Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Like a lazy flowing river / Surrounding castles in the sky

This is actually pretty big news in the digital retail world as it marks the arrival of the first major on what is arguably the best digital music retailer. And it's hard to scream piracy when you simply can't buy the stuff outside places like the very user unfriendly iTunes, or the slightly friendlier but just as hard to search AmazonMP3.

eMusic may be the best site on the Internet for buying indie music, but those looking for major label tracks have always been disappointed by the selection. Today, though, eMusic took a major competitive step forward by licensing Sony's entire back catalog—that's everything, including the big names like Springsteen and Dylan, so long as it's more than two years old.

[From Springsteen, Dylan come to eMusic as labels open up - Ars Technica]

It's certainly more important than this incredible flow of unsupported drivel out of the UK. 4,000 jobs? Really? And you know this how?

3 comments:

nige said...

That's brilliant news. Let's hope the others join esp Universal. I have just increased my monthly sub to eMusic!

Unknown said...

I left eMusic when I struck about 10 tracks in a row I wanted that were all unavailable in my region (NZ). I'd be surprised if the same restriction doesn't apply to Sony's back catalog when it comes.

(I've had the same experience with Fictionwise ebooks recently, I think we miss out because it's not worth figuring out the licensing for such a small market.)

Simon said...

I think you'll find the major label stuff is owned for the world (their contracts often say 'known universe'!) so you'll likely find that it's globally available.

The restrictions come down to indies licensing territory by territory