I can see the logic in having a monthly fee for access to the discounted prices, and, if I actually paid the discounted price, I might be attracted to it. Some months there are only a handful of albums I want whilst other months there are many more. Often I spend credits on things I play once and then never again just to use up my credits. But I don't actually pay the discount price on my grandfathered plan, it is actually much less. I am surprised that they have left such plans as long as they have. In effect I only pay £2.40 for a 12 track album.
Exact plan as me Greg. If my maths works out I'm paying £2.3994 for that 12 track album. But plz more hush about these matters! Walls have ears (An idea probably used for an album cover before now!)
Is it just me or are the new genres for browsing demented? Looks like Emusic hired a committee of millennials who know nothing about music (but no doubt believe they know everything) to design the new taxonomy.
So I thought I'd have a look. The categories for Jazz are as follows:
Cool Jazz
Free Jazz
Smooth Jazz
Dixieland
Bop
Hard Bop
Post-Bop
Acid Jazz
What has happened to Big Band or Swing? They have their own category, divided into Big band and Swing! Other categories seem just as strange...
I was just browsing about two days ago when I found the re-tooled genres and I had the same feeling - did somebody do this who doesn't know jack? It just seems to get harder and harder to find stuff you like over there. At least when you search now it responds to what you type in instead of being totally literal like it was for a while. When I'm passing up double booster opportunities the worm has definitely turned.
While we are knocking the genres, there is a top level genre Ambient/Instrumental that contains: Instrumental Chillout New Age Instrumental Pop Instrumental Rock
Apart from the questions about whether "instrumental" is a useful genre (it seems like it should contain most jazz and classical, for instance, and indeed the genre on emusic includes just about everything that involves, um, instruments) and whether "instrumental rock" should be filed under a category that begins "Ambient", it seems rather a pity that the category Ambient/Instrumental does not actually contain the genre Ambient.
The practical result of this is that a lot of the ambient that I like is filed under "Other" (and some of it under "New Age," which I object to as well).
I wish there were a genre for field recordings too.
I also notice many albums don't have genres at all. And others are in kinda weird places, or a band has multiple albums split across an unexpected set of them.
Currently down for me just after a funds refresh too... Also I was trying to find a Dave Sumner recommendation.... Knew I should have gone to Bandcamp ;-)
I no longer bother linking to emusic pages on my Round-up columns (or anything where there's a bunch of recs in one column). However, for the stand-alone single recs, I do search out an album and link to it on emusic.
Many of my stand-alones don't have an emusic link because the album just isn't on emusic. It's stunning what a large percentage of albums that comes out to being. Now, it's possible their search engine sucks and it's not just pulling up. It's also possible that it appears on emu after I do the search but before the rec gets pubbed... or I just missed it somehow. I know the Cuong Vu new release is on emu, but I wasn't initially able to find it.
And exception to this might be a Clean Feed rundown or the upcoming Round-up that features a bunch of Unit Records releases... labels where there is no Bandcamp presence and I can comfortably invest some time searching for links on emusic because I know the label has an emu presence.
Figured I'd just throw that out there as some guidance, for whatever it was worth.
It's really too bad. I'm sure it didn't amount to a large number of sales, but there used to be a good selection of "indie" jazz on eMusic, and your recs were often reflected in the sales ranks. Never imagined how much new jazz would fall off a cliff after the relaunch
I began going through some of the labels, and for me, a USA customer, an average amount were still there or had spotty additions, but not nearly what it used to be. And just as importantly, I'm not seeing the Self-Published options that used to dominate my lists. More labels are establishing Bandcamp presences and skipping CDBaby and eMusic, but so are the musicians who DIY it. It really is too bad.
At this point, I think eMusic has two goals:
1. Try to establish eMusic as an enticement to sign up for storage services... much like Amazon uses their music option to get people to sign up for Prime. But I doubt emusic is going to expend any more funds or effort than it takes to have some sort of catalog. I think their view of the music is catalog is "it is what it is."
2. Get all of the grandfathered plans to quit out of frustration, and try to churn the numbers so they get refreshed with new customers on the new plans.
But I really don't think music is emusic's priority anymore. I could be wrong. I'm not on the inside or anything. But they certainly haven't given any other impression at this point.
Well, just to note that this does happen once in a blue moon, a month or so back I bought this album (Tectonic Articulations of Colour by emuser Roland Emile Kuit) at emusic. It would not download, and they confirmed the problem and gave me a prompt refund but left it in my library. Today, on a whim I tested it again...and it has been fixed and downloaded successfully!
