love and loyalty that so many, many, many of us feel (or I should say, felt) toward what you and your colleagues created up until now. Don’t blame us for caring! You would do the same…
Mark F: again…
Curated music. Take it or leave it. Like a fantastic radio station-cum-zine. That’s what you’d created — and why we’re all here. Why you have so much fanatic loyalty and growth, while the rest of the biz is in a self-inflicted nosedive.
Here here. It’s not just the price increase; it’s seeing Justin Timberlake on the shelf between Yo La Tengo and Jarvis Cocker (I wasn’t going to spend the time researching what current eMusic artists he would fit between).
Have you ever tried to read a user review of an iTunes album? They are all written by ten year olds then passed through about fifteen languages on the Babel Fish translator before they come back to something approaching English…that’s the future for eMusic.
Let’s see, I used to get 480 tracks for the same price that I now get 210, and to make up for it I get “Highway 61 Revisited” as a Review of the Day. So that makes a new review of a 44 year old album worth over $122 to me. Multiply that times a few thousand eMusic subscribers. I’m sure it would be a great review, but the price seems a bit excessive.
Yancey, with the new plan, you are giving the users fewer than half the chances for their money “to find records, to get inspired, to get into some phase that you never expected.” How is that “what being a fan is all about”? Why don’t you address the elephant in the room and be honest about what’s going on, instead of pretending that this is the best thing that ever happened to all of us?
I’ll be canceling my subscription when my current year is over.
Emusic has died. It was good while it lasted, but now I’ll be looking for the next, greatest emusic (maybe LaLa?). I’ve subscribed for over 4 years and as soon as I download my tracks for this month, I’m canceling. I’m sure I won’t be the only one. My cost has more than doubled on a per track basis, and I call BS.
Yancey, for your company’s and your job’s sake — let’s hope your CEO’s bean counters are competent and have run the numbers about the number of long-time subscribers like me that they will certainly lose vs. the new subscribers that sign up because they can now get the Dixie Chicks.
This makes for a very unfortunate and hackneyed end of an era. Along with many other once-loyal customers, I’ll be canceling once my subscriptions are up for renewal.
I came here at the beginning because I knew all those great records that Yancey Strickler mentions by heart, and many others besides. Back then, eMusic was a place where I could spend time and find the obscure records that fed those works, that branched off of them, and that existed alongside them, forever ignored. The works that were not molded by major label fears and greed, but that existed uncompromised and true.
So now I can read about Nebraska and Highway 61 Revisited as if I never heard these before. I’ve owned these records for as long as I can remember. I came to eMusic to find The Oblivians and The Testors and the Scientists and the Stockholm Monsters and Gert Wilden… things that have as much greatness as Springsteen’s work or Dylan’s. And eMusic helped me find these obscure, hidden, seminal artists.
But the sad fact is that this is changing. It is no longer about us, the loyal customer.
I am dismayed that my 100 downloads for $24.99 will now by 50 for $19.99 — REALLY? And you have the nerve to ask whether there is a difference between major labels and indie labels? The price hike and service downgrade go to show that a major label doesn’t give a shit about the customer or the artist. They want the money. They’re a bunch of backstabbing squares, and I want nothing to do with them.
This is the same song as heard before over and over in these comments. Think about what you’re doing. You’re going to lose a lot of your clientele, and be left with those who are too timid to move beyond the worn out, safe guidelines of mainstream rock. You can’t dance with the devil without getting burned.
If ANYONE at emusic is actually LISTENING, I implore you to read Mark F.’s comments (post #35 & 53; links below).
http://17dots.com/2009/06/01/how-we-approach-sony/#comment-93341
http://17dots.com/2009/06/01/how-we-approach-sony/#comment-93422
These state EXACTLY how I am feeling as a loyal customer. It was EXCEPTIONALLY poor form to use the Sony deal as an excuse to raise prices. We KNOW you’ve been wanting to raise prices for a while now… but you’ve GOT to know who your audience is! By saying “GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE! YOU GET SONY!”, when NOBODY HERE gives a rats ass about the sony back catalogue, shows that you DO NOT CARE about your current indie base. It seems that you are doing this SIMPLY to get media attention, knowing full well that most of the loyal customers WILL leave. Good god… most emusic subscribers LOVE you! You’d have to WORK HARD to f*** it up… but it appears that you have.
As I see it, you have two choices:
1) Fess up and explain what’s really going on.
2) Say nothing. Silence will be taken as a quiet “FU” to your existing customers.
So, what do you say…?
…just wanted to jump on the bandwagon of disappointment. would be happy to accept a “sony-free” plan for more reasonable terms.
Yancey, a serious question…
How will the flood of popular acts from Sony, combined with the new reductions in downloads, not squeeze out the smaller labels? It would seem that this would reduce their visibility, as well as people willing to take a chance, thus leading to even smaller payouts and more defections.
Has eMusic worked anything out with the smaller labels to make sure they stay?
Ahhhh… a VERY fine question, indeed, DJ Adequate… (see above post)
i need to know if the sony catalogue is going to be another of the things that is unavailable for download in australia. i refuse to pay more to subsidise a folly that i have no access to. eMusic needs to address the issues raised by loyal customers instead of waffling about nothing in particular.
I have to join the group…right now I pay $11.99 for 50 downloads a month.
While I do not always use all 50–and I love the idea of 12 albums counting as 12 downloads–the fact of the matter is that I stick with eMusic because I love the writers and the selection here. I love that when I want an album I hear good things about, my first reaction is to check it here before I bittorrent it.
The addition of Sony gives a lot more choice, but that is choice I could get from any other music service like Rhapsody, the rebranded Napster, or iTunes. I choose eMusic for the weird stuff, not for the big names.
More than that, I keep seeing quality smaller labels like Drag City getting pushed out (it hurt that I couldn’t download the new Bill Callahan) and what do I get to replace it? Alan Jackson and a “sorry!” booster pack?
Please.
I have seen eMusic discussed, time and again, as an online music service that was in danger of dying. This feels like the last-ditch effort that will anger existing subscribers and inject short-term cash at the sacrifice of long-term longevity. So, I guess the demise just comes faster.
BTW, why didn’t you try for Sub Pop instead of Sony?
Bye bye eMusic……
I want to make this very clear:
As an avid emusic user, was I occasionally frustrated that I couldn’t find something I really wanted? Yes. Will you lose me as a customer by adding Sony and boosting prices? Yes. Already in the process of cancelling…
This could have been a great moment for eMusic but now it’s looking more like the final nail in the coffin.
You could have at least allowed unused downloads to accumulate rather than expire as a trifling giveback for the 100% increase in rates.
Hahaha! I was wondering why my query a couple threads back re: new In The Red releases went unanswered…now I know — you guys were busy writing up blurbs for the Meatloaf catalog!
Seriously, could you have possibly come up with a more INSULTING, BUMMER of an overhaul?
Thanks for nothing — I too am off to LaLa and the Russian mp3 sites.
I’m in a little bit of shock. I’ve canceled a lot of subscriptions on a lot of other things just so I can keep my eMusic subscription. But to have my account downgraded by half for a label I’m not even interested in.
Seriously, as has been said, Subpop would have been a much better score then Sony and I don’t know if I would feel quite as burned by the increase in the prices.
Honestly I don’t care about Bruce Springsteen, I think the classical selection Emusic already has is more than fantastic, and the independent labels are the REASON I love emusic.
Come on Yancey. We all know you read our comments. Do us the courtesy of responding and addressing some of the concerns from loyal and even fanatical eMusic subscribers.
Here is the thing, I’d be willing to pay a little bit more a month for my 100 downloads to support the site or to support the service. I’m less willing to do that to support Sony, who as represented by the RIAA has gone out of it’s way to demonize and destroy music lovers.
My two cents. Yancey, I’m hopeful we hear more from you than just that form letter post.
When the exodous of current emusic customers happens and the new customers that come in to buy the Sony back catalog, the independent artists that have thrived here are going to get the shaft. emusic has sold out the independents to cater to a major label.
I thought emusic was ahead of the curve with their offerings, but now they’ve positioned themselves to go down the tubes with the major labels as the music business crumbles. Oh well, it’s just a damn shame.
This blows, but why even vent? The reason nobody is responding to these comments is that they were expected. Anticipated. Known. eMusic knew that we, the vocal minority, the active community directly engaged with them, would be up in arms. So they took a deep breath and threw the long bomb for mainstream success, figuring it was worth a shot.
eMusic is a business. Businesses exist to make money. Clearly, eMusic thinks they’ll make more money this way, and who am I to argue. But far more than iTunes, Amazon, or anywhere else, eMusic has gone out of its way to cater to the indie community, gone out of its way to embrace its outsiderness. And this really does suggest that eMusic really just wanted that mainstream cash after all. I guess 400,000 subscribers ain’t enough. More like we were a marketing test group for embeddable widgets and social networking hijinx.
But this little blog entry is a truckload of horseshit. I’ve never seen such a gymnastic attempt to have it both ways. You can’t proclaim that everything’s going to be the same in the same paragraph you are describing how much everything is going to change. When you post that Highway 61 Revisited feature, isn’t that one less feature on some obscure band? There very well may be editorial upsides for you, the content provider. But to suggest that adding the Sony back catalog won’t change the editorial landscape of eMusic is a joke. Can’t wait for that featurette on Michael Jackson’s Thriller – I’m sure you’ll blow my mind with all sorts of things I’ve never known and which nobody has written about before!
I was an emusic subscriber in the 90s, back when it was unlimited downloads and I could get the entire Matador catalog in 128/44. Then I went away. Then I came back a few years ago when I realized every album in my annual top 10 was on eMusic. I got irritated a couple of years ago when I upped my downloads and then a bunch of labels I liked dropped off the site and it was a royal pain to reduce my downloads. Now my downloads are dropping from 90 to 50 for the same price, from 22 cents a song to 40 cents. Ouch. So much for recession pricing.
So I wonder: will I go away? Hard to say. It’s hard not to feel a bit abused, like I’m the foundation for eMusic to reach Alicia Keys fans. But 40 cents still ain’t bad, and I’m sure I can still find albums I like that are worth the price. And if it’s high enough to pull back in labels like Sub Pop, then I will be fully on board. But the huge benefit of 22 cent songs is that I can afford to explore, to be impulsive. At twice that, maybe I don’t use eMusic to explore anymore. At 40 cents, maybe I’m better off just buying the stuff I really like directly from the labels. Either way, I’m pretty sure you don’t give a crap. I’m clearly not the customer you’re looking for, I’m just your bridge to a brighter tomorrow. Good luck with that.
