More eMusic Turmoil As Ultra Exits & Ray Farrell Joins RoyaltyShare

UPDATED:
Indie Ultra has been added to the list of labels that have left eMusic or are considering an exit over per track payout issues. Yesterday we reported exclusively that labels Red House, Silva America and Tzadik had at least one foot out the door. Victory Records left several weeks ago.

On the eMusic blog, CEO David Pakman responded to the controversy, "On occasion, a few labels will come and go…Our model may not work for everyone. But one thing is for sure — if the model doesn’t work for customers, it doesn’t matter what the industry thinks…it’s a brave new world out there — one we had better all adapt to, or the music industry decline will just continue."

Meanwhile a key eMusic exec who was in charge of bringing new labels onto the service has suddenly *** exited. Ray Farrell who is well respected within the indie community and had been with eMusic since the late 1990’s has become a VP at RoyaltyShare. The firm which helps rights holders track royalties across platforms is headed by original eMusic co-founder Bob Kohn.  Neither Farrell or Kohn would comment on eMusic’s current woes.

Farrell’s exit marks the end of eMusic’s original and much-loved label acquisition and services team that had reported to another indie label favorite Scott Ambrose Reilly (aka Bullethead) who is now helming the indie portion of Amazon pending mp3-only download store.

STARTING TOMORROW: Hypebot’s Exclusive eMusic Series

• Part 1 – eMusic Establishes Itself As Top Indie Community
• Part 2 – Can eMusic Survive The New Competition?
• Part 3 – How The $’s Get Divided: The Math of eMusic
• Part 4 – Industry Reaction

*** eMusic called yesterday to tells us that in their view the departure was amicable.