930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: kosmo vinyl on June 01, 2009, 09:11:17 am
-
This will be good for those harder to find out of print titles. Combine this catalog with their newly announced quarterly plans and I suspect eMusic will gain a decent amount of new subscribers.
Sony Agrees to Provide Its Older Songs to eMusic
By BRAD STONE
Published: May 31, 2009
In another example of struggling major music labels and Internet services finding common ground, Sony Music Entertainment has agreed to make its back catalog of songs available on eMusic, one of the largest music retailers on the Web.
Bruce Springsteen?s classics will be available on eMusic.
EMusic, a company based in New York City, has some 400,000 subscribers who pay a monthly fee to download a certain number of songs. Its service is primarily aimed at adults who are fans of music from independent labels.
The company plans to announce on Monday that it will add all Sony Music tracks that are more than two years old, including material from artists like Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.
The major labels had long been skeptical of the economics behind eMusic?s proposition to consumers. Subscribers to eMusic?s ?basic? plan, for example, pay $11.99 a month to download 30 songs ? or about 40 cents a song, far below the prices on Apple?s iTunes. Songs are in the MP3 format and do not have restrictions against copying.
As part of the deal, eMusic says it will slightly raise prices and reduce the number of downloads for some of its monthly plans.
Danny Stein, eMusic?s chief executive, said he had been talking to the major labels about adding their music for several years. Talks continue with Warner Music, the Universal Music Group and EMI, he said. He added that many of the independent labels had been asking the company to raise its prices.
?We have been looking for a catalyzing event to do it, and we think introducing this vast, quality catalog from Sony is that event,? Mr. Stein said.
The deal highlights several shifts in the online music landscape. The major labels gave up their objections to selling songs in the unprotected MP3 format in 2007. They also prevailed upon Apple this year to move to variable pricing in its iTunes store. Apple now sells older songs for 79 cents and new tracks for $1.29.
The major labels have also been more willing lately to strike more flexible and less expensive deals with start-ups like Imeem that are trying new approaches to online music.
Sony Music and eMusic would not disclose the particulars of their deal. An executive at Sony Music, a subsidiary of the Sony Corporation, said the company was interested in seeing multiple models for digital music coexist on the Web.
?We think the model of buying a set amount of music each month under an MP3 allowance is an attractive subscription option for consumers,? said Thomas Hesse, president of Sony?s Global Digital Business unit. ?We are supportive of offerings that encourage fans to dig deep into the repertoire of our artists and discover the richness of our catalog.?
-
actually this sucks for current subscribers and i suspect there will be a HUGE uproar over this, i'm glad that my two year subscription just got renewed.
so 90 downloads for 20 bucks a month went to
50 downloads for 20 bucks a month
that's not a "slight" change in pricing
so now those of us who like to support indie musicians now have a higher cost per download in order to support Sony Music :p
-
Can you even sign up for a two-year plan anymore?
-
This basically sucks...I go from $15/65 dls to $15/37 dls.
On the up side, they're also introducing "album pricing": albums with 12 or more tracks will cost 12 credits. That actually might help to make up for this somewhat since I mostly dl albums.
But this still blows.
-
Yeah - this does suck. I might cancel my account because of it.
-
The best annual plan you can get is
eMusic Plus Annual 35 downloads a month cost $0.41 per track, there is no equivalent to the current eMusic Premium Annual plan
compare that to what i've got which is 90 downloads a month at a cost of .16 per track
that slight increase works out to 25%
now the new album pricing model may soften the blow a bit, but just how many of those albums will actually be available. of course i tend to download as many singles as i do albums...
"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."
-
I'd be curious to see if they offer any sort of deal to those who try to cancel.
-
I now suspect that they are going to lose a lot of subscribers over this one, particularly overseas user whose rates are going up without the potential of getting access to the new content.
I'm not one that supports class action lawsuits, but suspect one won't be to far off in this case. Hopefully, they'll come to their senses and keep the old pricing plans for the people who don't want to download from Sony's back catalog....
