Filed under: iTS
Sell on iTunes with TuneCore
Have you ever considered selling your own music on iTunes? A service called TuneCore makes that possible. You pay a small charge to deliver your album to iTunes plus a yearly fee. If people start buying your tunes, you earn $0.70 per track.
So let's say you create an album with 8 tracks. You pay $0.99 per track upload plus another $0.99 for the album listing, and $9.98 for the first year album fee. That works out to--scratches head--8 x $0.99 + 1 x $0.99 + $9.98 = $18.89 to upload and store that 8-track album. After the first year, you continue to pay $9.98 per year per album. That album would start earning money for you after the first 26-or-so sales, if I did the math right which is always questionable.
So what does selling through iTunes get you? First of all, nearly anyone who doesn't use Linux can use iTunes to buy your tracks, so your product is pretty accessible. Second, I'm guessing that TuneCore takes care of a lot of the accounting issues, so you just upload and you're done until you start earning money--if you start earning money.
Obviously, you'd have to take care of your own marketing, but this would make a great way to distribute material for non-profits like schools for audio-only material. This of course, assumes, that TuneCore ends up being reliable and trustworthy. TuneCore offers a complete FAQ of their service here.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Everyday Weekender said 5:29PM on 4-05-2007
wow.. that's pretty sweet..
i think this opens up a ton of opportunities.
Everyday Weekender
Reply
Jennings said 5:31PM on 4-05-2007
I have been using the service for about a year and a half now - it's really awesome and totally inline with the Long Tail. ... The idea that I can get my music out to people all over the world has really opened doors for myself and many others like me. We have been selling music in Europe, and the US.
Reply
Donald Burr said 5:39PM on 4-05-2007
Now, what I'd like to know is if TuneCore can give you the option of using DRM or not... now that EMI is selling DRM-free tunes, and that iTunes now has the capability of selecting whether a song will be sold with or without it. I know several musicians who would love to get their work onto iTunes, but for philosophical reasons are opposed to DRM and don't want the tracks they sell to be so-encumbered.
Reply
Jennings said 6:02PM on 4-05-2007
Donald,
As of now - the way the service is handled is that TuneCore is a distributor and that depending on the service it is providing, they will encode the music with the DRM. So, when I send the music to iTunes via TuneCore, it's DRM-free. I bet in the future I will have the option of telling the service not to encode my tunes.
Right now, I believe snocap is doing DRM-free on myspace, but someone please, tell me if I'm wrong. Hope that helped.
Reply
john said 6:05PM on 4-05-2007
tunecore also lets you post to other online outlets such as emusic...
Reply
running said 6:16PM on 4-05-2007
Why should I use TuneCore, when I can contact Apple directly?
Reply
Jennings said 6:28PM on 4-05-2007
Running,
You can try to contact iTunes directly, but unless you are SubPop, or RCA, or Kill Rock Stars and have an established catalogue, they won't carry your music because they say you are too small. That is the problem with smaller labels having access ... You could always just post it free as a podcast then you wouldn't have to worry about DRM.
Also, John's right - TuneCore gives you the option of having several outlets, Rhapsody, Emusic, iTunes (US, EU, Canada, Japan, Australia), Napster, MusicNet etc. ...
Reply
D said 6:34PM on 4-05-2007
This is great news, and sure is cheap. I'll try it out.
Uploading the songs there DRM-free and at the same price of 99c would sure be sweet too.
Reply
mystuff said 6:59PM on 4-05-2007
Another service with similar idea is AWAL - http://www.awal.co.uk/ - there is no up-front cost either, but they take a bigger chunk of the payment... swings and roundabouts I guess
Reply
Todd Bradley said 7:45PM on 4-05-2007
Does this service have any advantages over CD Baby? CDBaby.com distributes music by indie artists through iTunes and about a dozen other digital outlets. Plus, they sell CDs by mail.
Reply
Peter Wells said 9:39PM on 4-05-2007
Thanks for the review and the kind words, Erica! We really are trying to make a difference. You got the math mostly right, only there's no minimum sales: if you sell even a single track, you'll get your money, every penny the stores deliver! And you get it 24/7, the moment the stores release sales data and money to us (usually 45 days after the end of the month in which the sale took place) we put it up on your own private My Account page, and you can request it as a PayPal for free, instantly; or, request a paper check for just $1.33.
