I'm guessing eMusic would have added UMG even if it knew the move would spur major indies to leave. This has probably been in the works for some time, and they're only announcing it now as the departure deadline approaches and negotiations have failed. They can talk all they want about keeping the focus on the indies, but they're trying to position themselves as an alternative to iTunes and Amazon, and they can't reach the masses without major label content. Sucks for most of their existing customer base (pre-Sony), but eMusic's focus is elsewhere. I was thinking I'd hang around for a month or two to check out the new system, but this confirms my worst fears and I'll be gone when I use up this month's DLs.
The only reason I can think of is an estimate that in a subscription model (which has fixed downloads), UMG's addition will provide one more download-sink that draws away from the indie dls. Perhaps they noticed a relative decrease post-Sony, and figure that UMG will just make it worse. Or perhaps there are behind-the-scene rate negotiations that resulted in the majors getting higher rates, and the indie's bolted under principle.
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...and why now, on the eve of a price increase? i just don't get it.
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I'm hoping that these labels will hook up with LimeWireStore (where I'm headed once my eMu account cancellation becomes official on 25 November). If that actually comes to pass, my guess is that these 'big' indie labels realized that its better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a medium size fish in a large pond.
Exactly my hope luddite. Get some of the big indies over there and it will start to be a true replacement for eMu. Absent the editorial content of course.
Holy hell, that's ridiculous. Sony, Warner and and UMG combined don't add up to the value of those labels for me. I was already assuming eMu wouldn't survive, now it seems like they have no chance at all.
@Brighternow - What alternatives are there outside of the US? Are there any credit-based systems left for our overseas brethren?
Either the site over there is just crumbling under the pressure of mass hysteria or something weird's going on because it was acting normal the last hour or so but now anything I click on I'm getting the Oops page. F**k it.
Bandit FM, a Sony-owned store until recently (launched earlier this year in march or something) subscription plans which was $16 a month for $40 worth of music, minimum upfront payment for 3 months. Prices and catalogue roughly the same as iTunes Australia prices (which are a bit more expensive than iTunes US prices). However they discontinued this a few weeks ago citing "licensing issues" - Universal and a couple of indies (Liberation being the main one but I think that's Australian based, don't know about other more globally known indies) were never a part of the subscription. I bought the 3 month subscription last month so still have two re-ups of $40 to go but after that, nada. Figured that $40 a month would be good to get the occasional mainstream release I wanted plus back catalogue things on labels like Ryko from 60s/70s which I missed out on on account of not being born. They still do offer a $10 month unlimited streaming plan which includes everything on the site.
So I figured if a company actually owned by Sony can't get a subscription model up and running it doesn't bode well for anyone else.
I managed to get an M. Ward downloaded. It was in my SFL, so I got the email, but an hour or so after the news was posted at eMu. I was already downloading when the email dropped in. Have to see what else I want and try to get it quick.
@Brighternow - What alternatives are there outside of the US? Are there any credit-based systems left for our overseas brethren?
Itunes and a Danish one (can't remember the name) is available, but Mtraks, Guvera, Spotify and even Amazon is NA for me. I can buy as many CD's as I want from Amazon but no MP3's.
Amazingly, it looks like eMusic managed to fuck up things even more with Universal than they did with Sony.
First the monetary-pricing change, which alienated a lot of people and raised far more questions than it answered.
Then they announced a date for the UMG drop, and failed to meet it.
Then iTunes announced the Beatles, which musically may not be thrilling but is a major symbolic act that shows how far behind eMusic really is.
And now some labels representing a huge chunk of eMusic's supposed raison d'etre are leaving.
Oh, and the site offers a ton of "Ooops" for good measure.
I love how they want subscribers to sign a petition to keep Beggars Group etc. Like it's not eMusic's fault.
(Posted by me on the board:
eMusic's petition = "Dear loyal subscribers, as you know, we have been working hard lately to take a big shit in your sandbox, which we know you will love. Unfortunately some labels have now decided to steal some sand from the sandbox. Please ask them to put it back!")
