eMusic Trying To Censor Critics Of New Pricing Plan? [Updated... And Again]
from the not-smart dept
We just wrote about the PR nightmare facing eMusic for announcing both a price increase and its first major record label signing at the same time -- leading many to assume that the price increase was due to the Sony Music deal. Some in our comments pointed out that eMusic subscribers were protesting in a variety of places -- including on Twitter, where they were using the hashtag (used to designate a unique cause or event): #emusicfail. And, as usually happens in such situations, many of the hundreds of commenters on eMusic's own blog post on the deal mentioned the Twitter hashtag, and encouraged others to start using it as well, while making their protests public. So, how did eMusic address these angry customers?It apparently made them disappear. [see update below]
A commenter on our post, pointed us to a comment on the eMusic blog noting that all of the comments that mentioned the Twitter tag had been deleted by eMusic -- not only wiping out signs of the protest, but also screwing up the numbers of comments, which made the conversation confusing, since people are referring to other comments with the wrong number now.
So, rather than address the fact that there are a ton of angry protesters, eMusic simply decided to pretend they don't exist? It's hard to see that ending well.
Update: eMusic got in touch to say that they have not blocked or deleted any comments, and suggest that it may have been an issue with CAPTCHA problems not allowing comments to post rather than any actual intent to block conversation on the subject. The company also notes that it has responded to the complaints, though I'm not sure it really addresses the specific complaints from subscribers.
Update 2: There is growing evidence that the original post was correct, and eMusic's response was false, though we're still trying to clarify. Someone has detailed examples of comments moving up (which would happen if other comments above it were deleted) and also, perhaps the most damning of all is that, as of the time of this update, there's a 13 count discrepancy between the number of comments listed under the post, and the actual number of comments. It certainly sounds like 13 comments were deleted, though eMusic insists that it has not removed any comments.
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Filed Under: censorship, debate, emusicfail
Companies: emusic
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In 3...2...
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Re: In 3...2...
That might not be an option for them though if they've already signed a contract in blood with the Devil..er, I mean Sony, and don't have the option of rewinding. In that case I'd say that they've just screwed themselves.
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Do you hear the thunder on the wind?
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Solution is simple
We have marked our calendar to cancel right after we download the latest batch of music.
A 50% plunge in revenue would send a strong message to eMusic management.
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Re: Solution is simple
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Re: Re: Solution is simple
Right...and everyone in this recession love paying more but getting less. I've gotten the psychology of the American public wrong all this time.
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Re: Solution is simple
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A 50% plunge in revenue? You are dreaming. Yes, this is a bad PR move on their part. Yes, they could handle it better. But 50% drop in revenue? I doubt Amazon had a 0.5% revenue hit from their flub a month or two a ago, and I doubt emusic will see a anything more than a single digit drop. Even if there is a significant drop in subscribers, how much of that will be offset by the higher subscription costs? I'm guessing most if not all of it.
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Oh thank God...
Not that it wouldn't have been good for a laugh... but it's nice to know that they're merely stupid rather than insane.
One day, though, you know a lawyer is gonna try this.
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Oh yeah, We treated them like shit!
doh
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RIP: Web 2.0
DUE TO OVERUSE AND A QUESTIONABLE REASON FOR EXISTENCE IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE TERM "WEB 2.0" HAS BEEN CANCELED.
REPEAT: THE TERM "WEB 2.0" HAS BEEN CANCELED.
LONG LIVE WEB 3.0
***WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL***
***WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL***
***WE HAVE ASSUMED CONTROL***
CBMHB
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Emusic is making a mistake and followed it up with another mistake. Angering your base is a sure way to lose consistant revenue as most people are fickle. I can promise that the 30% who are serious indie music fans will be a huge loss when they go somewhere else. Another site will just spring up in their place...oh wait...jamendo.com
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If you do, and you continue to purchase music [somewhere else], you only end up punishing yourself as well in the process though, seeing as how eMusic's prices are still substantially lower than the competition.
