Ha. I posted a follow-up there saying that I was moving on from that forum due to my post being removed. And was promptly told that post would be taken down, too. It's OK, really. They don't want to hear any questions or pushback, and it's their forum and their company. So I am happy to move on...
The fact that they're choosing to remove posts that reasonably hypothesize the emusic blockchain project won't necessarily benefit the artists rather than simply reply with reasonable counterpoints about how it will benefit artists is a de facto concession by emusic that you're right.
I was notified by a moderator this evening that it was put back up so that someone can answer from eMusic. And since I posed it as a question, I think an answer is a great start. But still... I'm not a fan of this new "take down anything we don't like" policy. I fully acknowledge their right to do so, but as I privately told the moderator, those of us being constructively critical and asking questions are doing so mainly because we're genuinely concerned that eMusic has not fully thought through these issues. Measure twice, cut once, and all that good stuff. I can't speak for others, but I genuinely want to see eMusic succeed, get healthy again, and get the discussion back to good music. It's not like we're just posting "eMusic sucks" and fleeing to another forum. People still around generally care, so it's a bit sad to be told, in effect "go away". C'est la vie.
There are people on that forum that were posting frigging links to album pages because the emusic site search engine wouldn't bring it up. There are people on that forum listing the labels that have left, the remaining albums of those who haven't but whose catalog is disappearing. There are people on that forum listing labels and musicians who still remain available for sale.
If forum members go to that kind of trouble to compensate for emusic's (at the time... has it gotten better?) crappy website, then there isn't a thing they could say about emusic that warrants a removal of their post, y'know? It's like they've earned a lifetime achievement membership.
I know it doesn't work that way, and emusic will behave like any other corporation and cheap shot a customer if they deem it good for their interests, but still...
Hi all! If you're a non-US resident, you can now participate in our first-ever EMU Airdrop. Take a simple quiz, get 8 right answers, and immediately get rewarded 30 EMUs. Great way to get started with our Blockchain project.
Highly recommended that you read our Whitepaper first before taking the quiz, cause that's where all of the answers be.
Enjoy!
I'm not actually sure I want any EMUs. It can't be offered in the US for legal reasons, I'm surprised therefore that it has got round EU rules. I don't actually want to get involved in crypto-currency. Does this mean that there will be no place for those of us who want to pay in Dollars, Euros or Pounds?
Seems they learned their lesson. well, kinda. There are now a whole lot of astroturfers, but they try to keep it more subtle. Practically every comment in the new 'Paul McCartney' thread seems to be one (BTW - they just had a similar conversation on the same topic with more or less the same responses on their Telegram channel).
Well it has taken over a week but I have cleaned over a thousand albums from my various Save For Laters - of course they made it easier for me because 80% or more of them are Not Available. Not going to worry about if they are coming back, not going to count on it. Did use up another booster to get some things that were still available while the getting is good. Might even do it again, but the returns are diminishing. Mostly this has just served to piss me off, seeing some nuggets I wish I had grabbed, first back before they dumped those majors without warning, and then the latest disappearing act(s), but whatever - I've had my fun.
Strangely, with many labels disappearing, KScope (one of my favourites) reappeared last month after an absence of over 6 years. It disappeared again within two or three days but not before I downloaded some excellent modern Progressive Rock albums by Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree, Pineapple Thief et al.
I just downloaded 2 Rune Lindblad albums this afternoon. Wacky! ps Thanks http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/emusic.com.html# -It's up(now)? PSST- Yes it is and running much smoother than this morning.
My Linkedin profile suggested to connect with Emu CEO Tamir Koch (because of my connection with @TROY )
I couldn't resist trying to connect with a note about my concerns about the Label situation . . . to my big surprise I am now connected and received a reply:
"I understand your concern and we are working diligently to fix the
situation. I can tell you we are close to resolving it in the very near
future.
We are now excited and focused on our blockchain project because we feel
strongly we need to fix an ailing music industry, but our core users
and our core partners (the indie labels) are important to us and we are
working tirelessly to solve this issue as soon as possible.
Thank you for being our loyal user."
Best
Tamir
Nothing new, but I feel a little bit more optimistic hearing it from the boss.
I do sincerely hope that eMusic rebounds and does some good things in the industry, but when they aren't paying musicians and they want to team up with Spotify, a company who takes a different approach to screwing musicians out of revenues, and say they're going to fix everything with a technology that has a proven track record of screwing all but the alpha investors, everything coming out of eMusic lately comes off like a bunch of fuck-all.
Nothing about this process seems like a triage of what's actually ailing eMusic. It's like they've already given up on trying to get eMusic healthy and have decided instead to use it as a guinea pig for some experimental approach.
