They better have asked for my permission or else VISA will get a phone call to cancel a payment!!

You seem a bit soft on eMusic about the whole lying to you thing, especially contrasted to the tone in other items where you don’t care for or agree with someone’s actions.

Apparently this is another music company that thinks pissing off its customers is a good business model. Either that or they’ve done the math that a new kind of customer will attract more business than they’ll lose from their old customers. Considering their new rates relative to the competition, it seems unlikely that could be right.

I dumped them after less than a year, more than a year ago now. I wonder if they’ve made any progress on the two things that led me to leave besides less than ideal bitrates. 1) They expire points on a 30 day cycle, not a monthly cycle, so instead of knowing ‘points expire on the 12th’ (or even easier month end) one has to remember a gradually changing expire date. Dumb. 2) Their music recommendation engine was dreadful. It rarely pointed me to anything else I liked. It is the worst implementation along the lines of “if you liked this you might like…” that I’ve seen so far.

I wish you stopped using ‘indie’ like it was a style of music (genre).

TJ,

Points still expire on a 30 day cycle.

Recommendation engine has seen no improvement.

Bonus packs also seem like they have a shortened shelf life, though I cannot recall how many days they were good for prior to this last price change.

Dear eMusic:

I’ve been a loyal eMusic customer for a few years now …And by “loyal,” I mean that not only do I love your service, but since I became a subscriber, whenever the subject of digital music came up in conversation, I always made it a point to bring up eMusic, then literally praise it and urge others to subscribe. That being said, I am highly disappointed with the changes you plan on implementing in July.

I understand after reading the letter from your CEO that the upcoming rate hike is mainly due to a) adding the entire Sony music catalog, and b) the hope that eMusic will now gain further attention from other major labels. Granted, 40-50 cents per track is still a better deal than most digital download services and therefore makes eMusic attractive to prospective customers, but I think you’ve lost sight of the fact that the new pricing structure is a very significant hit to your existing customer base. I could understand an occasional increase of a few cents/month or even an extra dollar or two per month (like last year), but with this new price change in July, you’re literally just about doubling the cost to current subscribers.

I’m currently on a plan that provides me 75 tracks/month – and being the music addict that I am, I need this higher plan considering my “Saved For Later” list hasn’t dipped below 200 albums in quite a while. But now, in order to get the exact same number of downloads per month, I’m expected to pay $31/mo. instead of my current $16/mo.?! …This is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion – in fact, when I read the new plan options, I honestly thought it was a mistake at first.

Granted, for this higher price, I will now be able to download albums from the Sony catalog, but the reality is that I never asked for this. Instead, I was simply told that I will have to pay twice as much for something I didn’t want. Even if I had petitioned eMusic for the addition of the Sony catalog, I would’ve said “no thanks” as soon as you told me that it would practically double the cost of my subscription in order to get it.

Though it’s been a tough decision given my previous love and advocacy for eMusic, I’m very sad to report that due to the lack of accommodating options for existing subscribers and the general inconsideration displayed by your company surrounding the proposed changes, I plan on cancelling my eMusic subscription out of principal when my renewal comes due in November (unless something drastically changes in the meantime).

Please keep in mind the voice of a concerned loyal customer before going through with the proposed changes.

Thank you for your consideration.

I still see a lot of huffing and puffing even this late in the changeover. Subscribers are relentless in their outcries. Emusic is going for the gold whether we like it or not. At the rate they were going at, growth was going to be painfully slow or non-existent.

loyal customers don’t want to spend a lot on music per download. but on the long run we shell out a lot of money yearly. Under my current plan i was spending 300 dollars a year. far more than I would spend before I was a member. I believe that analysts are gravely misunderstanding our listening habits. We legally paid for this music because the system worked. It was the closest compromise that i have seen between value and service. Music listeners this savvy can and will find ways to get their music. It just will be through a different medium. This includes used CDs which means less money that the labels will see.

also being on a major label means nothing in the 21st century. there few benefits, that is unless you are one of the A list bands out there like the Rolling Stones. Otherwise they will let you sink to obscurity and collect heavily on you. often times sinking bands into debt.

It is my belief that these loyal customers are gravely being under estimated. I will fill up on a couple key albums. Mainly box sets where I will get great value. the entire 60s elvis collection is a steal for example. otherwise not much value left for the service. I’m going back to CDs. at least as long as they still make them. Corporate America needs to learn to respect the consumer.

I was initially ecstatic about the new catalog. Now I am in disbelief as to how they are dealing with this.

good bye, good bye old friend.