Charging people outside the US more money just so that American customers can have the Sony back catalogue. That really takes the piss.
Why does everyone feel the need to dis on Journey? Use a bad band for your comparisons, not one of the best Yacht Rock bands ever next to Hall and Oates. Beyonce. Keep using Beyonce. Leave Journey alone, christ.
People diss Journey because they are such stereotypically stiff, no-soul white boys. They are like a living stereotype. Which is not to say they are untalented but they are pretty laughable in that respect.
Not sure what the hell this has to do with anything though.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and fight against the grain. I’ve canceled my emusic subscription a couple times, but I’m going to play this move by ear. The addition of Sony to the site is really big news, and frankly I’m happy for it. More power to you. You start out liking the mainstream, and then you drift into the independents. Think of the kid who downloaded Metallic KO on emusic to get into Iggy Pop, and hated it and never got into the Stooges. Now somebody can get into Raw Power. Take Miles Davis, one of the most important visionaries in music. To be able to have access to his Sony/Columbia material is a goldmine, and is worlds better from whatever Prestige lo-fi jazz this site currently has. And even if they’re still charging per download, that’s a pretty good deal especially with jazz. I felt criminal a couple years back downloading 4 or 5 Fela Kuti albums and it was only 20 downloads tops (they have since disappeared from the site). Especially since iTunes was charging 11.99 a piece, and isn’t it all about beating them?
The money issue is a factor for sure but I’m not that aggressive of a downloader. I feel like I sorta waste around 20 percent of my downloads per month anyways. 37 downloads for 15 dollars is something that I can manage. If it goes up from there, then maybe it might cause for re-evaluation. Clearly, everyone else is a lot more concerned about their downloads than I am. I’ve found them to be overly generous; it makes sense that eventually they’d have to cut back.
I can understand that this site was made as a haven for the independent music community, and believe you me, I’m thankful for that. I worked in an independent record store for eight years. I remember, it was pretty cool. Losing my job was not that cool. Having to work in a mall record store really sucked. Did I hate my manager for playing Flyleaf every day? Absolutely. Did he detest me playing Animal Collective in the mall? Probably. But there’s got to be a middle ground. It’s not peanut butter and it’s not jelly. Music is the sandwich put together.
Regardless of whether that made any sense or not, I’m gonna stay and see what happens.
I used to make fun of journey until I got over my own smugness and listened to their actual songs on their own merit. But yeah no need to derail.
You won’t win trying to compete with iTunes at their own game but with a less appealing ’subscriber’ model and a still way limited selection when it comest to major labels.
Alienating your current customers to try to get into a market you can’t compete in is a going-out-of-business strategy.
Umm… don’t care much about Sony. Let me keep my current plan and just don’t allow me access to their library. I have a feeling I’m about to be a very unhappy camper.
I find interesting the knee-jerk reactions of all the pompous betrayed indie sorts who feel personally affronted that eMusic had the temerity to make a business decision that might actually be beneficial to the people that work there. You may decry that the fact that adding the music of Journey and Alicia Keys will somehow pollute the tracks of Panda Bear and Animal Collective. Get over yourselves folks. Even at the new rates, eMusic is still a bargain compared to every other site out there with a comparable catalogue that I’m aware of. Whether you like it or not, eMusic has to compete with Amazon and iTunes, and they aren’t going to survive on the largesse of indie fans. They need to attract other customers or else risk becoming one of those niche sites that you can order from a handful of labels, as the larger indie labels will join -Anti, Drag City and SubPop in declining to be on the service because of the prices that they pay per track. Keep in mind as well that the rate increase might actually help attract those labels you would rather see instead of Sony. And heavens, maybe you might find a track or two made available from the Sony back catalogue that you could maybe, possibly even, you know, like?
I’m not happy with the rate increase, but I accept that given the economic climate it was inevitable that a rate increase would happen. I’m not happy that I’m getting half the downloads at the price I was paying, but quite frankly there were months I struggled to get all my downloads done – not because I couldn’t find the music, but because of the time constraints from life prevented me from spending as many hours on the site as I would like.
That said, I do think the powers that be at eMusic should address the concerns of their longtime customers or at least acknowledge them. It would at least be an olive branch that would go a long way towards smoothing the feathers that have obviously been ruffled. For my part, I look forward to rediscovering lost gems from the catalogues of bands like Icicle Works, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and yes, Springsteen.
“Umm… don’t care much about Sony. Let me keep my current plan and just don’t allow me access to their library. I have a feeling I’m about to be a very unhappy camper.”
This.
End of all Capitals is to fall.
Don’t have to time to seek for all the eMu political state of the moment and read all about it. But got the spirit of it. Too bussy recording at the moment and prepering some world tours for some of my megassus label’s projects.
eMu was always about changes. Dynamic and real. Once you hit the road for glory you will never stop unless a stone hits you:)
Sony inside eMu is a great step as long as the freedom of all artist remains intact.
Does it mean also creation in?
Think that momus will be very happy to hear so (after putting his creation albums for free mp3 downloading to his fans on his blog out of dispair few months ago)
For me it’s mostly – heaven:)
eMus was always meant to be the first 1 one downloading store in the world.
This changes will make it happened.
But eMu is mostly about people loving to love music.
And those are the same to carry the site (with all the never lasting changes) for the last 6-7 years.
Now….
eMu servers has been acting strange along first 4 months of 2009. Causing some many many delays for many indie albums to become online only later and many users inside site errors and terrors harassment. This wasn’t so lovely but we got through it all – mainly stronger and happier (I hope).
Still even now songcast and other indie distribution companies have to wait a long long time till their projects become availble.
Good time to send the best regards to Tunecore and their so very good work.
Think eMu resoleved all issues concerning this real major team.
If increasing the price means putting more efforts and more working hands to the site – well – than I think we will pass this storm safe.
But for the true of it… Sony is the real mainstream of yesterday. eMu selects is the real Major of tommorow:) I truely believe so!
Jamendo.com will become the real next Capital (And today it’s for free!)
I think all is for good. No reason for panic.
Should be more concern about the next Bin Laden plan for the USA of Obama than for the integrity of this site.
Jesus is alive and well and will be take care of it all !
don’t know where this came from really – Too much Lou Grahms I guess…
I belive in MR shtrickler !
Be my own privet Guru! and chicky monkey as well:)
beware of dark angels
http://www.troymusic.com/
(not me this time got you!)
We’ve passed Pharaoh in the desert and we will pass this as well!
Thank you eMusic for years of motivation and creation
and for many more to come
this site gave me more than anything else in life
music
guidance
and
friendship
I will survive
TROY
Yancey,
Come on man!?!? I’ve really enjoyed your commentary over the years, taste in music etc., but to put out a statement like this on 17dots, after past posts that have your CEO saying you’ll never be like itunes is soooo disappointing.
I couldn’t agree more with Mark F. is these comments. If you would have told me that the price increases would be to better support indie artists – the ones I believed I was supporting despite wide-spread knowledge that emusic profits margins for artists are meager at best – I would have been on board. The artists and labels that made you, and that we then came to the site for, would have been a reason to raise prices, not to meet the needs of a major lable catalog that I already have any of what I want from. I don’t come to emusic for that stuff – and I won’t be coming at all for anything in the future.
This approach to selling a price increase and addition of a major catalog are truely dishonest, disrespectful, and degrading.
Since you guys are all business now – don’t bullshit us on that anymore – you should know that ostracizing your customer base in hopes of gaining new ones with half-baked marketing lies in order to try and get buy in for poor business decisions don’t typically work out.
I can go buy almost any one of these sony discs used for under 8 bucks, vinyl for less, at a real local record stores. I’ll chose to going back to putting my money there, where I can be sure that they won’t end doing the same BS you’ve done.
Were you to have gone about this another way – say further grandfathering existing customers – and using the sony catalog to lure people in as a gateway to other possibly more exciting indie artists, that might have been a good plan. But you still would loose the experimental/adventure download that people like my 65 year old dad love about emusic – yet won’t endeavor on any more because of the price barrier.
Editorial might be worth paying for if it wasn’t free everywhere else…and if you could still believe that it wasn’t there to further the interests of sony, as well as emusic’s desires to make a buck. Just don’t hide behind your love of music anymore as a reason for screwing the people who made you – artists, indies, and us the customer.
Carlos,
My reaction (and I suspect most other people here’s reactions) are neither pompous nor knee-jerk.
What eMusic sprung on us, however, WAS… both.
Pompous in that they try to put whipped cream on chicken shit (”more good stuff!” — whether you like it or not) and sending poor Yancey out there to disburse his credibility as a respected music journalist to go do a Colin Powell-at-the-UN type “up with people” rap about how great this is going to be, everybody!
Knee-jerk in that they sprung this on people, probably because they knew they were going to piss most of their loyal customers off, without asking anyone their opinion — knee-jerk in that in one fell swoop they decided to cut their own heart out.
I have nothing against business decisions! I love business! But what I absolutely abhor, what I have contempt for, is STUPID business decisions — by which I mean, decisions which will hurt a company that you love. And will chase away their customers. Decisions that are beneath the integrity of the brand. Because virtually all of such business decisions are based on GREED — or let’s be charitable and call it a desperate attempt to make more money fast. Desperate decisions, greedy decisions — they almost always backfire.
And they are often illegal — or at least highly unethical.
I’ll give you an example. Many of us love Apple. We love them because we love their brand. They stand for quality, originality, design, fun, intelligence. What if one day they decided they needed to make LOTS more money, and fast. Let’s say they decided to discontinue their computer business and sell their OS to one of the PC companies for a hideously large sum, and just focus on selling iPhones.
Think of the outcry! And would that be knee-jerk, pompous reaction? No. It would be like watching someone you love die for no reason. Including no good business reason.
But Apple won’t do that. Why? Because they are a smart business. They understand that the power of their brand has been built over many years, and completely depends on consumers’ emotional attachment to WHAT THEY STAND FOR. They do not want to alienate their customer. (What a concept!!!)
If eMusic is desperate for cash, all they had to do was RESPECT the passion and intelligence of their 400,000 subscribers and LEVEL WITH THEM (as someone remarked PASTE did in similar circumstances). We would so totally be there for them. Sure, raise the rates a little, pay the indie labels who can’t make it on your small royalty a little more. We all know we’ve been gettin’ a good deal here. But don’t kill the golden calf!
