The company started operations in 1998, distributing music from independent labels. However, last year the company started adding Major label content: first from Sony Music Entertainment (SME) in June 2009, than from Warner Music in January 2010. The former deal included only catalogue titles (older than two years) but spanned all eMusic territories, while the latter deal was limited to the US. Despite the addition of 'mainstream' content, the company maintained 'indie'-focused editorial focus.

The addition of SME also coincided with a subscription price hike across all tiers; however, the company claimed that the 2009 pricing change was not a result of the SME deal, but rather the catalogue expansion in the aftermath of SME deal served as an excuse to introduce the price increase which its independent label partners have long asked for. By contrast, eMusic related that the 2010 pricing scheme revision is due to the unsustainability of its current business model. With the scheme the company has effectively ditched the simple book-club subscription model in lieu of a 'discount' MP3 store billed on a pre-paid basis.

Screen Digest understands that in its 'indie' days eMusic's agreements with the independent labels stipulated a pro-rata subscription revenue division. The new explicit pricing of tracks and albums suggests that the majors have either imposed the wholesale per-title pricing (a standard approach to licensing DTO stores) or have negotiated a bigger revenue share pay-out.