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eMusic Adds Subscribers & Labels. But Will Growth Continue?

In a press release this morning, eMusic announced that its subscriber base had topped 300,000 and global catalog had reached 2.5 million tracks. (A full list of new labels and aggregators can be foundEmusic after the jump below.) The 300K subscriber tally was reached impressively only four months after eMusic
hit 250,000.

The announcement, however, comes at a time when a handful of labels including Victory and digital aggregators have pulled their tracks from eMusic and others including KOCH Distribution are rumored to be considering a similar move. The label discontent stems from eMusic’s unique revenue sharing model which returns much smaller per song payments to labels than all other download services.

Ross Siegel whose label Reignition (Death By Stereo and others) is distributed by Koch (Correction: distributed is via Suburban Home Records who use IODA for digital distribution.) described how payments work in a recent IndieHQ interview, "Yes, my music is available on eMusic, for the time being Reignition
at least. eMusic’s business model works in such a way that I make less money per song from them than I do ANY other method to purchase my music. In the past, I’ve received around $0.17 per song on eMusic (their rates vary month to month based on the economics of their subscription model) whereas I get a healthy $0.69 for Downloapunk, $0.70 from iTunes…So, I am torn on eMusic. I like the idea that my catalog is cheap and easy to find, I don’t like the idea that some months I get totally screwed by them. More to come on this in the future…"

Some of eMusic 13,000 indie labels, however, seem happy with the overall checks they’re getting even if per track payments lag. “eMusic can now bring home up to 1/2 our digital sales and with some records charging well over the 25% mark in total digital sales," says Kevin Wortis of World’s Fair.  Many labels also enjoy the marketing opportunities provided by being part of eMusic’s indie clubhouse.

Amazon
But will label disatisfaction grow as Amazon opens their mp3 only store and others begin offering DRM free downloads?  Even with Amazon rumored to be seeking more aggressive pricing, their per track payments should far exceed eMusic’s.  And how will increasingly savvy artists and managers react when they understand that eMusic is in effect selling their art at a deep discount? 

A complete listing of labels and aggregators added to the eMusic catalogue are as follows:

  • Absolute Marketing & Distribution Ltd. (UK)
  • Actua Musica (Spain)
  • All Tomorrow’s Parties (UK)
  • Amato Distribution (UK)
  • Artspages (Norway)
  • Audio Bee/GMG Entertainment (US)
  • Awal UK Ltd. (UK)
  • Bagpak Music (US)
  • Believe Digital (France)
  • Blanco Y Negro Music S.A. (Spain)
  • Bliss Corporation SRL (Italy)
  • BOA Cor S.A. (Spain)
  • CAM Cine TV Music (Italy)
  • Carcrash Records (US)
  • CBuJ Entertainment (US)
  • Cda Distribution LLC (US)
  • Click Record Productions (UK)
  • Curve Music Inc. (Canada)
  • Digital Delivery Services (US)
  • Direct to Tape (DTR) (US)
  • Ditto Ltd. (UK)
  • Edizioni Ishtar SNC (Italy)
  • Emubands Ltd. (Scotland)
  • EPM Musiconline.com (Holland)
  • Fractal Entertainment LLC (US)
  • Headphone Treats Records (US)
  • Hits the Fan Records (Scotland)
  • Horus Music Ltd. (UK)
  • Idol Distribution (France)
  • Idol Records (US)
  • Immergent (US)
  • In Da Jungle (Canada)
  • In2Music (Canada)
  • Inversion Media & Marketing SL (Spain)
  • Jazzland (Norway)
  • Kindred Rhythm (US)
  • Kontor Media (Germany)
  • Labrador AB (Sweden)
  • LAD Publishing & Records (Portugal)
  • Listenable Records (France)
  • Luaka Bop Inc. (US)
  • MAC Developments Ltd. (UK)
  • Mainstream Records (US)
  • Massproduktion (Sweden)
  • Munich Records BV (Netherlands)
  • Music Forte (US)
  • Navarre Corporation (US)
  • New World Records (US)
  • Nimbit, Inc. (US)
  • Oakland Media AB (Sweden)
  • Oseao Music Group (US)
  • Partisian Recordings (UK)
  • Pentatone (Netherlands)
  • Phonofile AS (Norway)
  • Pickwick Group Ltd. (UK)
  • Plumosus Inc. (US)
  • Pool Or Pond (US)
  • Popstock Distribucionnes SL (Spain)
  • Quazarcom.com (France)
  • Quinlan Road LLC (Canada)
  • Rebeat Music (Austria)
  • Record Collection (US)
  • Red Sauce Music Ltd. (UK)
  • Relapse Records / Release Entertainment (US)
  • RN’D Distribution (US)
  • Rossiter Road (UK)
  • SCI Fidelity Records (US)
  • Service (Sweden)
  • Setanta Songs Ltd. (UK)
  • Shizzer! Entertainment (New Zealand)
  • Shock Distribution (Australia)
  • Show Off Recordings (Australia)
  • Siesta Records SL (Spain)
  • Sound Pollution (Sweden)
  • Spade Kitty Records LLC (US)
  • Star 69 Entertainment, Ltd. (US)
  • Subconcious Music (UK)
  • Swami Records LLC (US)
  • Syntax Distribution (US)
  • Third Stanza Music LLC (US)
  • Thirty Tigers (US)
  • Time Records, Inc. (US)
  • Twenty First Century Music Co. (US)
  • Upstairs Recordings (Canada)
  • Vendetta Digital Distribution (Switzerland)
  • Warlock (US)
  • West End Records (US)
  • White Whale Records (Canada)
  • World Sound LLC (US)
  • World’s Fair (US)
  • X5 Music/X5 Group AB (Sweden)

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