EMusic - C/D

bit of an update on this... I had a chat with a "digital music professional" who told me that the sort of math contained in this thread, while technically correct, does not accurately reflect the sort of business model being used by eMusic. He likened it to the "Gym Membership" model, where essentially they sign you up and pray like hell that you never use their gym.

So, the gross numbers are all correct, but the hope is that the labels will net just a bit more because not everyone (including me!) remembers to use up their 40 DLs every month.

The net for labels and artists IS still quite low regardless.

Right - they basically divvy up a pool of subscription money based on downloads, so it's not a solid per-track fee.

In any case, bad deal for labels/artists or not, I think it's one situation where the market can work things out. No one is forcing any artist or label to be on eMusic, and if the deal is unfair, they can renegotiate or leave. As long as a label puts their stuff on the site, I'm going to assume they're ok with the compensation.

yeah, exactly...

xpost - Why do you do that, Nick? I thought it was only sad older guys like me who grew up fetishizing the physical that need to buy CD copies of stuff they download and like.

Man, eMusic has been seriously crashing Safari the last few days. I know I have an older version of the browser, but the site used to load perfectly. Dud.

Heh, I was going to bump this to say something. Just noticed the problem yesterday-- can't access their site on Safari at all. It's been going on for days?

Yeah. Loads fine in Firefox, but instant crash on Safari 1.3.2. I wonder if newer versions of Safari are working ok.

hey guys -- there is a bug w/ 1.3 and we (emu) are working on it. thx for yr patience.

Thanks, Y.

Gracias big Y.

The new Safari is MUCH BETTER and my eMusic works fine with it.

I really recommend the new Safari, it's worth the upgrade or whatever you have to do if you are a user of a previous version.

Mine was working so poorly before and I thought it was because I hacked into it and changed it so that it will remember my entire "history" for 99 years. But now that i am on the new version, it runs way better than Firefox, which I have grown to really hate. HTH, FWIW, YMMV, ETC

Ah, thanks Y. It would be most awesome if you're able to work out the bugs--I can't upgrade my Safari without buying a whole new Mac OS, which might not run on my faithful clamshell iBook anyway.

In any case, bad deal for labels/artists or not, I think it's one situation where the market can work things out. No one is forcing any artist or label to be on eMusic, and if the deal is unfair, they can renegotiate or leave. As long as a label puts their stuff on the site, I'm going to assume they're ok with the compensation.

perhaps someone has said this somewhere upthread -- i'm too lazy to read -- but it's a demonstrably better deal for artists and labels, dollars- and cents-wise, than bittorrent, megaupload and other free avenues, which is what this is competing with.

I think that's a good point cuz and I don't think that's been mentioned yet.

My computer is really old too btw... It is a G4 tho. Also, I think Tiger only comes as a DVD, so if you only have a CD-ROM drive you might have to install in some sort of makeshift manner. Feel free to msg me for some mac talk, anyone...

dumb question (but my googling/looking at their website for a few mins didn't answer it): is it really priced per track, with no concession for albums? so this cd would cost over $20? or am i missing something?

http://www.emusic.com/album/Paul-Hillier-Theatre-of-Voices-Stockhausen-Stimmung-MP3-Download/11077559.html

You're right. It's an eMusic quirk. On the other hand, you can download full albums with just a few very long tracks for far less than on, say, Amazon or iTunes. At a minimum, it balances out.

wow, that seems extraordinary - i would have signed up, but i think most of the albums i'm interested in (all classical) would be way more expensive than buying them on CD, which sucks.

I keep promising myself to get into what I understand is a deep catalogue of good classical stuff on eMusic. If you're interested in that, there are a few places to investigate: this thread from the eMusic message boards and this 'Dozens' list.

Thanks - those links are more encouraging! Maybe I'll give it a go.

Toby, here's one more: Nereffid's Guide to eMusic Classical. Once you look into it, I'd be interested in hearing what you think is the best classical pieces on eMusic. I'd like to download some of this genre, but with so many versions by so many performers, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaffe (although the sites I've linked will help in this regard).

toby: but i think most of the albums i'm interested in (all classical) would be way more expensive than buying them on CD, which sucks.

I find it a very good deal for classical, but then I guess I mainly use it for "classical" classical -- symphonies, sonatas etc rather than works like this Stockhausen one, or for that matter opera (I've found the same opera can have wildly varying prices in different recordings, since it's all down to how the record company have divided the tracks -- as Daniel said, it's an emusic quirk).

Daniel: I'd be interested in hearing what you think is the best classical pieces on eMusic. I'd like to download some of this genre, but with so many versions by so many performers, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaffe

Well, as for the works themselves, with labels such as Naxos, they more or less have the entire repertoire and then some, so "best classical pieces on eMusic" is similar to "best classical pieces period". (Among the exceptions are things that are still in copyright etc, since these may not be workable for budget labels.)

Things are obviously complicated quite a lot if you're looking for particular or just "the best" recordings of a given work -- but if you just want to get familiar with a work (or venture into the lesser-known repertoire for fun or research), I've found it a fantastic resource. (I am at this very moment listening to -- of all things -- a concerto for two clarinets and orchestra from 1802 by Franz Krommer, downloaded for under a buck just because I randomly read something about him yesterday.) The Naxos recordings (to mention them again) may not give you the crème-de-la-crème or talk-of-the-town versions of any given (overplayed) piece, but in general they range from just rather good & serviceable to excellent.

To clarify/amplify end of previous post abt Naxos: focus there is on the works, rather than on performers; this is somewhat in opposition to what majors tend to do*: bring out The Great Works yet again in another version by the star(let) of the year, no doubt influenced by the massive success of "star power" that has been demonstrated by the pop world these last fifty years.

