eMusic, the online music service which sell DRM-free MP3 and focuses on indie music, may be heading into trouble, according to this Billlboard story. It says that at least six eMusic partners — three of whom were listed among eMusic’s top 60 labels this week — plan to either to pull their catalog from the service entirely or to limit content to back-catalog tracks when their current licensing deals expire.
The reason? These labels feel eMusic is trying to pad its subscriber base to make itself a more attractive acquisition target. Unless the service raises prices and, in turn, the compensation provided to labels, they intend to withdraw..some labels receive as little as 12 cents per song in profit, far less than the 60 cents to 65 cents per track received from iTunes, the story says…of course the price point is not 99 cents per song, but much lower. The service counts more than 13K indie labels as partners, and, at the moment, complaints are a small part…
eMusic CEO David Pakman last month said in a Forbes.com interview that the company is not for sale…”I can confirm there are no talks right now with any strategic buyer. The company
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