[3] Originally conceived as an online record retailer, Chasan envisioned the system providing "direct digital delivery of music to homes"[4] at low prices.

[8] In February 1998, Chasan partnered with Nordic Entertainment, owned by Kent Kiefer, to increase the catalogue available to eMusic customers.

[14] In November 2003, the service was purchased from VU Net USA by a New York–based private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc.[15] Following a contentious period during which information disseminated by the company was limited,[16] it was relaunched in 2004.

eMusic currently offers a number of Membership plans, including Basic, Plus, Premium and Fan in exchange for a monthly fee.

However, in 2011 eMusic took its first, limited step into streaming in an effort to help users discover unfamiliar tracks and artists more easily.

However, the changeover also included access to labels previously unavailable to non-European customers, notably London-based Domino Records and artists such as The White Stripes and Mogwai.

[27] Devin Leonard of CNN attributed eMusic's growth to its being the only online music store aside from iTunes that sold tracks that could be played on an iPod.

[29] eMusic shares the revenue with artists who have submitted music via digital distribution service providers such as CD Baby, TuneCore, Nimbit, State 51 and EmuBands.

[34] Due to the contentious nature of DRM encoding that was initially used by competing download services, eMusic won early praise for not including any in their own files, despite the fact that it cost them contracts with the major record labels.

[35] While the site currently sells music from the four major record labels, the company has stated that it will remain true to its independent roots and build new product features that are geared towards members who are independent-minded, not mainstream pop-culturists.

[38] However, and contrary to the information published on the web site,[39] files can sometimes be found in lower quality bit rates, including for recent releases.

eMusic highlights its offerings through a host of exclusive editorial content, along the lines of monthly "editor's picks", columns and guides.

The site's alternative (or "indie") rock selection has also been aided by the rise in widely distributed but privately owned labels such as Kill Rock Stars and Matador Records, who have a fair amount of big-name talent on their rolls (e.g. Cat Power, The Decemberists, Interpol and Sleater-Kinney, who have been among eMusic's top-sellers).

In 1999, eMusic made headlines by releasing Long Tall Weekend by They Might Be Giants, the first internet-only distributed album by a major artist.

"[42] In 2004, with the change from an unlimited download subscription model to a set-track subscription download model,[43][44] eMusic increased their catalogue content over the next few years, particularly in the Indian soundtrack and Indian classical genres and in the classical music genre and added such labels as Saregama, Naxos, BIS, Chandos, Harmonia Mundi and Telarc.

The label is one of eMusic's highest-profile additions thus far, with multi-platinum acts Moby and The White Stripes and critical favorites including Grandaddy.

[46][47] The eMusicLive Venue Network is 22 independent clubs in the US where live shows are recorded and offered to eMusic subscribers.

The New York Times reported that eMusic had confirmed that it would no longer carry recordings from Sony, Universal and Warner.

"[58] In July 2018, The Orchard, a distributor owned by Sony Music, removed its catalogue from the service, stating that eMusic had failed to make payments.

[60] The current management team for eMusic[61] consists of: Cductive was a pioneering online music store founded in 1996 by Tom Ryan, John Rigos, and Alan Manuel.