eMusic is an
online music
A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...
and
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
store that operates by
subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
with an office in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, and is owned by TriPlay.
Features
eMusic is a digital music store, founded in 1998 as one of the first sites to sell
DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement milita ...
-free MP3s.
The site also features original editorial content and was expanded in March 2014 to include ''Wondering Sound'', an online music publication which includes eMusic's archived music features, interviews, news, photography, and new long-form articles and interviews.
eMusic's music store, as of March 2011, had more than 12 million tracks, up from 9 million tracks in September 2010.
New subscribers can take out a seven-day trial before taking a full subscription; the trial account becomes 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.
eMusic currently offers a number of Membership plans, including Basic, Plus, Premium and Fan in exchange for a monthly fee. 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.
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 the
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
and
Amazon Music
Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights ...
) in that it is a download-to-own subscription service. However, in 2011 eMusic took its first, limited step into streaming in an effort to help users discover unfamiliar tracks and artists more easily.
In 2006, 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 (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
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 were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...
and
Mogwai
Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogw ...
. It is also notable that the European version of the store is for customers within the European Union, not customers within Europe.
eMusic's early growth may have been due to its early support of the MP3 format, lack of
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
(DRM) encoding and low prices; all concepts advocated by the
Open Music Model. Devin Leonard of CNN attributed eMusic's growth to its being the only online music store aside from iTunes that sold tracks that could be played on an iPod. In 2009, eMusic changed its pricing structure, raising prices for new users and most existing users.
The move was unpopular with some, but tracks from the Sony catalogue over two years old were then made available to eMusic customers. Prior to July 2009, eMusic mainly sold music from independent labels.
eMusic shares the revenue with artists who have submitted music via digital distribution service providers such as
CD Baby
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...
,
TuneCore
TuneCore is a Brooklyn, New York–based independent digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2005. TuneCore principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell or stream the ...
,
Nimbit
Nimbit, Inc. was a Massachusetts-based company (owned by PreSonus) offering sales & marketing services for independent musicians, independent record labels and other organisations, using a web-based, direct-to-fan system. This includes a virtua ...
,
State 51 and
EmuBands
EmuBands is a digital music distribution service founded in 2005. EmuBands provides a simple but powerful digital music distribution service for artists, and record labels, to sell music online through iTunes, Spotify, Amazon.com, Google Play a ...
. eMusic has not had significant growth in subscribers – maintaining over 400,000 subscribers since 2007.
eMusic was the first digital retailer to sell DRM-free downloadable audiobooks in the MP3 format beginning in 2007.
Audible.com
Audible is an American online audiobook and podcast service that allows users to purchase and stream audiobooks and other forms of spoken word content. This content can be purchased individually or under a subscription model where the user receiv ...
, its largest competitor, offers audiobooks with digital rights management in the .aa format.
eMusic launched a Canadian version of its store in 2008.
On July 14, 2016, eMusic launched eStories, an audiobook service that will offer 80,000 titles at a cost of $11.95 per title to use, plus 33 percent off additional purchases.
File format support
Due to the contentious nature of
DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement milita ...
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
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...
. eMusic openly stated that this was a business move that has greatly aided the site's popularity.
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.
[Ben Sisario]
"An Indie Music Retailer Embraces the Mainstream"
"The New York Times", May 19, 2011
eMusic stores a record of user purchases on its internal servers, but does not place any purchaser information inside the tracks that are sold.
The service uses the
LAME
Lame or LAME may refer to:
Music
* "Lame" (song) by Unwritten Law
* ''Lame'' (album) by Iame
People
* Ibrahim Lame (born 1953), Nigerian educator and politician
* Jennifer Lame (), American film editor
* Quintín Lame (1880–1967), Colombian ...
mp3 encoder to produce
variable bit rate
Variable bitrate (VBR) 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 ...
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
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.
However, and contrary to the information published on the web site,
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.
Music catalogue
eMusic has had contracts with both the independent labels and the four major music labels in the United States. Most of eMusic's contracts are with independent labels, giving the service a reputation for primarily offering
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
,
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...
,
heavy metal,
punk rock,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...
. eMusic highlights its offerings through a host of exclusive
editorial
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...
content, along the lines of monthly "editor's picks",
columns
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...
and
guides
A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom.
Travel and recreation
Exp ...
.
The site's
alternative
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
(or "indie") 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 Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally know ...
and
Matador Records
Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts.
History
Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apart ...
, who have a fair amount of big-name talent on their rolls (e.g.
Cat Power
Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( ; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and model. Cat Power was originally the name of her first band, but has become her stage name as a ...
,
The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
,
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
and
Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member ...
, who have been among eMusic's top-sellers). Music from other popular indie labels includes
Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...
(
Spoon
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily f ...
,
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...
,
Lambchop),
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music ...
(
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced ...
,
Built to Spill),
Touch and Go Records
Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. ...
(Mekons, Girls Against Boys), and
TVT Records
TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, ...
(Lil Jon, Ying Yang Twins, Guided By Voices).
In 1999, eMusic made headlines by releasing ''
Long Tall Weekend
''Long Tall Weekend'' is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants, released in 1999. It was released exclusively online through the digital music service eMusic. The album was the band's first since their depar ...
'' by
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a d ...
, the first internet-only distributed album by a major artist. 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.
John Flansburgh
John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar.
Commo ...
said that "Getting a half dozen or dozen unreleased songs out each month provides an ‘ultimate fan club’ experience."
