Monday, September 20, 2004
eMusic Plans To Relaunch Subscription Service
Posted by Kent Pribbernow in "NEWS" @ 08:00 AM
"eMusic, one of the oldest names in digital music, will relaunch its music subscription service on Wednesday with an independent appeal dramatically different than its bigger rivals'. As in its previous incarnation, the service will offer unprotected MP3 files from independent labels, a sharp contrast from services such as Apple Computer's iTunes or Microsoft's new MSN Music store, all of which wrap their songs in copy protection."
This is certainly a different spin on music downloads. But eMusic's new model isn't quite what it seems. The unprotected songs will only apply to independent artists, not commercial artists like Eminem or Britney Spears (do I really have to refer to her as an "artist"? ). That means music content will be from starving artists you've probably never heard of before, which has its good and bad points.
Still, it will be interesting to see how this new model impacts eMusic's revenues. I'm hoping more online music download services become successful, if for no other reason to than to challenge iTunes. That said, I view eMusic as a relic from the Dot com era....a company that does little more than incinerate venture capital.
This is certainly a different spin on music downloads. But eMusic's new model isn't quite what it seems. The unprotected songs will only apply to independent artists, not commercial artists like Eminem or Britney Spears (do I really have to refer to her as an "artist"? ). That means music content will be from starving artists you've probably never heard of before, which has its good and bad points.
Still, it will be interesting to see how this new model impacts eMusic's revenues. I'm hoping more online music download services become successful, if for no other reason to than to challenge iTunes. That said, I view eMusic as a relic from the Dot com era....a company that does little more than incinerate venture capital.