Nope. I'm not happy. Not rationalizing. Just being realistic.
Quite frankly, I could give them a pass IF THIS INVOLVED ANY OTHER LABEL THAN SONY!
For cryin out loud, eMusic, why did you have to go and pick the most anti-consumer media company to get in bed with??? First anyway...
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CathyHN (Cathy Nevins) of emusic is LYING
Regarding renumbering of posts, she is also full of **it. Yesterday, “Corporate Cop” posted comment #811 (note the number) identifying that the twitter tag censorship. It is now #813. This suggests at least two posts have been *ADDED* above the original post 811 (now 813). At any rate, POSTS ARE BEING RENUMBERED, and this has definitely happened in the last 18 or so hours.
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"Thank you. Your comment will be displayed as soon as it is approved by a moderator."
Is what you get when you submit a post. This just started today, because I posted one short comment yesterday and it posted immediately without the moderation message.
Also, it was documented pretty convincingly on the same thread of comments ( http://17dots.com/2009/05/31/more-of-the-good-stuff/ ) how posts have been removed and renumbered, because posts in which people refered to other posts by number are now OFFSET due to the removal of posts, and other people have noticed that their posts are no longer the same numbers too.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_CD_copy_protection_scandal
It self-installed when you inserted a Sony BMG audio CD, just a regular music CD you'd buy at a record store, modified OS files and behavior to cover its tracks, was uninstallable (one of the legal violations in some jurisdictions), and worst of all, LEFT GIGANTIC SECURITY VULNERABILITIES ON YOUR COMPUTER. It was significant enough that the US Department of Homeland Security issued a directive about it (quote from wikipedia, reference URL below the quote):
"On November 16, 2005, US-CERT, part of the United States Department of Homeland Security, issued an advisory"
That directive is still in effect, and available here:
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/archive/2005/11/17/archive.html#xcpdrm
To me, the words that this sort of intentional malicious criminal behavior conjures up are "cyber terrorism." If not in intent, certainly in tactic.
And these are the people that emusic is forcibly raping their customer base on behalf of.
emusic should BACK THE HELL OUT OF THIS DEAL!
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eMusic still censoring, scared of WIKIPEDIA !
Here is comment #1164 on the 17dots epic-long subscriber outrage page:
http://17dots.com/2009/05/31/more-of-the-good-stuff/#comment-96054
Reproduced here:
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1164 EmuDoesNot WantYouToKnow on Jun 8th, 2009 said:
Dubdance is right in comment number 1163. The Sony BMG CD 2005 affair was in every sense of the word a damn V - I - RR - UU - SS. But guess what? eMusic doesn’t want you to know about it. I guess it frightens them. Just like the tag they tried to keep out of this discussion before getting busted deleting comments.
TRY POSTING THE WIKIPEDIA URL FOR THE 2005 SONY BMG CD FIASCO HERE. Just search for it on WikiP - when you get a page that talks about things silently installing on machines from CDs and legal actions and re calls in 2005, you’re there. Then try posting that URL here. Boom. After passing captcha, your message gets sent for approval instead of posting. Then it NEVER APPEARS. Really.
Go ahead, try it and then post your experience here. Until they remove the URL from their mod er a tion filter, it won’t appear (or maybe this will embarrass them and they’ll do it pre-emptively, which would be fine because it would defeat their attempt to keep it out).
This is pre-meditated. They knew that most people had forgotten about what their new partner had done in 2005 even though it made national news broadcasts in many contries, how indescribably anti-music-fan their actions were, and they definitely did not want it to be brought up here.
It is also interesting that the wik article was edited on 30 May of this year. Very interesting.
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Sayonara emusic
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emusic censorship of message boards
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Deleted Comments
Anyway, my post disappeared. I don't think it was deleted intentionally. However, on other issues, eMusic has been less than truthful and it is possible that they are not being truthful here.
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Deleted Comments
Anyway, my post disappeared. I don't think it was deleted intentionally. However, on other issues, eMusic has been less than truthful and it is possible that they are not being truthful here.
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