We all know that streaming services such as Spotify, Soundcloud and
Google Play Music have changed the way people enjoy and consume music.
While these subscription (or freemium) services offer a way to sample
and experience from a large catalog, eMusic customers have many reasons
as to why they continue to buy mp3s and what is rewarding about owning a
music collection.
1,700 eMusic members that filled out our customer satisfaction survey
in July were asked about their streaming vs. owning habits. Virtually
no member indicated that they weren’t streaming music, but reported
that 83% of the time they are listening to their own music collection
vs. a streaming music service. In addition, when asked “Why do you
purchase some music instead of purely using a streaming service,” the
top reasons selected were “I prefer to own my music instead of renting,”
“To support favorite artists,” and the freedom to “manage and curate”
and “listen to purchases whenever I want.”
Music, it seems, isn’t just a product to be served on demand – it’s an experience that is rewarding in its own way.
Encouraging! That eMusic is publishing this result hints that they may be more circumspect on shifting focus to streaming features.
I'm a little surprised that they could say "Virtually no member indicated that they weren't streaming music". Maybe the question was worded "have you ever listened to the radio".
Well, streaming offers such obvious utility ("Hey, what does <recording> sound like? Let me easily and cheaply find out...") that I would expect few to avoid it.
(To paraphrase a different theme. Heck, I can't barely ever remember to log in and listen to new stuff available on Amazon Prime, some of which are people I'm interested in, which may explain why I'm buying so few.)
I do stream music, mainly on Bandcamp. But I don't subscribe to a streaming service...I don't want the recurring monthly charge, and consider that I have more than enough music to keep me busy.
I do use Amazon Prime as well as Bandcamp. We've got Prime for other reasons but it is useful if I remember I've got it!
My hold on emusic ends tomorrow. As I've got a few hours today I thought I'd go back a day early, but that seems impossible without contacting Customer Services, which isn't worth it for one day. But what I have discovered is that whilst on hold you can log-in, use My Music and add to Wish List. So I've been going through recent releases, selecting what I want to download and adding to my list. Previously on hold you could do nothing in case it triggered the end of the hold. SF Jazz have a series of High School All Star albums, pretty good if you like that kind of jazz, so I shouldn't have too much trouble using this month's credits, but I really am not sure beyond that.
Well, I don't recall streaming music, I'm not too keen on listening to something I can't add to my library. The rest of that survey is pretty much how I feel. It's still double booster time right now and as I'm on the Lite program, a perfect time to stock up. Thanks to everyone here I have no trouble finding interesting things to listen to.
I've learned a lesson today - download from emusic when you can. I put several albums in my wish list a few days ago, and even one yesterday. I went to download some today when I have more time, and two are unavailable. After playing the two Elin Larsson Group albums I have yesterday and checked if there was anymore. I played samples from one, but was going straight out and it is unavailable to play or download today. Also Portico Quartet on Gondwana was there on Tuesday not available today. The entire Gondwana label is no longer available. A sad decline....
FWIW it may be worth checking back in a couple of days - there was an episode once before where a bunch of stuff disappeared and I emailed them and it turned out to be a transitory issue and it was back a day or two later. Not saying that is the case this time, just that it could be and it may be worth checking back. (Goes to check wishlist...)
I am forming a theory where these "ambient jazz lounge", etc, compilations are geared to pick up on Spotify search terms used by people looking for background music. All the music is royalty-free; therefore whatever pennies you earn are free of overhead
The more I look at 'new releases' in Jazz I am beginning to think that you are right, Doofy. So much is copyright free material or what I would imagine is low cost. Maybe they are only stocking labels where they can make a decent profit, without feeling the need for 'loss leaders' like, say, ECM in Europe, where there might not be much profit, but they pull in the punters.
As Q3 comes to a close on September 30, we are once again launching
our eMusic customer satisfaction survey to both our members and
visitors to gauge how we’re doing since the relaunch of our eMusic
website and mobile apps in early May 2017.
In June, we sent a similar survey that was filled out by nearly 2,000
members, giving us lots of encouragement and lots to think about as
well. This feedback referenced content you would like to see, features
you were looking for, and what you are looking for in the future.
Based on the results, we have put more effort into music discovery
and making it easier and more enjoyable to find the music you want.
Toward that end, we’ve launched more advanced search functions enabling
you to search by genre or label, and are actively working on some of the
desired features such as music charts and exclusive label sales.
In addition, many of you wanted more features relating to playing and
enjoying your music – in August we launched playlists and advanced
music management, which many of you have been enjoying on the Android
and iOS apps, and are just releasing one of the most requested features –
casting music to your TV with Chromecast.
