eMusic Sony Australia Oh My By Amanda on June 7, 2009 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
So after the intial bafflement I got over the eMusic plan changes and was going to hang around, and make a conscious effort to channel the higher per track payments to labels/artists I wanted to support. But then a bigger problem came down the pipe: "in the near future" access to eMusic will be blocked entirely for users outside the USA. Canada, UK and EU. Entirely! Certain labels/albums are already unavailable on a country by country basis. This is a familiar message:
But this change would exclude us entirely.
And so eMusic joins Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, Napster, Lala, Spotify and countless other digital download and streaming services off-limits to us. Now, eMusic do say that exisiting customers will be "grandfathered in" (see FAQ) although of course that's what they said about my current subscription plan, which they just changed. And the grandfathering actually annoys me more, because it suggests the geographic restrictions are not enforceable law, but a voluntary policy decision in deference to their new BFFs at Sony, and future majors they hope to land. If you are doing something illegal and are a company, you don't say "oh well, "in the near future" we will stop doing illegal stuff but people already doing illegal stuff can keep on doing it."
I can go to Amazon.com right now and buy any CD I want and ship it here. But I cannot buy the same album in digital form from the Amazon MP3 Store. How does this make any sort of sense?
I have questions about it logged with customer service, i doubt I'll get a decent answer. Googling the issue of geographic distribution doesn't bring much helpful up.
So now I'm thinking I will just quit eMusic altogether because of it even though I would be grandfathered in, the whole thing leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth. It is no different than DRM to me, right now. What was the point of being so visionary and courageous over DRM for so long, only to capitualte in 2009 with rubbish like this? Should've slapped DRM on the tracks back in '02 and you could've had Sony then.
I see that Sony Australia has its own digital download store, called with a rather hilarious lack of irony bandit.fm. There are some positives about it at first glance, I can actually use it on a Mac, no-DRM MP3s and 320kps (although I'm fine with lower bitrates.) The content appears to be more than Sony stuff, the Blue Note label is there and that's owned by EMI. The artist and genre pages are attractively presented and easy to navigate.
However. I put in the last 10 or so albums I dl'd from eMusic and they had none of them. They had a few of the artists, but not the same albums. I conclude they have no independent labels at all. If someone did an album for Chess it's there because the Chess catalogue is now owned by Universal, but later, say, Alligator recordings by same artist are absent. They are more expensive than iTunes on some albums, and iTunes has a much bigger selection. And for a couple of them I know for a fact I can go to JB Hi Fi today and buy the hard copy cheaper.
Is this where Sony is hoping to channel my money by excluding me from eMusic? Tell 'em they're dreaming.
By Tim
on June 7, 2009 10:19 AM
My account would have been "grandfathered" in too, but I was so disgusted that I quit.
By Shaun
on June 7, 2009 8:28 PM
DVDs are region coded so that the companies can practice price discrimination and that is that Sony are doing via eMusic. Its not law, just simply business.
Of course it doesn't make sense as you pointed out regarding buying CDs overseas.
The major labels have struggled to come to terms with the Internet since the late '90s. And they are still struggling a decade on.
By Amanda
on June 12, 2009 10:57 AM
I asked a question over at 17 Dots which Cathy Halgas Nevins, Vice President, Corporate Communications, was kind enough to go to the trouble of non-answering.
Q. Why are you blocking access for users outside US, EU, UK and Canada? And why haven’t those reasons applied before now? And if it is a necessity for compelling reasons, why allow grandfathering?
A. As the company grows, we are tightening our procedures for territories outside the US, EU, UK and Canada.
Well that clears everything up! o_0
By MadMa
on June 19, 2009 10:31 AM
sheez, makes me so glad I really cannot be bothered with much music, I did buy a Samsung mp3 player, just to listen to stories and just as well because there is no access to their e-shop from this country !!!!
By Jonathan
on June 28, 2009 10:48 PM
I am also so disgusted by this new direction at emusic that I plan to quit the service, even though I know that I won't be able to re-join later (as you mention no new Australian customers are being accepted after July).
I was willing to wear the price increase and quota decrease. But what sticks in my craw is the fact the extra money I shell out doesn't give me access to the newly available Sony catalog. Why on earth should I pay the same price as US customers for a significantly crippled service?
Basically, I feel as if eMusic is treating their international customers like second class citizens.
By Steven Bates
on July 3, 2009 4:43 PM
Hi,thought i'd put my 2 cents in i'm in NZ so can't access the Sony stuff i was willing to have less dl a month to be able to have Sony available,but now i just feel kicked around, i will probably leave which is a shame as i have found lots of great music there that i normally wouldn't have come across otherwise,i know if i stay i will just become bitter at the knowledge of the music i can't get.