That’s I think where the anger comes from. Because it’s a stupid decision, taken for the sake of greed or who-knows-what. (Not only in the short run, with the mass desertions that are sure to come, but also in the long run, because as I alluded to on an earlier post, Apple and Amazon will crush them with a better, and better-priced plan if they feel eMusic is trying to muscle in on their territory.) It’s a stupid decision that will only hurt EVERYONE. That’s why we’re mad. Because not only are prices doubling and in some cases tripling, we know that Sony’s terms are effectively going to muscle out the smaller labels and artists who are the whole reason we all are such fans of eMusic.
Add to that the TOTAL lack of response (or apparently, care) to the outcry among the people who have helped them see they have a viable business and a unique niche.
You want to talk about business? Here’s a textbook example of how NOT to run a business. And that ain’t no indie ‘tude, dude!
IF HAVING SONY WOULD DOWNGRADE MY PREMIUM PLUS PLAN, AND HAVE MY DOWNLOAD COST INCREASED 95%, I AM NOT USING EMUSIC. A BIG “NO”!!!
I understand that what you were charging had to be raised eventually, and I’m happy to hear that the selection of albums will increase; however, that is for US subscribers only. Are there any benefits for people outside the US? A promise to open Sony’s catalog would be good.
Thanks,
F
Sony but no Sub Pop?
Disappointing.
Let’s fawn over the major label who really doesn’t need the help. People will find those classics regardless. A lot of good will and good indie artists are about to be lost in the shuffle.
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
What a bummer. To add to the ever growing chorus of boo’s, my experience:
I was one of the original fat dudes at the buffet with unlimited downloads, but rather than trying to ruin eMu I was gathering the Fantasy catalogue with the concern that eMu would go the way of the dodo any day. Wow, those were crazy days–until I was shut off. But I could understand–if I owned a restaurant I’d be pretty ticked at the dudes who ate all the bacon bits.
I immediately signed up again once the plan changed (under a different name of course!) and have been a loyal subscriber ever since. Like others, I would have appreciated a much better approach (more honest) and while I understand the need to make it a business model that works, I’m not that happy with the steep reduction in downloads–primarily because of how I use eMu, which is as a kid in a candy shop with a pocketful of change. I can try anything I like and know I can absorb the cost.
And, like many others have said, SONY? I’m sure there will be some nuggets in there, but I look at my cabinets of CD’s (and yes, they do seem nostalgic) I already have every Dylan, all the Clash, etc., I want. I have a couple hundred Blue Note CD’s. I really don’t need any more. No, what I want from eMu is the new, crazy labels aching to get heard. So what if they only get 30 cents a track? It’s better than those bands/labels getting ZERO cents a track when loyal subscribers start finding alternative ways to get their fix.
Nah, the jig is up. Corporate suck is upon us. It couldn’t last for long, and it lasted much longer that I ever thought it would. Which reminds me, I’ve gotta dig up those Fantasy tracks that I was saving for my retirement…
Best of luck with the new paradigm…
OMN
Is anyone else just anxiously awaiting the coming Tuesday “New Releases” blog post tomorrow? Just to hear word from the people we all naïvely thought cared about us as loyal customers? It’s sure to be nice and awkward.
Considering there has been nothing but absolute silence so far from their end, the editors had better not pretend like nothing is happening or I’m canceling right then and there. Why couldn’t you have been honest and straightforward about this, eMusic? The silence is devastating.
Straight from your “About Us” section (that needs heavy revamping, FYI):
“eMusic’s roots are in its deep relationships with the world’s most innovative record labels.”
— and you likely just completely negated a lot of those innovative record labels with the least innovative label of all.
“eMusic caters to music lovers in the underserved 25-54 demographic.”
— somehow, this doesn’t seem true anymore. the people in this demographic already have all the Clash albums they want from Sony. if they didn’t, they’d find the albums in bargain bins somewhere. but, speaking of, who are you catering to now with this new direction?
“eMusic recognizes that not all customers want a one-size-fits-all, mass market music experience.”
— ummmm?
“With their shared passion for music, eMusic subscribers form a tight knit and lively community that delights in welcoming new members to its active Message Boards and 17 Dots blog. Members share their appreciation for music and are eager to offer advice and music suggestions.”
— And… you just alienated nearly all those subscribers and the community you so glowingly describe. Your tight knit and lively community is going to be gone, eMusic.
This is just a shock. I’m really not sure who the new audience you’re catering to is supposed to be. Hopefully, for your sake, you guys do. You seem to have decided it doesn’t include me or any other current subscribers.
I think eMusic is going to really screw those loyal indie labels that have struggled to fill the vacant space here for years. They’re going to lose some action.
So it is official that non-US customers are going to be screwed by this deal? I’m sure there are some great finds hidden in the Sony catalogue but what is the point of a subscription if you are denied access? If so, which is likely to be the case, then farewell emu. It was fun while it lasted.
Unfortunately, post 90 above rings disconcertingly true. Also, if this is eMusic goal – to entice mainstream listeners – I believe will fail miserably. Mainstreamers will NOT be willing to prepay for future monthly dl’s. The reason eMusic was able to keep so many loyal SUBSCRIBERS was their love of music and discovery. Mainstream listeners mostly will only buy the flavor of the month, then move on. Once they realize they lose monthly dl’s,
won’t remain subscribers for long.
If eMusic is to survive, this must be rethought. Loyal eMusic listeners leaving in droves can;t be considered a good thing.
As a 10-year subscriber, I feel that this major-label shift is pure and utter bullshit. Let me opt out of the majors and keep my 65 downloads. Otherwise, I’ll be out of here.
I don’t find this exciting. It is increasing pricing and giving the subscriber less value for the dollar. As a long time subscriber I found e-music a refreshing website with a massive blues, jazz and indie rock selection, not the corporate music machine that controls the music industry today. Now that you have flipped to corporate music, I will be canceling my subscription.
Wow, for the first time in a while I am happy to be a Canadian subscriber. It’s annoying to be sure when you find music you want only to be told that “it’s not available for your location”. But it seems that our prices are not going up (at least I have heard nothing to that effect yet), presumably because we can’t get the SONY tracks.
My worry is that now emusic will be frequently suggesting music I can’t actually download. Forget whether or not I want that music; it will just make it more difficult to find what I am looking for….
For me this deal squashes the whole point of my eMusic membership – being able to find NEW music that I liked at a price-point that made experimentation practical. This new set-up is giving me 50% of my current DL’s at 80% of the price. I feel I’m being screwed here for the benefit of a Sony back catalog that I am not really interested in – I’ve already got the good stuff. And at the new price-point I am way less likely to throw some DL’s at something that is an unknown quantity. Right now I often follow the recommendations of other members whose taste I’ve gotten a feel for, sometimes for better, sometimes not so much, but the new plan is going to make me way more conservative, which was not the point of the whole exercise, and may I add , not your major point in selling the eMusic concept. Also as the per track price rises the desirability of old jazz/blues/folk music decreases as a DL possibility because it is approaching the price at which you can have the real CD with the real liner notes which not having is a real downside of the DL experience. You are heading into dangerous waters here where you may be pricing yourself out of the market – at a higher price point I am not going to be so willing to forgive all the glitches and gremlins that plague your site, which I now choose to live with because I felt I got good value for the money.
So. Any good na’s this Tuesday?
na: greed, sellout, betrayal, major label garbage!!
What will likely happen is that emusic will continue its old plans for people only interested in exploring the new, indy groups (which is the only reason its sub model was successful in the first place). A second tier will be set up for people interested in *spit* Sony *spit* and the like. Clearly the cash infusion from the sony deal is probably a precursor to Sony buying emusic, which is why the CEO is sitting idly by while his old business model collapses — he stands to make a fortune if this works.
If the deal is already done, then this won’t happen of course, and Sony will run it into the ground as yet another music also-ran to prop up their failing PS3. #UMD #rootkit #memorystick #atrac #fail
Hi. Let me add my voice to those who are responding with “Congratuations, and I quit.” I’m sure this is news that you’re all excited about, but you’ve effectively killed what I love about eMusic. I’m not here for stuff I can hear elsewhere. I don’t want to sift through the artists I already know. I’m here for obscure stuff, mostly jazz, blues, and dub that I wouldn’t hear anywhere else. To pay much more for fewer downloads, when the product I’d be downloading remains unchanged does not sit well with me. I’m gone.
You know, I might actually be able to swallow all this “Sony’s good for the site! It really is! Trust us!” garbage, if along with decreasing our downloads emusic actually offered higher quality tracks. Expecting us to keep paying for less and telling us “oh, you’ll love it, you’ll see how good this will be” and not improving the actual quality of the product (mp4 any one? higher bit rates? yes? hmm?) makes absolutely no sense.
So…great. I get less downloads to use to discover all this great Sony! hyperbole (re: back catalog no one asked for) and I’m supposed to be happy? That’s like McDonald’s still offering happy meals but taking away the toy, the drink and the fries. And undercooking the burger to begin with.
The silence from the site regarding this uproar is getting pretty deafening, guys. So maybe this long time subscriber has just decided to stop listening for good.
Seriously mixed feelings about all this, guys. I recognize that eMusic has been looking to increase prices for a while, and that the low price-per-track was probably keeping some of the bigger indies (Drag City, SubPop etc.) away. That’s fine. I’m happy to support bands on those labels if it means paying a couple bucks more a month. But it is REALLY hard to get excited about having access to a sh*t-ton of old Sony releases – the best of which (as so many others have mentioned here) I already have.
This is the first time in my years as a subscriber that I have seriously considered canceling… My hope is that there is some way you all can meet us halfway here.
Like probably 90 percent of the people commenting above, I’ve sold more subscriptions to emusic via word of mouth and enthusiasm and advocacy than all your banner ads put together. We’re getting royally screwed here. My cost per track has doubled, and unless there’s some sort of compromise grandfathering offer, I’m canceling. I agree with commenters that this is probably worked into your business plan, that you expect you’ll lose some subscribers. But you should understand that you’re also losing advocates, and those advocates will find other places to recommend. We’ll find the next emusic, and tell all our friends and readers where new best deal is. I agree that I’ve been getting an *amazing* deal at $20 for 90 tracks; but to not offer any incentive for us to stay other than a major label catalog that we have full access to for free EVERYWHERE on the web is to take your most loyal customers for granted.
New CEO doesn’t really get it, does he?
After further consideration, I’ve decided to cancel my subscription out of protest. Let me know if you guys get your act in gear.
I, for one, would like to hear how Amishi approaches Sony.
Gosh…I’m so glad to get screwed on my membership of 4 years so you geniuses can include Sony’s catalog on emusic. Hooray! Sony is now on emusic! Too bad you won’t have any members left to download this crap!
