The music industry moves in mysterious ways. Convenience is the USP

September 21, 2009

I am member of eMusic, an online music store that operates by subscription. I my case I have 75 downloads each month. I really love this, since eMusic does not have all music “on stock” and I have to explore, taste, been recommended and listen to music which can be found in the digital recesses,  in order to  sample new music. Thanks to eMusic my musical horizons have broadened.

But sometimes I am not able to download a particular album, because of where I live. You would think the music industry is globally organised. Not so. Bummer. Bad!

Regional difficulties

But the next thing was new to me. I was able to download the album “Broken Social Scene”, by “Broken Social Scene” except one song, which was not available for download:

Download album but one

This is very strange. However I could download this one song by going to the single where it was available for download:

Single download

I am pretty sure this is not enforced by eMusic, but by the label(s).

I am one of the dinosaurs still paying for my music. But my main criteria is convenience. All those restrictions are hurting paying customers in my opinion. I was close to copying it from someone owning the CD. As a matter of fact I sometimes illegally download albums which are regionally restricted.
Please labels, enter the 21st century. We pretty much got rid of DRM, but regional issues still exist and are causing aggravation and only annoy the paying customers.

I will do my best, but convenience is the USP.  Remember that!