eMusic is an online music An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without actually owning the source file. However, music and audiobook Spoken audio was available in school and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops. It was not until the 1980s that there began a concerted effort to attract book retailers. As publishers entered the field of spoken-word publishing, the transition to book retailers carrying audiobooks became commonplace on bookshelves rather than in store that operates by subscription The subscription business model is a business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but is now used by many businesses and websites. It is headquartered in New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over global commerce, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. As host of the and owned by Dimensional Associates, LLC. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers.

eMusic was one of the first sites to sell music in the MP3 format, beginning in 1998. It differs from other well-known music download services (such as iTunes and AmazonMP3) in that it is a download-to-own subscription service.

While lauded by the general public, its early support of the MP3 format, lack of digital rights management Digital rights management is a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology that inhibits uses of digital content not desired or intended by the (DRM) encoding and low price model made the service unappealing to the Big Four record labels until recently. Prior to July 2009, eMusic sold only music from independent labels in all genres, including indie rock Indie rock is a commonly used tag for rock music that is produced either by small, independent record labels, or by the artists themselves. The idea of rock music made independent of the major label establishment first started to gain prominence in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Although it is often thought of as a genre of, pop Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s such as Orange Juice, Josef K, and Aztec Camera and the dominant UK independent band of the mid eighties, The Smiths. While the term 'indie' had been, jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Its West African pedigree, electronica Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing. The term was first used in the United States in the early 1990s with, new age New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It has chants and this mystery to the tone. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often associated, underground rap, traditional music Folk music is a term for musical folklore which originated in the 19th century. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles, classical music Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period, heavy metal Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and, hardcore punk, and experimental music Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-twentieth century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage . More loosely, the term "experimental" is.

eMusic was the first digital retailer to sell DRM-free downloadable audiobooks in the MP3 format beginning in 2007.^[1] Audible.com Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming. Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers. On January 31, 2008 Amazon.com announced it would buy Audible for about $300M. The deal closed in March of 2008 and Audible is now a, its largest competitor, offers audiobooks with digital rights management in the .aa format.

Status

eMusic caters to an older audience with the average subscriber being 39 who subscribes for at least a year.^[2] eMusic has more than 6,000,000 tracks available for download and has sold over 300,000,000 tracks.^[3] New subscribers receive 45 free downloads during their seven-day trial.^[4] The trial account turns into a billable subscription account after seven days. Refunds are possible under certain circumstances by contacting eMusic customer support. Subscriptions allow users to download a number of tracks per 30-day period. As of June 2009 a basic package allows for 24 downloads, with Plus, Premium and Connoisseur subscriptions offering more downloads per month at higher prices and lower price per download. Every 30 days the download limit is reset (regardless of how many songs were downloaded). eMusic also offers "booster packs" to subscribers, which expire after 90 days rather than after a month, and are consumed when subscribers download tracks beyond their monthly allotments. Earlier business models prior to Dimensional Associates' ownership supported an "all-you-can-eat" download subscription. For a monthly fee, customers were able to download as many tracks as they wished from the service.

In 2006 2006 was a common year that started on a Sunday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 2006th year of the Common Era, or of Anno Domini; the 6th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 7th of the 2000s decade, eMusic added two European versions of its online store: 'eMusic UK' and 'eMusic Europe'. Current subscribers to the global site that were within the European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993 upon the foundations of the European Communities. With over 500 million citizens, the EU combined generated an estimated 28% share (US$ 16.5 had their membership transferred to the appropriate European store. eMusic UK and eMusic Europe have higher prices compared to their North American counterpart, partially due to the extra sales taxes which these stores are now subject to. However, the changeover also included access to labels previously unavailable to non-European customers, notably London-based Domino Records and artists such as The White Stripes The White Stripes are an American rock duo, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consists of songwriter Jack White and his ex-wife Meg White (drums and occasional vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums within the Detroit independent music underground, the White Stripes rose to prominence in 2002, as part of the garage and Mogwai. It is also notable that the European version of the store is for customers within the European Union, not customers within Europe.

eMusic launched a Canadian version of its store in 2008.