And to think I was worried that former GM execs were gonna lose their jobs and forever deprive the world of their special brand of foresight and “strategery.” I now realize they’ve found a home at emusic. How else to explain your plans for doubling the price of my downloads in exchange for access to a catalog of records I either already have or would never want. If the current labels really needed more $, by all means, raise prices a bit; we all know what a terrific deal emusic was. But to double prices for Sony and pretend it’s all good because I can read some clever claptrap about Journey is an insult. Here’s hoping Thrill Jockey, Other Music or someone else will try to fill the vital niche emusic has now abandoned.
Dear Yancey,
Have fun in your new cubicle at RIAA headquarters.
So long,
Nikolai Rostov
After thinking about it for a while, I’ve decided everyone else already summed up how I feel. I just want to add my voice to the consensus: this blows.
Emusic customers don’t come here for Sony.
great music is great music no matter the label (london calling, kind of blue, heaven tonight… hello) BUT i’d urge eMusic to reconsider chopping longtime customers’ bang for the buck IN HALF. i’m considering leaving over that and i’m sure i’m not the only one…
“We are cutting your downloads in half but look we’ve got Simon & Garfunkle now!!!” Big wup. I am so out of here. I’m gonna grab my 185 remaining downloads and never look back. Emusic has become Itunes in one fell swoop- f**cking brilliant guys. I’m not worried though cause some other “cool” site with bargain prices and a mom and pop record shop feel will emerge in a nanosecond and fill the void created by Stein’s monumental stupidity- haha.
bye
@Cronin: http://amiestreet.com/ is worth checking out as a temporary (possibly permanent) alternative to eMusic.
that was fun for a while. enjoy your association with sony and your out-of-control rate hike, and add one more soon-to-be-former emusic customer. because, really, there is no other place on the internet where someone can download journey’s greatest hits. good going, and goodbye.
How dare eMu attempt to remain a growing, profitable, viable endeavour.
more than double the price? sorry, no thanks.
it was fun while it lasted.
where’s everyone off to next?
@ My Baby’s Daddy: Precisely.
I’ve been around since 2003, and I’ll continue to be around. I remember the freak-out when they went from unlimited (2000 tracks per month) to their first pricing tier. I signed up for the 300 songs per month deal, and still felt like I was getting a great deal.
I just upped my plan to 100 tracks per month, and at $40ish I still feel like I’m getting a great deal, especially if the new pricing system entices more indies to emusic.
I’m not a big fan of how they have communicated this change (an email would have been nice; I found out about it as I was reading WOXY’s message board). However, the idea that they should have consulted with us first is not very realistic.
This is a business, and they are behaving like a business.
And it’s still a damn fine one at that, even with its flaws.
I had been wondering how best to use the 90 downloads I’ve been getting every month for over five years now.
Now I’m deciding whether to cancel my sub.
Shame on you, emusic.
The first time i gave up on emusic was when they stopped their flat fee download for all the music you like… A few years later i came back. Then my cc date ran out(without them warning me) and they canceled my subscription and i had to resubscribe and at a far worse rate. Now this..
emusic – three strikes… out!
It’s not to bad, at least now i have other option online for my music that i didn’t have a few years ago..
it was great while it lasted, so long and thanks for the songs. i’ll miss you.
xx
Please increase my subscription price, murder my number of downloads, and add a plethora of albums that I already own. I am forever anticipating the release of a new Dixie Chicks album. Thank you Emusic. I will forever be singing your praises…
On the bright side, look how far you’ve come! A year ago 17dots would never have supported this level of traffic.
Ah, f*sting is such sweet sorrow.
#’s 9, 61, 91 to name a few, amen.
eMusic, you gave hope to the adventurous, strapped, music nerds of the world and struggling talented musicians fighting it out on struggling indie labels for years. Thanks for that, with all sincerity.
But why (oh, why) did you have to do this to us? Sony? Well goody-goody-gumdrops. If I wanted to listen to Pearl Jam, I’d dig up my ancient copy of Ten that no used music store will buy off me and rip it. [Respect to the biggies and oldies, but you aren't why I'm at eMusic.]
Guys, if you needed the money, I’d have been much happier to kick you a few more bucks for my current plan (or give up 20% of my tracks) and keep Sony’s backlog out of the deal. Now Sup Pop on the other hand [to parrot many others] is another story. Indie! Core audience!
Oh, and a big fat middle finger pointed right at you for snatching nearly HALF of my DL’s! In a recession, no less. Shame on you.
PS: Sorry to all of you folks outside of the US, sounds like you’re really getting the shaft.
I agree with everyone about the lack of value represented by adding back-catalogue SONY (or any other major label for that matter)to eMusic and am disappointed at losing 40% of my downloads as a result. I also recognize that, even with this change, my cost per MP3 is still half of iTunes or Amazon so I am not going anywhere, I guess, though I like the idea of charging more for the major label stuff and letting us buy the indie cuts for what we pay now. I know that might be a management nightmare but think it is the only way to find real value in this change, given the sound quality of some of the existing eMusic catalogue and keep from diluting the energy created by offering the less commercial fare.
YOUR SILENCE IS SPEAKING VOLUMES!!!!
goodbye, eMusic.
your complete silence on this matter (minus a meager facebook note) just prompted me to cancel my account. it wasn’t the changes that made me leave, it was the way you handled dispensing news of these changes. i feel insulted and lied to and betrayed.
i’ll miss you. a lot. best of luck.
EMU what is going on? I am a little upset that I am learning about major service changes through a blog rather than from an e-mail or some other communication. I have been a loyal customer for a number of years now and have steadily increased my downloads over the years. I started at a 50 dl plan then to a 90 and eventually up to a connoisseur plan.
Now, I read, that because Sony’s back catalog is being added to the mix my dl’s are going to drop and my cost per track is going to go up?! I have mixed feelings about the Sony back catalog. I am here because of the independent classical labels you have. Many of these labels are hard to come by in stores these days. Sony’s back catalog, however, is enticing for a collector — assuming it’s all going to be there. I can also understand the per track increase that is necessary as more labels are added. What I can’t understand is why constrict my downloads? I don’t mind paying more, but at least let me have the same number of downloads each month.
Canceling.
Been a member since just before the end of the “unlimited downloads per month” era, but I don’t think I’ll stick around for long after this huge hike. I’ll grab a handful of back catalog stuff that I was never able to find in the “Nice Price” bin at Hills and then skedaddle… although I’ll be up for some “makeup downloads” if they ever get Sub-Pop and Drag City.
I like how the price is skyrocketing for the typical emusic subscriber, who is clearly more concerned with indie labels & classical; but by the same token, how many “typical iTunes / limewire” folks will be interested if all the major label stuff is a minimum of 2 yrs old? It seems to beg for a witty analogy, but in the end the word “stupid” sums it up just fine.
I suspect the silence is because the powers-that-be are sitting in a room somewhere furiously trying to figure out a way to spin the spin (and when that doesn’t work, spin the spin of the spin). I’d like to think that someone at that meeting will just say “Look, we screwed this up. Let’s come clean with our customers, and then figure out a way to make this right,” but I’m not holding my breath.
The gist of the one message from emusic (from the forums) seems to me to be “Just trust us on this.” But considering how badly this whole thing has been handled, on what basis are we supposed to trust you?
Come on, emusic–prove me wrong, and at least do something that approximates the right thing.
What I have done for eMusic, 2003-2009:
- faithfully gave them $200 a year
- downloaded hundreds of great albums I never would have considered otherwise
- told everyone I know what a fantastic site it is for finding amazing new music at a reasonable price
What I will do for eMusic now:
- use up my 90 downloads a month until December
- cancel my account
- tell everyone I know what back-stabbing scumbags they are
Like that Yancey? Now multiply by 10,000 (or more?) and let’s see how your business does.
Let me make it easy for you: eMusic is toast.
I don’t really care about the “indie purity” of your service, I just see myself being charged an extra 60% per download for the privilege of downloading music that I already own. Just my two cents.
I have mixed feelings about Sony. The back catalog will be good — so long as its all there. For classical collectors like me there should be good stuff. I also understand the price increase. What I don’t understand is the reduction in dl tracks. From 100 to 75 is not cool. Constricting the plans to fit within certain price points is an a front to loyal members like me who have relied on emusic for years.
The relatively meager 33% increase in my per track price isn’t what will lead me to say “screw you guys, I’m going home.” It is the track reduction that will be the end of this relationship. Assuming your rather cryptic promise of “selected” albums with more than 12 tracks only costing me 12 tracks effects a lot of albums I’d like, I can now only get 2 1/2 albums a month. At least have the balls to make the plan 36 tracks so 3 entire albums can be downloaded. Count album listeners, as opposed to single fans, another demographic you are screwing right up the pooper.
AND PLEASE RESPOND TO YOUR F’N SUBSCRIBERS YOU CHICKENSHITS!
Re: #131
“I like how the price is skyrocketing for the typical emusic subscriber, who is clearly more concerned with indie labels & classical; but by the same token, how many “typical iTunes / limewire” folks will be interested if all the major label stuff is a minimum of 2 yrs old? It seems to beg for a witty analogy, but in the end the word “stupid” sums it up just fine.”
That pretty much sums it up. A whole lot of “Nothing for Everybody!”
