NEW YORK (eMusic/ www.emusic.com) - eMusic, the world's No. 2 digital download service selling more than two million tracks monthly, has announced a new initiative that allows artists to "give away" their newest and hottest releases while still being compensated by eMusic.
The new card delivers 50 times more value to consumers than any other online music store.
eMusic's Artist Download Cards offer entire albums for free as part of a package of 50 free songs. Artists are paid by eMusic for the "free tracks" and they continue to collect royalties as consumers opt into eMusic's subscription music service.
Among the artists launching the program: Chuck D (of Public Enemy), Bob Weir (of the Grateful Dead), Mojo Nixon, RUFIO, Assembly of Dust, Otis Taylor and Kan'nal. The artists and their labels will distribute the eMusic artist cards through their websites, at their live performances and through other promotional avenues. Each card features artists' album art and graphics.
eMusic's card program is a major departure from other download card initiatives, most of which only offer a single promotional track, or require a user to prepay on a per track basis. With eMusic's program, recipients are able to download the artist's album at no cost if they proceed with a free trial of the eMusic service. In addition, the recipient gets up to 50 total songs free so they can download other albums by the artist or explore any of eMusic's 550,000 tracks.
Whether the consumer remains a member of eMusic or not, the songs are theirs to keep and do not expire.
"Through eMusic's artist download card program, everyone wins - fans, artists, labels and eMusic," said David Pakman, COO of eMusic and a managing director of Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital that owns eMusic, The Orchard and Dimensional Music Publishing. "Fans win with free music from their favorite artists and the opportunity to download up to 50 free songs from eMusic's 550,000 song catalog; artists win by receiving royalties for their songs and compensation for fans who continue as eMusic subscribers; labels benefit from additional (low cost) artist promotion; and eMusic benefits from increased numbers of fans exploring the world's largest catalog of independent music."
Jerod Gunsberg, Head of Marketing and Sales at Nitro Records, an independent label owned and operated by Dexter Holland of The Offspring, said this of the eMusic download card program, "We're thrilled about this program. It gives us a cutting edge and cost effective marketing tool that allows us to actually track and quantify the results."