"Sure, we weren't able to save eMusic," will be the preamble of their pitch to other music companies, "But we took some bold moves in a new direction, and we can apply what we learned to helping your company step into a bright blockchainish future."
The feeling I'm left with is that eMusic is being groomed as a bullet point on a future resume. I'd be thrilled for eMusic to prove me wrong.
One query I have, which seems not to have been mentioned anywhere, is what will happen to the existing eMusic? Will all their customers be using Blockchain? Or will the existing eMusic continue in parallel. I, for one, have no intention at the moment to move over to the Blockchain/token system. As Jonah points out the only people generally benefiting are the alpha investors- not us the customers, or even the artists.
My Linkedin profile suggested to connect with Emu CEO Tamir Koch (because of my connection with @TROY )
I couldn't resist trying to connect with a note about my concerns about the Label situation . . . to my big surprise I am now connected and received a reply:
"I understand your concern and we are working diligently to fix the
situation. I can tell you we are close to resolving it in the very near
future.
We are now excited and focused on our blockchain project because we feel
strongly we need to fix an ailing music industry, but our core users
and our core partners (the indie labels) are important to us and we are
working tirelessly to solve this issue as soon as possible.
Thank you for being our loyal user."
Best
Tamir
Nothing new, but I feel a little bit more optimistic hearing it from the boss.
One more chapter:
Me:
Hi Tamir and thank you very much for connecting and taking the time to answer.
I know next to nothing about how the music industry works, but I do know that Emusic is currently only a shadow of what it once was and, in my view, can't go on like this for much longer.
My Best wishes for a successful outcome of the plans for the future.
Tamir Koch sent the following message at 4:27 AM
"Thank you lb and I can tell you we intend to have the whole catalog back again!"
Well, within the last week or two a whole bunch more labels have vanished. Including e.g. Bureau B, DiN, Mons Records, nonplace, Posi-Tone, Unperceived. (Was Erased Tapes there before? Can't remember. Gone now.)
One query I have, which seems not to have been mentioned anywhere, is what will happen to the existing eMusic? Will all their customers be using Blockchain? Or will the existing eMusic continue in parallel. I, for one, have no intention at the moment to move over to the Blockchain/token system. As Jonah points out the only people generally benefiting are the alpha investors- not us the customers, or even the artists.
Their white paper clearly outlines a plan to move the existing eMusic retail site onto their blockchain. Basically, buying tokens (with cash) will be analogous to buying credits today. So, in that sense, I don't really see much difference to existing subscribers, other than whatever changes they may make to pricing, discount levels, honoring or eliminating grandfathered plans, etc. You can't really use an EMU token anywhere but at the eMusic site in the near term, but you can't use an existing eMusic credit (which is simply listed in cash terms now instead of "credits" as it used to be) anywhere else, either.
I've asked some questions on the Reddit forum that have not been answered concerning how they will deal with potential swings in crypto-currency valuation (e.g. will album pricing be pegged to $ or to EMU? In either case, there is the possibility for inflation/deflation for consumers and/or artists, and I don't think they have sorted that out yet, as they are clearly still in "HYPE THE BLOCKCHAIN NOW, Figure Out Important Details Later" mode to raise money).
As for the assurances that the catalogue will be restored, I have no doubt that it is the intention, but I would take those comments with a grain of salt. Until they fix their business model, they really have no viable way to restore the catalogue and sustain themselves. The blockchain diversion may help them raise capital in the near term, because, hey, it's a blockchain company now! But there is a reason they are losing labels and not paying bills, and simply moving to a blockchain doesn't solve the underlying problems. And based on some recent threads on their Reddit forum, it seems that they still have some fundamental lack of understanding of the very markets they claim they are going to change for the better. They seem to have several true believers internally who don't want to be bothered with details like facts or basic math, but instead just want to believe in the dream.
Well after dithering a full month I've emailed support and asked for a 3 month hold. Of course the link on the support page doesn't work... I'm due to refresh in two days so it will be interesting to see if I left it too late - no biggy if they bill me next month as long as it then kicks in. Really this is a compromise I'd hate to lose my grandfathered plan but what with catalogue shrink (and believe me my tastes are pretty broad so I should be able to find interesting things) and not paying artists / distributors... Next move - do I now cancel my evil Spotify sub because, well they are even more evil and I don't actually use the service (but what if I need to do some research yadda yadda). First World problems and all that.
Well Emu got back to me with an auto email immediately and followed up with a confirmation a few hours later. 3 months of cold turkey - I might just catch up with a first listen of the rest of my downloads ;-) Will I still be around in three months - will they?
I posted this over on the subreddit as well, but there are some more details and "reviews" coming forth regarding the pending eMusic ICO in Switzerland.