-
Class action lawsuit on what grounds? My guess is they reserve the right to change their plans when they see fit, as long as they notify you in advance of any changes and allow you the opportunity to cancel before that change takes effect.
-
If they can finally get Sub Pop, Drag City, Numero, and other big indies on board, plus the album pricing, I might stick around...
-
calla703 - your probably right about the lawsuit thingy, i'm just sittin' here over thinking the matter
bellenseb - that thought did occur to me, as it possible that other labels will want to get in on the action to get a cut. if of course eMusic can retain a goodly number of users over this price hike. it's still a good bargain especially for those with current yearly subscriptions
-
Yeah - the whole thing sucks. I know why they're doing it, but at the same time I think it opens the door for a competitor to come in and stick to indies entirely and offer a cheaper plan.
This makes me very tempted to look into getting a Napster account through Best Buy. Has anybody tried that yet?
-
that sucks bigtime - I have (had) the 90 DL plan
-
actually this sucks for current subscribers and i suspect there will be a HUGE uproar over this, i'm glad that my two year subscription just got renewed.
was that just random luck on your part? do you think you'll still get the same # downloads or will they reduce them?
-
Last time they changed their plans and rates, they grandfathered my plan in. As long as I don't change it, I still pay $16/month for 90 downloads. I'm not sure that won't be the case again -- note the article quoted that "eMusic says it will slightly raise prices and reduce the number of downloads for some of its monthly plans." It said SOME plans....
I'm optimistic.
-
"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."
Most classical music CDs have fewer than 12 tracks. This only helps those who listen to nothing but comps and baroque.
-
PS, I pay by the year ($192). Not sure that makes any difference in the way they treat my account.
-
actually this sucks for current subscribers and i suspect there will be a HUGE uproar over this, i'm glad that my two year subscription just got renewed.
was that just random luck on your part? do you think you'll still get the same # downloads or will they reduce them?
Yup very random luck on my part... My subscription runs through 2011 with the same amount of downloads until then, at that point it get changed to a lower plan. They probably are losing money at this point on those 2 year subs, which is why they no longer exist. I suspect trying to change the terms of existing prepaid subs would have brought some legal headaches...
In 2003 on this very board the discussion was about the death of eMusic when they dropped the unlimited downloading accounts, only to become a better service. here they are 6 years on again annoying subscribers with a major change. It will be interesting to see what it will look like in 2 years.
-
PS, I pay by the year ($192). Not sure that makes any difference in the way they treat my account.
most of the existing one to two year plans are gone, so you'll be moved into one of the downgraded new plans
-
Anybody on here use or know anything about the new Napster service?
-
Actually the price increase would about 147% per track.
And it really is the long time customers that are getting the biggest increases, since they can't even get close to an equivalent new plan to what they had. I suspect the impact is less on the casual user accounts that were paying higher rates per track downloads already.
-
Dang, I'm on one year, and it just renewed in March. Oh well, I'll see what happens when I get there...
-
Bummer. I thought you were going to tell me I could carryover my DL's....
-
Anybody on here use or know anything about the new Napster service?
I use it (the $15 unlimited DRM with 10 DRM-free DL's a month). I saw no need for the $5 streaming only with 5 DRM-free downloads.
I will answer any specific questions in my thread as to not hi-jack Kosmo's thread.
-
Err.... not happy about going from 90 dls to 50 dls a month for the same price. What bothered me even more was that all the albums that I am supposed to be super excited about I already have or don't care about. I loved emusic because of the harder to find indie music, I couldn't care less about Beyonce or Aerosmith. Maybe if the Sub Pop catalog goes onto emusic I would be happy but having heard from someone who works for them, I don't think that will happen.
-
Bummer...if they had added Sub Pop, Drag City, Creation, Saddle Creek, Team Love, ANTI, Numero, et al, and approached it with "hey, this gives more payout to indie musicians and labels, and we need to do it to stay in business" this price increase/plan cut would have been received much more favorably I think.
