D.I.Y.

TuneCore Signs With MySpace Music

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It's A Smart Addition For TuneCore,

But Is It Worth It For Artists?

TuneCore artists can now share in the ad revenue generated when their songs are streamed on MySpace Music, thanks to a new deal between the companies. This marks the first time that TuneCore has offered its flat fee distribution customers access to an ad supported streaming service, and comes on the heels of indie licensing organization Merln's hard fought battle with MySpace on behalf of the indie community 

TuneCore did not respond to an inquiry asking how revenue would calculated for its artists by MySpace or what its fee structure for the service would be.  But for all but the most high trafficked artists, it may be a long time before their share of MySpace ad revenue exceeds any flat fee payment to TuneCore.

UPDATE: After the jump below, Tunecore points us to their fee structure which is the same for all outlets including MySpace Music. Still no word on what MySpace is paying in return.

More: Merlin Finally Makes Indie Deal With MySpace


How Much does TuneCore cost me?

If you are delivering just one track (a single) the only fee is an annual payment of $9.99. If you are delivering more than one song (an album) the annual fee is $19.98. The only additional charges (for an album) are one time fees of .99 cents per store you choose and per track that you upload to TuneCore. For example if you deliver a two track album to only iTunes US this would total to, $21.96 with an annual renewal fee of 19.98 after the initial payment.

http://www.tunecore.com/faq

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11 Comments

  1. When in Rome……
    Stream deals actually contradict the whole “no distr. fee” model that Tunecore often uses as its call to action for artists. Since revenue is generated via ad rev or min per stream once a $$$ floor is reached, Tunecore would see some of that(of will they,based on their position of no distr. fee). Interested to see Tunecore’s position on rev share deals/models as streaming services become another source of revenue for indie artists.

  2. MySpace’s CPM has been reported as low as $0.24 and falling. Now let’s assume that they payout 50% of the revs (which is probably very high, as they won’t comment on it).
    That means that if you sign up for Tunecore for ~$40 to release an average sized album to a variety of retailers (including MySpace), it would take 334,334 impressions on your page for you to earn the $40 back.
    If you think you can simply download a bot to hit your page over and over, think again. Google, etc. know how to detect this and will stop paying MySpace for ads, and they will stop paying you.
    So, if you have about 1,000 legit page views per day, this could be a good deal for you. If you have less, think twice.

  3. Hey folks, let me clarify a bit:
    Remember, MySpace Music is just one of 18 stores (and growing!) TuneCore can deliver your music to. In fact, for many people, one of the best parts of the new MySpace Music connection is that they can use the MySpace Music player, and the “buy” buttons will be live, sending fans over to iTunes or AmazonMP3 for purchase. If you’ve used TuneCore to put your music into iTunes and AmazonMP3 in the first place, so much the better.
    So please remember in your calculations that TuneCore distributes your music to a lot of places. The only extra you pay for MySpace Music is the $0.99 delivery fee (for a whole album, no matter how many tracks) into that one store (and even that is included free if you do a single!). Distribution into MySpace Music, player, links to stores where people can buy them, all for $0.99? Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
    And yes, there is ALSO a secondary stream of possible income, in ad revenue. It’s yet to be determined how valuable that will be to artists and labels, but we’re happy to give people the chance to try for themselves. The right way to see this (at this stage in the industry’s growth) is as a discovery tool. MySpace Music is a place where people discover music, go for music, and for the first time, independents can get in under the you-keep-it-all (including your rights and masters) TuneCore model, which is pretty darn significant.
    Thanks.
    –Peter
    peter@tunecore.com

  4. What a dumb ass move by Tunecore – so far they have been really smart, by aligining themselves with the Titanic of digital music (MySpace) is foolish. The majors can’t make any ad revenue from them so what makes this scenario any different?
    The whores who run MySpace will take money from anyone – PLUS what was Tunecore thinking – in the light of over 100,000 srtists getting screwed via-the iMeem deal (now owned by MySpace) – why will or better still why should indie artists trust them?
    This move by Tunecore, could and probably will damage their reputation.
    It’s time for someone to move in on their turf and set-up in competition to Tunecore.

  5. Dumb ass move by Tunecore.
    Indie artists beware and start looking elsewhere, there is a new site launching next year that is going to offer the same services as Tunecore, cheaper with REAL services attached.

  6. There is competition already, and it’s free. It is called Watunes. Check it out. I use it, and have used Tunecore. Both have flaws, but free, and excellent customer service far beats anything tunecore has to offer. And Watunes is all the time upgrading their system to make things easier and better for the artists and labels.

  7. I signed up with Tunecore and it’s a great service except for the MySpace Music part. One of the best things about a band profile on MySpace has always been the customizable featured playlist which will automatically play your tunes when someone visits your page.
    Here’s the catch. None of the songs you upload to your featured playlist will count towards your ad share. Only the specific songs you submit to Tunecore are eligible which makes sense right?
    So you go to MySpace Music and you find your album with the artwork thanks to Tunecore. You’re ready to add your own album to your featured playlist on your Myspace band profile. Wrong again! You can’t!
    You can add the songs to a new playlist for
    your profile but it won’t display itself to visitors. Only the featured playlist displays up top.
    Okay, so you say to yourself screw this ad share crap I want my visitors to see a pic of my album and be able to listen right away when they visit. So you decide to upload your album to your featured playlist. Guess what happens? Now 2 copies of the albums and duplicates of every track appear in the MySpace Music store!
    I’ve written 3 e-mails a week to Myspace for 3 weeks and they haven’t answered one. Tunecore says you have to direct people from you page to the MySpace Music store to earn ad share.
    Seriously? I have to direct people away from my profile to go listen to my music somewhere else to qualify for ad share? Okay, I give up I’ll tell everyone to redirect to MySpace Music to listen to the new album. Oh wait! There aren’t any urls to direct anyone too!
    The only way for anyone to find your music on MySpace Music is to tell them to go there and search for your band name! You can’t link to anything.
    Okay, so enough of my rant. You get the point.

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