Sony's 'classic' catalog comes to eMusic

Subscription music site eMusic has inked a deal with Sony Music to bring selections from the label's catalog--"classic" recordings that are at least two years past their release date--to the online retailer starting in a few months.

eMusic hasn't had the biggest footprint in the digital music retail space of late, falling well behind iTunes--and some say that Amazon MP3 has grown bigger as well. eMusic was one of the first players in the space to offer music free of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, which a few years ago more or less meant that the big labels wouldn't go anywhere near it and that its offerings were largely limited to independent music.

Now, eMusic has been trying to brand itself as the music outlet for people who know and appreciate quality music. Calling itself the "Internet's corner music store," it uses a combination of editorial and "crowd-sourced" methods to sift out and recommend new music picks. In other words, this is not where you buy party music by Katy Perry or the Jonas Brothers.

"The site, geared to adults over the age of 25, will contextualize albums and songs from Sony Music's renowned artists," a press release explains, "drawing meaningful connections between 'major' and 'indie' artists, and featuring in-depth discographies and collections built around genres and themes."

[wlrayburn]

As a longtime subscriber of e-music, I think this is great! I can honestly say using e-music has greatly expanded my musical tastes and allowed me to build a great library of music. It's definitely the place to go for indie, classic, and up-and-coming music. One thing I've loved is that, as I've met people and bands who are on the rise, I've discovered that I can almost always find their albums on e-music.

I love iTunes, and I love Amazon, but if I find a song or artist I like, I will check e-music to see if they have them first, and quite often they do!

[wlrayburn]

I posted this before I found out about the simultaneous price increase that effectively cuts the buying power of my subscription in half. While I laud emusic expanding their library, doing so along with a hefty price increase is probably one of the dumbest moves possible. Not only is it making 5-year subscribers like myself rethink subscription music, they're only offering the Sony-available-everywhere-already catalog. They hiked prices about 20 percent just a few months back, and now they're slashing download numbers which essentially doubles the pricing again.

Very poor strategy emusic. I've gone from being a strong proponent to a disgruntled, possibly soon-to-be-ex subscriber.

I had a very negative experience with eMusic. After being a member for several years I tried to cancel my membership. However, they continued to bill me for several months even though I was no longer a member and could not down load songs. Numerous attempts to contact them were unsuccessful. I eventually, I had to cancel the charges through my credit card. It appears that they are very poorly run.

[techman21]

2 years makes it classic, eh?

[pbg3445]

I'm an eMusic junkie. Their virtues are lots of guidance--articles, profiles written on a level that someone who knows a lot about music will still learn omething--a good signal-to-noise ratio: less crap and more obscure indie releases. And there's a sense that when they reccommend something, its because the music snobs hanging around the eMusic offices actually like it, not that some label rilly wants it promoted.

Being a bit of ageezer, Igot hooked when I discovered they had not only nearly the complete Jhn Fahey catalog but Robbie Basho as well--and not only nearl all the Residents output but Tuxedomoon to boot.
There are disappointments--artists abruptly vanish due to their deals--they lost Zappa, and Gentle Giant and Joanna Neeswome--and they had the Rolling Stones catalog available for something like 5 days.
If you've got obscure tastes, it's fabulous--and one of the best places to explore.

Oh, and LOTS more freebies than elsewhere.