Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

TuneCore

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Type
  
Private

Area served
  
Worldwide

Parent organization
  
Believe SAS

Industry
  
Music

Founded
  
2005


Genre
  
Digital distribution Music publishing

Key people
  
Scott Ackerman Shelby Kennedy Marie-Anne Robert Andreea Gleeson

Products
  
Online Delivery (Music) Music publishing administration

Headquarters
  
New York City, New York, United States

Albums
  
S.Darko, Trash Hit, Violin Without Rules, Scènes

Founders
  
Peter Wells, Jeff Price, Gary Burke

Profiles

Digital music distribution cd baby vs tunecore vs onerpm vs distrokid 2015


TuneCore is a Brooklyn, New York-based independent digital music distribution service, founded in 2005. TuneCore principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell or stream their music through online retailers such as iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Play, Tidal, and others. TuneCore also offers music publishing administration services, helping songwriters register their compositions and collect royalties internationally.

Contents

The company currently operates out of its Brooklyn, United States headquarters with offices in Austin, Burbank, Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, Australia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Digital music distribution cdbaby vs onerpm vs tunecore vs reverbnation 2013


History and background

TuneCore garnered media attention from ABC's World News Tonight, The Daily Mirror, and pitchforkmedia.com. TuneCore's first customer was Frank Black, lead singer of the Pixies. In 2008, TuneCore was utilized by Nine Inch Nails to deliver the music from their album, Ghosts I–IV to the Amazon MP3 store. In December 2006, music instrument and equipment retailer Guitar Center bought a stake in TuneCore, giving the company access to the music retailer's customers. In the United States, TuneCore represents about 10 percent of the 20 million songs on iTunes, and it accounts for almost 4 percent of all digital sales. TuneCore reportedly fired Jeff Price, a co-founder and then-CEO, after the company faced a "cash-flow" crisis in 2012. Price has sued TuneCore for severance compensation and has alleged that the company may have been insolvent, an accusation that the company appears to dispute.

Acquisition by Believe Digital

Tunecore was acquired by Denis Ladegaillerie's Believe Digital in April 2015. The acquisition opened up artists' access to Believe Digital’s wider distribution network and label services. Both of the companies remained operationally separate, while jointly claiming to represent of 25 to 30 percent of the new music uploaded to iTunes each day. After the acquisition, TuneCore and Believe used their newly increased leverage in negotiations with digital services including Spotify and Tidal to improve their services for their artists. Also in 2015, TuneCore expanded its presence in the UK and Australia announcing dedicated websites including localized currency and content for each region. It also introduced its YouTube Sound Recording service to collect revenue for artists when their sound recordings are used anywhere on YouTube. In September 2015, Tunecore stepped up its live event offerings, throwing LA's independent music community its first ever Indie Artist Forum, which focused on educating and fostering collaboration amongst aspiring professional musicians while engaging on a dialog around the ins and outs of the current landscape of the independent music business.

In the fourth quarter of 2015, TuneCore saw sustained growth, with independent artists earning over $142 million through TuneCore including $36.8 million from digital streams and downloads. During this time, TuneCore also expanded its presence in the United States, opening offices in Austin and Atlanta, and internationally, launching two new international sites in Australia and the UK featuring localized currencies and experiences. TuneCore also added Saavn, Nmusic and Zvooq—services targeting emerging markets—as partners through which artists could distribute and monetize their music. TuneCore also enjoyed notable growth in new customers in the Latin American market and the African market. TuneCore’s YouTube Sound Recording Collection Service was also a key driver for increasing 2015 yearly revenue. In May 2016, TuneCore acquired artist social media management startup JustGo and re-branded it as TuneCore Social. Later in the year, it expanded its presence and launched its services in France.

Statistics

TuneCore has been making substantial inroads tapping into customer growth worldwide, especially into key International territories such as the UK and Germany. The following statistics add substantial proof to the pudding. These numbers from November 2016 reflect the third quarter (Q3):

The total Artist Earnings in the United States and Canada for Q3 2016 was $783 Million and there have been 43.8 billion Streams and Downloads.

Q3 Stats 2016:

Artist Earnings in the United States and Canada was 44% more than the earnings in 2015. TuneCore collected record earnings on behalf of its recording artistes to the tune of $50 Million (Q3 in 2015 yielded $35 Million).

Streaming earnings went up by 88% as compared to that in Q3 2015. Earnings come through YouTube and top Streaming stores such as Tidal contributing 308%, Spotify - 89%, and Amazon - 68%. Artists also earn when ads are placed on their videos.

There has been a huge leap in International Streaming Growth. Notably, the highest jump is from India with an amazing 1080% growth. Japan follows with 657%, and Canada with 297%. Australia, Germany and UK contribute 107%, 87% and 73% respectively to international streaming growth.

When songs are downloaded and streamed anywhere in the world, TuneCore Music Publishing Administration finds and collects royalties on behalf of the performers. The third quarter in 2016 yielded a massive 126% growth in publishing revenue.

Sync Gross Revenue growth was at an encouraging 55%.

Notable Sync Placements:

  • The Girl on the Train (Trailer)
  • Edge of Seventeen (Film)
  • Atlanta (TV)
  • So You Think You Can Dance (TV)
  • Lethal Weapon (TV)
  • Vice's Weediquette (TV)
  • My Last Days (TV)
  • Legends Rising (Online Series)
  • The Ellen DeGeneres Show (TV)
  • Universal Studios Hollywood Horror Nights (Experience/Theme Park)
  • Converse (Ad)
  • TuneCore's Website Growth:

    Since Q3, 2015, TuneCore's website reaches have gone up 177% in Germany, 36% in the UK and 6.2% in Australia.

    Promising and fastest growing territories:

    India, with its booming music culture, is the most promising emerging market at 108%. Africa follows closely with 82%, most of the growth there is attributed to Nigeria and South Africa. Asia brings in a 20% growth as an emerging market.

    References

    TuneCore Wikipedia