*) I am oversimplifying, of course.

waht's wrong wi/emusic? last two nights it just gives me error messages. i have 11 downloads that are gonna expire in 2 day, but the site won't give me access to anything.

I was surprised to see that a bunch of Rolling Stones stuff has been made available:

http://www.emusic.com/artist/The-Rolling-Stones-MP3-Download/11661667.html

We're sorry. The albums by this artist are unavailable for download in your country (United Kingdom) at this time.

Yeah, The Rolling Stones discs on eMusic are available in the U.S., but not the U.K. I've never been much of a Rolling Stones fan, but this run of discs that just hit eMusic (Aftermath up to but not including Sticky Fingers) is pretty good. Also, eMusic just got 25 David Murray discs from the DIW label that are otherwise unavailable (this is, apparently, a big deal for some jazz fans). And eMusic is getting the Kompakt label soon, too.

i'm a little unimpressed by the fact i've not had a response to an e-mail i sent a week ago complaining about duff MP3s (which i actually managed to fix myself by converting them to AAC). other than that, i heart emusic.

(in fact: e-mail is wrong. it was using the form on their website specifically designed for reporting defective tracks. all i have is an automated reply. still. hey ho.)

You're 100% right. They're Customer Service Dep't isn't good about responding to email. It's one of my few criticisms of the service. But if you call them, they're very responsive, polite and professional. Not sure if the problem you're raising is something they'll address over the phone, but maybe.

ach: it doesn't matter, 'cos i had an idea about how to fix it straight after i got in touch, and -- woah! -- it worked. if there'd been an easy way to reply to the e-mail/send another comment using the ID number they gave me/whatever, i'd have done so; there wasn't, so i didn't.

ultimately: it's only an issue if a) anyone happens to be downloading "the unutterable" by the fall; b) the problem isn't unique to that album. and, as problems go, it wasn't all that serious.

but still ... :)

I hear you. For such a good, responsive company, I don't know what's up with eMusic's slow-response to email inquiries and problems.

From a Napster press release a few months ago:

Napster is the first music subscription service featuring major label content to offer 100% of its catalog in the MP3 format for download sales.

Is this true? I thought eMusic was 100% DRM-free mp3s. (This is for work, but I can't find the answer anywhere else.)

emusic doesn't have major label content, tho'

anybody have any tips for finding stuff on eMusic? I just subscribed for the first time a couple weeks ago, and the charts seem kinda useless to me so I never know what's on there unless I think to search for a specific artist.

emusic doesn't have major label content, tho'

Good point. I skimmed over that part.

tips for finding stuff on eMusic?

Find an artist you like, then look through the member-created playlists associated with the page. Put in Burial, for instance, and you'll get links to a whole bunch of deeper dubstep'ish stuff to sample. There's a lot of hidden gems on the site. Pickup stuff as soon as you're sure about it: labels fall off the site all the time. Also, the 17dots.com blog, by eMusic staffers, has a lot of good alerts for new arrivals. I really get something close to the crate-digging experience on eMusic, which I can't say about any other online music resource.

yeah i like just browsing the different categories, the various "dozen" lists, etc. i've downloaded a lot of stuff just on a whim, some of it great. i agree that it's the closest thing online to a good, quirky record store (or the closest legal thing, anyway).

the roir free sampler they have up right now is pretty decent, tho i have a fair bit of it already.

when I'm browsing I usually start with one of the "dozens" and then go from there on the albums' pages. The search engine is pretty sweet for finding remixes since it will look for an artists' name in individual song titles

Anybody have any tips for finding stuff on eMusic?

I usually check New and Noteworthy and Dozens and then I browse categories or labels by editor's picks if I don't have a specific artist or album I want.

There's pretty much always some Riverside/Fantasy jazz record or Folkways record worth having when I run out of other ideas.

Noticed the Load Records catalog is up. Not sure if that's new. Not sure if that's exciting.

i'll tell you what's exciting is the new nels cline album, which everybody should get right now.

^^

emusic also has the album his brother Alex Cline released the same day, which is not as good but still worth a look.

I was thinking of doing a rolling 2009 emusic thread, should I make a new one or just use this?

Hey mister, I could use a rolling thread.

yes please rolling thread

Can't argue with 35 free downloads, no strings attached (assuming you remember to cancel your account within a week)

The genre tags on their dls are pretty o_0 though. Apparently Amadou et Miriam are reggae, while Funkadelic and Debbie Deb are both hip-hop.

A ton of "world" albums on eMusic are mistagged as "reggae."

what's the bitrate on eMusic these days? I can't find anything on the site and I think it was something like 128 last time I used it (c. 2001). but Chilly Gonzales has released six or so hours of his Guinness World Record 24-hour piano concert digitally and I'm v keen to check it out (and finally buy something where the royalties might make it to him, after Kitty-Yo).

alternatively, anyone got better things to say about Amazon, 7Digital, Deezer, AOL, Starzik or We7, who also seem to be "stocking" the "albums"?

it's a higher VBR now, 192 i think?

i've bought a lot of stuff from 7digital, no quality issues, and they have the gonzales stuff at 320k CBR, though they are more expensive than emusic.

You won't find major label material besides Sony/CBS etc., but if it carries the independent labels you follow (in my case Warp, 4AD/Beggar's Banquet, and a few others), the costs per download are lower than elsewhere and a subscription makes sense. Everytime I think of cancelling I find at least 5+ albums to queue up.

I like lala.com a good deal. They've got an unusual first streaming play = free/unlimited streaming play = $0.10/download = $0.89 pricing scheme, but no subscriptions, and are licensing a good deal of major label (and others like ECM) material. Also, you can load your music collection to their server cloud to facilitate copyright violation prosecution so that you can play any of your collection on any net connected computer. Something like 180 GB on their network is now devoted to my music which didn't match previous users'.