e-music = sucks

[Bags]

I would bet 50% of my eMusic 'purchases' are Merge, Matador and related Beggars Group.

[kosmo vinyl]

In general these labels disappearing won't affect  what I typically download, however based on Matador's announcement I do wonder about the direction of the site.

[vansmack]

I think folks should not be disappointed with this, but instead be happy they lasted as long as they did with their business model.

It was unsustainable.

[miss pretentious]

I would bet 50% of my eMusic 'purchases' are Merge, Matador and related Beggars Group.

Same. And my plan re-ups tomorrow... Nearly everything in my saves for later fell into this group too. I'm giving it one month to see if there is enough to keep me on board.

[Bags]

CEO Discusses Future of eMusic
17Nov10

eMusic has always looked to be a home for thoughtful fans of music, no matter the source. Our aim has always been to offer the most complete selection of music possible.  To that end we are adding to our U.S. catalogue over 250,000 titles from Universal Music Group, as well as new releases from Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group ? much of this goes live on eMusic tomorrow (Nov 18)  in the U.S. and the balance over the next few weeks. This is in addition to their catalog, which has been live for a year.  These labels join thousands of labels already working with us to offer you the best music selection possible; in the future we will welcome more music in the UK, Europe and Canada as well.

In the process of expanding our catalog and making the changes necessary to serve our members and ensure the long-term sustainability of our business, a few labels have chosen to exclude themselves from the new comprehensive eMusic offering.  We are treating all labels equally and therefore we believe fairly.  We will greatly miss their artists and their music and trust that they will find their way back to our members soon.

We remain committed to the unique voice we have cultivated on the eMusic site, and to highlighting the music that inspires us, whether it?s sold 4 or 4 million copies, regardless of what label has released it.  Our focus is on our members and we look forward to working with all of our label partners ? new and existing ? and to creating a service that benefits them, their artists and our members.

Adam Klein, eMusic CEO

[walkonby]

azag will yell . . . but i gol (giggled out loud) at the fact that the "idealism" that screwed over the music industry, is now screwing over the user that was the one behind the initial screwing.

[vansmack]

changes necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of our business

In honor of Markie....

ding, Ding, DING

[Vas Deferens]

here's a list of what was added today....a whole lotta junk:

http://www.diehippiedie.com/emusic/listtoday.php

[sweetcell]

here's a list of what was added today....a whole lotta junk:

http://www.diehippiedie.com/emusic/listtoday.php

did you check out all 23,180 songs?  to come up with that number, you'd have to include a lot of filler...

[kosmo vinyl]

I smell a rat regarding the breakaway of the those three indie labels, it's almost if there a plans to setup their own download service.  The NYT story of course quotes lots of unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations...

[kosmo vinyl]

OK now emusic is really beginning to wear thin and this is a big change regarding the ability to re-download.... I was fine with the change in limiting re-downloads but this change turns them one step closer to really becoming iTMS     

also cloud smoud...

"eMusic?s policy on re-downloads hasn?t changed: members who experience a technical problem while downloading a track or album will be able to retry the download free of charge. What is new as of today is that we can now detect whether or not a download has been completed successfully. If we detect a problem with a download, the download button will turn red. Members can click it to retry the download at no charge. After a successful download, a blue button with a checkmark will appear. Members can click it to request an additional download but will be charged for it. If you want to get a copy of a song onto two different computers, one at work and one at home, for example, you?ll need to do this manually, with a USB flash drive or other method to avoid being charged again. As always, we recommend you back up your downloads regularly. In the event you are unable to complete a download due to a technical problem, please contact Customer Care for assistance.

Looking ahead, we are working on a digital locker which will allow members to access their music collection in the "cloud" with any web-enabled device. We hope to make this feature available in the New Year."

[kosmo vinyl]

their new preferred plans are equally baffling... my two year account is being "upgraded" to a one time yearly account?? HUH?

and now I can't even figure out what date my music account reloads... i'm sending some pointed feedback and  leaning towards an account hold

it's my primary source for music these days, highly doubt any other site is as easy and straight forward at least the way I use eMusic.

[Vas Deferens]

i feel for you, kosmo. I never did the annual/2 year thing. I had two monthly accounts and I canceled each of them alternately every 3 months and they offered me 90 free downloads each time I rejoined...so I got a lot of free ones in the process (probably did it 8 times?)

anyway, i downloaded a bunch of Destroyer albums (Streethawk, Thief) during Merge's last day on emusic....great stuff.

[miss pretentious]

I went ahead and axed my account as my monthly reup would have been today. I'll keep an eye on it, but that re-download option was really the last straw. I have two computers and it is so much easier than manually having to transfer them. </first world problem>

[Bags]

and now I can't even figure out what date my music account reloads... i'm sending some pointed feedback and  leaning towards an account hold

I emailed the help desk on this issue -- I have an annual account and nowhere is my monthly refresh date listed, which makes ensuring I don't lose credits REALLY hard.

I was told:  "We are sorry that you're having troubles viewing your refresh date. There's a bug in the system, where those members with annual plans are unable to see this date, when their subscription download credits get to zero. We're hard at work developing a solution to this. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. According to our records, your account is set to refresh on December 8, 2010."

Uh, that's no help at all.

And I was pretty worried about the redownload issue, so redownloaded a lot this past month (my hard drive crashed and I thought I had music backed up on server, but didn't -- it's work, I have little control, I didn't know).