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."
David Pakman, eMusic CEO
(Credit: eMusic)David Pakman, CEO of eMusic, is leaving the online music service at the end of the year, he said in an interview with CNET News on Monday.
Pakman said he is departing after five years at eMusic to become a partner at a venture capital firm. He declined to specify which firm.
An important part of Pakman's legacy at eMusic is that the company continues to exist. How many CEOs of digital music stores have been around for five years or longer? I can think of only one: Apple's Steve Jobs.
Pakman has watched stores from MTV, Microsoft, Sony, Yahoo, and AOL come and go. "We outlasted almost every other digital entity in the space," Pakman said. "We've proven the business model, growing the company by five times. I've had an amazing team."
That business model he referred to was based on selling music subscriptions to a niche market. Unlike Napster, or Yahoo's now shuttered music store, eMusic sold music in the MP3 format, which allowed songs to play on any digital music player.
Because the big music labels didn't want their songs distributed without copy-protection software on them, they shunned eMusic for years. The service carved out a niche by selling music from unsigned artists or those with smaller labels. Pakman's strategy has been vindicated now that the big recording companies have acknowledged erring in their MP3 strategy by embracing the format.
His relationship with eMusic remains a good one and he will have a role in helping to find a successor, he said.
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