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eStories launches an alternative source for audiobooks
After ditching the major labels to go pure indie in 2014, digital music store eMusic and its new parent company TriPlay are now ready to take on Amazon and Audible's audiobook dominance. Today, TriPlay launched their eStories competitor with 80,000 titles and memberships starting at $11.95 per month.
Israeli startup wants to modernize eMusic download site
Do you remember eMusic? It used to be a huge mp3 download site until iTunes, Spotify and other music services eclipsed its popularity. Still, it's not dead yet: in fact, it's been snapped up by Israeli startup TriPlay, which calls itself a "next-generation personal cloud company." As you can guess, TriPlay will use its cloud expertise to breathe new life into the service, mentioning in the acquisition PR that eMusic customers will now be able to access their collections online through any device, anywhere they are. According to Techcrunch, the startup acquired eMusic for under $26 million, the price another company paid for it back in 2001. It changed hands a few more times after that and eventually ditched major labels to focus on indie music. It's unclear what other changes the ancient website (it first went up in 1998) will undergo, but if you're suddenly curious about the service, you can always sign up for a free trial.
eMusic ditches major labels as it hopes to rule indie song downloads
Many digital music stores scramble to get every song they can, but not eMusic -- it's willingly headed in the opposite direction. The download service has announced that it's dropping music from the three major labels (Sony, Universal and Warner) as of October 1st. After that, it will sell nothing but true-blue independent songs. The company explains that it wants to create the "most extensive catalog" of indie tunes in the world, giving it a way of standing out in a sea of mainstream stores like Google Play and iTunes.
Former eMusic CEO gives his take on rumored Apple/Beats deal
Former eMusic CEO Adam Klein took to Bloomberg last week to give his take on the rumored Apple/Beats Electronics acquisition. Echoing what many industry watchers have speculated, Klein believes that the proposed deal has everything to do with Beats' new streaming service, which is essentially like Spotify albeit with professionally curated playlists to boot. [Apple's] gotta be at the party, and it's late, and this is the quickest way to get there. So I think that's what you're seeing there. They're getting in. They have to have a forceful streaming presence. It's the dominant format, it's the drawing format. It's the only format that's growing. Certainly from the label's point of view, [in terms of] revenue generation. And for them to build it would just take too long. The notion that Apple attempting to do this themselves would take too long is certainly worth highlighting, especially considering that Apple historically prefers to develop technologies and services in-house as often as possible. The music industry, though, is changing rapidly. Digital downloads are on the decline, while streaming is on the rise. Meanwhile, iTunes Radio has seemingly done little to slow down the momentum of either Pandora or Spotify. If the Beats acquisition ultimately goes through, it stands to reason that Apple is keen on getting a streaming subscription service up and running as quickly as possible as opposed to developing one on its own. Further, on-demand streaming rights are different from the rights associated with music recommendation services like Pandora, and the last thing Apple wants or needs is to get mired down in negotiations with music labels. From this vantage point, Beats Music makes for an attractive target as it would reportedly bring music mogul, noted wheeler and dealer, and otherwise musical tour de force Jimmy Iovine onto the Apple team. As for Beats streaming itself, we reported earlier this week that Apple became interested in the service after learning how quickly it was able to transform casual listeners into paid subscribers. And while the rumored $3.2 billion purchase price admittedly seems odd given Apple's propensity not to make large monetary acquisitions, $3.2 billion as a percentage of Apple's current bank balance is less than what the company used when it acquired NeXT.
eMusic CEO steps down as site merges with e-book distributor
It's only March, but 2013's already proving to be quite the wild ride for music distribution trailblazer, eMusic. A month after eschewing its long time subscription-only model by adding direct music purchases, the site has merged with Ray Kurzweil-founded e-book distributor, K-NFB Reading Inc. The companies confirmed the move in a statement sent to record label partners, which highlights their plan to, "create a consumer-centric interface that makes discovering, interacting with, and purchasing all kinds of media content more accessible and seamless for consumers." The move also sees the exit of CEO Adam Klein. No tears there, however -- the exec (and recent Engadget interview subject) said that he's "very pleased with the significant repositioning of the company and its future direction."