Files

Due to the contentious nature of DRM Digital rights management is a generic term for access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. The term is used to describe any technology that inhibits uses of digital content not desired or intended by the encoding that was initially used by competing download services, eMusic won early praise for not including any in their own files, despite the fact that it cost them contracts with the major record labels. eMusic openly stated that this was a business move that has greatly aided the site's popularity.^[2]

eMusic stores a record of user purchases on its internal servers, but does not place any purchaser information inside the tracks that are sold.^[5] The service uses the LAME LAME is a free software application used to encode/compress audio into the lossy MP3 file format mp3 encoder to produce variable bit rate Variable bitrate is a term used in telecommunications and computing that relates to the bitrate used in sound or video encoding. As opposed to constant bitrate (CBR), VBR files vary the amount of output data per time segment. VBR allows a higher bitrate (and therefore more storage space) to be allocated to the more complex segments of media files MP3 MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer 3 or MPEG-1 or 2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music files. Analysis on the files show that the preset used is alt-preset-standard, a high quality VBR preset aiming at an average bit rate around 192kbit/s.^[6] However, and contrary to the information published on the web site,^[7] files can sometimes be found in lower quality bit rates, including for recent releases. The preview streams provided for each song match the bit rate quality of the full download files.

Selection

Most of eMusic's contracts are with independent labels, giving the service a reputation for primarily offering indie rock Indie rock is a commonly used tag for rock music that is produced either by small, independent record labels, or by the artists themselves. The idea of rock music made independent of the major label establishment first started to gain prominence in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Although it is often thought of as a genre of, indie pop Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s such as Orange Juice, Josef K, and Aztec Camera and the dominant UK independent band of the mid eighties, The Smiths. While the term 'indie' had been, heavy metal Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and, punk rock Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs,, jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Its West African pedigree and classical music Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period. eMusic highlights its offerings through a host of exclusive editorial An editorial is an opinion piece written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of a newspaper or magazine. Editorials are usually unsigned and may be supposed to reflect the opinion of the periodical. Additionally, most print publcations feature an editorial, or letter followed by a Letters to the Editor section. In major newpapers, such as content, along the lines of monthly "editor's picks", columns A column in structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces. Other compression members are often termed "columns" because of and guides A guide is a person who leads anyone through unknown or unmapped country. This includes a guide of the real world , as well as a person who leads someone to more abstract places (such as to knowledge or wisdom). The company also cites statistics from the American Association of Independent Music that independents' market share of CD sales is 28%.^[8]

With the "big four" record labels (Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a global recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG. The venture’s successor, the again-active Sony Music Entertainment, is 100% owned by the Sony Corporation of America, Universal Music Group Universal Music Group is the largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry. It is the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations. Universal Music Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of international French media conglomerate Vivendi, EMI The EMI Group is a British music company. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the "big four" record companies and a member of the RIAA. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm - EMI Music Publishing - based in New York City. The company was once a constituent and Warner Music Group Warner Music Group is the third-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies. The current incarnation of the company was formed in 2004 when it was spun off from Time Warner, and as a result, Time Warner no longer retains any ownership. Warner Music Group also has a) unwilling to do business with the site,^[8] many popular artists are either unrepresented or have very few releases available. This is more of a problem in the genres of Top 40 The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music songs of the previous week. Top 40 became the dominant radio format of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s rock Rock music is a genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the 1950s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country music and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music. The sound of rock often revolves around the electric guitar, a back beat laid down by a rhythm section of electric bass guitar and and rap Hip hop is a musical genre which developed as part of hip hop culture, and is defined by key stylistic elements such as rapping, DJing, sampling, scratching and beatboxing. Hip hop began in the South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop, but hip hop denotes the practices of an entire subculture music, and less so in genres such as jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Its West African pedigree, where major artists spread their output across multiple, smaller labels. This allows the site to feature some acclaimed recordings by artists such as Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer who, according to The Penguin Guide to Jazz, was "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy," "'Round Midnight," "Blue Monk,&, Sonny Rollins Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians of the post-bebop era, Rollins' long, prolific career began at the age of 11, and he was playing with piano legend Thelonious Monk before reaching the age of 20. A number of, Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer, and John Coltrane John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. The site also carries the complete classical catalog of Naxos Records.^[9]

