Digital music company eMusic is rumored to be up for sale, according to various reports, but that hasn’t stopped it from signing licensing deals with big music. This morning, eMusic announced that it come to an agreement with Warner Music Group and that it will soon begin selling tracks from WMG’s roster of artists to its U.S. users.
eMusic last year inked a similar deal with Sony Music Entertainment.
The agreement includes titles from WMG’s Atlantic Records, Rhino Records and Warner Bros. Records as well as from independent labels distributed through WMG’s Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) stable that are not currently sold on eMusic. The deal will make 10,000 catalog albums from artists like REM, Depeche Mode and Aretha Franklin available for downloading, but does not include newer hit records. → Read More
Indie music download subscription service eMusic is getting an overhaul. Individual artist an dalbum pages already have more of an AJaxy feel and incorporate YouTube videos and Flickr photos. On Friday, its homepage switched over to a new design centered around a new recommendation engine powered by MediaUnbound. Now, when you sign in as a member, you are presented with a grid of “Music You’ll Love” made up of personalized recommendations. You can also sort by “New Arrivals,” which tries to give you new music that you will like, as well as standard “Best Sellers” and “New and Noteworthy” albums selected by eMusic’s editorial staff.
Helping members find new music they will love is the key to eMusic’s business, and it needs to do a better job. eMusic has 400,000 paying subscribers who have downloaded 250 million songs since 2003. Members can download anywhere from 30 to 75 tracks a month before they have to start paying on a per track basis. Once people stop finding new music they want, they are more likely to cancel their subscriptions. Better recommendations would reduce that churn. → Read More
Will the music subscription business ever grow beyond its current niche? It looks increasingly doubtful. Today, eMusic announced that since it launched its current music subscription service in 2003, customers have downloaded 250 million songs. Apple’s iTunes, by comparison, has sold more than 5 billion songs since it opened the iTunes Store in April, 2003. That makes eMusic one twentieth the size of iTunes. Read more… → Read More
Will the music subscription business ever grow beyond its current niche? It looks increasingly doubtful. Today, eMusic announced that since it launched its current music subscription service in 2003, customers have downloaded 250 million songs. Apple’s iTunes, by comparison, has sold more than 5 billion songs since it opened the iTunes Store in April, 2003. That makes eMusic one twentieth the size of iTunes.
The way eMusic works is you pay a subscription of between $12 and $20 a month and then you can download 30 to 75 songs a month and keep them. You can also purchase songs above those limits, starting at $0.25 a track. eMusic has a catalog of 4.5 million songs, and is particularly strong in independent music. It currently has 400,000 subscribers, and the company expects to make $70 million in revenues this year. → Read More
Over the past half year we have seen arguably the most significant change in the online music industry since Apple launched their iTunes store in 2003. Following Steve Jobs’ open letter clarifying Apple’s position on digital rights management (DRM) in Februrary, major record companies have begun providing their music online free of piracy protection mechanisms. The first major label to take the plunge was EMI Music, which teamed up with Apple in May to release its entire online catalog through a DRM-free area of the Apple music store called iTunes Plus. Also in May, Amazon announced that it would launch an MP3-only online music store with songs from major labels by the end of the year. Just this week, Wal-Mart began selling unprotected MP3s of many Universal Music Group and EMI songs through its website. RealNetworks, MTV, and Verizon have also teamed up to launch Rhapsody America, a music service catered toward mobile phone users that will provide DRM-free downloads, in the near future. Even LimeWare, a P2P software maker, has recently announced that it plans to be part of the DRM-free movement (this time legitimately). Some of the major music companies have been more tentative than others. EMI has thrown the most weight into the DRM-free movement by unlocking all of its online music. While Universal has agreed to release thousands of unprotected albums and tracks through several online retailers – RealNetworks, Google, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and gBox – it has done so on a trial basis that will extend only until January 2008, at which point the company will decide whether it thinks DRM-free music boosts or hurts sales. Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are still standing on the sidelines of the DRM-free movement and appear to be waiting to see how EMI and Universal fare by opening up. While the progression of things suggests that all online music will eventually be DRM-free, there’s no need to wait to get in on the DRM-free action. Check out the DRM-free online music retailers below to get better quality music that plays on virtually any handheld music device, on any computer, and with any music program. The retailers covered provide music from both major and minor labels. Update: We have been informed by a RealNetworks representative that “there are no current plans for a major overhaul of Rhapsody’s store front when Rhapsody America launches” and “there → Read More
Some music fans will rejoice as they flip open their AT&T phones this morning. AT&T is now offering DRM-free tracks from eMusic in MP3 format, meaning for once, you can actually download tracks on your phone and eventually transfer them to your PC. In addition to the non-DRM goodness, you’ll also find the largest selection of music downloads offered by a mobile carrier with over 2.7 million songs available for purchase. However, tracks aren’t a peachy 99-cents per download. You’ll have to purchase five-packs of downloads for $7.49 per pack. To top it off, only a few phones currently run the custom app required to browse eMusic. If you have a Samsung A717, Samsung A727, Nokia N75, or Samsung Sync, then you’re in the clear. Otherwise, hit the PC and bust out that USB cable. AT&T launches DRM-free eMusic Mobile [Electronista] → Read More
Jump Music is a piece of software designed by super-ninja design house frog design for AllTell phones. It’s essentially an iTunes alike and speeds up the transfer of music from your desktop to your “LG AX8600, MOTOKRZR K1m and MOTORAZR V3m, and the Samsung u520 as well as The Wafer by Samsung.” It has direct compatibility with eMusic, which is kind of cool. All of this requires you to have an AllTell account, obivously, and you can download it now. Download Page → Read More
I always liked eMusic. Though second banana to iTMS, it still has a good amount of music worth downloading and every song is DRM-free. Now eMusic is trying to launch a subscription service without DRM that will allow users to download a set number of tracks per month. These new plans are being called “Connoisseur Plans” and involve the user paying a set price each month for a pre-determined amount of downloads. Plans include Connoisseur Basic for $24.99, which nets you 100 downloads, Connoisseur Plus is $49.99 a month and will score you 200 downloads, and at the end of the line is Connoisseur Premium — 300 tracks for $74.99 a month. It breaks down to about a quarter a track overall, which is a pretty good deal on 100% legal music. No word yet if songs can be “rolled over” to the next month if unused the previous month. eMusic launches new subscription plans [eMusic] → Read More
Those of you aching to stick a memory card in your mobile handset for the purposes of listening to a gig or two of music sans MP3 player will want to check out this offer. Kingston Technology has partnered up with music-download service eMusic now through January 2007, to give visitors to Kingston’s Mobile Phone Village Web site 50 free songs with a free 14-day eMusic trial subscription. You should also feel free to pick up a Kingston flash-memory card to pop in your phone while you’re at it. The only catch to the promotion is that you’ll have to pony up a credit card to get the free tracks, but having done it myself, you can cancel immediately after you collect your downloads. Plus, the songs are MP3s that are free of DRM and can be used however you see fit, even if you cancel. It’s pretty win-win. Kingston Mobile Phone Village → Read More
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