Sell on iTunes with TuneCore

Hey Robert,

I checked out EmuBands, DUDE!! It costs $100 for just 6 songs!! I don't know if that is "cheaper".

Bill Humphrey

EmuBands is a flat fee distributor that has been around longer than tunecore. It is also cheaper and doesnt charge any of this maintance fee rubbish.

Hey BobaFett,

Unfortunately, only iTunes can make songs available for "album only" (as opposed to individual) sales, and they'll only do it for songs over 10 minutes. They refuse to budge on this. Of course, if you make your entire album a single track and it's over 10 minutes, it'll happen. :)

Ringtones were live at TuneCore for a few days as a test, and it went well, so expect ring tones back in just days!

Thanks! Write me if you need to know more.

P.S., does your backpack have jets?

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

I want the user to buy the entire album not individual tracks. Will Tunecore negotiate distribution with digital distributors for full-album release as a one track (maybe, one aac/mp3 file) instead of the standard, ala carte buy-what-you want model?

What support do you plan for mobile operators and full-track downloads with ringtones and other artist content? When?

i've used tunecore for all our pipas releases and they've been great. and very responsive to queries in general. i produced the physical cd of our last record through them and it worked out well too. i can't wait to be able to add non-drm'd songs to itunes and others. not sure how that will work though but bring it on!

Hey!

I am the owner of the newly founded publishing/promotion company Higher Calling Music (http://www.highercallingmusic.net). We specialize in promoting and distributing new, independent Christian artists (as well as secular artists) in the South Texas area.

When I began looking for ways to enter the 85%-of-the-digital downloads-market beast iTunes, I came across TuneCore. I was interested in what they were offering, and decided to try it out...

Six months later, I am still a VERY happy camper--TuneCore knows what they're doing, and they do it well! The only trouble I've had isn't their fault at all--iTunes takes FOREVER to get your music up in their store.

Higher Calling Music is currently branching out, trying to establish relationships with other online retailers so we can offer our customers even more return on their investment than going through Higher Calling Music/TuneCore. Right now, we offer basically the same thing TuneCore offers artists (since we're using their services as a record-label status), with a few more perks-- (I hope Peter and Jeff don't get too upset)

1. We are a full-fledged online store. Our catalog includes information, previews, and a great shopping cart for our artists.

2. We are expanding on the promotion side of things: We recently partnered up with an Austin-based promoter/agent for live music venues, and

3. We recently partnered with recording studio EternalLife Productions (http://www.elp7.com) in Austin, so now we offer the full artist recording, distributing, and promotion package.

So, that's another option for those of out there who want a little more for your money. Our rates are comparable, and our estimated growth over the next year will be pretty substantial.

The bottom line for Higher Calling Music though:

We couldn't have done it without the amazing and nurturing support of TuneCore!

Nick Thacker
Owner,
Higher Calling Music
http://www.highercallingmusic.net

Hello! http://gozombie.c8.com -- I'm a new Tunecore user and I am awaiting my initial 45 days to see results. Currently we have 2 releases up and have been promoting heavily with myspace (no bot software), last.fm, revver videos, youtube, digg, various blogs/zines, and of course street/guerilla marketing and cross-country rest area tagging. We're curious what is working for other artists/labels! Follow up!

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

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.

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