Emusic...

Donovan · **Posted:** Tue Nov 16, 2010 11:03 pm

Just got an email from emusic... they're losing Merge and Matador. If that's not the final nail in their coffin, I don't know what is.

andyfest · **Posted:** Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:21 am

Wow. Yeah, they're done.

I finally cancelled my subscription last week. If they don't drop at least 25% of their subscribers, I'll be surprised.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:23 am

I enjoyed in the letter how they said that this wasn't an indication of them losing their original goal.

I'm holding onto my subscription until I'm sure my music is up-to-date. I lost a bunch of my music when my hard drive crashed. I need to re-download some of the albums.

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:30 pm

I'm holding out until the last minute, just to see if they get desperate and start offering freebies to their remaining subscribers.

I can't help being kind of curious about how the currency system will actually play out, but I'm fully expecting it to suck. I have a fairly cheap plan so I won't be out a ton of money for just going along for the ride for a single month.

timmyjoe42 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:22 pm

It's sad to see something that was once so cool get ruined.

(Sort of like Lala.)

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:38 pm

Quote:

From Beggars Group
"As those of you who buy our music from eMusic will know by now, our music will very shortly no longer be available from that site.

"We wish this hadn’t happened, but as eMusic has brought major labels on board, they have changed the terms on which they deal with labels in certain ways, some of which we have found impossible to accept, in our own interests, those of our artists, and ultimately those of their fans.

"We have loved eMusic, and the support it has given to our music, but it was the dedicated home for independent music and is, in our view, not that any more.

"You will continue to find our music on many other great sites and stores, we encourage you to visit them, or ask us where."

From Merge Records
"As of tomorrow, November 18, the Merge catalog will be removed from eMusic.

"We at Merge are longtime fans of eMusic; it has for years been one of the premiere places to discover new and independent music, and their editorial is among the best around. We are truly grateful for their coverage, and have enjoyed working with them for many years.

"Unfortunately, eMusic’s unilateral changes in an effort to bring on the major labels has created a situation where it would be harmful to the interests of Merge and our artists to continue our partnership at this time.

"We encourage those who regularly purchase Merge titles from eMusic to head to your local independent record store, the Merge Digital Store, or one of our other digital music partners."

Dick Meatwood · **Posted:** Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:40 pm

I had seen that Merge one on their site, but not the Beggars one.

Such a stupid move on emusic's part. I'll be surprised if they survive this, but even if they do, we lose.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:58 pm

XL as well now.

I just checked. I need to dl 50 albums that I've either lost, dled on my wife's computer before it crashed, or misplaced. Need to do that before I yank the plug. Some stuff I never even realized I downloaded.

Also, the CEO posted a msg on the 17 Dots blog, but it was closed to comments. The forum is aflutter though with people talking about this issue. Tomorrow this thing goes into effect, so I guess I'll see how it goes for one month (and to dl these old albums lost).

paladisiac · **Posted:** Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:56 am

emusic is dead, long live emusic...

i regret all the times i pimped emusic, like here at obner.

i might stick around for 1 month to see what it's like, but i figure it'll be the digital version of BMG or columbia house. amazon has similar prices as the new emusic model, so i'll probably buy there or cheap CDs from half/ebay.com. then there's the internets...

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:59 am

Amazon has been great for those $5 and $3.99 new releases.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:56 pm

Ok, this is absolutely stupid. New pricing went into effect, but guess what--you can't redownload anything you previously downloaded. But it says you can "re-buy" the album for a price.

Quote:

Hi Everyone -
eMusic’s policy on re-downloads hasn’t changed: members who experience a technical problem while downloading a track or album will be able to retry the download free of charge. What is new as of today is that we can now detect whether or not a download has been completed successfully. If we detect a problem with a download, the download button will turn red. Members can click it to retry the download at no charge. After a successful download, a blue button with a checkmark will appear. Members can click it to request an additional download but will be charged for it. If you want to get a copy of a song onto two different computers, one at work and one at home, for example, you’ll need to do this manually, with a USB flash drive or other method to avoid being charged again. As always, we recommend you back up your downloads regularly. In the event you are unable to complete a download due to a technical problem, please contact Customer Care for assistance.

Looking ahead, we are working on a digital locker which will allow members to access their music collection in the "cloud" with any web-enabled device. We hope to make this feature available in the New Year.

thanks,
Cathy
eMusic

andyfest · **Posted:** Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:19 pm

That's absolutely stupid. The only reason I even considered sticking around was the paranoid part of me thinking that if I ever lost my hard drive, I won't be able to legally get those dls back once I quit.

paladisiac · **Posted:** Fri Nov 19, 2010 1:49 am

andyfest Wrote:

That's absolutely stupid. The only reason I even considered sticking around was the paranoid part of me thinking that if I ever lost my hard drive, I won't be able to legally get those dls back once I quit.

yeah, this whole "repurchase" BS sealed my decision.

however, i when trying to cancel they offered me a free month with no strings attached, so i'm going to find 4 albums to fit into $22.99, then bugger out.

timmyjoe42 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:32 pm

Has anyone noticed the quality of the eMusic free track a day has gone up greatly in the past few months. Before they would post some real trash, but it has recently become consistently mediocre to really good.

ptrck · **Joined:** Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:55 pm **Posts:** 5568

oh emusic is still a thing, huh

OPA! · **Posted:** Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:49 am

I cancelled my subscription in October when I got the email from emusic. I'm glad I did as I don't like the direction they're going in, especially if they're losing labels like Merge and Matador.

paladisiac · **Posted:** Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:55 am

yeah, timmy. you might be on your own there. i used to be their #1 pimp and i fled back in november.

Flying Rabbit · **Posted:** Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:52 am

Yup, I fled in November too.

timmyjoe42 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 08, 2011 11:49 am

I'm just talking about the free track a day. I'm not a member, but I do get that one song just to randomly sample new stuff without prior bias. If I like something these days, I just download it from Amazon.

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