What Is eMusic Selects?
Over the past few years, eMusic has arguably become the most important retailer for independent music in the world. We sell more indie records than just about anyone, and we have a solid track record of breaking new artists: think Yeasayer and Burial, to cite two recent examples. We delight in the prospect of not just promoting our favorite artists, but in getting them paid for their music. To sloganeer it a bit, we have the opportunity to turn their art into rent. In November of last year we came up with a new way to help expose artists who need it the most: eMusic Selects. The impetus behind the idea was a single show by one of our inaugural artists — High Places — that I saw in Brooklyn. They were ridiculous, playing amazingly vital and dynamic music that was so obviously poised to take over the world (or a small section thereof) that it was impossible to ignore. Blown away, I couldn’t help but to wonder: what could eMusic do to help them? And from there came Selects. Here’s how it
