Year in Review: eMusic

eMusic continued to operate as the most popular digital media store for independent artists throughout 2008.

In August 2008 it was reported that the eMusic catalogue had surpassed 4 million tracks which are supplied by over 40,000 independent labels.[1] The site has served over 200 million downloads in four years.[2] As of January 2008 eMusic has more than 400,000 subscribers up from 350,000 in November 2007 and 250,000 in the beginning of 2007.[3]

Despite the lack of major label content and capitalising on the economics of the long tail it was reported that the company consistently sells at least one copy of 67% of its inventory per quarter.[4]

In 2008 eMusic undertook a major upgrade of its site with integration of web 2.0 features such as Wikipedia and YouTube as well as enhancements such as interactive reviews.[5]

eMusic also begun an A&R program seeking to feature new unsigned artists on its site. The artists are required to sign a 60-day digital exclusive agreement and provide previously unreleased material.[6]

Further announcements were made with respect to the expansion of eMusic’s classical catalogue with around 27,000 classical labels now signed to sell music from the site.[7]

There was also a small increase in the subscription rates for basic members with new subscribers paying $US11.99 for 30 downloads per month and existing basic members $US11.99 per month for 40 downloads.[8]

In April 2008 eMusic was ranked as the third most popular download store in the United States with annual revenue of $US42 million.[9]

In September 2008 eMusic CEO David Pakman publicly questioned the arrangements that were negotiated between UK ISPs and the recording industry.[10] He noted that in the event that ISPs cooperated by sending warning letters to users for their file sharing behaviour in exchange for licensing deals with the content industry, that existing music stores such as eMusic may be disadvantaged.[11] ISPs could attempt to redirect traffic to their sites rather than maintain the neutrality of the internet and the even playing field that companies such as eMusic depend on.[12] To date two ISPs in the UK, Sky and BT, have announced licensing agreements with the recording industry.[13]

[1] Digital Music News, So Independent: eMusic Catalog Crosses Four Million (5 August 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/080408emusic> at 7 August 2008
[2] Digital Music News, So Independent: eMusic Catalog Crosses Four Million (5 August 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/080408emusic> at 7 August 2008
[3] Digital Music News, Holiday Offensive Pushes eMusic Past 400,000 Mark (28 December 20070 <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/122807emusic> at 11 January 2008
[4] ArsTechnica, eMusic making good money from back catalog (4 March 2008) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080304-emusic-making-good-money-from-back-catalog.html> at 6 March 2008
[5] Digital Music News, So Independent: eMusic Catalog Crosses Four Million (5 August 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/080408emusic> at 7 August 2008
[6] Digital Music News, eMusic Starts Fishing for Talent, Dons A&R Cap (13 February 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/021208emusic> at 19 February 2008
[7] Digital Music News, eMusic Courts Classical Aficionados Once Again (23 January 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/012308emusic> at 30 January 2008
[8] Digital Music News, eMusic Raising Subscription Rates; Entry Level Affected (17 June 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/061608emusic> at 20 June 2008
[9] Digital Music News, Who's Number Two? Three? Researcher Starts Counting Benjamins... (1 April 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/033108number> at 2 April 2008
[10] ArsTechnica, eMusic: UK P2P warning letter pact "smells very funny to us" (4 September 2o08) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080904-emusic-uk-p2p-warning-letter-pact-smells-very-funny-to-us.html> at 12 September 2008; The Register, eMusic rattles ISPs over legal downloads (3 September 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/03/emusic_david_pakman_isps/> at 4 September 2008; Digital Music News, British Letter-Writing Deal Raises Competitive Concern... (4 September 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/090308emusic> at 4 September 2008
[11] ArsTechnica, eMusic: UK P2P warning letter pact "smells very funny to us" (4 September 2o08) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080904-emusic-uk-p2p-warning-letter-pact-smells-very-funny-to-us.html> at 12 September 2008; The Register, eMusic rattles ISPs over legal downloads (3 September 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/03/emusic_david_pakman_isps/> at 4 September 2008; Digital Music News, British Letter-Writing Deal Raises Competitive Concern... (4 September 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/090308emusic> at 4 September 2008
[12] ArsTechnica, eMusic: UK P2P warning letter pact "smells very funny to us" (4 September 2o08) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080904-emusic-uk-p2p-warning-letter-pact-smells-very-funny-to-us.html> at 12 September 2008; The Register, eMusic rattles ISPs over legal downloads (3 September 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/03/emusic_david_pakman_isps/> at 4 September 2008l Digital Music News, British Letter-Writing Deal Raises Competitive Concern... (4 September 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/090308emusic> at 4 September 2008
[13] ArsTechnica, eMusic: UK P2P warning letter pact "smells very funny to us" (4 September 2o08) <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080904-emusic-uk-p2p-warning-letter-pact-smells-very-funny-to-us.html> at 12 September 2008; The Register, eMusic rattles ISPs over legal downloads (3 September 2008) <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/03/emusic_david_pakman_isps/> at 4 September 2008; Digital Music News, British Letter-Writing Deal Raises Competitive Concern... (4 September 2008) <http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/090308emusic> at 4 September 2008