Digital music subscription club eMusic is launching a new pricing plan. It charges more for new music but adds tunes from major labels in an effort to broaden its appeal.
In the past, the site focused on indie labels and offered discounts on tracks for members committed to spending at least $6.49 a month.
Previously, song credits priced tracks at about 50 cents each. Now, members will pay 49 cents for most older tracks, but 69 to 89 cents for new tracks from the major labels.
The move allows the site to add newer songs from companies such as Sony Music and Warner Music Group Corp. and catalog tunes released more than a year ago from Universal Music Group.
Emusic had a nice niche when they charged 25 cents for mp3s chosen from a limited but indie-heavy library. Since the day I joined, they have slowly ratcheted up the prices as they add more majors to the mix. The user interface has always been second rate. Eventually I dumped emusic and haven’t missed them since. Sorry emusic.