Seriously, this is a leap into the breach.
i was an eMusic customer way, way back. 2000?? 2002?? when i started – when YOU started – downloads were unlimited. i think i paid $10 a month then. suddenly you started hosting a few better-known names, like the white stripes and frank zappa, and around the same time unlimited went away. i ALMOST bailed right then and there. enough things in my life were getting monstrously expensive or dropping in value; i had no desire to watch the value of my subscription drop. but i stuck with you people for awhile longer.
eventually i had to go away for other reasons entirely. when i was able to, i came back. that was about a month ago. i’m still getting my bearings; things have changed a bit. the plans cost more, zappa and jack white are nowhere to be found, but there’s other cool stuff – NEW stuff i haven’t heard before – to check out. i enjoy the articles on everything from gangsta rap to burt bacharach; sometimes they lead me down some unexpected paths. and the daily download available thru the firefox toolbar is deeply cool.
then, today, you tell me that you’re getting the clash, bruce springsteen, and celine dion and that my download package will drop by 25%. game over. allow me to share a secret with you : if i want to download celine dion or michael jackson or the strokes, i am going to find a way. or, i already have found a way. i borrow friends’ CDs. i rip from my own CDs. i know what a torrent is and i’m not afraid to use it. there’s a used shop downtown that i cherish, even though the draconian smoking laws have removed the ashtrays from the glass displays. i have this particular area of my musical needs very well-covered, thank you. your catalog expansion page did not list ONE SNGLE “NEW” ARTIST that i found myself thinking “damn, i can’t wait for august so i can finally hear them!” justin timberlake?? please. YOU couldn’t pay ME to download him; i’m sure as hell not paying for the “privilege”. the strokes?? i have everything they’ve put out except inferior live recordings. everyone you listed falls into one of those two categories for me. everyone. they’re KNOWN QUANTITIES. i can find known quantities at a hundred box stores and a thousand websites. the cool thing about emusic is the stuff i’ve found here up to now was off the beaten path. tinariwen, for example; go look ‘em up.
is there anyone left on earth with the least desire to own michael jackson’s “thriller” that doesn’t own it already?? maybe four people; was it really necessary to cater to this particular demographic?? and i can see the next price hike, or limit drop, however you want to look at it, a year or two down the road. this isn’t going to stop, and considering the fact that you have absolutely no tangible goods to package and ship whatsoever, it’s unacceptable.
is this change being initiated by the record companies?? they looking for another outlet for their wares?? my days of supporting the Big Five are loooong gone. if they’re crowding onto my subscription as part of some last-ditch effort to survive, they’ll do it – YOU’LL do it – without my $15 per month. you people filled a very nice niche market on the internet. you weren’t perfect, but you were not broke. someone out there absolutely could not stand that you weren’t broke and decided to fix you at all costs : possibly the one offense in this world that should be a shooting offense.
starting in july, you’re going to be a third-rate iTunes. congratulations. you may indeed be the same great people bringing me music you really care about, but with the change you’re making, you’re closing down championship vinyl and going to work in a virgin megastore. if you don’t get the reference, you ARE a virgin megastore. i won’t stick around this time. i’m here til the end of july, i’m going to re-download everything i’ve ever downloaded (that’s still available) as a backup, and when you try to drop my package limit, i’m gone. way to screw a great service.
“How dare eMu attempt to remain a growing, profitable, viable endeavour.”
I’m sorry, but this is a stupid argument. Of course they see this as a way to grow. Many that are ticked off have taken time to explain why they don’t think it is. And just like businesses act like businesses, customers act like customers. When you raise rates, a certain number leave. When they are angry, they let you know it.
If you have found the secret of running a profitable business with no customers to please, I’d like to know the secret.
In case you are wondering, pleasing your customer base is also part of attempting to remain a growing, profitable, viable endeavor. Failing to communicate major changes, except through a small note on the home page is bad business.
too bad so sad… crap crap crap.
I am sorely disappointed. More disappointed than when I had to change from a $9.99 per month sub with UNLIMITED downloads (those were the days, my friends) to a grandfathered 300 track-per-month download package plan for “their most loyal customers.”
I guess I am no longer considered one of their most loyal customers — I have been cut back to 100 downloads per month, and frankly that ticks me off even more than the price hike (which for me is a 2/3 increase).
Well, times are tough. Too bad they didn’t offer us an added library of Sony artists for extra money… keeping our current plans and tacking on what we download from Sony as an added fee. They might even have lured me over the fence into the Sony stable a few times. Had they given me a choice. But they didn’t.
It sounds like they want iPod’s market, and I have been left out in the cold.
It’s obvious that emusic would just as soon it’s “old” users go away. They are now looking for a larger user base that likes to listen to top 40 radio. Good luck with that.
I’m facing a 235% price increase and like others am not thrilled that eMusic
doesn’t seem to sense my pain.
Is eMusic doing this out of desperation? They don’t seem to be
a publicly-traded company, as I can’t find their financials anywhere.
Do they perhaps realize that they’re going to lose many loyal
customers but have no choice?
We’re wasting our breath here. The die is cast, the fix is in.
If you think emusic didn’t foresee this causing customer outrage you are deluding yourselves. Emusic probably spent a million dollars just to hire some douchebag corporate marketing firm to create damage assessment and control action models that predicted how much blood they would lose to within a couple rolls of quarters accuracy. All this outrage is completely expected and if they act hurt and shocked by it then be assured it is an act and an act that they have been rehearsing months.
This is not a win/win, best of both worlds scenario for emusic users, it is a win/win, best of both worlds scenario for Itunes & Amazon users- that is the where the plasma is going to have to come from to make up for the blood letting that will come in the next three download refresh cycles. Emusic expects to lose plenty of current subscribers over this and that’s OK; they knew it was going to happen, the douchebags told them (I have already pulled my plug: transaction #1024522015).
Now here is the tricky part: Getting New Blood. This is where corporate douchebag marketing firm no. 2 comes in, you know, the one that told emusic how to steal customers away from Itunes and Amazon by offering them Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson and Simon & Garfunkle and that’s who this deal is for- them (Itunes users) , not us.
So you see, emusic is looking really sell out and repugnant to us right now but to the poor saps who’ve been sucking off Steve Jobs’ hind teat for the last five years emusic is looking like a freaking oasis.
The good news: Itunes has real competition now and they get to fight it out with emusic for the world’s biggest music pimp title- which should be interesting. I’m predicting emusic is gonna take em down- that’s OK, Apple has really, really been grossing me out.
The really good news: Someone will fill the void created by emusic’s betrayal and they will be 10 times better- surely I am not the only emusic customer who hasn’t been totally gaga over them? Emusic was great (notice I said “was” like it is dead to me- it is) but it could have been sooooooo much better and that is yet to come- you’ll see.
: )
probably canceling
if the price increase was inevitable it would have been better not to pair it with the news about sony. hindsight, 20/20, etc.
if the price increase is a direct result of the sony deal, well…
The supposed reasons for both price increases *and* the Sony catalog right leave me cold. For years, this company has supported independent labels and musicians.
You’ve left a lot of subscribers – and not a few of the labels/independent musicians who have made their catalogs available here – out in the cold.
What a shame.
Cancelling after this month’s downloads are used up. Somehow, less than half the amount of downloads for the same amount of money per month doesn’t strike me as a reward for customer loyalty.
Guys, you could have handled this whole thing far better than you have.
Um… wow.
After all this time, I thought I understood what eMusic was all about and what made it different from all the other download sites. This change is a complete turnaround of that ideal and that market focus. You were unique, but not anymore.
There was an exciting and wonderful reason for being here instead of elsewhere, but not anymore. Now you get to be just like the other sites except a little bit cheaper. Congratulations on your new role as the music industry’s cut-out bin.
And your post, Yancey? I’m sorry, but all I’m getting from it is how much you’ve all longed to be able to write about the REAL stars of the industry. In contrast to what you were doing before, I suppose. Sure, you’ll still be name-checking the up-and-coming indie bands with your broader coverage (was there some reason your coverage couldn’t be as broad before??) but after a while the focus will drift away and the quaint indie perspective won’t matter much anymore because that’s not where the higher volume of downloads will be going.
So anyway, thanks for finally confirming what those forum trolls have tried so hard and – until now – so unsuccessfully to convince us these past couple of years: that eMusic sucks without major label content (and the unnecessarily higher cost which that content demands).
Sadly, I think the trolls will be much much worse in the future – many of them seemed to accept why their favorite artists weren’t here, once they understood that eMusic was for independent labels only. In future they’ll be a lot less understanding when they’re told that only SOME of their favorite majors are here…
We’re wasting our breath here. The die is cast, the fix is in.
If you think emusic didn’t foresee this causing customer outrage you are deluding yourselves. Emusic probably spent a million dollars just to hire some douchebag corporate marketing firm to create damage assessment and control action models that predicted how much blood they would lose to within a couple rolls of quarters accuracy. All this outrage is completely expected and if they act hurt and shocked by it then be assured it is an act; an act that they have been rehearsing for months.
This is not a win/win, best of both worlds scenario for emusic users, it is a win/win, best of both worlds scenario for Itunes & Amazon users- that is the where the plasma is going to have to come from to make up for the blood letting that will come in the next three download refresh cycles. Emusic expects to lose plenty of current subscribers over this and that’s OK; they knew it was going to happen, the douchebag corporate marketing firm told them it would (I have already pulled my plug: transaction #1024522015).
Now here is the tricky part: Getting New Blood. This is where corporate douchebag marketing firm no. 2 comes in, you know, the one that told emusic how to steal customers away from Itunes and Amazon by offering them Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson and Simon & Garfunkle and that’s who this deal is for- them (Itunes users) , not us.
So you see, emusic is looking really sell out and repugnant to us right now but to the poor saps who’ve been sucking off Steve Jobs’ hind teat for the last five years emusic is looking like a freaking oasis.
The good news: Itunes has real competition now and they get to fight it out with emusic for the world’s biggest music pimp title- which should be interesting. I’m predicting emusic is gonna take em down- that’s OK, Apple has really, really been grossing me out.
The really good news: Someone will fill the void created by emusic’s betrayal and they will be 10 times better- surely I am not the only emusic customer who hasn’t been totally gaga over them? Emusic was great (notice I said “was” like it is dead to me- it is) but it could have been sooooooo much better and that is yet to come- you’ll see.
: )
Actually, this is sort of a win-win situation – or, at least, win-win-lose. eMusic wins by getting rid of us unprofitable folks with the old, sweet deals and getting in a bunch of noobs who’ll pay inflated-but-still-less-than-iTunes-prices for the new swill. I win because let’s face it, there are places out there to get this stuff for free, and that’s where I’ll be heading now that it’s no longer available at a reasonable price here. The losers, unfortunately, are the indie labels who will no longer be getting any money from me, and certainly won’t from the new Sony-centric membership. Good thing the eMusic suits don’t have a conscience, so they won’t lose any sleep over selling out the people that got them off the ground to begin with.
Wow. Now I think I’ve seen it all. “I don’t want to pay an increased (but reasonable) price for music, so I will steal it instead. And it’s all eMusic’s fault.”
I hope people who use this line of “logic” don’t have children. Ever.
No need to repeat what has been abundantly said in the posts above, I’m also a diehard fan of Emusic who’s seriously considering cancelling my subsription (50 DL for 11.99$). To the folks at Emusic, is respect part of your vocabulary?
I think you should be clear about what we are getting for the price increase: SONY tracks that are OVER 2 YEARS OLD. The only reason this is happening is that everyone who wanted these tracks already has them in some form. News reports have already stated that SONY cannot sell these tracks at iTunes prices and is looking for a way to mine these old tracks for whatever they can get. They found eMusic and sold you a bill of goods (”Raise prices and tell them it is worth it because you now have SONY”) .
Also, while you point out the quality (Springsteen, Dylan, etc.), you do not mention the dreck that will come along with them and clog up the site like some terrible fungus.
I would have been happy to pay an increase if:
1. You increased the indie label artists on the site. That is what I am here for.
2. You allowed credits to roll over if they are not used in a given month.
The latter is big for me (and I am sure for others). I would rather do this then put an account on hold.
