Lets get one thing straight – I love The Clash. I love The Sex Pistols. I love Leonard Cohen and I love 90% of the work by The Strokes and Springsteen. These are the artist’s eMusic CEO and Chairman Danny Stein trotted out to brace current subscribers on the upcoming changes to their existing plans. (I thought it odd that he failed to mention Alicia Keys and the Dixie Chicks, despite their inevitable appearance on the highlights graphic for the “Major Catalog Expansion.”) Through some crafty nudging of the timeframes available, the company has glossed over the fact that most ardent music-lovers will now be paying almost a 400% increase per track starting this summer for the implied joy of scooping up some of these artists finest tracks, which most of you have already decided whether or not to purchase quite some time ago. I have to admit that I have long wondered how it was possible that the per-song cost could stay so low – but quietly thankful, as it allowed me to sample gigabytes worth of artists that I wouldn’t have normally. The pricing was so perfect that it never even occurred to me to try to track down music anywhere else before hitting up eMusic first.
Checking eMusic habitually was an easy step based on the subscription model - but really it was because it catered to my tastes. It was where I buy my morning coffee, pick out my favorite books and buy my high end deli coldcuts and wholesome baked goods. It was my local digital music store. It wasn’t the only place I shopped. I bought the new Grizzly Bear at Best Buy just for the surreal effect of seeing it there as a loss leader. I bought music at Amazon (where I am constantly reminded how much I miss it being just for books and music – hint hint) and itunes. Just like I still buy books and food and beverages at other places as well, depending on my needs. But I still return to my local shops because they not only know what I like – they ARE what I like.
eMusic is about to change that, and while I understand that the economic playing field continues to shift under their feet, I think it is a misstep. The reason I repeated Stein’s roll call of artists is to point out the basic flaw in their announcement. The notion of a catalog “expansion” requires that the company acquire music that 1) they did not have previously and 2) is not available elsewhere. Prior to the digital age, this happened frequently as licenses to geographic regions expired and larger companies swallowed up the small fishes - catalog and all. In this case, not only is this music available – it is already EVERYWHERE but eMusic! It’s an expensive purchase to bring you the convenience of something that everyone already has access to. If you have the aptitude to punch up the keys to make it to eMusic, I am betting you can e-mosey over to itunes with little to no trouble.
Having these songs available at a discounted price is nice, (and the album cutoff at 12 is long overdue) but at what true cost does it come? I am sure a number of analogies have already blazed through your mind, but I will put down the obvious one for prosperity’s sake. Remember our local shop for coffee and yummy treats? You love soda and I love soda. I specifically love Coke (Zero) with no shame what so ever. The nice thing about Coke is that I can get it everywhere when I need it. Well beyond the grocery store, it beckons me at the gas station, high school cafeteria, putt putt golf course and seemingly every square foot with enough electricity to plug in a vending machine. You know what is so amazing about the local coffee stop? It doesn’t carry Coke. In fact, it doesn’t carry any of the global brands so ubiquitous in my life. It is the only place where I feel like I can take a deep breath and relax for a second, sheltered from my sensory overload and coddled with products that seem to call out solely to me (and the full shop of patrons to my right and to my left.)
Now, before you try to dampen my scenario by saying that the internet has limitless sales space – lets all keep in mind that a homepage doesn’t and neither does your brain and it’s ability to retain information.
What would happen if my coffee shop got an amazing distribution deal and starting carrying Coke? Putting aside the fact that paying for said deal has raised the costs on everything in the store to the point that it no longer holds to the place’s original mission – it would inevitably take up so much shelf space (all of it premium of course) that many products would simply have to be moved off the floor or discontinued altogether. For every Alicia Keys that shows up in your “recommended” grid after you download that new Nomo album, it is one less Alien Sex Fiend in the queue. It just is.
The sad (and painfully obvious) part is that these more marginal artists won’t show up on the larger sites like Amazon and itunes (where I still generally need to know what I am searching for beforehand) and now they won’t show up on eMusic either. I like a site like insound based on their selection, but not their pricing and the VERY MOST IMPORTANT aspect of eMusic was that it’s solid structure mixed with little expense encouraged – no demanded – that I try new music.
That’s about to end.
I’ll still try a new thing now and again, when I chance upon it in my travels, or when a friend serves it directly to me – but mostly I’ll just drink Coke.
It’s all I see.
God loves a cheerful giver.
