Promoting free music sampler increases music downloads by 28% at eMusic

To promote the annual Pitchfork music festival, which plays in Chicago this month, eMusic offered a free music sampler that produced a complementary boost in song downloads.

The music retailer began featuring on June 16 the free sampler of 24 tracks from a varied collection of the independent artists due to appear at Pitchfork, including rock, hip-hop, electronic music and jazz. By July 16, the Pitchfork sampler had become the most downloaded album of the year on eMusic.com, where paid downloads of songtracks for the sampler’s artists had increased by 28%, an eMusic spokeswoman says.

EMusic sells its downloads on a monthly subscription basis tied to the number of downloads per month, such as $10 for 40 downloads or $15 for 65. Unlike other digital music subscription services, eMusic lets subscribers keep downloaded music permanently. It also pays a commission on each download to the artist who produced the songtrack.

“Our Pitchfork Festival sampler is the perfect way to expose our subscribers to some of the most brilliant and under-exposed artists on the planet and in turn, introduce new eMusic visitors to our vast catalogue of incredible independent music,” said David Pakman, President and CEO of eMusic. “Most importantly, we’re helping the artists on the sampler increase their overall sales.”