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MUSIC EH? EMUSIC LAUNCHES IN CANADA
Posted by Sean McManus
May 1, 2008 at 9:00am
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14 comments
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But, with Arts & Crafts and Paper Bag Recordings showing up under the feature labels banner and City and Colour and Jason Collett appearing on the front page, the Canadian site definitely has a Canadian flavour.
The concept of the site is a bit of a hybrid, part digital download store, part subscription service. Unlike streaming audio subscription sites, eMusic sells downloads, but customers have to commit by keeping their subscription active. It reminds me a bit of the Columbia House Record Club in that way. (For those of you under 30, never mind.)
You can browse eMusic Canada's content and see if you feel, as I did when I had a subscription, that offerings are sometimes inexplicably spotty. I'm sure that they've added tons of content since I last visited.
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My cursory search turned up everything I looked for, including some obscure Scandinavian folk music.
I've been a paying subscriber to Emusic for over 7 years now. It is hands down the best online subscription service available. AND ALSO UNLIKE ITUNES... IT"S 100% DRM FREE and has always been that way.
This is what online music distribution is all about. The major labels are still grasping at straws and suing those straws when they can't grasp them. Someone's got to get their head out of their ass and it's not Emusic.
I'd also like to add. Before emusic I was one of those "illegal" downloaders who used napster and limewire on a frequent and regular basis. Yes, me... the scourge of the industry.
Since Emusic came into my life I have had absolutely no reason to turn to file sharing programs. I purchase my DRM FREE music legally and I don't support major labels or archaic business models in the process. It's a win-win situation... except for the dinosaurs... who lose.
No doubt, there is a lot of fantastic music on the site. eMusic specializes in music put out by small labels because their DRM-free stance had meant that they haven't been able to get licenses from the major labels. Still, it seems to me that even in the indie and alternative realm there are significant holes. Missing are new recordings by The Acorn, Devotchka, Vampire Weekend, Decemberists, Iron and Wine, Nick Cave, Jim White, Drive-by Truckers, Christine Fellows, Wilco, Tom Waits. Now, I did a quick search for 22 records and found 11 and didn't find 11. So yeah, lots of great stuff. But I'm still going to have to go elsewhere for the rest.
Another issues with eMusic is the payout to labels and artists. From what I understand, and I'm happy to corrected on this if anyone has more direct info, eMusic pays labels based on a percentage of total subscriptions. This payout has been in the range of 20 to 30 cents per song. In Canada it is up to the online music service company to pay the mechanical royalty to the songwriter which likely comes out of this cut as well. Then, most of these labels are small enough that they go through an agregator like IODA or Orchard which will then take their cut.
This leaves something like 10 or 15 cents for the label and artist to split - compared to a 50 to 70 cent payout from iTunes or similar digital download sites. I'm not saying that it isn't a smart business model, but you have to admit that it's going to be hard for labels and artists to make and market records on 10 cents a pop.
And I don't mean to sound like a non-fan. I think the site looks great, is easy to navigate, works the way you want it to work, has good editorial content, and for many will be a nicer way to shop than iTunes.
Smart words Sean. But I found Garmarna. I was pretty damn excited about that.
No music site is going to have 100% of all the content available in the world. E-music focusses on non-mainstream, non-major label and non-DRM music. I realize this might not be for everyone, but it certainly is for me and many other people I know. I just want to emphasize how the E-music model has proven that a subscription service does not have to rely on DRM or other limitations on the purchases to maintain its integrity. (it should be noted that once you purchase a track on emusic, they keep it in a database so if you lose the file on your computer you can easily re-download it at no charge for as long as the song remains in their catalog)
I have to admit, I am not aware of the payout process, however it should also be noted that there IS a payout. And at the end of the day, any payment for music files should be accepted. Considering there is no tangible cost in the duplication, packaging or distribution of said files it should be seen as a positive that an online subscription service such as E-music has stood the test of time and offers a reasonable alternative to Amazon or Itune (both of which also do not have everything that everybody would want)
Like I said, any pay service that can effectively ween me off of P2P file sharing without pissing me off with stupid DRM tactics is AOK with me.
I'm also not familiar with IODA or Orchard, but they strike me as a middle to the middleman. What do these organizations do for indie artists/labels that can't be done themselves?
lastly LICENSING IS WHERE THE MONEY IS! Artists, do not relinquish your publishing to a man in a suit!
1) An artist can't get on eMusic without being on a label or having an aggregator like IODA or Orchard.
2) There is payout, for sure. But Sean's point is simply that splitting a crumb won't stave off the hunger pangs. Every little bit helps and it's good to have alternatives, but at the same time, there's not necessarily going to be a lot of cash flowing out of the site to the average indie act.
3) For some artists, though, signing publishing deals is how they actually get placed and get work. As well, like anything, the money totally depends on the placement.
Emusic is great. Best website, legal or otherwise, for discovering new music.
My band is on there. We got on through Tunecore and it cost very little. Last time we got money from them we got 27 cents per song. Sure it's half of what itunes pays out but they also charge WAY less then what iTunes charges as well. That 27 cents is almost all of what the customer paid for the song.
I think emusic makes most of it's money from people who pay the monthly subscription but don't use up their downloads. If they don't download all the songs they're allowed to in a month then those downloads are lost and emusic doesn't have to pay any artists for them.
I'm one of those deadbeats. I don't know how many downloads I've "lost" because I forgot to login before the odometer rolled over. Ah well. All's fair in love and war. E-music is the best. And this case example throws Sean's 10 cents theory out the window, doesn't it.
Too bad the industry is still pushing DRM
www.news.com
the good news is, up'n'coming indie labels aren't falling for it. Perhaps you've heard of a little band called Panic at the Disco and their label Fueled by Ramen. Interesting how they view recorded music as a marketing tool to sell everything else the band produces from belt buckles to t-shirts to concert tickets. And I'm sure a few licensed placements of their songs didn't hurt them much either. So much for the commodification of art. There ARE WAYS to do it without punishing people for wanting to hear your music on their own terms. legal or "illegal" (it's still a matter of opinion)
techdirt.com
(Might I add, I made more money in the VaGiants after we broke up from minor licensing deals than any CD sales through our 4 years of playing and touring.)
So... What band are you in Mark?
I wouldn't throw anything out the window just yet. Mark's band is receiving 27 cents per song from tunecore but there is no label involved. If an indie label was using tunecore as a digital aggregator and had even a 50/50 deal with the artist, the artist royalty would be 13.5 cents. Less if the label is taking still taking something off the top for recoupment.
I'll just quote you... "This leaves something like 10 or 15 cents for the label and artist to split "
At any rate, anyway you slice it, the world is a different place. Downloaded music does not offer the same tangible goods that require manufacturing or delivery as CD. Therefore people will remain reluctant to pay the same inflated price they were paying for CDs. The business model of music distribution has changed (or is in need of change), and everybody from artists, to labels, to music industry support organizations have to realize it and deal with it.
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