The key question surely is will there be any return of labels soon after November 20th? There is no way I would even contemplate returning without that.
This clearly indicates that we will be showered with diamonds
Interesting statistic from Bandcamp - Fans have spent $7.2 million in the last 30 days. I suspect that is a turnover that eMusic has probably never reached. If over a whole year at that rate, it would be more that $85 million
Yes, I have pointed out a number of times in the eMusic subreddit forum that Bandcamp started as a company in the shadow of eMusic, targeting the same type of audience with the same types of music. eMusic keeps complaining that the retail market is dead and there is nothing they can do about it, yet Bandcamp keeps growing and is probably doing 10-20x the volume of business as eMusic. BTW, that $7.2M is the PAYOUT to artists in last thirty days, and since they pay out roughly 85% of revenue, it means Bandcamp is likely doing more like $100M annually in revenue (e.g. (7.2 / 0.85) x 12)
What still amazes me most is that eMusic seems willing to treat letting their retail business die on the vine as some sort of essential tradeoff to moving to a blockchain platform. At best, the two seem orthogonal to me, and given that they have exactly zero dollars of revenue from non-retail business on a blockchain, it seems odd that they would kill off their only current source of income as if it is some sort of ritual sacrifice to the blockchain gods.
1. I assume they have little or no revenue coming in, and it's a desperate but doomed attempt to survive. 2. I was on eBay almost from the start, and passed on the opportunity to buy early shares when they went public
What a miss, Doofy! I do wonder if eMusic are hoping to cover their costs by the increase in value of Emus - I'm sure Soulcoal will have a more informed view than me. To me though that would be a very risky strategy if I am right.
I doubt they are counting on appreciation of the currency to make money, but more likely are simply viewing the entire blockchain project as a means to an end, the "end" being the capability to raise vast sums of money in an ICO without having to offer any equity or material goods in return.
Translation: When all this seemed to start for them a year ago or so, the ICO market for alt-coins was booming and it probably looked like a much easier way to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow than to fix their core business. So they went "all in" on the blockchain story and left the rotting carcass of their retail business for someone else to deal with in the future. Since that time, the alt-coin ICO market has cooled considerably, partly because more countries are starting to regulate the process, and partly because results from early ICOs were often spectacular flame-outs, so speculators (which is mostly what drives the alt-coin ICO market) started looking elsewhere for a quick buck. As for where this likely leaves eMusic - "Rock, meet hard place".
From a novice scan of the upcoming ICO schedules on google, it appears that eMusic is now slated for November 20th. There's a second date of May 31st 2019... whatever that indicates. A close date, I'm assuming. Some schedules still list a September 2018 date, which I assume was the original ICO date but maybe eMusic scrapped it because the market crashed or something. I remember reading something about that. Shit, the longer I type this post, the more my vague curiosity dwindles away to nothing.
But yes, they posted somewhere that their token sale (at least for outside US) will start Nov 20. Still not sure where all this is headed, but I think it is now a race to see if they can raise their funds before the last subscriber leaves and the last "real" label is deleted from the catalogue.
I actually rejoined in mid-October on the cheapest plan ($10/month) and got a $50 credit for doing so. I spent down that balance pretty easily picking up a number of albums over there that had recently been brought to my attention by various posts here on eMusers.
Then while randomly browsing through their 80's/Alternative category or something I stumbled across a number of albums that I wanted or piqued my interest. I sat on the idea for a week or two and then decided to go ahead and purchase a $200 booster credit for $75. It took me just over two hours I think to spend that down and bring my balance to $0.01.
I still had a lot of stuff in my Save For Later list that I would still seriously consider purchasing but decided that I'd better take some time and actually listen to what I just bought before throwing more $ at my addiction. So I cancelled yesterday.
All in all it was a pretty good experience. No technical issues and a rather better browsing/searching experience than I remember. I was actually surprised at some of the content that was actually available... I fully expected a desert with just a tiny handful of stuff I would want and instead found quite a number of nice oases there instead (and learned that the plural of oasis is apparently oases).
They now, oddly enough, removed a post about the Beta testing for the Emusic tokens from their reddit account - without any prior notice. So, censorship at full effect in the new artist friendly Emusic. Not very surprising, when you think about it.
Personally, I have an yearly plan about to end which I'm skeptical about renewing, simply because I'm not sure Emusic will be there in a year's time, or that enough content will be made available for me as a subscriber. So I'll probably put it on hold and see where the wind blows, but I'm unsure what it would mean for me to purchase tokens if my plan is on hold - will it be treated like a booster pack and lose validity after a while, or stay in my account? Also, not sure what the tokens will eventually get me if I do purchase them and what their real worth would be. Too many unanswered open questions..
Interesting statistic from Bandcamp - Fans have spent $7.2 million in the last 30 days. I suspect that is a turnover that eMusic has probably never reached. If over a whole year at that rate, it would be more that $85 million
I'm going back to this quote from a few weeks ago. I've noticed that about every 7 to 10 days, that number keeps rising. It was at 7.3 million up until now when it's at 7.4, so it seems to be continuing to be a moneymaker. New labels are joining as well!
So given that US users can't yet participate - I'm curious... Are the tokens "real" blockchain tokens? (I know they are supposed to be alt-coins based on Ethereum currency). Did you need to set up a digital wallet to receive them (and presumably spend them)? Looking at their schedules in the white paper, website, etc, it seems like the token sale is somewhat decoupled from their actual blockchain deployment in the spring. So are the tokens really just a fancy name for credits right now? Or are you actually having to venture into the mystic world of blockchain with a digital wallet?
