It's bad enough that customers of the indie music MP3 site eMusic saw prices go up, but it's even worse that the company seems to be censoring the opposition.
The price increases came at a particularly bad time: On the same day that eMusic announced a deal with Sony. "Plus" subscriptions will cost 90 cents more per month and offer 35 tracks instead of 50. "Premium" plans will cost 80 cents more and include 50 tracks per month instead of 75. Basic subscriptions will cost the same, but with 24 tracks per month instead of 30.
The Web site has raised prices before, but fans who signed up specifically to get independent music viewed this as a tax for a product they don't want. The anger is palpable at 17Dots, an eMusic staff blog.
More importantly, Techdirt reports that the blog erased several comments that encourage contributions to the #emusicfail Twitter trending topic. Twitterers who write #emusicfail in their tweets would theoretically bring more negative publicity to the site by bringing the issue to other people's attention.
It's important to note that 17Dots is an eMusic staff blog and not an official company endeavor. Still, Techdirt's got a point that this whole thing is being poorly managed. It started with the perception -- not necessarily true -- that Sony's entrance directly affected the price hikes. But trying to keep angry customers quiet is only going to make things worse. This is the Internet, after all.
