EMusic , the popular subscription-based music service, just announced that it has signed a deal with Warner Music, the world's third largest music company. This is eMusic's second deal with a major record label. In its early days, eMusic mostly focused on featuring music from independent labels. Since the middle of 2009, however, eMusic has worked on expanding its reach by bringing more mainstream music to its catalog. The company announced a deal with Sony Music in June 2008. Sponsor Today's deal with Warner Music allows the company to add 10,000 additional albums from Warner labels like Atlantic Records and Rhino Records. Thanks to this, eMusic will now be able to feature music from artists like Eric Clapton, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Depeche Mode. EMusic has about 400,000 paying subscribers. From Quirky to Mainstream For eMusic, this transition towards featuring a catalog that focuses more on mainstream tastes has been rocky. When eMusic added the Sony Music catalog to its repertoire, the company also had to raise its subscription prices. Quite a few of eMusic's most loyal users were unhappy with the direction the service was going in and left the service. So far, however, eMusic's users have reacted positively about the Warner deal. Streaming Coming Soon? According to eMusic CEO Danny Stein, the company also wants to offer a streaming music service in the near future. Stein told Reuters that the company still has to work out deals with the respective rights holders, though. Given that Apple just bought streaming music service LaLa, it probably doesn't come as a surprise that eMusic is also looking at streaming music. As consumers warm up to services like Pandora and LaLa, download services like LaLa and Apple's iTunes have to react to this trend. Discuss
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Going Mainstream: eMusic Signs Deal with Warner Music
In a move of ninja swiftness, MySpace has acquired and subsequently shuttered iMeem in its entirety, even trashing the streaming/sharing music startup's API, which had heretofore supplied much-needed resources to a small but vibrant ecosystem of apps. The acquisition was announced just yesterday, and developers were given no warning that their creations would become useless digital paperweights overnight. Among the detrius of the deal is twt.fm , a popular Twitter music-sharing app created by web dev Lee Martin, who tipped us off to his plight today in a blog post . UPDATE: Users are also reporting problems with blip.fm, a popular music-streaming site that integrated results from iMeem. Sponsor Calling iMeem "one of the best API platforms," Martin, who works primarily in the music space, said that the startup was also "leagues ahead" of similar sites and services in terms of technology and openness. "They represented the music business of the future. Now they are a forced hyperlink to a... MySpace landing page making false promises and giving no guidance or help for the developer community they just destroyed. "Maybe MySpace will return my open streaming API platform... Until then, I'll be brushing the dust off my 1999 Dell computer and getting ready to program music websites like I did 10 years ago." If indeed MySpace doesn't give developers back their iMeem API, will another streaming music service step in to fill that void? Pandora CEO Tim Westergren revealed in a recent interview that because of licensing issues, Pandora is nowhere close to releasing an open API. Last.fm has an API that allows for web, desktop and mobile development - and it's ironic that Last might have the last API for music mashup developers. While we wait for comment from MySpace HQ, let us know in the comments what you think of this news, especially if you're a developer who has been using iMeem's API. Discuss
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MySpace Kills Streaming Music Apps Powered by iMeem's API
If the rumors are true, then something is afoot in the Apple music camp. According to a recent article in Bloomberg , Apple is in talks to acquire online music service Lala . If a sale is finalized between the two companies, a number of new music monetization models can emerge and with Apple holding the supply chain from devices to players to downloads, a streaming music component may prove devastating to others. Sponsor Tiered Pricing : With a Lala purchase, Apple could easily employ a tiered pricing model for a streaming service. Users would continue to purchase streams on a per-song basis while also having the option to download songs through the iTunes store. Full Subscription : In contrast to this model, Apple could also follow MOG's lead and launch a full subscription service with links to purchase Apple downloads. Full Subscription with Download Limit : And finally, different still, there's the opportunity to employ Microsoft's Zune Pass model. The company could offer a $15 dollar per month subscription streaming music service with the option for users to download their ten favorite songs per month to keep. If Apple decided on this route, downloads would still prove lucrative as users in excess of their download limits would be driven to iTunes for additional sales. Discuss
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If Apple Acquires Lala: 3 Models for Service Integration