eMusic no longer requires subscription, opens the indie music floodgates
Some big news for lovers of indie music with commitment issues. eMusic's CEO Adam Klein announced this morning that his service will be dumping its subscription requirement, letting customers download music from the site without being forced to buy into a monthly fee. The new model, which puts the site in line with most of its musical competition, kicks off today. There's a press release detailing the move after the break, if you're into executive quotes.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with eMusic CEO Adam Klein (update: video embedded)
Sure CES is primarily a show for shiny new gadgets, but that's not stopping some of the top software companies from getting in on the hot Las Vegas action. We're kicking our week of interviews off with conversation with Adam Klein, the CEO of online indie musical retailer eMusic, to discuss the company's move to mobile and the state of the record label and music distribution in 2013. January 8, 2013 12:30 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
eMusic launches Android app
It may not have all the glitz of a Spotify or an Rdio, but eMusic is the one of the OGs of the online music game, serving up MP3s to internet citizens since the late-90s. The site today is celebrating the launch of an Android app, which brings curated radio stations, music recommendations, playlist mixes and downloads (with a subscription) to the Googley mobile OS. The app, which was created in conjunction with the folks at music discovery app, We Are Hunted, is available for devices running Android 2.3.3 or higher. More information can be found in the press release after the break.
eMusic calls bundled music anticompetitive
Over at the Guardian, music retailer eMusic has weighed in on those rumors about Apple bundling iPods with free iTunes access. It would be "anti-competitive behavio(u)r by a monopolist," the Guardian quotes David Pakman, eMusic's CEO. The plan, which not a lot of people seem to believe is entirely real, would be to sell iPods and iPhones with a set "free music" premium charge that would allow unrestricted access to music over the lifetime of the device. The likely cost would be about $100/device, working out to about $5/month over 18 months. This plan would make music labels "dangerously dependent" (again, according to the Guardian article) on Apple. I'm not sure I follow Pakman's reasoning. The Universal Total Music idea has been around for a while and was originally proposed for non-Apple platforms. If Total Music does pan out for the iPod/iPhone, it seems that it would be Universal Music (or a reasonable music industry facsimile) being anticompetitive not Apple. Thanks, Sebastian Clarke.
eMusic gives Steve free subscription, tries to cash in on iPhone-mania
I don't know about you, but I just can't get enough iPhone related news! The latest company trying to hitch their wagon to the iPhone star is eMusic. eMusic, you might know, is an online purveyor of digital music downloads (they are the second biggest, right behind iTunes) but the cool thing about eMusic is that they sell MP3s sans DRM. Their whole catalog is DRM free, which means they have a smaller catalog than iTunes but you can play it on any device you own (and even some you don't).They are trying to make news by offering Steve Jobs a free lifetime eMusic subscription as a thanks for DRMless music in iTunes (though I have a feeling Steve gets his music from iTunes). They are offering 35 free songs for the 'iPhone.' I won't point out that this is eMusic's standard free trail membership offer, since that would make me something of a wet blanket.I have used eMusic before, and I suggest you check it out. I mean, free music is free music, right?
eMusic tops 300k users, now 2nd to iTunes
eMusic announced today that its subscriber base has now topped 300,000 users. This makes it the second largest online music service after iTunes according to this Sys-Con report. The eMusic catalog contains 2.5 million tracks from over 13,000 labels which are distributed in MP3 format without DRM. eMusic specializes in independent labels, providing many artists and tracks not available on iTunes. eMusic uses a subscription model that allows you to download a fixed number of tracks each month, starting at $9.99 per month. This is different from, say, the Zune Marketplace model that allows you to rent unlimited tracks for $15/month. You own all the eMusic tracks you download and they do not stop working after your subscription expires. If you can swing the money each month, the eMusic selections nicely complement the iTunes catalog.