We look forward to seeing the results and experience of the Member
base since June, and learning how we can focus to make eMusic better.
Hmmmm ?
I get the impression that they are convinced that the new emu is fantastic.
"Based on the results, we have put more effort into music discovery
and making it easier and more enjoyable to find the music you want.
Toward that end, we’ve launched more advanced search functions enabling
you to search by genre or label,"
In June, we sent out a customer satisfaction survey to gauge how members
were experiencing the new eMusic since our launch in May. In all, 1.8K members
and visitors filled out the survey - a huge thank you to all who participated!
If you would like to find out more about the results and how we've improved the
service since, please check out this post on our eMusic Blog.
In the spirit of continuous improvement, it's time once again to check in
with you and find out how we are doing. We're trying to make big changes here
at eMusic and it's your ideas that help guide the decisions that we make.
Please take the 4
minute survey now.
Well, that took a whole lot longer than 4 minutes, but I did have to do some pondering.
1. Are you the primary eMusic user in your household? That's easy -Yes Next (8%)
2. How long have you been using eMusic? 4+ years
3. What is your current eMusic plan? Basic
4. How often have you used eMusic over the past 3 months? Multiple times a week Next (17%)
5. What was the primary reason you originally signed up for eMusic? I chose New Music Discovery but I did first join when dld's were almost unlimited & found it was much easier to thumb through records on the computer than drive down to the record store & flip through discount/delete bins.
6. Did you use eMusic prior to our relaunch in May 2017? Yes Next (25%)
Since you've used the site before and after our relaunch in May 2017, we'd like to know how you feel about the new site compared to the old site. 7. How would you rate the overall user experience of the new site/apps versus the old site/apps? 8. When you think specifically about searching and browsing for music, how would you rate the new site vs. the old site? 9. What do you think about the eMusic catalog selection on the new site vs. the old site? Similar, I would have liked to add - It's still as crappy as ever, however I've never any had trouble using up my downloads Next (33%)
10. Which of the following eMusic features have you used in the past 90 days? (Select all that apply) Wish-List / Save-for-Later, Browse by genre, decade or content filter & Search for music label, artist, album or track. I don't recall seeing a Complete My Album button.
11. Outside of eMusic, do you use any cloud storage services to help store and manage your digital media or personal files? No, I think. I know this new computer comes with iCloud but I'm not sure what's on it. Next (42%)
12. Please rank the value of the features you've recently used A click & drag in order of preference Search for music label, artist, album or track. Wish-List / Save-for-Later Browse by genre, decade or content filter I'm not sure why they don't just combine the wish/save into one click. Next (50%)
13. What other music service(s) or stores are you using along with eMusic? (Check all that apply) Bandcamp Next (58%)
14. Apart from eMusic, which is the music service you use most often? Bandcamp
15. Why do you purchase some music instead of purely using a streaming service? (select all that apply) I purchase music to support favorite artists, I prefer to own my music instead of renting it, So I can listen to my purchases whenever I want, So I can listen to music on devices that can’t stream & I like to manage and curate my own collection Next (67%)
16. Do you pay a monthly fee for using Bandcamp? No.
17. How likely are you to recommend eMusic to a friend or colleague? 5/10 It's possible, I've mentioned it a few times over the last 14 years. Next (75%)
18. We are considering a number of new features for eMusic Members. Another drag & drop. None of then were important to me at all, but in order to move on I put major labels on the bottom. Next (83%)
19. What's your gender? Not sure why that's important but of the 2 choices I chose Male.
20. What's your age? 55+ Ahh, I see they would like to find out how many cheap old farts just have a Basic account and buy the double boosters.
21. Where/when do you usually listen to music? Select all that apply: I'm not sure how answer this. I assume that they assume everyone has a cell phone or an iPod type device that they use. I selected Other(please specify) but no window popped up to add that I listen when I have a chance to sit at the computer or broadcast it through the house & garden via speakers.
22. Please tell us how much you agree or disagree that each of the following statements describes you: I am always actively seeking out (new) music) - Totally Agree -but anything I haven't heard is new to me. I know a tremendous amount of facts and tidbits about the music I like - Somewhat Agree - I seems like I remember less & less. I consider my tastes to be more offbeat, or less popular than most peoples' - Totally Agree I like to use radio and free streaming services to discover music that I want to purchase - Totally Disagree I prefer to buy and collect music versus paying for a premium streaming music service - Totally Agree
23. Anything else you'd like to include? I entered I've noticed that a lot of the albums I've purchased are only partly added to My Music. I've had some difficulty completing an album recently and haven't tried to seek out a refund as it was only $.49.