As it is they've got lots and lots of angry folks on 17 Dots and pretty much no opposing viewpoint. They're really tarnishing their brand.
-
Talk about your poorly rolled out changes, the use of the word slight in the NYT story was enough to piss people off and they should have done a much better job of explaining the new album pricing policy. i.e. provide specific album titles as examples. my heart says that the album pricing will soften the blow a bit of the newer plans, but my gut says they'll find some way to botch it.
in addition to the announcements on 17dots there is now some official info being posted on the message board over there.
"Obviously, a lot of comments have been about the pricing. The Great Recession of 2009 is not the best time to be doing this. We own up to that. However, we - and our labels - simply cannot sustain some of the lowest cost plans that many of you currently have. The price increase is not just about Sony, it is for all of our labels, including the ones that have left over the years and those we have yet to sign."
-
Bummer...if they had added Sub Pop, Drag City, Creation, Saddle Creek, Team Love, ANTI, Numero, et al, and approached it with "hey, this gives more payout to indie musicians and labels, and we need to do it to stay in business" this price increase/plan cut would have been received much more favorably I think.
well, with this crowd, anyways... i'm sure there are plenty of people who actually are excited about having access to the sony catalog.
and,
"Obviously, a lot of comments have been about the pricing. The Great Recession of 2009 is not the best time to be doing this. We own up to that. However, we - and our labels - simply cannot sustain some of the lowest cost plans that many of you currently have. The price increase is not just about Sony, it is for all of our labels, including the ones that have left over the years and those we have yet to sign."
if you take that statement at face value (note the "if"), sounds like they are trying to funnel more money to the smaller labels. they mentioned previously that they needed to change the plans and sony was the event that offered the best opportunity. would these hikes have gone over better if they hadn't gotten sony, and you simply were getting less DLs without a greater selection?
-
"Effective Jul 26, 2009, your plan will change to the new eMusic Premium plan which gives you 50 downloads for $19.99 every 30 days."
OUCH...from 90 downloads to 50 downloads...that's about 3-4 albums I'm going to lose each month. Who here is cancelling their account?
They should just grandfather my already grandfathered plan :) and restrict access to the Sony stuff!
-
Drag City used to be on emusic...
If they can finally get Sub Pop, Drag City, Numero, and other big indies on board, plus the album pricing, I might stick around...
-
Saddle Creek was added recently. Victory and Epitaph are no longer on. Add those and Sub Pop and I would have been okay with the increase but again, don't care much about the Sony catalog
-
I hate to beat a dead horse, but their business model has been flawed from the beginning. They survived on people not using all their credits, and now they are doing what they can to survive. I don't fault them for this, nor am I exactly acting surprised.
-
Kosmo, looks like you need to go in and edit your thread title. ;)
Real shame because eMusic was always the best of the music download services out there.
It also looks like the big guys are finally accepting new, internet based modes of music distribution. Bad thing about that is that once they get in, they usually take over everything and ruin it all for both the fans and the smaller more independent artists and labels.
In the end, somewhere down the line, we'll find yet another avenue that they will eventually take over. It's an endless and inevitable cycle.
I'd be real curious to see how how many of their subscribers will bother with much of the Sony crap. Sure, you will at first get a certain bulk who will download Beyonce because they secretly kind of like that one song and have the credits to use or lose so just go for the whole album. Then there are those who never listen to them anymore but liked Areosmith way back in high school so they too download them just to use up credits. Oh, there's Celine Dion. Mom likes her so go ahead. Download that crap and burn it to a disc and give it to Mom. She'll be happy as long as you make sure you burn it as a music file to play in her CD player. Maybe I'm way off base but it just seems that a lot of the Sony catelogue isn't really the best for a big bulk of the average internet savvy types. Beyonce will appeal to a lot of them (though not most of us) but I honestly don't think that a lot of their fans do much in the way of downloading. Sony may even think this but just want to get their hands in control of eMusic for more corporate control though I don't really know about that. Just knowing how some very big corporations sometimes think and pondering out loud.