Digital Music Vendor Showdown
Wired has a good article up about the various digital music vendors: Urge, Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic and iTunes. They compare and rate the services. In the end, they chose iTunes as their editor's pick, pointing out that although iTunes has no subscription plan at this time, its combination of easy-to-use shopping plus the huge catalog of music, TV and video makes iTunes the most compelling digital vendor. At the bottom of the pack was Napster with its three-device playback restrictions and limited device compatibility. eMusic won on pricing (about $0.25 apiece, if you buy all the tracks you're allowed) and their DRM-free tunes.
Cingular launches "Cingular Music"
Well, it looks like that WSJ rumor we ran yesterday was pretty much spot on. Cingular is indeed launching a music service today, and we must say the scope of their undertaking is quite impressive: integration with three separate music stores, along with supplemental content aplenty. For starters, a Cingular Music phone can work with Napster to add subscription tracks from your computer with a $15 a month Napster To Go account, and you can also access the new Napster Mobile, which allows 30 second previews and song purchases, but it looks like the songs are only downloaded to your PC, and will be transferred to your phone later. The good news is that those tracks only cost $0.99, quite a bargain compared to most current mobile services, but of course you're not paying for those hefty data charges, and you're not getting the track right when you want it. The Yahoo! Music offering is quite similar to that of Napster, with $12 a month buying unlimited subscription track usage, but phone-based song purchases still being downloaded to the PC, for syncing with your phone later. There doesn't seem to be much of a mobile slant to eMusic's DRM-free MP3 offerings, just added integration with Cingular, and 50 free tracks with the purchase of a W810i or W300i. A free 60-day trail of Napster is also available to Cingular customers. Cingular says all of this music store integration is "allowing consumers to extend their existing music libraries not rebuild them," but the lack of mobile song purchasing straight to a handset seems to sort of miss the point. But wait, there's more! Cingular is also announcing 25 channels of XM radio for $9 a month, that MusicID song identification service we mentioned yesterday, Music Videos, and all sorts streaming music and music related content. Cingular music will be supported by the upcoming Cingular SYNC (Samsung A707), along with the LG CU500, Cingular 3125 and those two Sony Ericssons we already told you about. All this should be going down November 6-ish.
Cingular teaming with Napster and Yahoo to roll its own music service?
According to The Wall Street Journal, those in the know are predicting Cingular to announce a music service for its cellphone network as early as tomorrow. It seems that despite rampant rumoring of an iPhone and related wireless iTunes service, Cingular is taking things into its own hands -- with a little help from Napster, Yahoo and eMusic. Initially the service will just involve rolling out PlaysForSure functionality to handsets so that they can play subscription tracks from the major non-Apple music services, but Cingular is also planning a wireless music store with pay-per-track and all-you-can-eat offerings. The phones will also purportedly feature Cingular's "Music ID" tech that will allow a user to hold the phone up to a speaker and have the song playing automatically matched with the Napster database and available for purchase. Of course, there's enough room in the world for more than one music service, and right now it appears Cingular is fine with squeezing both Apple and the PFS onto its network. The word is that (as rumored) Apple and Cingular have signed a deal to co-develop an iPhone, and the same article predicts a January launch at the Macworld Expo. Apple also has recently been awarded a phone-related speech recognition system that adds even more fuel to the fire. Being the seasoned iPhone rumor-mongers we are, we'll take all of these reports with a few grains of salt and sit back to see what actually happens.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Read - Cingular to announce music service [Thanks, Maurice]Read - Apple and Cingular forge iPhone deal [Thanks, Ben]
eMusic hits No. 2 in digital music sales, thanks iPod
eMusic, a seemingly small-time digital music service that sells DRM-free MP3s of independent artists, has quietly overtaken other big name rivals such as RealNetworks, Yahoo! and even Napster for the #2 spot in digital music sales. The company attributes its success largely in part to the iPod's widespread popularity and the fact that MP3s play just fine on it, but also says "the consumer confusion over interoperable formats gives us a great advantage". In other words: the tower of babel that is the digital download industry has opened the door for a service that speaks everyone's language to snag the second largest piece of the pie. While not everyone is happy with 2nd place, eMusic seems to be enjoying their 11% of the industry, right after the iTMS at 67%, but way ahead of Real Rhapsody with 4%, Napster - 4% and MSN Music - 3% (data according to NPD Group).[via iLounge]