The site's alternative Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or (or "indie Indie rock is a commonly used tag for rock music that is produced either by small, independent record labels, or by the artists themselves. The idea of rock music made independent of the major label establishment first started to gain prominence in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Although it is often thought of as a genre of") rock selection has also been aided by the rise in widely-distributed but privately owned labels such as Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission. Overall, though, the political sensibilities of the label can be said to be and Matador Records, who have a fair amount of big-name talent on their rolls (e.g. Cat Power, The Decemberists The Decemberists are a rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee (hammond organ, accordion, melodica, piano, keyboards), Nate Query (bass guitar, string bass), and John Moen (drums, backing vocals, melodica). The band's debut EP, 5 Songs,, Interpol Interpol is an American indie rock band formed in 1997 in New York City. The band's line-up is Paul Banks , Daniel Kessler (guitar, vocals), Carlos Dengler (bass guitar, keyboards) and Sam Fogarino (drums, percussion). In a live setting Interpol employs the use of touring members as keyboardists and Sleater-Kinney, who have been among eMusic's top-sellers). Music from other popular indie labels includes Merge Records (Spoon, Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is an alternative rock band based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, and fronted by the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. In addition to instrument mainstays guitar, drums and bass guitar, members play piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin, Lambchop), K Records (Modest Mouse, Built to Spill), Touch and Go Records (Mekons, Girls Against Boys), and TVT Records (Lil Jon, Ying Yang Twins, Guided By Voices).

In 1999, eMusic made headlines by releasing Long Tall Weekend by They Might Be Giants, the first internet-only distributed album by a major artists.^[10] The band would also go on to release a series of monthly, exclusive rarities collections (known as "TMBG Unlimited") through the service in 2001 and 2002..^[11] John Flansburgh said that "Getting a half dozen or dozen unreleased songs out each month provides an ‘ultimate fan club’ experience."^[11]

In 2004, with the change from an unlimited download subscription model to a set-track subscription download, eMusic increased their catalogue content over the next few years, particularly in the Indian soundtrack and Indian classical genres and in the classical music genre and added such labels as Saregama, Naxos, BIS, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi and Telarc.

In June 2006, eMusic added new music from V2 Records in the U.S. The label is one of eMusic's highest-profile additions thus far, with multi-platinum acts Moby and The White Stripes and critical favorites including Grandaddy.^[12] However, this music is not available to eMusic users in many other countries and while Moby is still available at present, the White Stripes catalog has long since been removed from the eMusic site in North America.

In June 2007, eMusic added perhaps its biggest star yet to its lineup: Paul McCartney of The Beatles. His album, Memory Almost Full, is also the first release on Starbucks' Hear Music label.

The eMusicLive Venue Network is 22 independent clubs in the US where live shows are recorded and offered to eMusic subscribers. Numerous shows are recorded every week. In addition to subscription sales, recorded CDs are offered for sale at the venue immediately after the event. EMusic plans to establish kiosks where the music can be delivered directly to MP3 players or flash drives.^[13]

Beginning September 18, 2007, eMusic began to offer audiobooks in MP3 format.^[14]

On April 2, 2008, eMusic added The Rolling Stones when they were on their ABKCO label. This includes their music from 1964-1970, plus any compilations made thereafter by ABKCO. The availability of The Rolling Stones' catalog ended on May 3, 2008.

On June 1, 2009, eMusic struck a deal with Sony Music Entertainment to sell music released two years ago or earlier.^[15]

On January 12, 2010, eMusic struck a deal with Warner Music to sell music from its catalog, including music from the Warner Brothers, Atlantic, and Rhino labels, making them the second of the Big Four to enter an agreement with eMusic.^[16]

Incarnations and ownership

The original eMusic was started in March 1995 by Mark Chasan^[17] as the fourth online CD retailer. eMusic and Nordic Music (owned by Kent Kiefer) formed a joint venture in February 1998 to become the first digital media retailer and sold the first MP3 players on the internet. eMusic, then headed by Chasan and Kiefer, purchased Guy Giuliano's internet radio service GBS Radio Networks. The new consortium launched the first online radio network LoudRadio, to broadcast over a terrestrial radio station via KLOD-FM in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The company now known as eMusic was founded by Gene Hoffman and Bob Kohn on January 8, 1998 and originally named GoodNoise Corporation. In October 1998, GoodNoise acquired eMusic.com^[18] along with on-line music pioneer Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA). In November 1999, eMusic acquired main rival Cductive^[19] and in December 1999 acquired Tunes.com, which operated Rollingstone.com and DownBeatJazz.com. Then in 2001, the major label Universal Music (then a division of Vivendi Universal) bought eMusic.com for USD 24.6 million.^[20]

In November 2003, the service was purchased from VU Net USA by a New York-based private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc.^[21] Following a contentious period during which information disseminated by the company was limited^{[citation needed]}, it was relaunched in 2004. Relaunch was soon followed by a new format for the eMusic site, significant increase in both editorial and music content and an eventual price increase for most subscription levels.

