eMusic Has Become Indie Cornerstone

PART 1 OF A SERIES: In the few years since being purchased along with The Orchard by Dimensional Associates, eMusic has
established itself as the premier source of independent music downloads. 

For 300,000 hardcore music fans, eMusic is an indie music clubhouse where than sample, read about, discuss and ultimately download an incredible range of music at bargain prices.  By offering diversity,
pricing and DRM free mp3 driven interoperability, eMusic has deservedly become second only to iTunes in popularity. 

According to surveys provided by eMusic:

• 84% of subscribers say they discover music they would not have found with any other service
• 91% say the low cost encourages them to try music they had not heard of previously
• 74% say they are more likely to download complete albums on eMusic than on iTunes
• 78% say they typically add more than 20 songs to their collection EACH MONTH on average than they did before they signed up.

For many independent labels, eMusic is the second largest or even largest download check that they receive each month.  At a time when CD revenues are in freefall, eMusic’s regular payments and access to consumers willing to pay for music rather than grab it free is attractive to most indie labels.

"While the average iTunes user buys 7 – 10 songs in one year, the average eMusic subscriber buys 20 songs in one month," states eMusic’s smart and aggressive VP Of Corporate Communications Cathy Halgas Nevins. "That’s nearly 35 times more music annually than iTunes sells on a per-customer basis. Another way to think about this trade-off is “wallet share.” eMusic receives on average more than $13 per subscriber every month. Compare this with the $7 per year that iTunes receives. eMusic subscribers commit themselves to spending, on average, $160 per year on independent music."

Happy customers and happy labels. It’s a refreshing difference from the doom, gloom and contentiousness emanating from the major labels, RIAA and large retailers. 

But tougher times could lie ahead for eMusic, and in the coming days we’ll be examining several threats to the future of this important digital outlet.

• On Friday we’ll look at the pending availability of an even wider variety of DRM free music via other download services.
• Early next week we’ll examine growing dissatisfaction from some labels over eMusic’s discount pricing, giveaways and accounting and how they effect per track payouts to labels, artists and songwriters.