I – and I am sure most other subscribers to eMusic – came here for indie music not available elsewhere – and for the great price that enabled us to explore new artists. I did not come here for old SONY tracks that they couldn’t sell elsewhere.
Hopefully you can convince those of us with one foot out the door that you are doing more on the indie front as part of this “Major Catalog Expansion”.
It would also be nice if a more forthright response was made regarding the price increase and why it was necessary (hopefully not just for SONY retreads). Perhaps there are some plans that will actually make your subscribers happy? Right now they are clearly not.
I can’t help but think that the silence means sloughing off grandfathered in customers with large-download-but-adjusted-price subscriptions was part of the plan. What really burns me — and I’ve been a subscriber off-and-on since 2002, so I have just a normal sub — is that they’re doing it at Sony’s behest.
If Sony wants to experiment with selling MP3s cheaper than at iTunes, that’s fine with me, but since this is the back catalogue and stuff the company has been making money off of for 40 years (in some cases) seeing eMusic, which has always tried to maintain an indie spirit, cowtow is a bad sign of things to come.
And that post by the CEO about what is indie and was is a major was such an appalling attempt at misdirection from the real issue — burning the long-standing customers who helped eMusic last as long as it has.
I’m out.
DJ Adequate, I question your business acumen and experience. I run a business so you needn’t tell me how it works. I agree the message could’ve been delivered better, but you are alarmingly naive if you think it is possible to run a business even one percent of the size of eMusic with 100 percent customer satisfaction. It is impossible to improve by staying the same and change is an alienating process. Was this a bad business decision? Time will tell. But if they don’t try to better their business they’re setting themselves up for failure and insulting all of their customers by giving up.
Personally I would have preferred to see a separate site with seperate sunscriptions for the major label stuff.
I want a good apology when this is all over with.
My Baby’s Daddy, I never said you could get 100% customer satisfaction, I just said “How dare eMu attempt to remain a growing, profitable, viable endeavour” and variation are a stupid argument.
I have, in fact, been in the business world for 2 decades, including starting two of my own businesses. I have had to do things that angered my clients/customers–including “retiring” unprofitable clients. When I have, though, I haven’t told those I angered to shut up because I don’t owe them anything. I’ve tried to listen and learn from their feedback.
Sometimes I was right, sometimes I was wrong.
I may yet be wrong about emusic’s business. But I will hold that I’m not wrong in saying it was handled poorly and communicated poorly. And I don’t think I’ll be proven wrong that telling those who are angered to shut up because emusic is business is a fruitless, unprofitable, and profoundly silly thing to do.
It does seem that the shift in CEO’s at emusic has fundamentally changed their approach, though. They no longer seem interested in selling the value of their subscription model to their customers or partner labels. Instead, they seem to be adopting the hard “price per track” model of other stores that labels are more familiar with.
I can’t find where anyone has told anyone else to “shut up.” Why the strawman? It really doesn’t lend credence to your otherwise measured points.
BadyDaddy’s initial post of ““How dare eMu attempt to remain a growing, profitable, viable endeavour,” felt to me like an attempt to dismiss all argument (along with other posts of a similar ilk, holding that emusic was a business, and therefore customers had no voice in its policies.)
I apologize if I worded it too strongly–but I’ve seen this kind of argument here and on the message boards, and it was starting to get to me.
So when did Bush take over emusic?
The question is not how you approach Sony. The question is how you’ve approached your loyal fan base. Answer? From the rear, trousers dropped, no lube in site.
I agree with the majority of comments here. I could give a shit about adding old Sony tracks. I’ve already bought those. That’s not what I was here for.
This great “benefit” you bring us (increased selection providing access to crap we don’t need or want) results in you chopping out 40% of my monthly downloads. (Though your new features on 17 Dots sound so enlightening I’m sure it will offset my interest in new music…Pppffft!)
When I asked what offers you had available to those of us who have been around long enough to be grandfathered into a reasonable cost per download, the response was… nothing. Yup. A big “Fuck You” to your most loyal fanbase.
Next month is my last month.
You got to be kidding me. I have been a member since 2002. The only reason I signed up to emusic because it was independent based. I haven’t brought a cd, album or downloaded an MP3 from a Majoer Artist in years and vowed to never give a penny to those greedy pigs after they started their witch hunt and started suiing and terrorizing all those people for downloading songs “illegally”. What was their reason for suiing? “Downloaders are pirates that are taking money out of the artist pockets” How dare they! That the record label job to steel money from the artist not file sharers! Emusic was my savoir and grace. I have discovered artist and music that I had never thought existed. You are boasting about Alicia Keys, Dixie Chicks and Bruce Bruce Springsteen… Who gives a crap!
Hey I have a secret… “If I wanted mainstream music I would have gone to Itunes, rhapsody, Amazon, or any of the mainstream sites along time ago!” But, I didn’t. I stayed with emusic and now I found out that my 50 downloads for 11.99 is being decreased to 30 downloads for 11.99. Are you Effing Kidding Me! Wheres the logit in that. They say “It’s still cheaper than Itunes, Amazon etc… That supposed make me feel better? Hey I am cutting off your hand but they would cut off your whole arm. Don’t that you feel better? Finger, hand, or arm, we are still being cut short.
People who are surprised at the lack of response to outrage probably shouldn’t be; the pattern is exactly the same as when they switched from unlimited downloads to a monthly quota. Tons of outrage, lots of people canceling (or saying they would), no response from emusic, and the company survived. I think they’re taking exactly the same approach now, probably because it more or less worked then. I have to say though that while the unlimited download plan was economically unrealistic and I didn’t begrudge them that move, but this just seems gratuitous, like they want to go mainstream regardless of the effect on their customers (because they know it will allow them to bring in lots more). Kind of sad. I wonder if indie labels will actually leave as a consequence of this (IIRC some did leave after unlimited downloads ended).
What happens when this doesn’t work out for Sony, it won’t, and they pull the plug? And when other labels, like the Concord Group, are unhappy with their sales because of this fiasco and dump emusic?
cya emusic.
Whoever hired the new PR firm for emusic should be fired right along with the new PR firm.
I agree with another poster. There will be a new service take the place of emusic. But they will never have the fabulous jazz and blues than can be found here. They’ll be lost for the foreseeable future.
emusic could have kept prices the same and simply required 2 “credits” cost for the Sony stuff. But perhaps you think people are morons and might get confused and stay away.
We are not idiots. I have most of the popular music I want. I can get the same independent music at other sources for similar prices to your new structure, without having to be tied into a subscription.
Goodbye.
Guys, you can’t just introduce such an enormous price hike!!! I don’t care about the Sony back-catalogue. You are going to loose your most faithful subscribers and start from scratch. Why?!
In the normal run of things, costs rise, therefore prices go up – a few % a year normally. Double seems excessive, particularly as a non-US resident all I get is another load of albums not available in my country.
Your new pricing strategy is a terrible move.
Maybe 2-3 months out of the year I get busy and forget to find tracks to download (and you never let me roll them over? Seriously?).
I used to hesitate about cancelling e-music because of the price. I worried that I couldn’t get back on my grandfathered plan if I changed my mind. Now I have no such hesitation, because if I want to come back, I won’t have lost anything.
So my prediction is that the next time I forget to use my downloads, I’ll finally pull the trigger and quit.
Thanks for freeing my mind.
I express my conflicted feelings about this development in my “open letter to eMusic” on my website if anyone’s interested. Here’s the direct link:
http://highered.prblogs.org/2009/06/05/emusic/
Ditto Ditto Ditto.
Stupid Price increase. New catalogue I don’t want. I’ve been a subscriber for 3 years because of price and eclectic options/desire to support independents. Now, half of what I pay is going to make sure Sony can cater Beyoncé’s next music video.
This sucks.
The problem isn’t the addition of Sony in itself. I can get these things elsewhere, true, and I didn’t join emusic to get my hands on Bruce Springsteen’s back catalog. On the other hand, having London Calling available isn’t a bad thing.
The problem isn’t the increase in itself, either. Times are tight, and emusic needs to get baby a new pair of shoes, I get that. In order to get Sony (and get more subscribers), emusic had to change the pricing. This is a business, not a charity. If the happy fantasy of emusic being the corner record store was true, then it would have closed in six months. I’m not happy to be getting less… but I admit to an admittedly selfish chuckle when I read about a member who pays the same as I do for double the downloads grumbling about “fairness”. But fine. I’d be pissed, too, so never mind.
The problem is emusic’s complete unwillingness to discuss the price increase. Despite what you may assume, we are not children. For as many comments as you’ve gotten here, many times that number are waiting to see what you say before passing judgement. Glossing over the fact of the price increase with excited music-geek rantings of how boss it will be to wank out an article detailing the thematic connections between Arvo Part and Kelly Clarkson is only going to piss people off.
You are not the corner music store. You are not an anarcho-syndacalist collective. We get that. You’re a business. Now, talk to us like we’re adult customers.
You said: “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?”
If the Sex Pistols and the Clash and Dylan, for that matter, were bands starting now, they’d be on indie labels. The only reason they’re on majors is because of the times in which they started. Sony would not give Dylan the time of day had he recorded Highway 61 today.
You got in bed with a company that installed Rootkits on people’s computers and was sued for it (and they lost). You got in bed with a company that heavily backs the RIAA. What the fuck are you thinking?
Had you simply raised your prices and NOT signed Sony–had you raised your prices and appealed to Secretly Canadian (who has sued you in a class action suit for your shitass way of doing business), Drag City, Anti-…. saying, “You know, you’re right. Our pricing favored the customer and not the artist. Let’s see if we can meet half way.” Then you wouldn’t have all these customers balking and jumping ship.
I’ll gladly pay more for a strictly indie service. I will not for a major and the baggage that will inevitably come with them. The major’s got Apple (a multi-billion dollar corporation with world-wide recognition) to change their pricing against their will. Do you honestly think you stand a chance with these fuckers? Seriously, how is this not the beginning of the end?
I’ve been a member since the unlimited download days. I have no interest whatsoever in Sony’s back catalog (as I have it already, the stuff that I like) and will never have interest in Sony’s current catalog as it sucks ass. Why does it suck ass? Because they sign bands based *solely* on how much money they’ll make. You’ve now signed Sony for the same reason. I’m betting, and hoping, it bites you in the ass.
Oh I can hardly wait to read about Highway 61 Revisited. Let’s see now. This has already been done a few thousand times at least already. I did buy this over forty years ago. But hey, maybe your pockets will get stuffed with Sony cash. Maybe you’ll score some dope. Maybe they’ll provide a few hookers. I mean, that is their history or hadn’t you heard?
