Annual Plan offer

jonahpwll

So, I got an email the other day from emu offering to switch me to an annual plan. I currently pay the 16bucks for 35 dls monthly, and this plan would be a one-time charge for 160 bucks to continue receiving 35dls monthly, plus I'd get an additional 100 dls bonus for signing up. So, basically, for giving them the money up front, I'd be getting two months free plus an additional 100dls.

Why are they doing this?

I mean, I understand wanting cash up front, but are they losing in the long run? Or do my two "free months" plus the 100dl bonus not really hit their bottom line? Perhaps giving those dls away are partially subsidized by the labels?

The 100 bonus dls have to be used in the first thirty days. Add that to my 35 normal plan dls, and I've got thirty days to use 135dls. Not sure I can do that. Maybe if I spend some time researching stuff I'd really want. The problem is, I've been struggling lately to find stuff I want, and I can see myself using up most of those bonus dls on music I'm ambivalent about, music that was interesting enough for me to put in my SFL bucket but which has languished there because I'm not intrigued enough to actually purchase it. Dunno.

Also, in their email, by way of price comparison between monthly vs annual plans, they pointed out that I'm spending just under $200/year on their service. We're struggling financially right now and I think emusic's plan may have backfired; now that I see what I'm spending there, it's actually got me considering to drop it altogether. Again, dunno.

Anyone else got this email?

kargatron

I think annual plans help with revenue forecasting, which is good for financial/corporate reasons. The plan is available in the plan list, it's nothing special offer-wise.

I can't easily imagine having a hard time spending 135 credits in a month.

Doofy

The last time this came up, my hangup was whether eMu would still be around in a year! I may take a look at this offer, although I'm sitting on a BB card as it is. Not that I couldn't think of things to DL, but then there's the new music vs time to listen to it equation...

Bad Thoughts

I previously had an annual plan under the old regime: 75 dls/month at $191 (if memory serves me). Over the course of the year, I downloaded 900 tracks based on the contract alone.

When pricing changed in July, I was told that when my annual renewed, it would be for 35 credit/month for ~$155. That part hasn't changed. The bonus was introduced sometime in Fall: a 100 credit bonus for signing on for a year.

So, from 900 downloads, the annual was reduced to 320 credits. The added bonus brings it up to 420 credits. eMusic is still out ahead, and (if I'm not mistaken) the bonus tracks can't be counted against the major labels, preserving their relations with Sony and Warner.

kargatron

My grandfathered plan runs out in August, and I'm scheduled to move to a plan that atm is marketed with the 100 extra downloads. Anyone happen to know if automatic transfers to that plan get the bonus?

mommio

Can't speak to the automatic renewal. I, too, got that offer. My old annual was 90 downloads a month, and I had no problem using them. I'm now on 24 credits per month. I looked at that offer, but since I have backed off all the downloads, I have been catching up on listening. I still haven't listened to everything I own, and I am discovering that I would rather spend time on becoming better "friends" with the music I am really liking. I am also spending more money at Amazon, and I think I'm at a place where the balance between Amazon and eMusic is about right. Some of my Amazon spending is on actual CDs. So I looked at the offer, but I'm not taking eMu up on it.

Sort

Ah... My grandfathered plan ending is leading me now to Limewire Store. I plan to comb through emu's catalog to read reviews here, something Limewire absolutely sucks at, but then download over there. 75 a month for twenty bucks is the price jump I was expecting emu to take when the Sony drop came. My musical tastes don't include much from the majors and the style of music I like favors paying for downloading per song. I'm not ready to let go of my 75 a month music lifestyle, even if it means dealing with a smaller selection at Limewire.

kargatron

Sort, do you happen to have a handy list of non-popular-music label overlap between emu and limewire (i.e., what labels do you now pick up at limewire that you used to at emu)?

Kenny

At Limewire:

Western Vinyl, Arts & Crafts, Nettwerk, Brassland, Kill Rock Stars, Yep Roc, Hometapes, French Kiss, Kanine, Marriage, Gigantic, Ghostly International, kranky, Lefse

They have a lot of great stuff, but not nearly as extensive as eMusic. They don't even have much more of the music I like than Amie Street. The only labels they have that Amie doesn't that I really care about are Western Vinyl and Hometapes.

The price is great, though. I don't subscribe. I just sign up for a month at a time when enough good stuff has come in--every six months or so.

That said, I will be forever grateful that I found The Antlers through Limewire.

choiceweb0pen0

My old plan (75 dl/month) was set to expire at the end of March and was going to be switched to the annual plus plan (35 dl/month). I decided to go with the 24 track plan instead to save money and to try to enjoy all the many albums I've sometimes forgotten in the last few years. I opted to go ahead and switch today instead of waiting for eMu to do it in another week or so. So once they charged my card, I had 124 downloads to play with. Just in time to blow through my SFL, especially stuff like Brooklyn Riders that I heard through SXSW coverage, especially NPR's podcasts that I highly recommend checking out.

I agree with others, I think it comes down to having money and subscribers up front. If nothing else they have the capital and can get interest off the money. Maybe I'm just overly optimistic, but I have trouble believing eMu is going away anytime soon.

cafreema

If the rumors about them being interested in buying Amie Street are true they certainly aren't going under!

Craig

Sort

The free downloads is to build capital. If they invest well, they can turn your money upfront into even more money, not only recapturing the loss on the free downloads, but adding overall revenue. It's a risk, but apparently, they're doing well.

Limewire also has some great jazz labels. The Clean Feed and Winter and Winter are there as well. Limewire for me is about finding some cutting edge stuff nobody else is listening to. That usually means jazz, a little indie, world, and electronica for me. That feeling of real musical exploration and discovery - versus emu's now major labels - is what the whole experience is for me. In a couple weeks. my emu is up. Adios for now.

kargatron

Sort, I presume your logic is just that Limewire has both sufficient overlap for you and cheaper prices than emusic. But there's a possible connotation that Limewire has stuff emusic does not - does it? That would surprise me greatly.

thomnottom

Had an eMu trial offer. Yes, I know I'm a bad person. Anywho, I had 11 left and happened to check out an album with 21 tracks. Got a message that if I bought the album they would give me the whole thing for free if I started my paid subscription. Initially I thought they were only doing it for 1 or 2 tracks, but I've seen them go all the way up to 10.

I'll probably do it for the month. With the additional 10 freebies I could switch to the 50 plan and end up getting 110 nps for less than $21. I can dig it...

amclark2

I found a couple things at Limewire that are not at emusic - Sleep's Dopesmoker - which is gone now, and Lightning Bolt's Wonderful Rainbow - the labels are at emu, but not these albums, so I'm sure there are others.

Sort

kargatron - Limewire definitley has some stuff emu doesn't, though how much of it is worthwhile I don't know. But as my subscription ends at eMu, I've refused to download anything I could get at Limewire, and most of the albums I've wanted, save some from the Sub Pop Records, are over at Limewire too. So for me, there will be some cool music I will miss not being at eMu, but not enough to mean ponying up a lot more ponies.

Here's a sample of my SFL list at Limewire.

Microcaste by Deerhunter
Black Sands by Bonobo
Life is Full of Possibilities by Dntel
Blue Black by Andrew Hill
Classics by Bang on a Can
Boom Tic Boom by Allison Miller

...