LOS ANGELES (eMusic/ www.emusic.com) - eMusic, the world's largest independent music service, today reported that it has sold more than three million downloads since its
September 22nd re-launch. With more than 1.5 million downloads per month, this marks 50% growth over its pre-launch levels.
"These download numbers far exceeded our expectations for the new service," said
David Pakman, COO of eMusic and Managing
Director of Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital that owns eMusic and The Orchard.
"They certainly demonstrate the power of our offering, which is completely different from any other digital service. While every other music service is focused on promoting and selling the same 100 hits, eMusic caters to a truly under-served market segment-those users seeking great music that's outside the commercial mainstream.
A recent industry study reported that of the digital music sold legally, 60% of it is sold to consumers over the age of 30. This demographic is in our crosshairs and eMusic is totally focused on serving the needs of those who are actually buying digital music. We expect continued momentum and see strong growth through the holiday season and well into 2005."
At a time when music services have become increasingly commoditized, eMusic has created a service that celebrates the wealth of truly great independent music from the U.S. and around the world-more than 500,000 tracks - and provides unprecedented ways to navigate this beautiful and bountiful music universe. The new eMusic allows you to "Choose to Discover" through methods both innovative and time-honored.
Reflecting the passion of its community, eMusic has assembled a score of the greatest music critics across more than a dozen genres to guide subscribers through the treasures of its collection. eMusic's roster of luminaries includes editor-in-chief Michael Azerrad, an acclaimed author and editor, former New York Times pop music critic Ann Powers (Rock/Pop), founding rock critic John Morthland (Blues) and Pulitzer Prize-winning Justin Davidson (Classical), among many others.
eMusic is the only major digital music service to deliver music in the universally compatible MP3 format, the most popular and versatile digital file format. MP3s play on virtually all digital audio players-including Apple Computer's iPod; their compatibility is unparalleled and includes literally hundreds of devices, including mobile phones, home stereos, PDAs, car stereos, DVD players, televisions and even cameras.
eMusic is the only service that offers the usage flexibility that avid music fans demand-unlimited CD burning along with the ability to transfer MP3s to multiple computers and multiple devices-any of the literally hundreds of devices that play MP3s. Songs downloaded from eMusic contain no digital rights management (DRM) software that would otherwise inconvenience or limit a consumer's usage or listening behavior.
eMusic's unique subscription model enables subscribers to download their favorite songs for approximately twenty five cents per song-far cheaper than other leading services.
