By: Burton Haynes

Burton Haynes — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:27:55 +0000

I’ve got nearly $500 in startup capital, but was hoping that since I’ve probably only have one or two chances with $500 to do things right, you’d all point me in the proper direction. Don’t get me wrong, that website is FULL of great information, but individual experience would be a fantastic supplement to the website info.

By: AN ANSWER TO A QUESTION: WHY DO WE POST MUSIC AT WALMER CONVENIENCE? « WALMER CONVENIENCE

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:58:41 +0000

[...] http://www.pampelmoose.com/2008/04/music-blogs-will-not-be-the-new-record-labels [...]

By: Peter Wells

Peter Wells — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:58:58 +0000

Here’s a response from Jeff Price, TuneCore’s CEO, if you don’t mind a link pointing back to our blog, Pampelmoose:

http://blog.tunecore.com/2009/03/jeff-price-at-the-leadership-music-digital-summit-nashville.html#comments

Thanks!

–Peter
peter@tunecore.com

By: Tom Lance

Tom Lance — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 07:57:22 +0000

The Part of the Tunecore Business Model that Jeff, doesn’t tell you about.

While it is true that Tunecore offers a good service, I read that the FBI is going to start monitoring Tunecores accounting processes.

Why? Isn’t Tunecore a great service?

True on all accounts but why does a musician need to use tunecore to put their music on iTunes anyway. Tunecore doesn’t pay a fee to iTunes…or do they.

Tunecore pays a fee to iTunes, and other online stores to keep the littleman out. Therefore they can charge a fee. This seems innocent right. I’ts only a mere 9.00 per single and 35 to 50.00 per album. That’s where the 7 million in financing went. After doing the math and subtracting all the paypal transfer fees, I am wondering how Tunecore stays in the black. Aahh! The truth is revealed…Now…

This is how they do it..aside from there state of the art automated processes. First you sign up.. they don’t care what type of music you put on and they don’t even check to see if the said music is copyrighted. They do let you check the box saying you agree that selling music that you don’t have permission for is illegal. All goes well and believe it or not in less than 3 weeks all your music is in the stores…Wow!…

You then every 5 minutes, check all the online stores to see if you moved in chart position or sales rank. Then 45 days latter you receive your first 30 dollar royalty check. Wow you are really siked and pumped. Another 45 days goes by and now you receive a 300 dollar royalty check. Wow..

This keeps happening for the next few months till finally you are about to hit the $1000 dollar mark and you do.. You log into your account to initiate the paypal transfer. You type in your email..and wait for the next 24 hours to see your cash…but….2 days go by..6 days go by then 2 weeks go by and no money. You are pissed so you email support and no one answers you. There is no phone number but after calling and the 2 hrs of googleing you find the address of tunecore. You then call the attorney general. The attorney general, connects you to the better business bureau. You get the number.

You call and…Someone answer the phone right away…Wow. You think. They must be busy processing payments. They explain to the rep that you want your money in the kindess tone.. He put you on hold..and then a guy named Tai comes on the phone. He tells you that they aren’t going to pay you..because you don’t have permission to sell your songs that you wrote. And…if you want your money..you need to produce the licenses for your songs. Now you are confused because you wrote all the songs, and registered them with the copyright office. You are indeed pissed, but since you live in California and they are in New York, you can’t strangle them. You yell you scream, but they just laugh. You hang up. Not knowing what to do. You wrote those songs. How can they do this to you you wonder. You call back and try to remain calm. You tell them there must be some mistake. They laugh again and say if you have a problem than go get a lawyer.

You hang up, call and think to yourself, I am going to get me a lawyer.

You find who you think is a good lawyer and you are confident until he says that he charges $500 dollars and hour. Saddend you call around to find a lower priced lawyer but the fees keep getting higher and higher. YOu only made a little over $1000 dollars. If you hire a lawyer you will receive no money because of the fees they charge. You call Tunecore again..This time you keep getting tossed around. Finally you are transferred to a fellow named Peter. He seems like a good guy. You explain the situation to him.. he pulls up your account..He tells you that it is illegal for you to sell unlicensed music. Again you argue that it is your music and it is original. YOu ask for the anme and number of the person who says your are stealing music. He blows you off and says you will need an attorney to get that info. YOu think about the lawyers fees and now in your heart you know that you are fighting a losing battle.

You are so pissed by this time that you asked speak to the Boss. You are than transfered to the CFO, Gian…He says he ain’t gonna pay..You need a lawyer to get your money. You then in the calmest way tell him that it is yours music. And you tell him that you signed up at Tunecore so you want have to deal with lawyers. You thought they were on your side. He then laughs and says, “Buddy, Music isnt about you..It is all about Money and Lawyers.” Almost in tears and barely able to speak you threatened to sue them which is a lie.

He then yells “don’t call here again.” And don’t you threaten my staff. And slams the phone in your face.

****

This is a True story…And this happens to a lot of Tunecore customers.

Tunecore will only steal money from those who cannot afford a lawyer. They know you can’t sue because it is too expensive. A record company won’t sue them because of the lawyer fees as well. So who keeps the money. Tunecore!!! I am writing this to warn you about this practice. It doesn’t matter if you have licenses or not for your songs. If you samples someone, do a cover of a song, you are really not safe. Tunecore is trying lock down the independent artist sector and steal there money because they don’t have lawyers or money for them rather. Tunecore has done this to thousands…and made millions in this shady practice. It is a good service on the outside. But shady on the inside.

The Truth Exposed…

If this has happened to you or you feel your royalties are a bit low for your efforts, feel free to email me tlance28@yahoo.com

We independents are only strong together..We can file a class action law suit and at least get a court order to audit there books.

By: josh k

josh k — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:39:50 +0000

in this economy…..the diy drum is beating louder than ever.

we are dealing with consumers making 50k + a year not spending a dime on extra stuff. crazy times.

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:43:16 +0000

Companies like http://www.dittomusic.com will be more important as they handle the artists back office as well as distributing them, making them chart eligible.
Sites like CDbaby are more for bedroom artists just looking to get onto itunes.

By: Nuzz

Nuzz — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:22:45 +0000

Once there’s money involved, anything pure becomes corrupted. I blog to blog not to flog!

By: Ethan Bauley

Ethan Bauley — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:11:55 +0000

Good points. Gerd’s post makes no sense…”social nets are the new broadcasters”? I see where he is going with that, but it’s not constructive.

It is true, however, that many of the record label’s previous functions have been atomized (especially distribution…TuneCore, CDbaby, Amazon Advantage, Amazon FWS, Redeye, etc).

I will enjoy continuing to watch the disaggregation of all of this. What I like about the new landscape is that enables anyone to jump onto the value chain whereever they want/can add the most value.

I wrote an article on this on the TuneCore blog last week:

http://tunecore.typepad.com/tunecorner/2008/04/musical-freedom.html

Looking forward to picking up yer feed ;-)

Peace,

Ethan

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