-
Actually it's good news for me as my subscription recently got reupped for another two years :D of course my subscription is part of the problem :P
I think that the pairing of the announcement of arrival of the Sony Music catalog and the price increase was a really bone headed thing to do. If they had done some gradual price increases and properly rolled out their new album pricing policy, less people would be considering quitting. It's clear the pricing increases were going to happen regardless of the Sony Music catalog. By pairing the two, you only get the dander up of the people who dislike major labels and is essential the opposite of what eMusic has stood for.
The music nerd in me still thinks there maybe some out of print gems, b-sides, remixes and other rarities lurking around in the Sony catalog, however it will be months before we see any of that as the priority will be to get the mass market online.
They really should be creating a separate service in order to handle the Sony,etc catalogs and leave the eMusic site and community as is...
-
I'd be real curious to see how how many of their subscribers will bother with much of the Sony crap.
I think current subscribers are missing the point. This isn't about playing nice and pleasing the majority of current subscribers (a model I've already descibed as unsustainable).
This is about trying to lure new subscribers, and the best way to do that would be to offer a more widely varied catalog.
-
Well, finally read the personalized announcement of how my plan will change, and on March 10, 2010, my plan will go from $191/yr for 90 downloads a month to $175/yr for 35 downloads a month. Means I'm quitting on March 9, or whenever I use my last allocation. With 90 downloads, I don't mind that there are months I download little of my allocation, but having those credits expire makes 35 per month something I'd want to use fully. Hope the new subscribers are suffiicient to keep them afloat. With iTunes dropping that protection software limiting use, eMusic may face a world of hurt if they're not competing on price so much.
-
The upload of all the new music happened today with a ton of back catalog appearing from Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, Iggy, etc... I still have the regular amount of downloads which will change for me on the 11th and then I get 50 downloads w/a Booster Pack of 25 available (which, do I have to use that right away or whenever I want?). Any suggestions one what to blow this on? I have a few Bruce albums but did not know if there were a few hidden gems I should get. Any other album recommendations out there?
-
And just to follow up - on some Springsteen albums it says "Album Only" under download. Does that mean you have to get the whole album (and spend an extra 4 credits) or it is not available? Hmm... not liking this so far.
-
Yes, correct.
I'll be downloading some Leonard Cohen tonite.
And just to follow up - on some Springsteen albums it says "Album Only" under download. Does that mean you have to get the whole album (and spend an extra 4 credits) or it is not available? Hmm... not liking this so far.
-
eMusic adds titles from the Warner Music Group
http://www.emusic.com/features/hub/just_added/index.html
which is great news and a much better addition than the endless Trance and Tribute albums (Bluegrass, string, etc)
-
uh this might not last long
Where The Action Is entire boxset 12 credits
Stax-Volt: The Complete Singles 1959-1968 9discs 12 credits (be sure to find the one with the entire set)
basically a lot of boxsets going cheap right now
i.e. big star, funky soul classic, the stooges fun house set,
-
Very cool, too bad they don't have the Hippo sets on e-music. I'm searching around for others, but let us know if you see anything else worth it...
-
Neil young archive, there's a thread or two on the emu message board.... Lots of jazz boxsets and another Atlantic soul set
isn't hippo a universal imprint?
-
Sorry, yes Hip-O select is, and that's what would be great. Hippo is a fine label on its own, reissuing a lot of African music.
Thanks for the note on the forum, patiently seeing what else is being Dl'd. Neil Young Archives is pretty damn cool as well...
-
Well those boxsets were incorrectly priced so they are gone for now... I wonder how many of mine finished before the pricing got fixed.
Regardless, I'm excited as Atlantic Soul is one of catalogs I haven't heard much of. Plus I see there are some OOP Rhino handmade available. i.e. Rank and File
-
Well those boxsets were incorrectly priced so they are gone for now... I wonder how many of mine finished before the pricing got fixed.
