Temporarily, I hope . . . otherwise a full scale disaster !
I was so concerned about this, so I wrote an email to the label and got a very quick response:
Dear Mr. Norstrand,
Thanks for your e-mail and your kind words about our label. It actually
came as news to us that our content has been removed from Emusic, but it was not
exactly a surprise as we have not received any payment from them in over a year
(!). I assume therefore that our digital distributor felt obliged to put them on
hold until they can resume paying what they owe. I’m sorry for any inconvenience
this causes you. In the meantime, our recent releases, including the Tenney can
be downloaded in lossless format directly from our web page and the back catalog
titles are available on iTunes and other major download sites. Hopefully Emusic
will be able to come to some terms about payments and our availability will
resume.
Once again thanks for your interest and please feel free to contact us
again if you need any further information.
Paul Herzman
What could be read out of this is 1: Emusic has got a messy administration, 2: Emusic is suffering from a cashflow problem . . . or ? ? ?
Smoke Sessions too … Has temporarily disappeared in past but always returned. We shall see.
Quick check of wishlist shows several others MIA: Mack Ave, Daptone, Origin/OA2, Clean Feed, Fresh Sound (possible that some of these were already missing)
Ah hell. I'm normally one of those pesky "I can always find something to buy" guys even with 200 tracks a month credit - but dang if they aren't making it harder. Common sense says I should pay more for FLACS at Bandcamp and make sure the artists get the money...
Smoke Sessions too … Has temporarily disappeared in past but always returned. We shall see.
Quick check of wishlist shows several others MIA: Mack Ave, Daptone, Origin/OA2, Clean Feed, Fresh Sound (possible that some of these were already missing)
Not really a surprise if Emusic don't pay their bills.
I hear you. I lost a bunch of stuff I was about to buy with credits I had in hand when the last round of classical labels jumped ship. Since then it has made me feel like a chump the other way - panic-buying two-for-one boosters to get stuff I don't want to miss out on from my wishlists. At least I do get the cheap music that way, but it leaves me feeling like I paid them a bonus for being chaotic.
eMusic gave me some ridiculously good offer to return, and it only took me about five seconds to delete the email.
I do still have eMusic love. When I first joined up, it was such a great tool to discover new jazz and new ambient/post rock/stuff I like. The fun of discovery on that site ended long ago. My Bandcamp experience is a bit different as far as discovery. But I have really enjoyed buying things on Bandcamp. I get satisfaction knowing that they're getting more for the sale on BC. I enjoy knowing that my support also helps the artist feel better about the time they spent on building their BC page up. I enjoy that some of the cheaper and NYP options give me a chance of being frivolous with my dollars like I used to be back when eMusic was a DL not $$ thing. I think my discovery experience would be improved if I started really using the BC tools for discovery.
Anyways, those were some thoughts I had when I got that email last week.
Oh, there's definitely differences between the two retailers. I was just musing on my reaction to the latest eMusic re-join offer vs. my reaction to them from past attempts... many which saw me, in fact, rejoin. Bandcamp has begun to fill those "experience" needs that eMusic used to, the act of browsing and buying music.
Smoke Sessions too … Has temporarily disappeared in past but always returned. We shall see.
Quick check of wishlist shows several others MIA: Mack Ave, Daptone, Origin/OA2, Clean Feed, Fresh Sound (possible that some of these were already missing)
Criss Cross Jazz, Venus Records, Steeplechase, Jazzhead, AVIE, Passacaille, Analekta, Bridge, Soundset, CP2, ... (I had 8 titles on an “up next” list that I use to line up what I am most likely to buy next, as opposed to some day. 5 are gone. I guess next month’s choice will be easier.)
Kept thinking of going back, but if it is true they have not payed the labels in over a year that is truly shocking and explains why Warp etc will not return.
Like Lowlife I've been thinking of returning, but haven't had an offer to encourage me! As things are I wouldn't want to get cheap music, knowing the artists and labels are not being paid anything.
Like Lowlife I've been thinking of returning, but haven't had an offer to encourage me! As things are I wouldn't want to get cheap music, knowing the artists and labels are not being paid anything.
I'm as guilty as anyone; but hasn't this been obvious for along time? Labels / Distro don't just bugger off for no reason. No Offence to Greg for shaping my thoughts.
I haven't been reviewing this thread for a while, but a whole bunch of stuff that was in my eMusic SFL last week now shows as unavailable. Similarly, some albums I just bought last week are now unavailable for purchase, though I still have access to them because I bought them already. I guess the cash flow issue explains why they've been running those cheap booster sales recently. I much prefer Bandcamp for lossless downloads and general good karma, but eMusic did suck me back in probably a year ago and I've DL'd lots of interesting music since then.
I think it is sad, but perhaps inevitable, that eMusic has reached this point. Over ten years I downloaded lots of great music, and stopped because I was struggling to listen to everything I had downloaded (still catching up after six months away). It was good, actually too good, whilst it lasted. A lot of high street stores, major chains amongst them, are closing in the UK because of the impact of internet buying, mainly Amazon, and I am as guilty as anyone. Something similar is happening with music - not quite the same because of sites like Spotify. Emusic hasn't been able to keep up, sadly, with the big boys like iTunes and Amazon.
