eMusic Adds More Editorial Features

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2007 -- eMusic Magazine is expanding its award-winning editorial content. Building on what’s already one of its most beloved and widely used features, this month the world’s largest retailer of independent music adds a host of new regular features. Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Michael Azerrad and a stable of nearly 200 acclaimed writers (ranging from Kurt Loder to Harvey Pekar), it’s the place to find the most thoughtful music criticism as well as interviews with essential artists in nearly every genre – and another reason why eMusic is the best way for fans to discover new music.

“eMusic Magazine is a hit. Our subscribers are very adventurous music fans and they're always telling us how they found a new favorite artist by checking out one of our columns or reviews, or by exploring an eMusic Dozen,” says Azerrad, also the author of Our Band Could Be Your Life and Come As You Are: the Story of Nirvana, and a former contributing editor for Rolling Stone. “We decided it was time to make a good thing even better.” Now eMusic Magazine has added features like "Between the Notes," "A User's Guide," "From the Vaults," and "Under the Radar," as well as Q&A's with leading musicians and producers, all written by some of the leading music critics in the US and the UK.

Since there's been exciting new independent music to discover, fans have been creating new ways to find out about it. In the late '60s it was a black-and-white broadsheet called Rolling Stone, and in the '80s maybe the upstart magazine named Spin. As music moved into the online era, outlets like Pitchfork or Allmusic stepped into the ring, mixing magazine-style editorial content with the medium's advantages of intricate linking and encyclopedic content.

But possibly the most innovative new music magazine resides at the digital music service eMusic, the world's largest independent music store. Shattering the longstanding barrier between reading about music you'd like to listen to and owning your very own copy, eMusic Magazine is the 21st-century way for fans to discover their new favorite music.

eMusic editorial contributors include some of the greatest names in pop criticism: legends like Dave Marsh, Robert Christgau, Ira Robbins, Charles Shaar Murray, Gary Giddins, Lenny Kaye, Ben Fong-Torres, Robert Hilburn and Ed Ward, as well as Simon Reynolds, Ann Powers, Barney Hoskyns, Karen Schoemer, Alan Light and Pulitzer Prize-winning classical critic Justin Davidson, among many others. Musicians such as Isaac Hayes, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants), John Darnielle (Mountain Goats), and Britt Daniel (Spoon) as well as comedian David Cross have all authored outstanding pieces.

The editorial content is matched by the site's powerful recommendation and community features such as Playlists, Neighbors, Friends, Power Charts, and detailed lists of similar artists, roots and influences, formal connections, and followers.

Accessible to subscribers and non-subscribers alike, the eMusic Magazine is athttp://www.emusic.com/magazine/cover.html , with subscribers able to download any full track they see immediately as DRM-free MP3s. Including Q&A's with notable artists, thoughtful think-pieces by acclaimed writers, and spelunking-expedition-inducing themed editorial picks, not to mention thousands of album reviews, eMusic is the indie music listener’s tipsheet of the future.

Here are some of the new editorial features plus recent and upcoming highlights to look out for:

Q&A: Question-and-answer interview features with popular eMusic artists, in conjunction with newly released albums.

* Q&A with LA pop legend Lee Hazlewood by former Newsweek pop critic Karen Schoemer:
http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/277_200701lee.html

* Q&A with highly touted Bay Area band Deerhoof by Paste contributing editor Jay Sweet: 
http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/277_200701deerhoof.html

* Q&A with new age giant and former Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze, by eMusic New Age columnist Robert Phoenix. (TBD)

Q&A with country music legend Charlie Louvin by No Depression magazine co-founder and editor Peter Blackstock:
http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/293_200702-qa-charlie-louvin.html

UNDER THE RADAR: Interview profiles of hot new "buzz" bands to look out for.

* Feature on Tokyo Police Club by acclaimed UK biographer and journalist Ian Gittins. (March 7)

* Feature on Field Music by NME correspondent Tim Chester. (March 7)

USER'S GUIDE: Highlighting artists with significant amounts of catalogue, these biographically oriented guides showcase an artist's oeuvre and pick career highlights.

* A User's Guide to the English underground pop band Felt by noted UK journalist David Cavanagh:
http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/293_200701-usersguide-felt.html 

* A User's Guide to Nikki Sudden by legendary UK music journalist Pa ul Morley. (February 21)

BETWEEN THE NOTES: Retrospective oriented interview features with musicians about albums with a fascinating back-story

* eMusic production editor Todd Burns (also editor-in-chief of Stylus) writes about Icelandic musician Johann Johannson:
http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/293_200701-btn-johann.html

FROM THE VAULTS: Essays about a "slept-on" records, overlooked albums that the writer feels passionate about and feels should be reconsidered.

* MTV anchor and Rolling Stone contributing editor Kurt Loder on the Tiger Lillies 
http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/293_200701-vault-tigerlillies.html 

* eMusic Spiritual columnist Mike McGonigal discusses the '20s/'30s folk-blues compilation The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of. (February 18th)

KEEPING TRACK: An in-depth essay about one song, either one version of it or the various interpretations of it from a musicological, historical, or even personal angle:

* Stay tuned for the first Keeping Track feature.

About eMusic 
eMusic (http://www.emusic.com) is the world's leading digital retailer of independent music, second only to iTunes in number of downloads sold. The eMusic Web site offers a global catalogue of more than 2 million tracks from established and emerging artists in every genre from the world's leading independent labels. Created by music experts for music fans, it features award-winning editorial content, a vibrant online community and unrivaled music discovery tools. A subscription-based service that offers 25 free downloads at sign-up, eMusic gives consumers an inexpensive, low-risk way to explore great new music they wouldn't find otherwise, and unlike other download services, its universally compatible MP3 files play on any device including the iPod®. Based in New York with an office in London, eMusic.com Inc. is wholly owned by Dimensional Associates, Inc., the private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc. 

NOTE: eMusic is a registered trademark and eMusic.com is a trademark of eMusic.com Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts: 
Cathy Halgas Nevins 
eMusic 
212-201-9201 or cnevins@emusic.com 

Denise Yantin 
eMusic 
212-300-2885 or dyantin@emusic.com