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eMusic continues to struggle against flat subscriber levels, according to details confirmed by Digital Music News on Thursday. An executive at the company noted that subscriber levels remain at about 400,000, a net gain of zero since 2007. This was a problem that first became apparent at the end of last year, though the company is still struggling to turn the corner. "There's been no growth," the executive shared. "Nor did we predict growth for the company's member numbers."
eMusic did point to improvements within its existing 
subscriber base, most notably higher uptake on its premium, 'Connoisseur' tier. On top of that, the company is also boosting revenue per subscriber - or ARPU - by 22 percent, according to eMusic figures. But at a top-level, the curation-heavy, connoisseur-geared site seems to have moved into a bad place, despite gains by longtime rivals like Rhapsody and niche-focused upstarts like Beatport.
There are other possible reasons for the flat profile. Free, on-demand services like Grooveshark have essentially no curation, though they are free. And, ultra-aggressive deals by Amazon MP3 may also be crimping market share.
And, this does apply to indie fans. A recent survey by UK-based indie consortium AIM found that iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify collectively account for a whopping 94.4 percent of total independent sales online. That discovery seemed to smash the notion that indie fans seek more curated, niche digital outlets. But even eMusic has dialed away from that idea: over the past few years, the company has been busy securing major label licensing deals, a questionable shift away from its base.
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@CathyHNevins Thursday, June 09, 2011
Cathy Halgas Nevins
eMusic ! :(
@universalindie Thursday, June 09, 2011
Universal Indie
damn i forgot about them
@kentsandvik Thursday, June 09, 2011
Kent Sandvik
Sad to see an online music business killing itself.
CTyankee Thursday, June 09, 2011
Isn't 2007 about when they canned David Pakman?
@factorynation Friday, June 10, 2011
factorynation
Where is the growth?
jbedbus Friday, June 10, 2011
eMusic has made some serious miscalculations since 2007. Losing some of the biggest indie labels, embracing major labels, raising prices, eliminating re-downloading, apparently making every decision based on a comparison to iTunes. Everything that made eMusic different and attractive to the indie-minded fan was changed to make eMusic just like everyone else. Oh, but they're 25% cheaper than iTunes!
And, as a long time eMusic subscriber, I'm amused by the name attached to the first comment on this article: Cathy H. Nevins created a tremendous amount of animosity toward eMusic by providing misinformation and blatanly obvious marketing doublespeak during her brief attempt at interacting with users in the eMusic forums.
Really, the last few years of eMusic has been the clearest example of a foot-gun relationship I've ever seen in American business.
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