I think you have to look at the payment issue in context. Not paying your bills is one thing (though I haven't seen any real evidence that this is the root cause of the current problems). But the fact that eMusic, as a discounter, pays less than full-price retailers misses the fact that they still - even at very low prices - pay WAAAAAAAY more than ANY of the streaming platforms on a normalized basis.
If you look at RIAA data for 2017, full price CD sales and digital sales plummeted, while streaming revenues continued to climb (in total dollars spent on music by consumers). But the actual revenue being received by indie artists and labels from the "big box" streaming platforms is much lower on a normalized "per song" or "per album" equivalency than even discount sales, so one could argue that full price sales of CDs and digital downloads will likely to continue to decline, making discount sales one of the few viable options indie labels have to make more than they do from streaming. (Of course, when they all continue to make their catalogues available on Spotify, Apple, etc., they undercut themselves, but I'm beginning to see some indie labels quietly pull their content, or at least new content, from Spotify).
I'm beginning to see some indie labels quietly pull their content, or at least new content, from Spotify).
Interesting . . .
I've just had a look at this thread on Reddit and found these two different replies from Emusic
"Thank you for reaching out to us. You’re correct about the removal
about this content. It is not a temporary issue, but related to the lack
of funds required to continue paying these labels for their content. We
have more information about it over at https://blog.emusic.com/"
- (nothing on the blog, so far)
"Thanks for emailing us with some of your concerns about content on eMusic.
Right now we’re in contract discussions with a number of labels.
Until that process is completed, some music might be unavailable on the
site. You also may notice these changes effecting your wishlists. Our
team is working hard to fix the situation, and they expect to have this
music returned to the site in 4-8 weeks.
We understand how frustrating this can be. One option we can provide
is to put your account on hold for 30, 60, or 90 days, so you can return
when to the site when the content is back.
We love our community. Thanks for sticking with us."
There were claims after the previous cull that those labels would be returning eventually, and of course they have not. One suspects those promises are based on wishful thinking regarding blockchain or some such. I have always resisted joining in on 'This is the end of eMusic' predictions, but this time seems different
"related to the lack
of funds required to continue paying these labels for their content"
This makes me not only confused but curious. In my naive picture of how all of this works, I always imagined that if you were selling downloads, as opposed to streaming rights, you would only pay labels for tracks that were downloaded - so I pay, say, $5 for the album and emusic ships $3 or whatever to the label.
But either that is the case and emusic have been in bad enough final shape that they filched money from the labels pile to pay operating costs and are now in debt to the labels, or there is some other kind of payment to the labels built into the contracts for carrying their stuff? Am I right in thinking it is more likely the former and this is really not a good sign? It would explain the current perpetual "send us cash" spring half price sale.
I’ve read some things about private equity companies buying businesses and putting them in so much debt they can’t really afford to operate any more- Toys R Us being the main example; some people say debt killed them not Amazon- maybe emusic has a situation like that?
Thanks Rostasi, an interesting article. Sadly the last sentence seems to be the key one:
This company is so utterly, utterly fucked.
I've been wondering about rejoining. Ironically this might be the key to do so, if enough of the albums I have wanted to download over the last six months are still there, it might be worth rejoining just to get them. I know I have jumped ship, but I would still be sad to see eMusic go.
Of my recent additions to my SFL, since leaving, about 75-80% no longer available. I've just checked out new accounts. The best deals are if you pay up front for 12 months - no way! The option to have a small monthly fee and then to buy a la carte has gone. Are boosters still available?
Comments
Temporarily, I hope . . . otherwise a full scale disaster !
What could be read out of this is 1: Emusic has got a messy administration, 2: Emusic is suffering from a cashflow problem . . . or ? ? ?
Quick check of wishlist shows several others MIA: Mack Ave, Daptone, Origin/OA2, Clean Feed, Fresh Sound (possible that some of these were already missing)
(I had 8 titles on an “up next” list that I use to line up what I am most likely to buy next, as opposed to some day. 5 are gone. I guess next month’s choice will be easier.)
Right now we’re in contract discussions with a number of labels. Until that process is completed, some music might be unavailable on the site. You also may notice these changes effecting your wishlists. Our team is working hard to fix the situation, and they expect to have this music returned to the site in 4-8 weeks.
We understand how frustrating this can be. One option we can provide is to put your account on hold for 30, 60, or 90 days, so you can return when to the site when the content is back.
We love our community. Thanks for sticking with us."
for this forum (if there becomes one). It's my favorite.
It's from May 15 of this year.
I've been wondering about rejoining. Ironically this might be the key to do so, if enough of the albums I have wanted to download over the last six months are still there, it might be worth rejoining just to get them. I know I have jumped ship, but I would still be sad to see eMusic go.