I am curious as to why only parts of some albums were transferred and lots not at all. Next (92%)
100% and done. I'm not sure if this will get counted as I used Brighternow's post to reply to.
Ps -I try to catch most things that this darned spell checker changes as I type but there's some that get through. Plus, sorry to take up so much room but I'm bummed out about Tom Petty's passing and it's crappy outside-rain, sleet, snow, windy & cold & I'm bored making corrections/deletions from my iTunes. I'm Family
Also the Tom Petty story has been retracted at this time. Here's hoping he pulls through.
Comments
So I thought I'd have a look. The categories for Jazz are as follows:
Cool Jazz Free Jazz Smooth Jazz Dixieland Bop Hard Bop Post-Bop Acid Jazz
What has happened to Big Band or Swing? They have their own category, divided into Big band and Swing! Other categories seem just as strange...Instrumental
Chillout
New Age
Instrumental Pop
Instrumental Rock
Apart from the questions about whether "instrumental" is a useful genre (it seems like it should contain most jazz and classical, for instance, and indeed the genre on emusic includes just about everything that involves, um, instruments) and whether "instrumental rock" should be filed under a category that begins "Ambient", it seems rather a pity that the category Ambient/Instrumental does not actually contain the genre Ambient.
The practical result of this is that a lot of the ambient that I like is filed under "Other" (and some of it under "New Age," which I object to as well).
I wish there were a genre for field recordings too.
I no longer bother linking to emusic pages on my Round-up columns (or anything where there's a bunch of recs in one column). However, for the stand-alone single recs, I do search out an album and link to it on emusic.
Many of my stand-alones don't have an emusic link because the album just isn't on emusic. It's stunning what a large percentage of albums that comes out to being. Now, it's possible their search engine sucks and it's not just pulling up. It's also possible that it appears on emu after I do the search but before the rec gets pubbed... or I just missed it somehow. I know the Cuong Vu new release is on emu, but I wasn't initially able to find it.
And exception to this might be a Clean Feed rundown or the upcoming Round-up that features a bunch of Unit Records releases... labels where there is no Bandcamp presence and I can comfortably invest some time searching for links on emusic because I know the label has an emu presence.
Figured I'd just throw that out there as some guidance, for whatever it was worth.
Cheers.
I began going through some of the labels, and for me, a USA customer, an average amount were still there or had spotty additions, but not nearly what it used to be. And just as importantly, I'm not seeing the Self-Published options that used to dominate my lists. More labels are establishing Bandcamp presences and skipping CDBaby and eMusic, but so are the musicians who DIY it. It really is too bad.
At this point, I think eMusic has two goals:
1. Try to establish eMusic as an enticement to sign up for storage services... much like Amazon uses their music option to get people to sign up for Prime. But I doubt emusic is going to expend any more funds or effort than it takes to have some sort of catalog. I think their view of the music is catalog is "it is what it is."
2. Get all of the grandfathered plans to quit out of frustration, and try to churn the numbers so they get refreshed with new customers on the new plans.
But I really don't think music is emusic's priority anymore. I could be wrong. I'm not on the inside or anything. But they certainly haven't given any other impression at this point.
Small victories.
Owning vs Streaming Music
I'm a little surprised that they could say "Virtually no member indicated that they weren't streaming music". Maybe the question was worded "have you ever listened to the radio".
(To paraphrase a different theme. Heck, I can't barely ever remember to log in and listen to new stuff available on Amazon Prime, some of which are people I'm interested in, which may explain why I'm buying so few.)
My hold on emusic ends tomorrow. As I've got a few hours today I thought I'd go back a day early, but that seems impossible without contacting Customer Services, which isn't worth it for one day. But what I have discovered is that whilst on hold you can log-in, use My Music and add to Wish List. So I've been going through recent releases, selecting what I want to download and adding to my list. Previously on hold you could do nothing in case it triggered the end of the hold. SF Jazz have a series of High School All Star albums, pretty good if you like that kind of jazz, so I shouldn't have too much trouble using this month's credits, but I really am not sure beyond that.
It's still double booster time right now and as I'm on the Lite program, a perfect time to stock up. Thanks to everyone here I have no trouble finding interesting things to listen to.
The more I look at 'new releases' in Jazz I am beginning to think that you are right, Doofy. So much is copyright free material or what I would imagine is low cost. Maybe they are only stocking labels where they can make a decent profit, without feeling the need for 'loss leaders' like, say, ECM in Europe, where there might not be much profit, but they pull in the punters.