[
In 2004, with the change from an unlimited download subscription model to a set-track subscription download model, 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
Saregama India Ltd. (Saregama refers to the first four notes of the Indian musical scale); formerly known as The Gramophone Company Of India Ltd. is India's oldest music label owned by the RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group of companies. The company i ...
, Naxos
Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...
, BIS, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group.
Its Latin name ''harm ...
and Telarc
Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...
.
In June 2006, eMusic added new music from V2 Records
V2 Records (or V2 Music; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007 and sold to IASin 2013. In the Benelux, V2 operates separately from PIAS, as the label bought itself out from ...
in the U.S. The label is one of eMusic's highest-profile additions thus far, with multi-platinum
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
acts Moby
Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
and The White Stripes
The White Stripes were an American rock duo from Detroit formed in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (songwriter, vocals, guitar, piano, and mandolin) and Meg White (drums and vocals). After releasing several singles and three albums wit ...
and critical favorites including Grandaddy
Grandaddy is an American indie rock band from Modesto, California. The group was formed in 1992, and featured Jason Lytle, Aaron Burtch, Jim Fairchild, Kevin Garcia and Tim Dryden, until Garcia's death in 2017 following a stroke.
After several ...
. 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
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
of The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
. His album, ''Memory Almost Full
''Memory Almost Full'' is the fourteenth solo studio album by English musician Paul McCartney. It was released in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2007 and in the United States a day later. The album was the first release on Starbucks' Hear Music la ...
'', is also the first release on Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain.
As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
' Hear Music
Hear Music was a record label that was founded in 2007 in a partnership between Concord Music Group and Starbucks. Hear Music began as a catalog company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1990 before being purchased by Starbucks in 1999.
Conce ...
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.
Beginning September 18, 2007, eMusic began to offer audiobooks in MP3 format.
On April 2, 2008, eMusic added The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
when they were on their ABKCO
ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. (Allen & Betty Klein Company) is a major American independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company. It owns and/or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, the A ...
label. This includes their music from 1964 to 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.
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.
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. The labels Beggars Group
Beggars Group is a British record company that owns or distributes several other labels, including 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Matador Records, XL Recordings and Young.
History
The companies’ roots stem from the Beggars Banquet record shops, whi ...
, Domino
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also c ...
, and Merge will no longer be on eMusic. Merge Records later returned to eMusic in May 2015. In addition, eMusic changed its policy on redownloading so that customers can no longer go to their download history and redownload tracks or albums.
By spring 2011, eMusic had deals with all four major record companies: Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
, Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
, Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
and EMI Music
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
. Its May 2011 agreement with EMI also included the jazz label Blue Note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...
. Despite the expansion of its catalogue, the company claims to maintain strong connections with independent music labels.
At the end of September 2014, eMusic announced on its website that going forward, in a return to its indie music roots it would focus on independent labels, and exit the mainstream music business. The New York Times reported that eMusic had confirmed that it would no longer carry recordings from Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
, Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
and Warner. According to the article, independent musicians and labels often have complicated arrangements with major labels for their music to be distributed, and that an eMusic spokesperson had stated, "the independent labels that use major label distribution resources have been removed from the site."
In July 2018, The Orchard, a distributor owned by Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
, removed its catalogue from the service, stating that eMusic had failed to make payments. Naxos Records
Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 1 ...
and INgrooves have also removed their catalogues for the same reason.
Company ownership history
The original eMusic was started in March 1995 by Mark Chasan
Mark Chasan is an American entrepreneur and lawyer known for founding eMusic, the first digital Music streaming, media streaming and Digital music store, distribution service, and Webcentral, one of the first Cloud Hosting, cloud hosting companies ...
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 "Weazel" 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
Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...
.
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
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York Ci ...
. In October 1998, GoodNoise acquired eMusic.com along with on-line music pioneer Internet Underground Music Archive (IUMA). In November 1999, eMusic acquired main rival Cductive
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly subscription eMusic users can download a fixed number of MP3 tracks per month. eMusic was established in 1998, is headquartered in New York Ci ...
and in December 1999 acquired Tunes.com, which operated Rollingstone.com and DownBeatJazz.com. Then in 2001, the major label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
(then a division of Vivendi Universal
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
) bought eMusic.com for US$24.6 million.
In November 2003, the service was purchased from VU Net USA by a New York-based private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc. Following a contentious period during which information disseminated by the company was limited, 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
David Pakman (born January 29, 1969, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is managing director at CoinFund, a blockchain-focused investment firm founded in 2015 with the goal of shaping the globa ...
became the CEO of the company until leaving in November 2008.
On October 21, 2015, eMusic was acquired by Israeli media startup, TriPlay. The full terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed.
Executive staff
The current management team for eMusic consists of:
* Chief Executive Officer & Chairman – Daniel C. Stein (2003 – December 2014)
* Managing Director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
– Madeline Milne (April 2006 – April 2013)
Cductive
Cductive was a pioneering online music store
A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...
founded in 1996 by Thomas V. Ryan, John Rigos, and Alan Manuel. It sold 99 cent mp3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
downloads and custom CD compilations from a selection of several hundred independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
s. In December 1999, the company was acquired by main rival eMusic, and most of Cductive's artists and labels are still available via the eMusic service.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emusic
American companies established in 1998
Retail companies established in 1998
Internet properties established in 1998
Online music stores of the United States
1998 establishments in New York (state)