I hear you man but I have to say I've been a little disappointed with eMusic's indie selection. They don't carry the new Bat for Lashes or the new St. Vincent (the latter on 4AD!). I also couldn't find the old Throwing Muses albums i was looking for either. Those are just some that are popping to my head at the moment. There are loads of other examples. Don't get me wrong---the service has hooked me up with some great tunes at probably the best price on the web. But I have to say, it seems like 50 percent of the time or something, when I'm looking for an album they don't have it. My point is: I can see why they want to offer more. Shame it has to come with a bunch of corporate schlock and a higer price tag though. Oh well.
well said. all of it. and i see A LOT of irked emusic veteran users out there. growth is inevitable, but essentially turning your back on what made you what you are is always a little sad.
having said that-I do agree with rick that lately they've failed to meet my recent music release needs: aforementioned bat for lashes, grizzly bear, nothing from subpop is EVER ON IT....the list goes on.
Hey Rick - I totally know what you mean and if they were charging a little more to be more aggressive with certain specific releases and catalogs then I might not bristle but the point I am making is that I can easily get those tracks you are asking about at itunes/Amazon or even a brick and mortar retailer but only on eMusic do I have the chance to have Spoonfed Hybrid or Unrest's "Perfect Teeth," both via 4AD, recommended to me and easy to find.
I know the current pricing structure has kept the Sub Pops of the world away but again - I can get that music elsewhere. If a Band of Horses release were out, there is little doubt it would take the place of something on Matinee or Slumberland on the homepage.
I haven't used Emusic in a while now, and they may have changed this, but the quality of the mp3's was so terrible I cancelled my subscription. I am no audiophile...far from it. But even I could tell they were cutting serious corners on the digital conversion.
Hey John: Well put. My top 3 favorite bands of the last DECADE are The Dirtbombs, The Lost Sounds and The Reigning Sound. All of them I first heard through eMusic in 2001 or so. All of them I went on to buy everything I could find on vinyl and CD. So eMusic's cheap prices actually encouraged me to spend MORE money on those artists. I'm annoyed about the price hike--HUGE--that's the way eMusic has done every time, too. But their TAGLINE was "The place for independent music". It stinks that they walking away from that to offer the same major label crap available everywhere else.
well said Mr. Foster
I'm gonna miss my 65 credits @ $143.90 a year
As for not finding stuff, I have enough in my saved for later file to last me for the next couple years.
Nail on the head Mr. Foster! One thing I’ve said over and over again upon hearing folks decry the Targets and the Wal-marts of the world is that those behemoths inevitably pave the way for specialty shops. And it’s a unique niche that the big players can’t possibly cater to with any relevance.
Want to keep the mom and pop record shops relevant? Cater to every musical format and purists be damned (myself included.) Grab your micro-niche, indie release on 7” AND Mp3 under one roof. Y’know, so you have something to listen to on the walk home...
damn. i liked that site a lot too. but if you cant' get your music online anymore...will you then have to go to a....... (gasp)..record store??
I got suckered into a subscription a long time ago and it stayed at 90 dl/month for $19.99 even through the recent "restructuring". I logged on the other day to find I'll get 50 dl/month for the same $19.99.
I stuck around because of the independent focus, the redownloadability and the pricing allowed me to experiment musically. I'm pretty bummed out.
Well said sir!
What I'll miss the most about eMusic is being able to quickly and easily re-download your tunes where ever you were.
rememeber when everyone freaked on the Dixie Chicks for hating on Bush?
Natalie Maines has been on the Stern show a number of times in the past year as she revealed herself as a super fan and has turned into an insanely cool and open person during the interviews. I am sure she was cool beforehand, but I just didn't know that it was to this extent. Still crappy music though...
ug, the 12 track thing works the other way too:
Black One by Sunn O))) is a 7 track album - now 4 of the tracks are only available if you purchase the entire album, which will use 12 credits.
Also not all albums that are over 12 only cost 12, especially true with comps.
Also also I re-downloaded an album I already purchased and it gave me a note about "limited # of re-downloads" but I haven't looked into exactly what that means yet.
Even worse is that it keeps recommending Kings of Leon to me!!!! Aargh!
Tons of instances where you have to download an entire album now as opposed to individual tracks and the shenanigans Cale described.
Surprisingly, the most disappointing aspect so far is that searching is much more difficult now that the labels are so thick. I used to click on a label I enjoyed and roll through a few pages and discover something new but now that can be hampered heavily by 4 pages of Streisand records...
On the plus side, you can get some things that never go on sale for less like Springsteen's "Nebraska" for about 4 bucks.
I also noticed the Michael Jackson catalog makes you download the entire record to get any of the hits - smartypants.
check this out:
eMusic
Mount Eerie by The Microphones
5 Tracks for 12 credits
Track 1 is album only
Total cost: $5.40
Amazon MP3
Mount Eerie by The Microphones
5 Tracks for 99 cents each
Total cost: $4.95
Buy track 1 from Amazon and tracks 4-5 from eMusic
Total cost: $2.80