A DUMBO COMPANY HELPS MUSIC ARTISTS NAVIGATE THE REALMS OF STREAMING, TOURING, AND MARKETING

BY TIA KIM

It takes deft and multi hatted marketing savvy to survive in just about any 21st century media endeavor, but a unique type of income diversity is required in order to survive as a musical artist. New era musicians apply themselves to usually simultaneous stints as session musician, teacher, stream service member, songwriter, recording engineer, and oh yes, a touring artist. (Industry analytics site musicindustryhowto.com estimates that 6% of yearly revenue for the average musician comes from content streaming, with touring constituting the largest share at 28%, teaching 22%, and session playing 10%.)

Prioritizing and organizing artist income is what motivated the establishment of the “digital music distribution and publishing administration service provider” TuneCore.

Headquartered in Brooklyn (with additional offices in Burbank, CA, Nashville, TN, New Orleans, LA, Atlanta, GA, and Austin, TX, as well as international locations) and part of Believe Distribution Services, TuneCore is, as its site reads, “one of the highest artist revenue generating music catalogs in the world,” earning its members $1.06 billion from over 108.7 billion downloads and streams since the company’s inception in 2006. Its distribution services help artists, labels, and managers sell music through iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Music, and other download and streaming sites, and artists retain 100% of their sales revenue and rights in exchange for an annual fee. At the same time, TuneCore Music Publishing Administration assists songwriters with media placement opportunities, licensing, and royalty collections, and its Artist Services portal officers a suite of tools and services that enables artists to promote and connect with fans. The goal is to maximize revenue for performers and songwriters, and according to the 2016 IFPI Report which tracks performance from more than 1,300 record companies while digital revenues for the global recorded music market grew by 17.7 percent in 2015, TuneCore artist income grew by 32 percent.

In October, the company announced a partnership with the audio company After master, one of the products of which a suite of audio mastering tools called Promaster. Designed to streamline the mastering and storage process, its proprietary algorithms produce four CD quality mastered versions of tracks: ”Powerful,” “Radio Ready,” “Bass Enhanced,” and “Vocal Enhanced.”

“We are driving the independent music industry forward by continually offering artists best in class services and support,” said company CEO Scott Ackerman. “Applying state of the art technology from the likes of Promaster ensures our artists can easily access world class, studio quality instant mastering that is consistent, professional, and affordable.”

TuneCore
63 Pearl Street
tunecore.com

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