Or perhaps there are behind-the-scene rate negotiations that resulted in the majors getting higher rates, and the indie's bolted under principle.
This must be the case. These labels have no objection to being on iTMS or Amazon with the majors, presumably because they get the same payout when they make a sale. I'd guess that they're not sharing in the price hike, and that's why they're leaving.
This is off the Merge forums. It is written by someone whose account has him as a site admin.
I personally, like you, am a big believer in the new streaming subscriptions services as a way to legally, broadly listen to whatever I want whenever I want. I've used Rdio, Spotify, Rhapsody, and formerly Lala, and like(d) a lot of things about all of them. The Merge catalog is available through Rhapsody, and formerly was available at Lala.
Please understand that we are working hard to make the Merge catalog available as many places as possible, as quickly as possible. But it's not always easy. I won't get into the nitty gritty details, but our goal is to make fair deals so that our bands can be fairly paid for their work. It doesn't make any sense for some shitty nothing band on a major to make 3x as much per listen than Neutral Milk Hotel or Superchunk just because whatever service wanted to make Led Zeppelin available, and it would be irresponsible for us to accept that.
I like these services a great deal. I want the Merge catalog to be there. Your passion is great, but your target is off. Please continue logging complaints, but direct them at the services where you would like to see our catalog!
All that said, I think you're going to have good news coming up on the Zune subscription front very, very soon.
It would seem that assumptions of indie bands not making as much as major label bands is a correct one.
Or perhaps there are behind-the-scene rate negotiations that resulted in the majors getting higher rates, and the indie's bolted under principle.
This must be the case. These labels have no objection to being on iTMS or Amazon with the majors, presumably because they get the same payout when they make a sale. I'd guess that they're not sharing in the price hike, and that's why they're leaving.
Perhaps. However, neither of the other companies circumscribes customers' buying habits through subscriptions. I couldn't say how many people by boosters on a regular basis, but I feel that most are content with only their monthly allotment. Moreover, I don't think that the willingness of Domino and Beggars to stick with Amie Street was trivial. Amie probably payed out much less than eMu, perhaps even for the most popular titles, because of street cred and credit sales. However, they ruled the site, and their products always were always promoted above all others on the home page and new releases page. Getting a smaller slice of the pie at eMu may well have been a legitimate concern, as would be losing visibility.
Now I'm confused again by the booster thing. A ten-song credit may actually make it worth getting one now, even if I don't intend to use it for the departing Indies. At worst, a 40-credit booster would yield, in the long run, $29 dollars in credit if the ten-songs to come are valued at only 50 cents. At best, it would be $31. I might be better prepared for any mispricing (although maybe that's why the UMG drop keeps getting delayed) or have something to salve long term losses. On the other hand, I don't want to legitimize eMu in any way right now.
This has to be a huge blow to their busineess model.I feel like I'm watching the walls of emusic crumble before my eyes. I have to admit, though, that I find it fascinating to watch in a detached, business observation kind of way. Does that make me a bad person?
I think some labels other than the announced may be leaving as well, because Merge and Matador and maybe others act as distributors/agregators:
So I noticed that albums from the labels announced to be leaving; Domino, Merge, and Beggars Group (Matador, Rough Trade, XL, 4-AD); have disappeared from my saved for later, and are unable to be added to my saved for later. The counter ticks up, but they're not showing up there.
But then I noticed that some other, unannounced things were disappearing from saved for later too. I first noticed it with Candlelight (home of Opeth, Emperor, etc., basically a label jedward doesn't want to lose), and then I noticed it with the much hyped of late True Panther, which makes sense because it's listed as "True Panther/Matador" meaning, I think, that Matador is the distrubor/aggregator.
So we may be losing a lot of albums distributed by the announced labels as well. If you see a label that's disappearing from your sfl, please post it here.
I don't suppose there's any way we could get a full list of effected labels?
Oh shit, Matador is Beggars Group, too? I totally forgot about that. What a clusterfuck. Seriously, there is not a single reason to stick with eMu at this point.
