eMusic's business model - offering up unprotected MP3's at a monthly rate - may have some labels a bit skittish when it comes to collecting their royalties. One indie label, Victory Records, have already pulled their tracks, and at least six more, including Indie Ultra, are set to. The main sticking point is money, of course - eMusic is reported to payout 12 to 26 cents per track, as opposed to the 60 - 65 cents paid by other services like iTunes. eMusic has been a pioneer in offering tracks without DRM, and it will be interesting to see how they hold up now that Apple is starting to nose around the territory.
Coincidentally, an executive charged with bringing new labels on board has just left the company. Not a great week for the upstart music company - Hypebot has a series of articles for those fascinated with the survival chances of eMusic.