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Origins

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The original eMusic was started in March 1995 by Mark Chasan[1] 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, Bob Kohn and Gary Culpepper on January 8, 1998 and originally named GoodNoise Records. In October 1998, GoodNoise acquired eMusic.com[2] along with on-line music pioneer Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA). In November 1999, eMusic acquired main rival Cductive[3] 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.[4]

In November 2003, the service was purchased from VU Net USA by a New York-based private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc.[5] 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. Commensurate with this relaunch, David B. Pakman became the CEO of the company until leaving in November 2008.[6]


Files

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Due to the contentious nature of DRM 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.[7] While the site currently sells music from the four major record labels, the company has stated that it will remain true to its independent roots and build new product features that are geared towards members who are independent-minded, not mainstream pop-culturists.[8]

eMusic stores a record of user purchases on its internal servers, but does not place any purchaser information inside the tracks that are sold.[9] The service uses the LAME mp3 encoder to produce variable bit rate MP3 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.[10] However, and contrary to the information published on the web site,[11] 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

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eMusic has contracts with both the independent labels and the four major music labels in the United States.[8] Most of eMusic's contracts are with independent labels, giving the service a reputation for primarily offering indie rock, indie pop, heavy metal, punk rock, jazz and classical music. eMusic highlights its offerings through a host of exclusive editorial content, along the lines of monthly "editor's picks", columns and guides.

The site's alternative (or "indie") rock selection has also been aided by the rise in widely-distributed but privately owned labels such as Kill Rock Stars and Matador Records, who have a fair amount of big-name talent on their rolls (e.g. Cat Power, The Decemberists, Interpol and Sleater-Kinney, who have been among eMusic's top-sellers). Music from other popular indie labels includes Merge Records (Spoon, Arcade Fire, 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 artist.[12] The band also went on to release a series of monthly, exclusive rarities collections (known as "TMBG Unlimited") through the service in 2001 and 2002.[13] John Flansburgh said that "Getting a half dozen or dozen unreleased songs out each month provides an ‘ultimate fan club’ experience."[13]

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.[14] 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 was removed until Warner Bros. was brought on.

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 [15] [16].

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.[17]

Beginning September 18, 2007, eMusic began to offer audiobooks in MP3 format.[18][19]

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 [20].

On June 1, 2009, eMusic struck a deal with Sony Music Entertainment to sell music released two years ago or earlier.[21]

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.[22]

In November, 2010, eMusic expanded its catalog to include Universal Music. With the massive expansion, eMusic will also introduce a new pricing schedule that will set individual song prices based upon the song's popularity. Song credits will no longer be used for subscribers. Instead, eMusic subscribers will be given dollar for dollar credits to spend at the site.[23] The labels Beggars Group, Domino, and Merge will no longer be on eMusic.[24] In addition, eMusic changed its policy on redownloading so that customer can no longer go to their download history and redownload tracks or albums.[25]

By spring 2011, eMusic had deals with all four major record companies, Universal Music, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music. Its May 2011 agreement with EMI also included the jazz label Blue Note.[26] Despite the expansion of its catalogue, the company claims to maintain strong connections with independent music labels.[27]

Executive Staff

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The current management team for eMusic consists of [28]

References

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  1. ^ "Music to their Ears: Virtual CD Stores". BusinessTown.com. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  2. ^ "Goodnoise Completes Acquisition of Emusic.com". eMusic. 1999-02-09. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  3. ^ "eMusic.com to Acquire Cductive.com". eMusic. 1999-11-22. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  4. ^ Evans, James (2001-04-09). "eMusic Bought by Universal for $24.6 Million". PC World. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  5. ^ "New York-Based Private Equity Firm Finalizes Purchase of eMusic". eMusic. 2003-11-04. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  6. ^ "eMusic CEO leaves for venture capital firm". CNET News.com. 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  7. ^ Anderson, Nate (2006-05-22). "Making money selling music without DRM: the rise of eMusic". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  8. ^ a b Ben Sisario, "An Indie Music Retailer Embraces the Mainstream", "The New York Times", May 19, 2011
  9. ^ "Wired Listening Post". Retrieved 2007-06-01.
  10. ^ "Emusic Technical Help". Retrieved 2011-05-25.
  11. ^ "Emusic Technical Help". Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  12. ^ "EMUSIC.COM & YAHOO! TO HOST EXCLUSIVE WEB-LAUNCH OF 'THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS' NEW MP3-ONLY ALBUM JULY 19". 1999-07-19. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  13. ^ a b Viveiros, Beth Negus (2001-09-01). "Finely TUNED". DIRECT magazine.
  14. ^ "eMUSIC ADDS V2 MUSIC, PALM PICTURES AND VELOUR MUSIC". eMusic. 2006-06-15. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
  15. ^ Healey, Jon (2007-06-04). "eMusic adds Paul McCartney". The Los Angeles Times Blog. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  16. ^ http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2007/06/emusic_grabs_pa.html
  17. ^ "eMusic venues". Archived from the original on 2007-03-20. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
  18. ^ "eMUSIC INTRODUCES WORLD'S FIRST AUDIOBOOKS CATALOGUE IN MP3". Retrieved 2007-10-01.
  19. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/business/media/17audiobook.html?ex=1347681600&en=e3fc08c0247013e0&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
  20. ^ Anderson, Nate (2008-05-11). "Get off of my cloud: Rolling Stones on, then off eMusic". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  21. ^ http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/06/springsteen-dylan-come-to-emusic-as-labels-open-up.ars
  22. ^ http://www.wmg.com/newsdetails/id/8a0af8122617e3c6012622dbb0740baf
  23. ^ "eMusic gets Universal Music catalog, overhauls song pricing". Reuters. 2010-10-12.
  24. ^ http://www.emusic.com/messageboard/viewTopic.html?topicId=263050#
  25. ^ http://www.emusic.com/messageboard/viewTopic.html?topicId=263393#
  26. ^ "EMI Makes Back-Catalog Deal with eMusic".
  27. ^ Ben Sisario, "An Indie Music Retailer Embraces the Mainstream", The New York Times, 19 May 2011.
  28. ^ http://emusic.mwnewsroom.com/Press-Resources/Management-Team
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