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eMusic is the internet's corner music store. It offers a deeper, more personal alternative to mass market digital music retailers -- at better prices -- by combining the best of ecommerce, community and editorial content to create a more immersive, authentic music experience. Award-winning editorial, a state-of-the-art recommendations system, and social media features provide the most musical context for an enthusiastic community of music fans, record labels, and artists alike. Customers are encouraged to explore music with subscription-based pricing that rewards discovery at a better value than any legal competitor.

The groundbreaking digital music retailer was one of the first to sell DRM-free music in the popular MP3 format beginning in 1998 and became the first service to sell audiobooks in MP3 in 2007. MP3 is the only DRM-free digital format that offers all the functions of physical music products such as the CD and is compatible with all digital audio devices, including the iPod® and Zune ®.

www.eMusic.com was originally launched as a CD retailer in September 1995 by Creative Fulfillment, Inc. under the name eMusic. In 1998, it was acquired by Goodnoise, and in 2000, launched the world’s first digital music subscription service. In 2003, Dimensional Associates, an operating company that manages private equity investments made by JDS Capital, purchased eMusic from Vivendi’s VU Net USA, which bought the company in 2001. Since then, the company has increased its subscriber base to more than 400,000, expanded into 26 EU nations and Canada, and sold nearly 300 million music downloads.

eMusic caters to music lovers in the underserved 25-54 demographic. It does so by cultivating a vast catalogue of more than five million tracks from over 60,000 record labels that span every conceivable music genre including rock, jazz, comedy, hip-hop, blues, classical, country, folk, children's music, electronic, world, reggae and more.

eMusic’s roots are in its deep relationships with the world’s most innovative record labels. Its label roster includes top sellers like Concord Music Group, Koch, Naxos and Beggars Group, and other well-known independents such as Saddle Creek, Warp, Domino, Barsuk, Touch and Go, Merge, Sun, Cooking Vinyl, Fantasy, Bloodshot, Blood and Fire, TVT, Nettwerk, Thrill Jockey, Fat Possum, Razor & Tie, Six Degrees, SST, Smithsonian Folkways and Stones Throw, to name a few.
The eMusic Experience

eMusic recognizes that not all customers want a one-size-fits-all, mass market music experience. By using the advantages of the web and social media, eMusic recreates the benefits of the corner music store -- supporting curatorial excellence and an intelligent environment where music enthusiasts can celebrate their passion, while casual and lapsed music fans can reconnect with today’s best music and rediscover old favorites.

eMusic’s award-winning editorial content provides helpful insight that tells customers why they should care about the latest release or essential catalogue title. Drawing on the knowledge of more than 200 of the world's best-known music journalists, eMusic boasts daily reviews, artist Q&As, profiles on emerging acts, in-depth essays on musicians past and present and the ever-popular eMusic Dozen – a spotlight on the 12 best records in a particular genre or by a particular artist.

State-of-the-art recommendation technology helps fans discover hot new artists, legendary classics and hidden gems in eMusic’s vast catalogue. Combining human analysis with computer algorithms, the recommendation system fine-tunes itself with every action the customer takes, encouraging true music discovery and trust in the service.

Because musical context today doesn’t primarily come from an LP cover or liner notes, eMusic’s Web 2.0 features pull in artist-relevant content from sites like YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia. Customers can explore all this information without leaving the eMusic site.

The best way to find out about music now is not from radio or MTV, but through word-of-mouth on the myriad of social networking sites throughout the web. eMusic encourages this organic sharing through onsite integration of Facebook Connect. The Facebook Connect platform allows subscribers to post eMusic album ratings, personal reviews, and album and artist links to their Facebook Profile with the simple click of a button, which will then appear on their friends’ News Feeds.

With their shared passion for music, eMusic subscribers form a tight knit and lively community that delights in welcoming new members to its active Message Boards and 17 Dots blog. Members share their appreciation for music and are eager to offer advice and music suggestions.

Discovering new music on the site is simplified by subscription pricing that allows members to download tracks for substantially less than they would pay with other download services. Customers can explore new artists for as little as 39 cents per track. As a result, they purchase more music, dramatically expanding the sale of catalogue widely known as “the long tail.” (eMusic customers typically buy more than 20 music tracks per month, while other music customers often stream music or buy less of it.)
eMusic Audiobooks

eMusic became the first retailer to sell digital audiobooks in the MP3 format in 2007. It offers DRM-free audiobooks from all the major audiobook publishers including Hachette, Harper Audio, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster. The eMusic audiobooks catalogue spans top-selling fiction and non-fiction, biography/memoir, mystery, history, business, politics, science language instruction, self-help, and children’s books. Among them are notable books narrated by well-known voices such as: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, read by Ralph Fiennes; Shakespeare’s Hamlet, read by Sir John Gielgud; Henry James’ A Portrait of A Lady, read by Elizabeth McGovern; Nicola Kraus’s The Nanny Diaries, read by Julia Roberts; and Barack Obama reading his own books, Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope.

eMusic audiobooks are encoded in high-quality 64 Kbps bit rate -- twice the audio quality available from iTunes and Audible. As with its music service, eMusic offers audiobooks at a great value. Customers can sign up for monthly subscriptions priced at $9.99 for one book or $19.99 for two books — and get one bonus book as part of an introductory offer. eMusic audiobooks subscription plans represent a considerable discount from the cost of physical audiobooks, which typically retail for $20 - $40, and are far more convenient, as physical products often include at least four and sometimes more than 20 CDs.

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