Interview with J. Edward Keyes

Doofy

Interesting interview with Joe on a blog devoted to the business side of music: http://musiciancoaching.com/music-business/advice-from-a-digital-music-journalist/

On the editorial vs sales role:

But one of the things I’ve been proudest of is that we’ve been able to keep a wall around the editorial department and stay true to our indie music roots. I can honestly say that in the time I’ve been here, while we’ve been constantly getting pitches from labels about their priorities and what they think we should be covering, if it doesn’t feel right to us and we don’t believe in it, we don’t cover it. We really do have the latitude to do that and continue to cater to the independent-minded consumer.

On the Indie record audience:

They tend to be the types of people that like to turn their friends onto bands. They take a certain level of pride in their individuality and in stepping outside the mainstream. They have a really close, personal relationship with their music; what they listen to defines them. So, there is an even greater incentive for them to step outside the mainstream. It’s really more about personality than hard demographic.

Also lots of tips for artists trying to get noticed. Have to give eMusic some props for keeping this editorial effort going, IMO.

cafreema

I've always like Joe and enjoyed reading him.

The problem with the wall around editorial, though, is that editorial relies on the business side and not the other way around, so it doesn't matter how good the editorial is if the business fails. There was actually a really interesting article last week about The National an all sports daily newspaper that started in 1990 and lasted for only a year and a half despite raiding the nation's newspapers and SI for all the best sportswriters and spending money like crazy. The editorial content was tremendous and they seemed to have a similar wall, but they never had a good business side (including having horrid distribution), so they lost $150 million in that year and a half and folded.

If you're interested in the article it is here.

Craig

Doofy

I remember the National, and in fact may have the 1st issue in a box somewhere, pack rat that I am.

I was just pleasantly surprised in that interview that there does seem to be still at least some commitment to the Indie audience at eMu, even if the editorial "talk" doesn't always match the sales "walk." Joe describes a situation where editorial really does have the ability to influence sales, which I believe is true. Of course if eMu editorial causes an uptick in DLs for a particular artist or album, it may be at the cost of other products, given that subscribers have a set allotment for each month. The editorial effort really is stronger than the competition's, now if they could only find a way to leverage that into increased revenues, whether through more sales or increased subscriber numbers.

greg

Yes, I do believe that Joe is genuinely interested in the same kind of music that many listen to here - in fact he'd be a good person to have on emusers. His description of a typical emusic customer would describe all of us. But his role is very different from those in corporate charge of emusic and that is where the dichotomy comes - the need for profit on one hand and the need to be independent in approach to be sufficiently different from the big players in the market - itunes and Amazon. I wish him well in trying to maintain that difference, so that emusic does not become a mini-itunes