Comments on: New eMusic US pricing

By: Is eMusic moving away from the health club model? « Swindleeeee!!!!!

Is eMusic moving away from the health club model? « Swindleeeee!!!!! — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:53:04 +0000

[...] the number of monthly downloads included with a plan. This is essentially what eMusic did with its recent price increases; the eMusic Basic plan had a reduction in number of downloads, while the Plus and Premium plans had [...]

By: jaredean

jaredean — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:15:13 +0000

I agree completely and cancelled with several e-mails to whoever would listen that it is a terrible way to treat the customers that made them great…i’ve been a customer since 2002 and when they grandfathered me in their last increase i knew i was locked in and thought i’d never leave since i was getting 90dl/20bucks — why would i ever go anywhere…sure, it was a price increase – but they showed me they appreciated my loyalty…with the latest increase and dropping of my grandfather status i’ve cancelled my account – they obviously don’t care about me anymore, so i hope more people are like you and I – if enough of us cancel they will get the message…

By: TH

TH — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:44:06 +0000

I just canceled. I had been a member since 2004, on the $24.99 for 100 downloads plan. I was to be cut to 50 downloads for $19.99. It just wasn’t worth it for me to continue. I primarily sought out jazz and classical, made a few new discoveries in other genres. Although I was unhappy with the change to my plan, it was really the new “12 downloads for an album” and download restrictions for longer tracks that convinced me to cancel. I was running across too many 5-track albums that now cost 12 downloads and too many download restrictions on longer classical and jazz tracks. As far as I’ve seen, the “12 downloads for an album” isn’t really being applied to multi-track classical or opera albums in a way that would benefit customers. Plus, truly helpful members like Nereffid have closed up shop and deleted their lists, so there really isn’t any incentive to stay.

By: Jan

Jan — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:54:46 +0000

I am with Bob on this one. I was on the $19.99/90 a month for over 3 years. Gonna grab my expensive 50 downloads and call it quits with eMusic. It’s too bad. I really loved taking risks on obscure world music. But now, it’s just not worth it.

By: Abdur-Ra'uf

Abdur-Ra'uf — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 09:45:14 +0000

Not only that, but many Indian Classical albums are only one track of about 20 to 25 minutes and cost 12 downloads.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:33:27 +0000

Longtime customer, cancelled last night. Emusic has to keep two out of three existing customers to make this price increase work. I suspect some will cancel, some will lower their plans limits. Terrible marketing though. People went to them because they were different. Hated to cancel but some new service will pop up.

By: emusic eats itself | Porch Dog

emusic eats itself | Porch Dog — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:01:10 +0000

[...] right now, having just recently made a deal with Sony and (not coincidentally) dramatically hiked their prices. For some this represents a dramatic improvement for emusic: even though the price-per-download [...]

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:21:38 +0000

I have canceled my account as of july 1st.

Emusic always attracted me because it offered an opportunity to discover new music at a price that allows the user to extend their musical tastes at little risk, far below what you would pay for downloads elsewhere. I personally don’t care one bit about adding any major label tripe to the site, so paying for this “upgrade” is out of the question for me. I don’t listen to that, instead opting for avant garde, electronic music, metal, and other generally obscure musics. So paying more for less downloads to get something I didn’t want was the last straw. I think this may be the case for many users, and it’s sad to see that eMusic is choosing to take away from the qualities that made it unique.

BTW, a quick comment on the new “12 downloads for an album” plan:

This may work out okay if every album you want has more than 12 tracks on it, and I have in the past passed albums over because of how many downloads one album would cost.

HOWEVER, eMusic has also decided that any track longer than 15 minutes (of which there are many in my chosen genres) can only be purchased by downloading the entire album at a cost of 12 credits. So, many albums that previously cost 1-5 downloads now must be purchased for 12.

By: Obligatory Michael Jackson post « Swindleeeee!!!!!

Obligatory Michael Jackson post « Swindleeeee!!!!! — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:20:54 +0000

[...] being available on eMusic, at prices ranging from about $0.41 per track to $0.50 per track on the new eMusic plans. Since Michael Jackson died before his releases hit eMusic, Sony has a period of a few weeks during [...]

By: Serra

Serra — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:11:40 +0000

Yes I agree with both messages on top. I will also quit experimenting as I did with these higher prices. They should just charge more for the major label content. I am no in emusic for that content. They could even create a new plan to include major label content but leave the old ones as they were. There were well positioned, now they are trying to be like the others and they have the risk of dying abandoning their initial value proposition.