So given that US users can't yet participate - I'm curious... Are the tokens "real" blockchain tokens? (I know they are supposed to be alt-coins based on Ethereum currency). Did you need to set up a digital wallet to receive them (and presumably spend them)? Looking at their schedules in the white paper, website, etc, it seems like the token sale is somewhat decoupled from their actual blockchain deployment in the spring. So are the tokens really just a fancy name for credits right now? Or are you actually having to venture into the mystic world of blockchain with a digital wallet?
The mail they send regarding Beta testers said:
"We expect your testing to continue over 2 to 5 days. Participation will require:
Step 1: Follow prepared instructions to download and install a metamask walletStep 2: Send your wallet address to us so that we can add test eMU tokens to itStep 3: Receive a special link and test account to log in and use eMU tokens in our test environmentStep 4: Complete tasks sent to you from eMusic and answer survey questions regarding your experience No purchase is necessary to participate!"
so I'm guessing a wallet is required. Though when entering the tokens.emusic.com site now, it just shows my existing credit and allows token purchase, without mention of anything other than that.
I was reading at the weekend that digital currencies, including Bitcoins, are losing value quite quickly, something like 10% or so over two weeks. Personally, I do not see it as a good time to invest in a digital currency, or even launch a service based on such currency.
Just reading in today's Guardian that Bitcoin has lost 30% of its value in the past week.
Quotes from the Guardian article
“The crypto bloodbath continues,” said Neil Wilson, the chief market analyst at Markets.com. “Things looks like they only get worse from here. Where is the incentive to buy? It does rather look like the bottom is coming out of this market.”
On Friday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission took action against two cryptocurrency startups that staged initial coin offerings, or ICOs, selling cryptocurrency tokens to the public. Airfox and Paragon Coin agreed to pay civil penalties for conducting token sales last year without registering them as securities offerings.
It does not look auspicious for eMusic, especially as they plan to use the income from this sale to pay labels so that they return - see comment on their subreddit from Sam.
so I'm guessing a wallet is required. Though when entering the tokens.emusic.com site now, it just shows my existing credit and allows token purchase, without mention of anything other than that.
So it sounds like the beta testing is intended to be testing the "real" (but future) blockchain implementation, complete with digital wallets and real cryptocurrency transactions, whereas the tokens being purchased and used (outside the US) at their token site are more like just credits right now?
Might be why the current token sale is open only to non-US users - legislation might be softer outside the US?
Yes, they've said as much in their various marketing and social media posts. They say they are only selling tokens or doing their "pre-sale" in regions where doing so does not violate applicable laws. It's still not clear to me what anyone does with these tokens being bought, as there seems to be a "chicken-and-egg" paradox. Their moderators on the subreddit say they need the proceeds from the pre-sale of tokens to pay off what they owe to the labels to restore the catalogue, but who wants to buy tokens when there is not much music of interest to purchase? Of course, part of that answer - at least I suspect their original plan - is alt.coin speculators, who may purchase tokens just in hopes of flipping them later at a profit. But with the cryptocurrency market tanking, will they really find a lot of demand there?
Comments
What still amazes me most is that eMusic seems willing to treat letting their retail business die on the vine as some sort of essential tradeoff to moving to a blockchain platform. At best, the two seem orthogonal to me, and given that they have exactly zero dollars of revenue from non-retail business on a blockchain, it seems odd that they would kill off their only current source of income as if it is some sort of ritual sacrifice to the blockchain gods.
ETA: back to "normal" . . . So it seems.
Well, that's that:
Who is this person that is still left? I thought everyone had either gone on hold or left?
They now, oddly enough, removed a post about the Beta testing for the Emusic tokens from their reddit account - without any prior notice. So, censorship at full effect in the new artist friendly Emusic. Not very surprising, when you think about it.
Personally, I have an yearly plan about to end which I'm skeptical about renewing, simply because I'm not sure Emusic will be there in a year's time, or that enough content will be made available for me as a subscriber. So I'll probably put it on hold and see where the wind blows, but I'm unsure what it would mean for me to purchase tokens if my plan is on hold - will it be treated like a booster pack and lose validity after a while, or stay in my account? Also, not sure what the tokens will eventually get me if I do purchase them and what their real worth would be. Too many unanswered open questions..
Agreed. I'm on hold, so waiting to see what happens. But it has got to be a good offer in terms of labels/recordings to get me back.
I've noticed that about every 7 to 10 days, that number keeps rising.
It was at 7.3 million up until now when it's at 7.4,
so it seems to be continuing to be a moneymaker.
New labels are joining as well!
The mail they send regarding Beta testers said:
"We expect your testing to continue over 2 to 5 days. Participation will require:
Step 1: Follow prepared instructions to download and install a metamask walletStep 2: Send your wallet address to us so that we can add test eMU tokens to itStep 3: Receive a special link and test account to log in and use eMU tokens in our test environmentStep 4: Complete tasks sent to you from eMusic and answer survey questions regarding your experienceNo purchase is necessary to participate!"
so I'm guessing a wallet is required. Though when entering the tokens.emusic.com site now, it just shows my existing credit and allows token purchase, without mention of anything other than that.
Quotes from the Guardian article
On Friday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission took action against two cryptocurrency startups that staged initial coin offerings, or ICOs, selling cryptocurrency tokens to the public. Airfox and Paragon Coin agreed to pay civil penalties for conducting token sales last year without registering them as securities offerings.
It does not look auspicious for eMusic, especially as they plan to use the income from this sale to pay labels so that they return - see comment on their subreddit from Sam.