eMusic Subscribers

Picking Albums

Over Singles…

The last decade has been tough on the album, and the CD tailspin is alive-and-well in 2009.  Consumers have chosen cherry-picking, though an older, music-focused crowd at eMusic is showing a different preference.  According to information shared this morning with Digital Music News, nearly 3 out of 4 dollars earned by eMusic over the past year have come from albums, not one-off singles.  Specifically, eMusic noted that 72 percent of sales were from complete albums.

Actually, the company bumped that average over the summer with cut-rate album pricing.  Since July, 2009, albums accounted for 75 percent of sales.  Since 2006, albums accounted for 69 percent of total sales.
Of course, that runs counter to most trends - the physical album is tanking, and digital albums are a smaller percentage of overall download sales.  But eMusic data is best treated in context - instead of a-la-carte purchases, eMusic offers music within monthly subscription packages.  And, the eMusic crowd has traditionally been older and more music-obsessed than the mainstream.

That is why eMusic has been putting so much focus on curating content.  “Although the majority of our customers are over the age of 25, we encourage them to buy more music with subscription and album pricing and offer more musical context than any other service,” said Danny Stein, eMusic President and CEO.

Source: Digital Music