Regardless, I'm excited as Atlantic Soul is one of catalogs I haven't heard much of. Plus I see there are some OOP Rhino handmade available. i.e. Rank and File
Managed to snag NY Archives, Fun House and Mingus sets for 12 credits each. Was already charged 12 credits for Big Star but downloads failed. Oh well, net 16 each for the others is still pretty sweet.
-
and Epitaph and Anti were added back to the site as well...
-
Sub Pop adding titles today to eMusic.
-
I debated for a while whether to post this in the RIP thread (http://forum.930.com/index.php?topic=13826.0) or this thread, and chose this one in the end.
eMusic no longer requires subscription, opens the indie music floodgates (http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/11/emusic-subscription/)
-
Still a loyal member, my legacy account is still a good deal... i'm paying 14.99 per month + a monthly bonus of 29.50 for a total credit of 44.50.
Hopefully, eMusic wont go down the tubes, as for me it's a lifeline to music released only in the UK that would be insanely expensive to get if I had to deal with the exchange rate and then ship & handling for physical product. I'm guessin' those UK labels I favor aren't getting much out of the deal... Never been a fan of Amazon's MP3 store and won't buy from iTunes. Looks like Bandcamp would get my business.
-
how are you getting a monthly bonus of $29.50?
-
Member since 2001 ;)
-
ha! jealous....I canceled over a year ago...
-
ha! jealous....I canceled over a year ago...
i cancelled a year ago too - don't miss it at all
-
eMusic going back to independent music focus.
Dear Member,
Since its inception, eMusic has been committed to serving serious music collectors who are unbound by genre or the latest trend. We built the business in 1998 on DRM-free mp3s and a heartfelt mission to provide independent music enthusiasts with the best music, editorial content and album reviews around. Over the years, the eMusic brand became synonymous with independent music.
When we introduced a vastly expanded library of music in 2009, the experience on the site changed. Our catalog became more a reflection of mainstream trends than a true discovery experience rooted in music from emerging artists and labels. We moved away from our core values as a business and diluted what made the eMusic experience special.
So, in an effort to dedicate the brand once again to its original mission, eMusic is renewing its commitment to independent music and to promoting its musicians, bands and labels. As a result, beginning today, we will be exiting the mainstream music business and offering exclusively independent music. Further, in the coming weeks and months, it is our aim to build upon our existing library and provide you with the most extensive catalog of independent music in the world.
There will be no change to your plan, and we will not be making any changes to our album or track prices.
Our goal has always been to provide music enthusiasts and tastemakers with the best music and discovery experience possible, thanks to our industry-leading editorial content and reviews. With these changes, we are crystal clear on what we can and want to offer: a world-class discovery service built around the most comprehensive catalog of independent music.
We truly value your membership, and are committed to providing you with the best experience possible. Thank you for supporting us, and for supporting independent music.
The eMusic Team
-
Whatever.. most of what I get from eMusic qualifies as independent I guess... But it means that the craptastic karaoke tracks continue being added. Wonder how all those praising this move will feel when the new Lorde drops or that can't get tasty back catalog stuff
-
Have they changed their subscription model?
-
No, but their plans have never been an issue for me... I'm always able to get my quota each month
-
this is so vague, it could really mean anything
"As a result, beginning today, we will be exiting the mainstream music business and offering exclusively independent music. Further, in the coming weeks and months, it is our aim to build upon our existing library and provide you with the most extensive catalog of independent music in the world."
They could at least list labels/bands they would or would not carry?
Also, will they release stuff at the same time it's released to the public?
-
Basically no more from the major labels and back to a site dominated by Pitchfork and NPR approved "indie". What's funny is rarely does one see truly independent music (I.e CDBaby distributed stuff) trending. It's just the usual indie label suspects
-
New release Monday/Tuesday was really grim on eMusic this week.
-
?
-
Most record companies release new stuff in Europe on Monday and in the US on Tuesday. On eMusic you can browse through recently added stuff since they list catalog items by added by date. I try to at least see what's been added on Monday/Tuesday when I can and looking through this weeks adds, there was nothing of interest or even from labels I follow.