So i get a price hike and fewer downloads in exchange for you waxing lyrical about records I already have, been listening to for years and read about in classic articles by far better music writers than you and your staff? Ha! You’ve got some nerve, I’ll tell you that. But you ain’t no Lester nor Ian Penman, and Rock’s Back Pages is just around the corner. So your little post justifying the massive assfucking you’ve given to your loyal customers gets exposed as utter bullshit, and frankly, an insult. Nice one emusic, you just obliterated all that made you an excellent alternative to the Dinosaur download sites. Now you’re one of them. You got what you wanted. Ready to play with the big boys before they snuff you out into irrelevance? Good riddance, I’m outta here.
I’m in favor of the price increase, as long as it benefits the artists. Album pricing should apply to full-length albums with one or two tracks. Let’s get labels like Tzadik back. Improve the service by replacing flawed tracks, instead of simply removing them. One more thing – let our credits roll over if we don’t get a chance to use them all up each month!
Dear Yancey,
Thank you for your article. I used to buy from the Sony music store, especially when I couldn’t find what I wanted at other stores. This is very good news. Wish eMusic was not changing the prices but it could be worse. I know you do the best you can, besides which, I’m ever grateful for what I have. Always liked eMusic, always will.
All the Best,
Kat
#169 is dead on.
…and did I just actually read, “We’re really excited to write about Highway 61 Revisited?” Really? Did I just read that? Was that kind of implied as some sort of justification for the price hike? My god. You people. The thing is — most of the people on emusic already know how Nebraska has influenced other artists. We don’t care about reading about it. We own Nebraska. We don’t CARE! WE WANT INDIE MUSIC – drag city, subpop, etc.
169: dobbs
“Had you simply raised your prices and NOT signed Sony–had you raised your prices and appealed to Secretly Canadian (who has sued you in a class action suit for your shitass way of doing business), Drag City, Anti-…. saying, “You know, you’re right. Our pricing favored the customer and not the artist. Let’s see if we can meet half way.” Then you wouldn’t have all these customers balking and jumping ship.
”
1,000
I, for one, don’t have the slightest interest in your planned Six Degrees series. Just wanted to let you know.
Here’s my plan in response to your new “exciting” plan.First, I’ll download my last 100 tracks due this monday.Then, I’ll click thru the cancel menu and watch my credit card bill to be certain you don’t charge me after I cancel…
Screw you emusic. I feel like a good friend has died. I’ll pay twice as much to download tracks from another service before I’ll let emusic take me for a fool. I hope the other unhappy posters here vote with the cancel button so you’ll get the message….
Name: mmk
Member Since: December 2000
Sex: Male
Location: NC
gone once my plan ends in October. thanks for the memories, good luck with you new corporate overlords.
I wonder if you could convince some of your less popular labels the option
of having 2 for 1 deals or some other form of discount even if they
would be only for a period of time. Some more price flexibility
would be in their interest and the members since their share
will likely go down with higher prices
“How We Approached Sony”. Obviously you dropped your pants around your ankles and bent over.
Journey! We get Journey! I’m going to dance around my house until I barf my dinner all over! I’ve always wanted to download that amazing art! Here i’ve been finding new and classic jazz, reggae, world, punk, electronica, bluegrass, and rock all of these years, and now it’s all worth it! We get Journey! Yippie!
oops, just barfed and I didn’t need to dance
A survey regarding the latest changes to eMusic.
I will email / post the results once the number of respondents reaches critical mass. Hopefully this will make a difference.
Click Here to take survey
“There are tons of classic records in the Sony catalogue, and we’ve been drooling over the idea of having, say, Highway 61 Revisited as a Review of the Day or building a feature around the deep, spiritual connections between Arcade Fire’s Funeral, Mahler’s Second Symphony and Journey’s Escape.”
Translation: whenever you look for anything on eMusic in the future, we’re going to try to upsell you some old Sony record you haven’t heard since second grade and never wanted to hear again.
Have fun. I just canceled my account. Didn’t think I’d be doing that this week, but I have a problem with getting ass fucked without dinner, at least.
“I, for one, don’t have the slightest interest in your planned Six Degrees series.”
It almost sounds sort of interesting, and then you realize it’s just a craven upsell of Sony product.
Just canceled my account. Didn’t expect to do that this week. Or this year, even.
“I, for one, don’t have the slightest interest in your planned Six Degrees series. ”
Why, don’t you like craven upselling disguised as cool music geekness, you know, for the kids?
I just canceled my account. Wasn’t planning to do that this week. Or this year. Ya’ll have fun pretending you like writing about Journey and eMusic didn’t just take a big dive down the toilet. Hint: when they start handing out copies of Who Moved My Cheese? the company’s going to shut down that afternoon.
The question to be answer…..
Who in the hell will pay for download Alicia Keys, Michael Jackson or some Major RAP artist when anyone can get this music in better bitrate quality ON HUNDREDS OF FORUMS AND BLOGS around the world and for FREE ??
THAT’S is the motive of I’ve been an eMusic customer for 9 years in a row….. a lot of artists that you find here, YOU CAN’T FIND ANYWHERE on the internet…. the SONY artists (sorry but this is reality) are easily find in every single internet corner available for a FREE download…. what the GENIUS that run eMusic are thinking when they closed the deal ?? I reeally can figure out…
THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END… I’m pretty sure… I’m breaking up my 9 years of LOVE & romance with eMusic, because here I can find a blend of good music and great deals… I understand the business and everything needs money to survive, but I think this is a crap deal… and put eMusic on the same level that BAD stores like iTunes and Amazon.. I’m leaving… sorry and thanks for the golden age of eMusic..
I’ve been a member since 2004 but this is where my subscription ends.
I could stomach paying more for my subscription if it meant getting more “indie” labels on board but I certainly can’t get behind this new direction.
Thanks for the memories.
I’ve been sitting on my opinions on this since I first was notified my plan would be changing from 90 downloads to 50 downloads for the same price in the hopes that I wouldn’t feel as let down as I do. My love of eMusic is based on my ability, and the encouragement, to try new music I normally wouldn’t get. Having 90 downloads inspired me to dig deep into the catalog to find new things I would enjoy, now with 50 – I’ll probably stick to getting old albums on Sony I have on cassette or vinyl.
I’m happy to see eMusic expanding its library, but as a loyal customer, the loss of 40 downloads, and to have to pay the same price I was for 90, definitely lessens my happiness. It seems it was a move to benefit the new customers that are enticed by the 25 free download offer found all over to stick around once they’ve gotten all the major label music they could for free. 50 downloads for $19.99 is great, by not as great as the plan I signed up for and used up every month plus booster packs for these past few years.
If I were a prospective customer lured in by the free introductory downloads, I would find this change awesome. That is not what I am, but it was a good move on eMusic’s part to entice future customers. Can’t fault them for a good business decision, I just wish it didn’t effect my plan in such a negative way.
I have thought of canceling my subscription, and I still might, but I’ll give this new direction a few months to see how it works out. In the end it is cheaper than iTunes and the closest rival is Amazonmp3, which I’ve been using more and more of anyway.
I scanned this site to see if there was any comment on the storm that is raging following sonygate. Not a word. Life may go on as before inside emusic, but out here we are angry and we are leaving….
eMusic has lost it’s way and will lose it’s niche. You are now lying with the evil of the RootKit. Indie music represented fun and art Sony represents the old way of the dinosaur. What was wrong with the growth you saw promoting Indie labels and bands, we don’t want sonycrap…..
Good Gravy,
I thought comic book fans were ridiculous whiners, but wow, this is up there. Listen guys, I don’t like spending more money for things and I understand that most of you still have that immature “fighting against the man” mentality that says “major label=bad”, but let’s have some perspective here.
Many of our favorite groups, for which if not for them, there wouldn’t be a indie music scene, put out great records on major labels. Bob Mould, the Replacements, Sonic Youth, ect. Wouldn’t be awesome for kids new to music to be able to discover these band’s work for half of what they’d pay otherwise? And, in case it’s not totally obvious, none of the indie labels we love are suddenly going to disappear because Sony is on eMusic.
As other folks have mentioned, maybe the price increase WILL allow eMusic to get sub-pop, Anti, Rykodisc, ect.
But, if you don’t like the price increase, that’s cool. By all means, cancel you subscription. No one should pay more for something if they don’t think it has value. But, I still think it’s worth it to me to pay $6 to get the New Pornographers record or For Against or Mission of Burma or Faunts. Once it becomes too much, I’ll go somewhere else to.
I guess I’m just confused at the uproar at having more music to choose from. Yes, you may not like everything that’s added, but I forget that everything is about you.
Good Gravy???? Blow me . . . . . . . . . a kiss to build a dream on . . . . . . what I really don’t get are the numbnuts that don’t get why some of us loyal customers (me since Feb-06) are upset over an instant 80 % price increase (from 22 cents to 40 cents per DL). I’d like to know when that has ever happened anywhere in the history of anything – as I said in another post somewhere, if your (cable/ wireless/ IP/ magazine/ newspaper/ milkman/ Girl Scout cookies/ etc) provider tried to reduce service in half while charging the same monthly fee, there would probably be a Congressional hearing in addition to the peasant revolt.
Unless something changes (holding my breath . . . . ), I’ll take the free DL’s in August & then hit brick – I don’t care if it is still a better deal than iTunes, I just don’t appreciate being treated like shit while being told to be happy about it. I think I’ll take some time to go back thru my CD collection & wait to read about eMusic’s going out of business sale.
Probably not the best place for this but assume you guys have lost another customer.
I’ve subscribed for quite a while on eMusic, and have made it a common recommendation for people that love newer upcoming music at a reasonable price. People I talk to don’t care about Sony artists at all.
You’ve lost me as a customer permanently. I will never recommend your service again either.
Response to post #190:
So it’s “immature” for some of us to have a beef with the RIAA for their unfair business practices, ripping off of artists and customers alike, and ridiculous attempts to pervert the concept of copyright?
“Many of our favorite groups, for which if not for them, there wouldn’t be a indie music scene, put out great records on major labels.”
Because they came from a time period when labels were still necessary, and not necessary as insidious as they are today. And frankly, I don’t give a happy damn about bands from 30 and 40 years ago…even at my age of 25, I’ve heard it before. I’m after new music. Screw Bruce Springsteen.
I think eMusic subscribers would have much preferred the following approach — something that would work for Sony, the Indies, eMusic and most of the subscribers:
eMusic gives control of the pricing to each and every label. That way small labels can set the price lower for a competitive advantage and Sony can charge $5 a track.
