Hypebot has led the charge in criticism of eMusic and how its low pricing can hurt indie labels and musicians. (read our exclusive 6 part eMusic series) The company’s rebuttle has always been that it’s strategy leads to music discovery and thus more
sales for indie music. Now they’ve released their own study to prove it.
In a survey of 4,000 of active U.S. subscribers, eMusic found that 61% buy music from the website that they would not have otherwise purchased. 62% said they purchase more than 10 additional songs per month than
before they joined and 84% felt they discovered music they would not otherwise. 44% of subscribers believe they download less music from major labels now that they are in the eMusic fold.
eMusic says the report bolsters its claim that it is helping independent labels gain market share by selling albums and songs that wouldn’t have sold otherwise. This echoes a recent analysis of Nielsen SoundScan data showing that independent label digital album sales increased by 42% from 2005 to 2007 year to date.