Your commenters have a lot of questions, and Jennings has answered them spot on! I can chime in too, just so you hear it from the horse's mouth:
DONALD BURR: It was never our choice to have DRM in the first place. We deliver the music, iTunes and the other stores sell it the way they want. The INSTANT they say "no DRM," we'll make it available as a choice to our customers. We try to interfere as little as possible in how you sell your music, and where there's a choice, we'll always do our best to provide it. Jennings has it right. :)
RUNNING: I've heard the application process at Apple taking month and months to complete, and there's every chance they'll say no. We're trying to open the doors, and at a price that's not going to break you, AND WITHOUT TAKING YOUR RIGHTS or SKIMMING YOUR EARNINGS. Which leads me to...
TODD BRADLEY: There's a lot of reasons, but here are the two biggest: CD Baby (and AWAL) take a percentage of your money. FOREVER, and WITHOUT CAP. That's pretty extreme, and if I were losing 9% or 15% or more, I'd want to know why. What does that percentage buy me? Am I being marketed? Effectively? As opposed to the other thousands of folks who pay the same percentage? And CD Baby even costs more, with a $35 up-front fee for every album. It would take years for your fees to equal that at TuneCore, and by then, even if you've only sold an album or two, you've made that money back. Money you can put into marketing and promoting YOURSELF.
And TuneCore does physical too. We'll manufacture, we'll use our partner relationships with places like IndieMerchandiser.com so you can pick/pack/ship physical CDs anywhere, with no up-front cost.
I could go on, I get excited when I think about how great this is going. We're growing so fast, it's breathtaking! But I still love to check the Web and see what folks are saying. We learn a lot about how to run TuneCore from listening to real people. Drop me a line if you've any more questions, everyone!
Thanks!
--Peter
peter@tunecore.com
Reply
ryanmsmith said 11:12PM on 4-05-2007
My album is on iTunes (and about a hundred other services) through CDBaby with no up-front fee. This no-cost listing is through a partnership with CDMan, who pressed our physical copies (highly recommended, btw). All I had to do was give them permission to submit the material to iTunes (and others). We've made about $15 in sales through iTunes in the last 18 months and about $1 through MusicNet. I guess I would be pretty disappointed if I had spent $35 to get the album listed - 9% of nothing isn't much to lose. Anyways, physical CD sales have been much, much better (as in actually exceeding their cost), and if the iTunes sales suddenly exploded, it's a simple matter to discontinue CD Baby's service and go elsewhere. The second album is due in June, and I have no intention of trying anything else (for now).
www.oldecellarband.com
Reply
Jon said 11:44PM on 4-05-2007
I can verify that Apple won't deal with indie artists directly. I submitted the very long application, and have been waiting almost a year with no response. At least a "no" would have been nice. Looks like Tunecore for my band's music.
Reply
Chris Cennon said 1:26AM on 4-06-2007
A question for Peter (since he's here :)) does one have to be a US resident to take advantage of Tunecore's services? This Canadian is interested :)
Reply
Jeff Price said 1:45AM on 4-06-2007
HI
Jeff from TuneCore here - I work with Peter.
My opinion, any digital company that is making its money by taking a % of the money generated from the sale of your music is doing something wrong. 9%, 15% 30% , it does not matter, the principal is still the same - you are working for "them"
You play a live gig, someone goes on-line to buy your music and you give a % of it to someone else. Why?
If you walked into Fed Ex and asked them to deliver your album to iTunes, would Fed Ex state in return for delivering your album they will take an unlimited amount of money from you 9% at a time? No, they charge a simple fee and provide the service. This is the way it should be, you should not have to "pay" the gate keeper an unlimited amount of money from the sale of your music that you are createing.
If they do promote you, they do deserve to get paid, but they deserve to get paid a flat fee. When I hire a publcist, I pay them a flat monthly fee, i certainly do not let them take an unlimited amoutn of money from album sales and also let them control my masters and collect my money!
I could ramble on quite a bit about this but here is a cut and paste from a booket we put together:
keeping your rights and getting all the money
from the sale of your music
aggregators
Companies called “aggregators” have sprung up offering artists and bands access to the digital stores. It’s a valuable service but the price they demand is out of date, old school and exploitive.
First, most demand exclusive control of your master recordings (digitally) – like a record label - for a period of time (called a Term), usually three to five years.
Unlike a record label, they do not: advance you money to record; provide you tour support; help you find a studio, record, mix and master an album; mail out posters to gigs; run print or banner ads; hire independent radio promotion and mail out the CDs to radio; hire a publicist and mail out the CDs to magazines; help
you make your art; front the money and make stickers and buttons; pay for band photos; pay for the manufacturing of your CDs; provide you CDs to sell at your gigs and many, many, many other label functions.
Second, just like a physical distributor, they take a percentage of the money you earn from the sale of your music each time your music sells.
