Emusic taking off

[nfotiu]

My (by far) favorite legal downloading site is getting some good press and making a pretty good dent into Itunes market share. Capturing 11% of the market selling only Indie music is pretty impressive. I guess it goes to show the growing power and popularity of the indie labels. More and more of the indie-type bands are staying indie even after they "make it" these days. Hopefully in a few years time the (evil) major labels will lose their grip on the music industry and non-drm (and non-gouging) sites like this will be the norm.

The ironic thing is (and the real reason for the downfall of the major label), I bet indie artists see more $/song selling their music for ~25 cents/song on Emusic than major label artists see selling for $1/song on Itunes or music stores. Win/win for the artists and consumers. Lose/lose for the record labels.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/product...tm?POE=TECISVA

[Igottago]

Yeah, the majors are damaging themselves by forgetting to nurture and support real artists, and instead pushing out generic cash grabs instead. Eventually the real talent out there will learn to adapt without having to use the machinery of the majors. Nice to see it happening. People are starting to get sick of the state of the music industry. It will have to change.

[Five-hole]

I share your hope, Igottago.

I'm of the opinion that empty commercialism -- exemplified by ****ty, generic, factory bands -- will eventually realize its gaping black hole of worth and collapse on itself. I'm not sure when, but hopefully sooner than later.

For it to happen, though, it is incumbent to create easy access to "real" art for a reasonable price. I hadn't heard of this Emusic before now, but it seems like a good start.

I don't want to digress too much, but culture went to hell when corporate America realized it could crap out cliches and make millions of dollars. People are still eating up the television products of that mindset, but the music and movies are starting to wane.