Dear Emusic Folks,
It is with great reluctance that I am writing to cancel my subscription. I've been a very happy Emusic customer and have enthusiastically recommended your service to everybody I know for the past couple of years... but that time has ended. I had recently paid for a year of service, but I would like to end my agreement and be refunded the unused portion of my subscription.
Here are the reasons I am cancelling:
1) The new download plans are not attractive or flexible. 40 songs for $10 or 65 songs for $15, and no other options (save some rumor of a $50/month plan, which is not realistic for most people's budgets.) You can tout the "per-track cost" all you want, but I doubt that people download mainly individual songs from EMusic -- and what good is 2 1/2 albums a month? The hit single has never been your company's strength, anyway.
2) The downloading functionality has pretty much stopped working. I keep having to hit Resume over and over, and sometimes I download empty sound files. Yes, I'm sure that's because people are downloading tons of stuff before they leave, but why didn't you anticipate that before making your announcement? I understand that you're also running ads to entice new customers to the service. Given how poorly things are running at the moment, it seems unwise to give a bad first impression like this. Why don't you fix your technical problems first before you try to grow the service?
3) The new attitude towards your customers is contemptible. EMusic had never done as much with the service as they could have, but the discussion boards and music lists were a good start. Finally, the passionate music fans could communicate with each other, and believe me, they were telling other people about this great thing too. Taking down the discussion boards was a good way to avoid hearing the inevitable complaints from your customers, but it also sent a clear message that you didn't care what your paying customers thought. Since that letter, there have been NO communications from Emusic -- although I do see press releases in the news about your new plans. You'd think you'd be trying to convince people to stick with you and telling them about your new features, but no. It's also nearly impossible to find any contact information about your company. I fail to see how alienating yourselves from your paying customers will benefit your bottom line... you have effectively gotten rid of a key component of your marketing and your word-of-mouth is not going to be good.
In short, you're asking customers to pay the same amount or more, in exchange for reduced value, nonexistent customer service, glitchy software, and a lot of frustration. You're taking a terrific service and running it into the ground. I'd rather not watch the carnage.
If you ever resolve these problems, believe me, I will certainly consider signing up again. The music selection has been terrific, and it's a pity that it's being managed so badly. For now, I will be taking my business to iTunes.
Sincerely,