But, unlike a physical distributor they do not: pick, pack and ship orders; have a warehouse staff; insure inventory; have a national sales staff; advance you money to pay for advertising programs in stores; fix broken CDs to be re-shipped out; guarantee you will get paid even if the store does not pay them; mail out a catalog, etc.
Technology has changed the music industry, yet aggregator deal terms are still stuck in the old school model of exploiting the songs and artists. In effect, you work for them. You cause the music to sell and they take money from these sales while controlling your rights.
The new model is about serving the artist, not exploiting them. With the
launch of TuneCore, for the first time in the history of the music industry,
any artist or label can have their music available in the places music buy-
ers go to buy and discover music without having to give up any rights or
revenue from the sale of their music in a non exclusive arrangement that
can be cancelled at any time. Technology has changed the way the industry works; it is time to change the business model as well.
Reply
sunoxen said 6:15AM on 4-06-2007
Here's an audio interview with the CEO of Tunecore:
http://75minutes.com/podcast/15-minutes-w-tune-cores-jeff-price/
Very helpful to see where they are coming from.
Reply
Peter Wells said 11:29AM on 4-06-2007
Chris, no problem, a huge percentage of our clients are from other countries. The fact that we take uploads makes TuneCore the best choice for international.
Hop in!
--Peter
peter@tunecore.com
Reply
John said 11:44PM on 4-09-2007
Ryan - I found this article in EQ Magazine comparing TuneCore to cd baby and other aggregators. I think you might find it helpful. TuneCore seems like the best deal in town.
http://www.eqmag.com/story.asp?storycode=15646
Reply
pylbug said 6:41PM on 4-10-2007
Use CD Baby. At least look into it first. They've been doing this for a long time - they do everything TuneCore does and more.
I've used CD Baby since 2002. They were the first ones to get truly independent (label-less, self-released) musicians in the iTunes store. They don't take a big cut of your sales. They don't charge you for every store your music appears in; it's a one-time fee to list your album. They are extremely communicative of new opportunities or changes in established ones. They continue to secure new relationships with digital music retailers, as well as real-space ones. For less than $100 (one-time fee) you can get your album onto iTunes, Emusic, Rhapsody, Yahoo Music, and somewhere around 20 other digital sellers. And all the future retailers, as those deals are secured, with no additional charges. You'll even get a better deal selling music on MySpace if you go through CD Baby instead of MySpace itself! If you sell physical CD's, they can be purchased through CD Baby directly, via Best Buy online, at Amazon.com and more. You retain all rights to everything. You don't pay an annual fee, whether you sell anything or not. They will take your music down whenever you want, if you want. They do not demand exclusivity, in the event you actually sign with a label. I can't say enough good things about them. Definitely recommended.
TuneCore looks promising, but it doesn't offer everything that CD Baby has already offered for years.
Reply
Peter Wells said 12:36PM on 4-11-2007
Pylbug, I don't want to go into a huge comparison between TuneCore and CD Baby. But I do have to say there's almost nothing CD Baby offers that TuneCore doesn't also offer, and for less money, and (I think) better. Through our partner IndieMerchandiser, you can do all the CD distribution you want, pick/pack/ship, no up front costs. We do manufacture, we do collateral promotional material through partner JakPrints--all the T-shirts, buttons, posters, flyers, stickers you could want.
The only real difference is that we don't take any of your earnings, and we don't ask for $100 up front! A hundred dollars? I hadn't realized CD Baby's up-front, one-time charges were quite that high. Ours average about $20! Even with a $9.98 fee, that would mean you got EIGHT YEARS on the stores to sell before it would equal $100. And we wouldn't take the 9% or whatever CD Baby takes.
Lastly, yes, CD Baby does deliver to other stores, but we deliver to all the big ones and are adding more all the time. Stay tuned, in the VERY near future, we're going to blow it wide open with some crucial new stores! It's all very exciting. And the reason we charge per store is to provide choice: why should you HAVE to go into stores you don't want to? Some people only want DRM-free places like eMusic, but with CD Baby they'd be forced to go into iTunes too. We figure choice and flexibility outweighs $0.99 any day.
Did you know that, through TuneCore, if you pick MusicNet as one of your destination stores you get ALL THESE stores at the same time:
Yahoo!, Cdigix Ctrax (on more than 30 college campuses), Synacor, iMesh, HMV Digital, Virgin Digital U.K., FYE Download Zone, MTV's Urge, Microsoft's Zune and MusicGremlin?
So hey, I think TuneCore is the way to go. More to come! Thanks.
--Peter
peter@tunecore.com
Reply