EDIT: I actually wrote this right after seeing your post over there, amclark2. And yes, True Panther is a Matador imprint.
Interesting. So any growth after Sony was offset by people leaving, and by the economy. It may just be that there are only 400K people interested in having a monthly mp3 subscription.
Yes, the economy. Because people are cutting back by buying at iTunes and Amazon.
This could actually be true - people cut out the monthly line item, but still want music, so they end up spending more at iTunes and Amazon because it's so much easier to buy there.
Comments
...and why now, on the eve of a price increase? i just don't get it.
>>>>
I'm hoping that these labels will hook up with LimeWireStore (where I'm headed once my eMu account cancellation becomes official on 25 November). If that actually comes to pass, my guess is that these 'big' indie labels realized that its better to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a medium size fish in a large pond.
Craig
Craig
@Brighternow - What alternatives are there outside of the US? Are there any credit-based systems left for our overseas brethren?
Phhhthhh.
Bandit FM, a Sony-owned store until recently (launched earlier this year in march or something) subscription plans which was $16 a month for $40 worth of music, minimum upfront payment for 3 months. Prices and catalogue roughly the same as iTunes Australia prices (which are a bit more expensive than iTunes US prices). However they discontinued this a few weeks ago citing "licensing issues" - Universal and a couple of indies (Liberation being the main one but I think that's Australian based, don't know about other more globally known indies) were never a part of the subscription. I bought the 3 month subscription last month so still have two re-ups of $40 to go but after that, nada. Figured that $40 a month would be good to get the occasional mainstream release I wanted plus back catalogue things on labels like Ryko from 60s/70s which I missed out on on account of not being born. They still do offer a $10 month unlimited streaming plan which includes everything on the site.
So I figured if a company actually owned by Sony can't get a subscription model up and running it doesn't bode well for anyone else.
Itunes and a Danish one (can't remember the name) is available, but Mtraks, Guvera, Spotify and even Amazon is NA for me. I can buy as many CD's as I want from Amazon but no MP3's.
First the monetary-pricing change, which alienated a lot of people and raised far more questions than it answered.
Then they announced a date for the UMG drop, and failed to meet it.
Then iTunes announced the Beatles, which musically may not be thrilling but is a major symbolic act that shows how far behind eMusic really is.
And now some labels representing a huge chunk of eMusic's supposed raison d'etre are leaving.
Oh, and the site offers a ton of "Ooops" for good measure.
I love how they want subscribers to sign a petition to keep Beggars Group etc. Like it's not eMusic's fault.
(Posted by me on the board:
eMusic's petition = "Dear loyal subscribers, as you know, we have been working hard lately to take a big shit in your sandbox, which we know you will love. Unfortunately some labels have now decided to steal some sand from the sandbox. Please ask them to put it back!")
This must be the case. These labels have no objection to being on iTMS or Amazon with the majors, presumably because they get the same payout when they make a sale. I'd guess that they're not sharing in the price hike, and that's why they're leaving.
It would seem that assumptions of indie bands not making as much as major label bands is a correct one.
Now I'm confused again by the booster thing. A ten-song credit may actually make it worth getting one now, even if I don't intend to use it for the departing Indies. At worst, a 40-credit booster would yield, in the long run, $29 dollars in credit if the ten-songs to come are valued at only 50 cents. At best, it would be $31. I might be better prepared for any mispricing (although maybe that's why the UMG drop keeps getting delayed) or have something to salve long term losses. On the other hand, I don't want to legitimize eMu in any way right now.
link.
Unfortunately, in all the hubbub, no one noticed but Wanderer.
EDIT: I actually wrote this right after seeing your post over there, amclark2. And yes, True Panther is a Matador imprint.
Are you actually going to be able to d/l anything overseas?
For starters.
This could actually be true - people cut out the monthly line item, but still want music, so they end up spending more at iTunes and Amazon because it's so much easier to buy there.
and thanks Thom, I will check those out.