Updates based on eMusic Member feedback
Hmmmm ?
I get the impression that they are convinced that the new emu is fantastic.
- Oh my god ! - these people are hopeless.________________________________________________________________________________
ETA: an email from yesterday:
Thank you for being a part of the eMusic family
1. Are you the primary eMusic user in your household?
That's easy -Yes
Next (8%)
2. How long have you been using eMusic?
4+ years
3. What is your current eMusic plan?
Basic
4. How often have you used eMusic over the past 3 months?
Multiple times a week
Next (17%)
5. What was the primary reason you originally signed up for eMusic?
I chose New Music Discovery but I did first join when dld's were almost unlimited & found it was much easier to thumb through records on the computer than drive down to the record store & flip through discount/delete bins.
6. Did you use eMusic prior to our relaunch in May 2017?
Yes
Next (25%)
Since you've used the site before and after our relaunch in May 2017, we'd like to know how you feel about the new site compared to the old site.
7. How would you rate the overall user experience of the new site/apps versus the old site/apps?
8. When you think specifically about searching and browsing for music, how would you rate the new site vs. the old site?
9. What do you think about the eMusic catalog selection on the new site vs. the old site?
Similar, I would have liked to add - It's still as crappy as ever, however I've never any had trouble using up my downloads
Next (33%)
10. Which of the following eMusic features have you used in the past 90 days? (Select all that apply)
Wish-List / Save-for-Later, Browse by genre, decade or content filter & Search for music label, artist, album or track.
I don't recall seeing a Complete My Album button.
11. Outside of eMusic, do you use any cloud storage services to help store and manage your digital media or personal files?
No, I think. I know this new computer comes with iCloud but I'm not sure what's on it.
Next (42%)
12. Please rank the value of the features you've recently used
A click & drag in order of preference
Search for music label, artist, album or track.
Wish-List / Save-for-Later
Browse by genre, decade or content filter
I'm not sure why they don't just combine the wish/save into one click.
Next (50%)
13. What other music service(s) or stores are you using along with eMusic? (Check all that apply)
Bandcamp
Next (58%)
14. Apart from eMusic, which is the music service you use most often?
Bandcamp
15. Why do you purchase some music instead of purely using a streaming service? (select all that apply)
I purchase music to support favorite artists, I prefer to own my music instead of renting it, So I can listen to my purchases whenever I want, So I can listen to music on devices that can’t stream & I like to manage and curate my own collection
Next (67%)
16. Do you pay a monthly fee for using Bandcamp?
No.
17. How likely are you to recommend eMusic to a friend or colleague?
5/10 It's possible, I've mentioned it a few times over the last 14 years.
Next (75%)
18. We are considering a number of new features for eMusic Members.
Another drag & drop.
None of then were important to me at all, but in order to move on I put major labels on the bottom.
Next (83%)
19. What's your gender?
Not sure why that's important but of the 2 choices I chose Male.
20. What's your age?
55+ Ahh, I see they would like to find out how many cheap old farts just have a Basic account and buy the double boosters.
21. Where/when do you usually listen to music? Select all that apply:
I'm not sure how answer this. I assume that they assume everyone has a cell phone or an iPod type device that they use. I selected Other(please specify) but no window popped up to add that I listen when I have a chance to sit at the computer or broadcast it through the house & garden via speakers.
22. Please tell us how much you agree or disagree that each of the following statements describes you:
I am always actively seeking out (new) music) - Totally Agree -but anything I haven't heard is new to me.
I know a tremendous amount of facts and tidbits about the music I like - Somewhat Agree - I seems like I remember less & less.
I consider my tastes to be more offbeat, or less popular than most peoples' - Totally Agree
I like to use radio and free streaming services to discover music that I want to purchase - Totally Disagree
I prefer to buy and collect music versus paying for a premium streaming music service - Totally Agree
23. Anything else you'd like to include?
I entered
I've noticed that a lot of the albums I've purchased are only partly added to My Music. I've had some difficulty completing an album recently and haven't tried to seek out a refund as it was only $.49.
Next (92%)
100% and done.
I'm not sure if this will get counted as I used Brighternow's post to reply to.
Ps -I try to catch most things that this darned spell checker changes as I type but there's some that get through. Plus, sorry to take up so much room but I'm bummed out about Tom Petty's passing and it's crappy outside-rain, sleet, snow, windy & cold & I'm bored making corrections/deletions from my iTunes.
I'm Family
Also the Tom Petty story has been retracted at this time. Here's hoping he pulls through.