Chart Your Own Course ...

Chart Your Own Course ...

eMusic Unveils the Most Powerful Search Filter Ever-'PowerCharts'

eMusic PowerCharts' First-ever Interactive Functionality Allows Subscribers to Determine Who's 'Top of the Charts'

Want to download 'Most popular 50's Latin Jazz tracks from New York artists rated three stars or more by eMusic members?' Or, want to know which LA-based Hip-Hop artists are most acclaimed by critics? Now, you can.

NEW YORK, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- eMusic (http://www.emusic.com/), the world's No. 2 digital download service-selling more than two million tracks monthly-today unveiled eMusic PowerCharts, the most advanced filtering/charting capability ever created for a digital music service.

Quite simply, PowerCharts enables the user to determine who's "top of the charts." For the first time, the user creates their own charts based solely on their own preferences from more than 100 attributes. A virtually infinite number of possibilities exist based on criteria including: top albums; artists; labels; composers; genres; styles within genres; decades within which the music was released; geographic areas from which the bands hail; ratings by eMusic editors; ratings by eMusic members; and whether the music was recorded live or not. Thus, a Ska fan can specify only Editor Picks from the 1990s. Or an alt-country aficionado can search only live Bloodshot Records recordings out of Chicago. PowerCharts' interactive technology allows the user to be as broad or specific as they please as they "chart their own course." In addition, once a user has created a chart, he or she can return again and again to the chart, as it updates daily.

"What is the point of a digital music service if it can't help you discover any good music? Historically, charts have been a powerful discovery tool but they are so inflexible ... handed down to you by radio stations and mass media, in categories that only they determine. We decided to change that," said David Pakman, COO of eMusic and a managing director of Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital that owns eMusic, The Orchard and Dimensional Music Publishing. "Now eMusic PowerCharts put the power of chart creation in the hands of the user. This is second of many product innovations that we will debut this summer-last week, we launched the 'eMusic Dozens' where dozens of the best music writers, including the likes of Kevin Whitehead and former Rolling Stone editor Fred Goodman, offer up their 12 most essential albums across some 60 genres. eMusic continues to out-innovate other music stores, which offer their users basic 1999-era functionality. Instead, eMusic will continue to invent unprecedented ways to discover music as we solidify our position as the Number 2 digital download service and the clear independent music leader."

In addition to technology that leads the digital music industry, eMusic is unique among download services in offering a world-class team of music curators who pen authoritative, impassioned album picks, regular columns and feature stories. Its celebrated roster of curators includes such luminaries as: Editor-in-chief Michael Azerrad, an acclaimed author and editor; Pulitzer Prize-winning Justin Davidson (Classical); and No Depression co-editor Peter Blackstock. eMusic also features more than 100 new album reviews a month, written by a vast team of prestigious critics, including renowned blues journalist Robert Gordon, post-punk and electronic guru Simon Reynolds, jazz scholar James Lincoln Collier, MTV News anchor Kurt Loder and Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore, American Splendor Comics author Harvey Pekar and author, producer and musician Lenny Kaye.

Compiled by a "who's who" of influential musicians, rock critics and authors, the recently launched eMusic Dozens represent their personal picks of the 12 most significant albums in each of more than 60 sub-genres-from Roots of Nirvana to Old School Punk to Modern Gospel and Eastern European Classical.

Highlights of eMusic Dozens include:

* Crooners by pioneering rock critic and legendary musician Lenny Kaye.
* Avant Jazz Albums and Jazz Guitar Albums introduced by famed jazz
critic Bill Milkowski.
* Jeff Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stop Dozen reflecting the name of his
best-selling book on the Hip Hop Generation.
* Extreme Metal by Jeff Darnielle, leader of the critically acclaimed
band Mountain Goats.
* NPR's Chris Nickson with a variety of Dozens on world music including:
Balkans, US World Music, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East &
North Africa, Bollywood, English folk and Irish Folk.
* Jambands by Dean Budnick, author of Jambands: the Complete Guide to
the Players, Music and Scene.

About eMusic

eMusic (http://www.emusic.com/) stands alone as the only digital music service that is 100% focused on serving the needs of independent music fans and independent labels. Delivering more than 2 million downloads each month, eMusic is among the top digital music services, offering a diverse catalog of 700,000 tracks from established and emerging artists in every genre from the world's top independent labels. eMusic was not only the first service to sell songs and albums in the popular MP3 format, it was the first company to launch a digital music subscription service. Unlike other services that severely restrict portability, eMusic allows members complete flexibility to burn CDs, transfer to MP3 devices and make multiple copies for personal use. eMusic also offers access to exclusive recordings from eMusicLive's network of premier music venues across the country. eMusic subscription plans start at $9.99 per month for 40 downloads. A free trial is available to all new users. Based in New York and San Diego, eMusic 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.

Source: eMusic

CONTACT: Andy Morris of Andy Morris & Company, for eMusic,
+1-212-561-7465, andy@amc-pr.com

Web site: http://www.emusic.com/

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