This first link is mostly just some numerical ratings, but does
include some specific dates, at least for Switzerland. Presale begins
Sep 18 and ends Oct 31. General sale runs from end of presale through
April 2019.
Among other takeaways... sounds like it may be end of October now
before we find out if the catalogue is going to get restored, as that
seems to be when the pre-sale ends and they can assess if they have the
funds to pay the past-due bills.
The pre-sale details also beg the question as to what the plan is for
all the tokens being sold. They are being sold initially at a 25%
discount, and since eMusic says they will pursue a 50/50 split for
things sold on the blockchain, this means they effectively have to set
aside 50% of the face value proceeds to cover eventual cost of whatever
is purchased with those tokens. But at a 25% discount (dropping to 20%
and 15% later in the presale), that means eMusic only really has 25% of
proceeds to work with - is that enough to solve the financial issues
and fund the blockchain project?
Example: Let's say eMusic sells $10M of tokens in the pre-sale at a
25% discount. That means $10M in tokens are sold, and eMusic receives
roughly $7.5M. But, in theory, that $10M of tokens sold will result
in $5M in royalties, etc. owed at some point in the future, meaning
that eMusic really is only netting $2.5M for each $10M of tokens sold
and has to set $5M aside to cover the cost of goods/services eventually
purchased with the $10M. Of course, eMusic may spend that additional
$5M now, but that simply means they'll be back in the same situation
later where they don't have the money to pay the bills.
Comments
Announcing the eMusic Airdrop!
Hi all! If you're a non-US resident, you can now participate in our first-ever EMU Airdrop. Take a simple quiz, get 8 right answers, and immediately get rewarded 30 EMUs. Great way to get started with our Blockchain project.
Highly recommended that you read our Whitepaper first before taking the quiz, cause that's where all of the answers be.
Enjoy!
Seems they learned their lesson. well, kinda. There are now a whole lot of astroturfers, but they try to keep it more subtle. Practically every comment in the new 'Paul McCartney' thread seems to be one (BTW - they just had a similar conversation on the same topic with more or less the same responses on their Telegram channel).
Honestly, it seems mostly pathetic.
Ps (I just remembered there's a link here that shows if a site is down. I hope it's not a pattern for the week)
Thanks http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/emusic.com.html# -It's down(now)
ps
Thanks http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/emusic.com.html# -It's up(now)?
PSST- Yes it is and running much smoother than this morning.
Nothing new, but I feel a little bit more optimistic hearing it from the boss.
Hi Tamir and thank you very much for connecting and taking the time to answer.
I know next to nothing about how the music industry works, but I do know that Emusic is currently only a shadow of what it once was and, in my view, can't go on like this for much longer.
My Best wishes for a successful outcome of the plans for the future.
Tamir Koch sent the following message at 4:27 AM"Thank you lb and I can tell you we intend to have the whole catalog back again!"
Best Tamir
Jay ! . . . I suppose
Why does that remind me of Brexit?
Since leaving I really have not missed them, the odd twinge if I see an album there I would like but like anyone getting over dependency it soon goes
I posted this over on the subreddit as well, but there are some more details and "reviews" coming forth regarding the pending eMusic ICO in Switzerland.
This first link is mostly just some numerical ratings, but does include some specific dates, at least for Switzerland. Presale begins Sep 18 and ends Oct 31. General sale runs from end of presale through April 2019.
https://www.trackico.io/ico/emusic/
This link has more qualitative analysis, raising both positives and potential concerns.
https://en.insider.pro/analytics/2018-08-25/emusic-ico-review/
Among other takeaways... sounds like it may be end of October now before we find out if the catalogue is going to get restored, as that seems to be when the pre-sale ends and they can assess if they have the funds to pay the past-due bills.
The pre-sale details also beg the question as to what the plan is for all the tokens being sold. They are being sold initially at a 25% discount, and since eMusic says they will pursue a 50/50 split for things sold on the blockchain, this means they effectively have to set aside 50% of the face value proceeds to cover eventual cost of whatever is purchased with those tokens. But at a 25% discount (dropping to 20% and 15% later in the presale), that means eMusic only really has 25% of proceeds to work with - is that enough to solve the financial issues and fund the blockchain project?
Example: Let's say eMusic sells $10M of tokens in the pre-sale at a 25% discount. That means $10M in tokens are sold, and eMusic receives roughly $7.5M. But, in theory, that $10M of tokens sold will result in $5M in royalties, etc. owed at some point in the future, meaning that eMusic really is only netting $2.5M for each $10M of tokens sold and has to set $5M aside to cover the cost of goods/services eventually purchased with the $10M. Of course, eMusic may spend that additional $5M now, but that simply means they'll be back in the same situation later where they don't have the money to pay the bills.