As of tomorrow, November 18, the Merge catalog will be removed from eMusic.
We at Merge are longtime fans of eMusic; it has for years been one of the premiere places to discover new and independent music, and their editorial is among the best around. We are truly grateful for their coverage, and have enjoyed working with them for many years.
Unfortunately, eMusic’s unilateral changes in an effort to bring on the major labels has created a situation where it would be harmful to the interests of Merge and our artists to continue our partnership at this time.
We encourage those who regularly purchase Merge titles from eMusic to head to your local independent record store, the Merge Digital Store, or one of our other digital music partners.
22 Comments
Well put. I’m also of the opinion that they’ve been whittling away at their customers during this process. I had been debating leaving for a while. This is the final nail in the coffin.
Sad really.
Absolutely 100% agreed. It’s a shame what’s happening over there.
Glad to see you guys are not afraid to do the right thing. Just one more reason to love Merge!
Didn’t renew my eMusic subscription after it expired at the end of October. I had been a subscriber for 2 years, but things have definitely changed in the past 6-9 months. Then, I received 3 conflicting reports of how my account would change and how many credits/dollars I would receive as a bonus. When I asked about this to eMusic management they said they had to investigate and then get back to me. When they “got back to me”, they canceled my account. They just couldn’t deliver on the promises they made, I suppose.
I had to make the same decision as a customer about 2 years ago when they would not grandfather in the plan I had and tried to force me into a plan that was the same price, but half the number of songs each month, effectively doubling my monthly cost.
I loved the service when I had it, but I felt burned/betrayed that they would raise my rates so that they could add music I was not interested in as an attempt to attract new users. It still baffles me.
I had a feeling it was just a matter of time before the record companies that helped give them their start, go burned by their expansion measures. It’s just business though, they are only trying to maximize profits like everyone else. I can’t blame emusic, I can only continue to mot be their customer.
I’ve been with eMusic for about 8 years (i think). When i got the email last night about merge being gone today (nice heads up there eMusic): that was the final straw. Canceled the account, took the survey, let ‘em know that dropping merge and a bunch of other indie labels to get more and more major label acts was the last straw. It’s sad – but i’d rather my money support independent music directly.
Sad. Sad. Day. Thanks for being awesome Merge.
have you guys ever thought about putting your catalog on Rdio.com?
I too have been an eMusic patron for a long while and had perceived a decline in their commitment to supporting artists and genuine labels – this is such a sad day but I’m afraid my relationship with eMusic has met its end. Rest assured your artists will continue their takeover of my iPod’s memory – way to stand up for what we believe in, Merge!
Just cancelled my eMusic account. I recently realized that more and more of the music I’ve been listening to and purchasing is from Merge. eMusic played a part in that. Dropping Merge and other indie labels made it easy to drop eMusic.
How sad that we’re in an era when integrity is an abberation and selling out is the norm. Hopefully Merge’s decision will light the way for others to follow.
I too don’t like the change in emusic.com with the addition of major labels and the change in the pricing structure. Also, I have considered canceling my account, but here is what concerns me. Emusic.com offers from what I know the only location to get multiple indie artists together.
Yes now it will be harder because of the major labels, but is pulling out the best way to service all? I have suggested to Beggars Group and Domino to push for an ‘indie only’ account and suggesting it here.
I love Merge and respect your decision. But I do have a question: What is eMusic doing that iTunes and Amazon are not? And if it is that bad for labels like Merge, how could they be so stupid?
I fully support and applaud your decision to depart eMusic at this time. I know their management wouldn’t blink a lash at me leaving, but your departure really brings the point home. Merge is home to all my favorite artists, and I am more than happy to buy direct. Thanks for all the great music!
Like Jeremy#13, I do question your decision: how is eMusic acting any different than any of the other online stores you still do business with? Just making vague claims that they are creating a “harmful” situation makes it difficult to evaluate what the real problem is.
Have the really made things so bad, or is this just a case of the hipster kids not liking hanging out at the party when the non-cool kids show up?
I canceled my subscription to Emu today, as well. I’ve had it on hold after hearing about the move away from the credit system and the associated loss of downloads/month. I canceled after hearing that a label that I don’t care about has prompted labels that I love to leave Emu. I’ve been with them since the all-you-can-download day. I’ll miss them, but cancelling was the right thing to do.
THIS SUCKS. I just went looking for my favorite Merge bands on e-music and was very surprised to find them missing. Good for Merge. Bad for e-music. Sucks for us all.
I believe this decision is bad for everyone. Personally, I will not download Merge artists from iTunes due to the price. What will happen is that I will end up discovering new artists from new labels on eMusic because they have a great search/browsing engine and are the only download site with reasonable pricing. I hope after Merge measures their dip in sales due to this decision that they will reconsider it.
Thank you guys for doing the right thing. I was starting to write a diatribe about E-music, but I realized that rarestock’s post pretty much sums up how I feel.
I agree with other comments that note the strangeness of Merge’s decision to drop eMusic, but still do business with iTunes and Amazon. How much bigger, corporate, global, or non-independent can companies be? Apple and Amazon fit the bill. I would like to know more detail about Merge’s decision, as I’m sure it wasn’t taken lightly. But for now, I am scratching my head. Amazon and iTunes both sell Merge’s music for more money than eMusic, they both sell the biggest labels in the land, and they both sell the most mainstream music known to man. So the reasoning can not be that Merge is “Standing up for independent music” as some people have noted. I am an eMusic subscriber and of course the recent price increase is not ideal for me, but it still is the cheaper than Amazon and iTunes if you want to continually buy music, as I do.
Thanks for having some integrity, which seems to be sorely lacking over at eMusic these days.
I too am disappointed by your decision to leave eMusic but on the other hand I’m not surprised. I have to say I am NOT canceling my eMusic account due to Merge leaving – there are plenty of artists whose work can only be purchased legally there and I’ll continue to support those musicians, singer-songwriters and bands who self-release their stuff, play in garages in hopes that someday they can get better. As for why Merge left, I think it’s self-evident and not the self-righteous “they’re not indie anymore” thing either. It’s simple; eMusic still pays out less to the labels than Amazon and iTunes do. That’s why the bigger labels never gravitated there until now, and why Merge, Domino and Beggars Banquet are leaving. A simple dollars and sense issue. It’s a shame that I won’t be able to buy your stuff on eMusic anymore but that’s the only place my music download cash is going, so I guess I’ll just have to suffer without you.
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