eMusic Yanks Rolling Stones ABKCO Catalog

Just week's after trumpeting the addition of early Rolling Stone's catalog titles to its subsription service, eMusic is being forced to take the titles down. From the eMusic forums:

" Before posting the ABKCO catalogue on eMusic at the beginning of April, we pursued every level of due diligence possible. We triple and quadruple-checked with every possible party at both ABKCO and Universal Music Group, which distributes the label, and the word was unanimous: let's do this...ABKCO and UMG were both incredibly impressed by both the treatment and the sales: the catalogue (even stuff beyond the Stones) generated a huge number of downloads."

"But this was not enough. Due to events outside of our control, we are being forced to remove the entire ABKCO catalogue from eMusic effective tomorrow morning. (May3) We hope to get them back at some point, but for now, we have no choice"

"The shame here is that you, our customers, the exact sort of music fan that the music industry should celebrate and reward, suffers as a result of this classic industry snafu. While the industry concerns itself with arcane details, the music consumer -- a dying breed, mind you -- is restricted from legally acquiring music. It's a maddening situation that eMusic has been committed to repairing for the last ten years, and always will be: people don't mind paying for music so long as it's affordable and they aren't handicapped by DRM restrictions and the like when they pull out their wallets."

"We are of course sorry to see the catalogue go, and we are disappointed that so many customers didn't have the opportunity to own more of it. Still, there are numerous new additions to the site on the horizon, some already big and others poised for amazing things. We're excited to together see what comes next."
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Comments

[jim]

emusic is the worst company who takes advantage of artists. emusic pays almost nothing but yet claims to champion indie music. they are run by bankers looking to cash in on user base.

[Jay]

I agree with Jim. I find it extremely humorous how this company continues to send out press releases bashing the industry it needs. Thats what we call "business suicide". Don't bite the hand that feeds.

This company continues to refuse to work hand and hand with the product it tries to sell, doesn't pay out fair amounts for its product and rejects anyones requests to better the business.

They embarrass themselves with every press release they send out.

[Captain Wrong]

So, do you guys work for Epitaph or Drag City? Just curious.

Seriously though, I'd like to hear more about it, if what you're saying is true. I mean, I've read stuff from the aforementioned labels who pulled out, but from what I've seen, the eMusic deal isn't that much worse than the typical iTunes deal, at least for the artist. How is eMusic's deal any worse than the Nokia Comes With Music deal? I'm asking in all sincerity as a subscriber, not a fanboy or anything else and I'm asking because I know people who are selling their independently released albums through eMusic and other retailers and I haven't heard any complaints about eMusic yet.

[yanker]

emusic has such a bad rep re: over billing their clients. Be vigiliant and guard your card when signing up. I can see why the Stones passed.