

To cater to major labels, eMusic changes its pricing scheme - shortformblog
http://shortformblog.com/music/emusic-pricing-scheme-changes/

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shortformblog
A little more context, over here:

[http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2010-10-...](http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2010-10-12-emusic12_ST_N.htm)

eMusic's change page is blocked off for members only, but here's what it says.
Both the above article and the blurb for subscribers are written with lots of
PR-ese.

\--

Coming soon! eMusic’s largest catalog addition ever along with a new way to
price music

eMusic’s mission has always been to provide our members with a deep and broad
selection of music at the best possible value. So we’re thrilled to announce
that this November we will be adding more than 250,000 tracks to eMusic!

The additions include classic hip-hop albums on the Def Jam label;
groundbreaking, forward-thinking rock music on Geffen and Interscope; giants
of jazz on the Verve and ECM labels; a wealth of classical music from the
standard bearers Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Records; hard-hitting alt-
country on Lost Highway; timeless R&B from the Motown label, and much, much
more! It will be the single largest catalog addition to eMusic by far, and it
comes thanks to a recent agreement with Universal Music Group.

In order to continue to grow our catalog and to insure a sustainable business
in the long term, we need more flexible pricing. So we are changing from
today’s credit-per-track system to currency pricing. Your membership will
continue just as it is today and your monthly payments will not change. But
starting in November, you’ll see tracks and albums priced in dollars and cents
instead of credits.

New pricing in a nutshell

Under the new currency pricing system, eMusic members will enjoy savings of
20%-50% compared to iTunes a la carte prices. The majority of albums on eMusic
will be priced from $5.19 - $8.99. Single track pricing for members will vary
as follows: $0.49 for most tracks currently in our catalog $0.69 - $0.79 for
more popular content $0.89 for tracks that generally sell for $1.29 at iTunes
We won’t know where specific titles (or exactly how many) will fall in the
categories above until November. But we think you’ll find that eMusic still
offers the best deal out there on a consistent basis. For more on pricing,
read The new pricing in detail.

Your monthly loyalty bonus

To thank you for being an eMusic member, a special loyalty bonus will be added
to your account each month. The bonus level depends on the plan you are in.
For more details regarding your new membership plan see the Your Plan info on
the right.

eMusic today, eMusic tomorrow

We want to assure you that the heart of eMusic is not changing. As we grow our
catalog, we’ll continue to profile records we find interesting or important,
regardless of whether they've sold 4 or 4 million copies.

By growing our catalog our aim is to also grow our member base, which in turn
will help fund improvements to the service. See A look at the future of eMusic
for details on some of the good things to come.

Read on to get more details about the new catalog, the new pricing and how
this affects your account. We want to hear your thoughts about the changes,
please take a few minutes to share your feedback on a MEMBER SURVEY.

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mr_eel
I'm a relatively happy eMusic subscriber -- with a few minor complaints, but
nothing serious. I almost see this as a sign of their current business model
being unsustainable. eMusic started it's life as a cheap retailer —-
subscription or no -- but has had to repeatedly rejig their pricing in order
to retain label catalogues. I don't think this should be interpreted purely as
an attempt to get major labels involved, this has had an effect on smaller
labels as well. An anecdotal example; Relapse had pulled it's catalogue purely
because it wasn't making enough money from it. Planet-mu had done the same.
Subsequent to the last pricing changes, lots of hold out labels have put their
catalogues on eMusic -- for me, notably Warp and Kompakt.

So my general feeling is that if these moves help eMusic sustain itself, then
I can get behind it. However, these pricing schemes no longer look anything
like a subscription; eMusic will not be the simple service that it was
previously.

I get a sense that a subscription now only locks you into paying a set amount
each month to a retailer and removes your ability to shop around with that
money.

Still, the music is generally cheaper and for someone like me -- given I
purchase a lot -- it's still a good deal.

I watch with interest.

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thewordpainter
company has been heading downhill ever since former ceo (and current venrock
VC), david pakman, took off.

it's a shame that emusic has not been able to make the long tail business
model work. i think there is a significant opportunity in the tail, but maybe
they just got too greedy?

-adam

