The eMusic Story

eMusic offers music lovers and casual music fans a more immersive, authentic music experience and better prices than mass market digital music retailers. It combines award-winning editorial, a state-of-the-art recommendations system, and social media features to provide the most musical context for an enthusiastic community of music fans, record labels, and artists alike. Customers are encouraged to explore music with subscription-based pricing that rewards discovery at a better value than any legal competitor.

The groundbreaking digital music retailer was one of the first to sell DRM-free music in the popular MP3 format beginning in 1998 and became the first service to sell audiobooks in MP3 in 2007. MP3 is the only DRM-free digital format that offers all the functions of physical music products such as the CD and is compatible with all digital audio devices, including the iPod and Zune.

www.eMusic.com was originally launched as a CD retailer in September 1995 by Creative Fulfillment, Inc. under the name eMusic. In 1998, it was acquired by Goodnoise, and in 2000, launched the world's first digital music subscription service. In 2003, Dimensional Associates, an operating company that manages private equity investments made by JDS Capital, purchased eMusic from Vivendi’s VU Net USA, which bought the company in 2001. Since then, the company has dramatically increased its subscriber base, expanded into 26 EU nations and Canada, and sold more than 300 million music downloads.

eMusic caters to music lovers in the underserved 25-54 demographic. Its vast catalogue comprises more than 6 million tracks from over 60,000 record labels that span every conceivable music genre including rock, jazz, comedy, hip-hop, blues, classical, country, folk, children's music, electronic, world, reggae and more. The label roster includes well-known independents such as Concord Music Group, Koch, Naxos, Beggars Group, Saddle Creek, Warp, Domino, Barsuk and Merge. Recently, eMusic added the back catalogue of Sony Music Entertainment labels such as Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, LaFace, Legacy Recordings and RCA.

The eMusic Experience

eMusic recognizes that not all customers want a one-size-fits-all, mass market music experience. By using the advantages of the web and social media, eMusic recreates the benefits of the corner music store — supporting curatorial excellence and an intelligent environment where music enthusiasts can celebrate their passion, while casual and lapsed music fans can reconnect with today’s best music and rediscover old favorites.

eMusic’s award-winning editorial content provides helpful insight that tells customers why they should care about the latest release or essential catalogue title. Drawing on the knowledge of more than 200 of the world's best-known music journalists, eMusic uses better-known artists to shine a spotlight on up-and-coming artists, and explores the influences of the hottest indie bands . Customers can also check out daily reviews, artist Q&As, in-depth essays on icons, emerging artists and labels, and the eMusic Dozen — a spotlight on the 12 best records in a particular genre or by a particular artist.

State-of-the-art recommendation technology also helps fans discover the exciting new artists, legendary classics and hidden gems in eMusic’s vast catalogue. Combining human analysis with computer algorithms, the recommendation system fine-tunes itself with every action the customer takes, encouraging true music discovery and trust in the service.

Because musical context today doesn’t primarily come from an LP cover or liner notes, eMusic’s Web 2.0 features pull in artist-relevant content from sites like YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia. Customers can explore all this information without leaving the eMusic site.

The best way to find out about music now is not from radio or MTV, but through word-of-mouth on the myriad of social networking sites throughout the web. eMusic encourages this organic sharing through onsite integration of Facebook Connect. The Facebook Connect platform allows subscribers to post eMusic album ratings, personal reviews, and album and artist links to their Facebook Profile with the simple click of a button, which will then appear on their friends’ News Feeds.

With their shared passion for music, eMusic subscribers form a tight knit and lively community that welcomes new members to its active Message Boards and 17 Dots blog. Members share their appreciation for music and are eager to offer advice and music suggestions.

Discovering new music on the site is simplified by subscription pricing that allows members to download tracks for substantially less than they would pay with other download services. Customers can explore new artists for as little as $0.40 per track. As a result, they purchase more music, dramatically expanding the sale of catalogue widely known as “the long tail.” (eMusic customers typically buy more than 20 music tracks per month, while other music customers often stream music or buy less of it.)

eMusic Audiobooks

eMusic became the first retailer to sell digital audiobooks in the MP3 format in 2007. It offers DRM-free audiobooks from all the major audiobook publishers including Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster. The eMusic audiobooks catalogue spans top-selling fiction and non-fiction, biography/memoir, mystery, history, business, politics, science language instruction, self-help, and children’s books. Among them are notable books narrated by well-known voices such as: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, read by Ralph Fiennes; Shakespeare’s Hamlet, read by Sir John Gielgud; Henry James’ A Portrait of A Lady, read by Elizabeth McGovern; Nicola Kraus’s The Nanny Diaries, read by Julia Roberts; and Barack Obama reading his own books, Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope.

eMusic audiobooks are encoded in high-quality 64 Kbps bit rate -- twice the audio quality available from iTunes. As with its music service, eMusic offers audiobooks at a great value. Customers can sign up for monthly subscriptions priced at $9.99 for one book or $19.99 for two books. eMusic audiobooks subscription plans represent a considerable discount from the cost of physical audiobooks, which typically retail for $20 - $40, and are far more convenient, as physical products often include at least four and sometimes more than 20 CDs.

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iPod, iTunes, Zune, VU Net USA, YouTube, Flickr, Wikipedia, MTV, Audible, and Facebook Connect are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Use of these trademarks is not intended to indicate that they are partners or sponsors of eMusic.