References

1. ^ [1], eMusic, a Song Download Site, to Offer Audiobooks "EMusic, a Song-Download Site, to Offer Audiobooks"]. The New York Times. 2007-09-17. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/business/media/17audiobook.html?scp=5&sq=emusic&st=cse], eMusic, a Song Download Site, to Offer Audiobooks. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
2. ^ ^{a b} Anderson, Nate (2006-05-22). "Making money selling music without DRM: the rise of eMusic". Ars Technica. http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/emusic.ars. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
3. ^ eMusic About Us
4. ^ https://www.emusic.com/registration/2.html?SNID=A991CB540140C76F98B807418838300B
5. ^ "Wired Listening Post". http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2007/06/no_explanation_/. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
6. ^ "Emusic Technical Help". http://www.emusic.com/help/technical.html#q10. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
7. ^ "Emusic Technical Help". http://www.emusic.com/help/technical.html#q11. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
8. ^ ^{a b} Graham, Jefferson (2006-07-30). "EMusic's pitch: Download song — and own it". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-07-30-emusic_x.htm. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
9. ^ Classical Music News from NAXOS.COM
10. ^ "EMUSIC.COM & YAHOO! TO HOST EXCLUSIVE WEB-LAUNCH OF 'THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS' NEW MP3-ONLY ALBUM JULY 19". 1999-07-19. http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release341.html. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
11. ^ ^{a b} Viveiros, Beth Negus (2001-09-01). "Finely TUNED". DIRECT magazine. http://www.directmag.com/mag/marketing_finely_tuned/.
12. ^ "eMUSIC ADDS V2 MUSIC, PALM PICTURES AND VELOUR MUSIC". eMusic. 2006-06-15. http://www.emusic.com/about/pr/pr20060615.html. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
13. ^ "eMusic venues". http://www.emusic.com/venue/index.html. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
14. ^ "eMUSIC INTRODUCES WORLD'S FIRST AUDIOBOOKS CATALOGUE IN MP3". http://www.emusic.com/about/pr/pr2007917.html. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
15. ^ http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/06/springsteen-dylan-come-to-emusic-as-labels-open-up.ars
16. ^ http://www.wmg.com/newsdetails/id/8a0af8122617e3c6012622dbb0740baf
17. ^ "Music to their Ears: Virtual CD Stores". BusinessTown.com. http://www.businesstown.com/internet/profile-seven.asp. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
18. ^ "Goodnoise Completes Acquisition of Emusic.com". eMusic. 1999-02-09. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065013/0001012870-99-000390.txt. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
19. ^ "eMusic.com to Acquire Cductive.com". eMusic. 1999-11-22. http://s.edgar-online.com/1999/11/22/17/0001012870-99-004371/Section7.asp. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
20. ^ Evans, James (2001-04-09). "eMusic Bought by Universal for $24.6 Million". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,46704,00.asp. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
21. ^ "New York-Based Private Equity Firm Finalizes Purchase of eMusic". eMusic. 2003-11-04. http://www.emusic.com/about/pr/pr20031104.html. Retrieved 2006-09-04.

• eMusic February 6, 2006 press release, "eMusic—World's Largest Digital Retailer of Independent Music—Begins Reporting Download Sales to Soundscan", February 6, 2006

External links

• eMusic frontpage
• eMusic Wiki A wiki by and for eMusic users.
• 17dots eMusic employee's blog.
• Direct link to browse eMusic catalog
• Who Will Buy eMusic com? - January 16, 2001 MP3 Newswire analysis
• A Music Download Site for Artists Less Known - September 20, 2004 NY Times
• Goodnoise To Acquire Emusic and Nordic - October 12, 1998

Categories: Online music stores | 1998 establishments

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