eMusic, the popular online music service, has launched a Canadian subscription service that offers over 3.5 million songs without DRM.
eMusic Launches Canadian Site
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eMusic.ca annoyance
This is actually more annoying than anything. I’ve been an eMusic member since 2003 and have never come across a song or album I couldn’t download because I live in Canada. Now that there’s a Canadian version, my monthly fee will be larger and the number of downloads smaller. I blogged about this a whie back ([ link ]), pointing out I’ll actually be paying 28 per cent more per track as a member of eMusic.ca. It’s a great service and I’l keep using it, but I’m not that pleased at the moment.
Yay, I get to pay more
Now, for the added service of having “Canada” written under the eMusic logo when I go to eMusic.com, I get to pay 20% more. Great DRM-free service, it’s a shame they decided to gouge Canadian customers.
MP3 levy to blame
eMusic is saying that the additional charges were \”due to tariffs required by Canadian law\” — presumably this is the MP3 levy approved last fall. The levy is 3 cents a song or 1.5 cents per song when you buy full albums, but eMusic doesn\’t set a separate album price, so even though I only buy full albums, I\’m going to be billed enough to cover the full $3 a month for the 100 tracks I download. I wonder if eMusic will pass along the entire $3 to SOCAN or keep half of it.
What the Hell?
Proffesor Mike. Can you explain how it\’s legal for them to steal music customer\’s money like this?!? Taxing Legal Music Download services with a levy?!? With tapes it was to compensate for the fact they might be used to \”copy\” music…but digital music downloads are not media!! If you\’re paying for music how can you \”copy\” music you haven\’t paid for into digital music you have paid for? That makes no sense…!