*A correction was made to this story.
New York – Digital music service eMusic has implemented a
new variable pricing structure, offering individual albums and tracks sold at varying prices. The switchover
comes as eMusic adds 250,000 new tracks to its service from Universal Music,
and new tracks from fellow major labels Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) — but also
in the same week that prominent independent labels Domino, Merge and Beggars
Group announced they would exit eMusic.
The indies cited eMusic’s new relationships
with the major labels as a key factor in their decisions.
Under the new eMusic
pricing structure, tracks will range in price from 49 cents to 89 cents; customers must still pay a monthly subscription fee starting at $11.99 in order to gain access to a la carte downloads at those price points.
PaidContent notes that about 80% of the service’s 10
million tracks will be priced at 49 cents; the higher price point is likely to
be utilized by the major labels.
*Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that eMusic had ceased using a subscription model in implementing the new pricing structure.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/269a8yp
(PaidContent)
http://tinyurl.com/2gxrnwp (DMW previous coverage)
Emusic isn’t abandoning the subscription model.
They’ve just introduced variable pricing and switched from a credit based system to a dollars and cents based one.
You subscribe at a certain level, pay X amount per (non-calendar) month, and then have that in your bank to spend that month on tracks / albums.
If you don’t spend it, and it is greater than 49 cents, you lose it at the end of your month.