A small label may not have access to good analytics, but I am sure eMusic has enough data that they can share some numbers with their partners, to help each and every partner charge close to an optimal price (over time, of course, based on analysis.)
I certainly don’t have an issue if Indies want to raise or lower their prices either to optimize their revenue or just out of personal principles to get x amount per track.
If eMusic want that route they would then have a killer site — I don’t think anyone could compete with them. It would be good for everyone!
And one could do this in such a way to make subscribers happy. If one is currently getting 100 downloads a month — give that person 500 credits. Each track starts out costing 5 credits, and then each label can vary as they chose. CD Baby could stay where they are or even go down to 3 credits a track and Sony can go up to 15 credits a track.
If done right it wouldnt be hard to implement.
One could also adjust this approach to drive it by business rules provided by a label.
For example:
1. Charge 5 credits for tracks under 5 minutes
2. Charge 10 credits for tracks over 5 minutes but under 10
3. Charge 15 credits for tracks over 10 minutes
4. Cap each album at 75 credits.
Name: aaron
Member Since: November 2001
Sex: Male
Location: SF
Count me among the cancellations. This was a major strategic blunder. The hordes at iTunes aren’t interested in monthly subscriptions. Trying to compete for the dollars of the casual, ADHD-riddled music consumers there is a losing battle. You should have focused on satisfying your existing customer base, not taking it for granted.
Latest (?) word: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/q-and-a-music-ceo-explains-controversial-price-increase-sony-deal/
I wonder how many people will return to the site once the clamour and original waves of cancellatioins promised by the 200 posts above recede. I was one of the subscribers in the “all you can eat” halcyon days. I cancelled before the transition to the finite tracks per month system. I came back after finding that EMusic had since added a lot of new content that I wanted to own. I found I am less willing to “discover new music” by taking a chance on some artist when I am paying for each track, so I cancelled again after getting the new content I wanted. I’ve since joined and cancelled under similar circumstacnes once more. The Sony announcment might draw me back for a time (there are a number of old albums I would like to get). I suspect in this instance that some will cancel in outrage only to come back later noting that the price (even with increase) is cheaper and EMusic still stocks the indie tracks along with the Sony classics. I could be wrong, of course, particularly if the cloud pricing ala lala.com works for those leaving EMusic.
The EMusic album pricing will also play a role in luring me back. There are a number of albums I wanted to download (classical and punk primarily) that simply cost too much at a per track rate (anyone looked at Minutemen’s releases?). I always thought a per bit pricing structure would be fair, but would probably be too hard to explain to a lot of consumers (at least 20 minutes of Black Flag would cost the same under such a scheme as 20 minutes of Coltrane). The album pricing proposed seems like a good compromise to me.
So the way you’re approaching Sony is to… not tell anyone anything about how you’re approaching Sony? For the record, I already have Mahler’s second and Arcade Fire’s Funeral. I do not want to read about Journey, anymore than I want to read about the relationship between solid food and good wine on the one hand, and shit and piss on the other.
If you’re interested in how Sony approaches us, check out the back of Godspeed You Black Emperor’s ‘Yanqui U.X.O.’
http://cstrecords.com/cst_images/cst024addart1.jpg
They approach us by funding companies which design missiles. Thanks!
We may as well be expressing our discontent directly to the devil, as we all know he is counting his own personal profit and laughing at all the bitching, as if he didnt know there would be BITCHING!! Well, mr devil ( emusic ), even though it wont mean shit to you, it’ll make me feel just a little better before i cancel your greedy asses. Here goes…FUCK YOU EMUSIC!!!!
what happened to all of asian man records catalog?
gawd, this was an unconvincing post. aren’t you guys cute with your articles about journey and whatnot! yancey strickler has cashed in on the faustian bargain.
a previous poster said it right about sony: “They approach us by funding companies which design missiles. Thanks!”
nice knowing you but see you in hell, emusic…
I work in credit cards. We have the customers who are Truly Affluent (who spend $100,000/year on cards only to get air miles and VIP concierge services) who pay off their balance every month; then a much larger group called Mass Affluent — those who spend $25,000/year on their cards on stuff that they THINK makes them affluent (like $500 sunglasses or $1,500 Louis Vitton bags), but they’re still only 2 paychecks away from foreclosure. For every 1 Truly Affluent customer, there are 50 Mass Affluents. So eMusic is going from the “Truly” Digital Undergroud to the “Mass” Digital Underground. Makes sense from a business plan perspective, but totally DILUTES your street cred. So here’s what I’d like to see, give me the option to filter out the mass musical pablum (keep me away from the major label stuff) and let me have access to only the “little guy” stuff at 50 songs per month. AND, make sure you don’t reduce the number of little guy additions you rip per month going forward. THAT would keep your current place in my musical and cultural heart and mind. Otherwise, this is just another Ben and Jerry’s. The ice cream just isn’t the same since Nestle bought them out — even if they keep paying royalties to Jerry Garcia’s estate to keep their hip flavor names. Good luck — wait until you do a stock IPO in 2012 and then Wall Street demands you shrink the little guy music to 10% of new offerings. Then you eMusic business founders can all sell your stock, take your millions and buy an island next to Tony Mattola’s. You’re burning a bridge here, dudes! It’s a sad day indeed — not just for us indie afficianados, but for the eMusic business founders as well. You’ll be flying in American Idol winners for photo ops at your SXSW parties within 5 years, and it’ll be on the front cover of your Annual Report to Shareholders. Can’t wait to see David Cook, Madonna AND The Jonas Brothers on the cover of your prospectus (standing in front of a press backdrop tiled with the Proactiv logo). Looks like the lemming cliff MTV jumped off of after just a few years of changing everything in music culture.
Oh yeah… and another thing. Sony had their chance in the early 2000’s when they were approached by Napster. Shaun Fanning brought them millions of potential customers all in one place, and what did they do? They sued him. Today’s Napster is a mere shadow of what it was, but it will always be remembered for the spirit of what created it. It TRULY established digital music and the death of the $17 CD (with 1 “good” song and 11 fillers. e.g., Chumbawumba). 75 years from now, Napster stories will be in the time capsule, but nobody will be alive who knows anything about eMusic.
If Sony had fallen in with Napster, it would have been the tail that wagged the dog — which is exactly what Sony will do to eMusic. They’ll demand an increasing percentage share off all your offerings and will shrink the percentage of indie label stuff by 5%/year or else you’ll be stuck with steep price increases that you’ll have to pass along to your customers — which the Mass Digital Underground fans will be more than willing to pay. As for the rest of us… we’ll find something else. The “Real” Underground never dies — adversity and betrayal is what has KEPT it alive across the centuries.
It’s not too late for you to make yourself something of substance, eMusic… tear up that Sony contract — in 30 years, your grandchildren will respect you for it.
And another thing… I had to pay some kind of price increase a year or two back to fund eMusic “improving” their site. The download engine got better, and the site ran a little faster and was better organized. I was OK with that.
The interface is not as “fast” as iTunes, and I have to wade thru a lot of stuff to “mine” for newly ripped stuff that I like. But that’s why I’m NOT paying $0.99 per track — I invest my time, not my money (I have more time than money anyway).
What makes matter worse is that NOW I have to wade thru even more offerings (the Sony dreggs) when I mine for new discoveries. So, again, give me a plan that FILTERS OUT that shit, and keep the same volume and quality of Truly Underground stuff coming, and I’ll stick around to still get what I need.
Right now it takes me about 8 hours per month to find 50 good tracks. Now, it’ll take me 2-4 hours more because I have to cut through all the Sony shit.
And another thing… I talked about the addition of all that Sony dreck. But from the standpoint of the eMusic senior execs, WE (the “loyal fan base”) are the dreck in their future business plan. They WANT to get rid of us because we’re not as profitable as the people who watch American Idol. At some point, they will buy demographic-driven playlists form Clear Channel and pawn them off as Recommended Playsists for their hipster-wannabee fanbase. Yes, America, you CAN buy instant culture. eMusic will be the “US Magazine” of musical culture.
And another thing… once you cull the ranks of your loyal founding customers, your new American Idol customers will not want to deal with your slow website, and they will not want to wade thru “all this indie shit.” They will NOT be 5% as loyal as we have been… they will not be rabid about eMusic and broadcast by word-of-mouth to 20, 30, 40 or their friends. No matter wgat your transition consultants tell you, you really CAN’T buy word of moth advertising. You’ve had some of us loving you for 3, 5, 8 years… LOVING you! You’ll be lucky to keep your new American Idol customers for an average of 2 years. Oh yes, you say, but we’ll make it up in volume. And while we have them for 2 years, Sony will teach us how to cross-sell to them. That’s all fine until somebody else starts a service that’s an average of the New eMusic and iTunes. They’ll crowd you out, your double-digit-revenue-growth will be a thing of the past, and then iTunes will finish you off a few years down the road. But what do you care? You’re already planning an IPO, and you can sell all your stock and set up trust funds for the next 3 generations. But when you’re 60, you’ll look at your massive personal music collection… and you’ll weep like a baby.
And another thing… Since eMusic is not reading these posts, can some of you tell me what other services I can go to that have good indie offerings? (Like, what’s “LaLa?) I’ve been pleased with eMusic as my single-source for the past 4 years, but once its indie catalgue gets diluted and I have to wade through the Sony dreck, I’ll want to investigate some alternatives (and use them as much as I can before the Majors get to them too). Time is running out… so please help.
“Six Degrees” is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Bacon. I hear Disney is registering the word “Magic,” and anybody who uses it in the future will have to pay them a royalty. Just like you can’t use the term “Let’s Roll” anymore. What a fucked-up country we have become — capitalism run amock.
Is it me, or is it getting difficult to download our old tunes? I get more error messages now. Would that be because so many of us are downloading at the same time?
From my point of view, the bottom line —from wich I will take my decision to stay or leave eMusic— is around the concept of VALUE.
Price is not the most important factor to me, quality is. If I get better music, then I will stay. What value means to me?
Accessibility. I feel very much attracted by the promised new catalogue, particularly the “tons of classical music” but I am very much afraid that the disgusting “not available in your country” legend will appear more frequently during my browsing.
As music industry changes and music companies refuse to give up their prerogatives, The emusic story reminds me of “the last heartbeats of a dying body”. I am very much curious for the future. Is this change a serious evolution of music production – distribution – consumig? Or is it just one more proof that music industry refuses to see the challenges of staying alive? To see this struggle is worth 20 bucks a month.
Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of “neighbors” will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune “Social” is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable.