emusic keeps on growing: world’s largest indie catalogue now at 3.5 million tracks

USA (SANEPR.com) May 12, 2008 -- eMusic, the world’s largest retailer of independent music and the world’s second largest music service after iTunes, announces that its worldwide catalogue has surpassed 3.5 million tracks with the addition of 43 new record labels and aggregators. The eMusic roster now includes important German electronic label Kompakt (Michael Mayer, Superpitcher), influential indie rock outfit Constellation Records (Do Make Say Think, Silver Mt Zion), and popular indie pop/rock/electronic imprint IAMSOUND Records (Cut Off Your Hands), among others.

The retailer will also host a South by Southwest (SXSW) Showcase on Wednesday, March 12 at 8:00 p.m. at Maggie Mae’s in Austin. The event will be recorded live for future release on eMusic and features a curated, international lineup of up-and-coming artists. Led by Bon Iver, an immensely talented and lauded singer-songwriter from Wisconsin, the showcase also features Frightened Rabbit (beloved young band from Scotland), Brooklyn high-school band the Hysterics (an MTV Breakout Star), Delorean (a dance-rock group from Barcelona), Day for Night (an unsigned NYC dream-rock band featured on NPR) and Peel (heralded Austin psych-rockers).

A free sampler featuring eMusic showcase artists plus an indispensable guide to what’s “buzzed about” and “will soon be buzzed about” at SXSW -- compiled by eMusic’s expert editorial staff of more than 200 writers -- is available at: http://www.emusic.com/features/hub/sxsw08/index.html.

Also at SXSW, eMusic President and CEO David Pakman will speak on the “Selling Music as a Service” panel at the Austin Convention Center on Thursday, March 13 at 4:15 p.m.

“South by Southwest is the perfect chance for eMusic to shine a spotlight on some of the music we’re most passionate about,” said Pakman. “From indie rock to jazz to classical, more and more independent labels rely on eMusic to help customers discover and buy their music. Having sold more than 177 million MP3 downloads in the last four years, we’ve long been a leader in selling music in a DRM-free format at prices that customers want.”

The lineup for the eMusic SXSW showcase is as follows:

8:00 p.m. - Day For Night
9:00 p.m. - The Hysterics
10:00 p.m. – Delorean
11:00 p.m. - Peel
12:00 a.m. – Frightened Rabbit
1:00 a.m. – Bon Iver

Labels recently signed to eMusic include:

Abeille Musique
Amalgam Entertainment
Amanda Music
AMP Digital Media
Chandos
Cloud 9 Dance
Constellation Records
Delicious Vinyl
Deetown Entertainment
Divucsa Music S.A.
EDINET Publishing Group
Eternal Yip Eye Records
Five Foot Two Records
Heads Up Records
Hudson Entertainment
IAMSOUND Records
Idol Distribution
Kompakt Distribution
Last Gang Records
Lions Gate Music & Publishing
Music Masters
Naïve
No Quarter Records
Oglio Records
Palo Duro Records
Rebel Rebel Management
Remote Control Records
Rooftop Media
Routenote
Ships at Night Records
Skaggs Family Records
Songcast
Soulspazm
Symphonic Distribution
Tallboy 7
Telarc
Twin Sisters Productions
United for Opportunity
UpTown Jazz
Verge Records
Warcon Entertainment
Watunes.com
Zojack World Wide

About eMusic
eMusic (www.emusic.com) is a specialty digital entertainment retailer that has been at the forefront of offering MP3 downloads and customer-friendly prices since its inception in 1998. The company is focused on serving customers aged 25 and older by offering independent music and audio books in a universally compatible format at a great value. It is the world’s largest retailer of independent music and the world’s second-largest digital music service after iTunes, with more than 3.5 million tracks from 27,000 of the world’s leading independent labels and thousands of titles from top audio book publishers. To super-serve its more than 400,000 customers, eMusic provides award-winning editorial content, a vibrant online community and unrivaled music discovery tools. eMusic’s subscription-based service offers free music downloads or one free audio book at sign-up, giving consumers an inexpensive, low-risk way to explore great new music and books they wouldn’t find otherwise. Based in New York with an office in London, eMusic is available in the U.S. and all 27 E.U. nations. eMusic.com Inc. is wholly owned by Dimensional Associates, Inc., the private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc.

About Author

Here the author Cathy Halgis Nevins writes about emusic growing as world’s largest indie catalogue at 3.5 million tracks. For free mp3 downloads, music downloads, online music, audio books, please visit www.emusic.com.