TuneCore Growth Fueled by Creative Expansion, New Artist Services and Innovation
New York, NY – January 27, 2015 – 2014 was a landmark year for TuneCore. Building upon its outstanding growth, the company today announced over $134 million dollars in 2014 artist earnings, up 11% from 2013 and totaling $504 million since 2006. Additionally, artist downloads and streams were up 120% year over year, with more than 7.5 billion in 2014, and more than 12.4 billion since 2006.
Key Growth & Expansion
With more than 150 store partners available across the world, TuneCore added new ways for artists to share their music in key emerging markets including with Claromusica in South America & Latin America, KKBox in Asia and Spinlet in Africa. TuneCore provides artists with partners covering over 200 countries and territories.
TuneCore’s Music Publishing Administration also continues to grow and now actively manages over 275,000 compositions, collecting songwriters’ royalties in over 60 countries, and negotiating Film and TV music licensing agreements.
In 2014, TuneCore broadened opportunities for and connections with the artist community. Music industry veteran Joe Cuello joined the TuneCore executive team to spearhead the music publishing administration business as well as new brand partnerships and special events that will provide growth opportunities for musicians and songwriters. TuneCore also opened a Nashville office in support of that vibrant songwriter and performer community. The Nashville efforts are being led by music industry veteran Shelby Kennedy, Vice President of Entertainment Relations.
Artist Highlights
The heart of TuneCore is the independent artist, and 2014 marked another remarkable year for the TuneCore Artist community. The artists continue to be heard across the world in all creative mediums – from the big screen, with music featured on the Academy Award Nominated Birdman soundtrack, to the small screen, as the original score of one of the most talked-about podcasts, Serial. Additionally, twenty-three TuneCore Artists were selected for teams on the hit show, The Voice with 2 winners in seasons 6 & 7.
In 2014 TuneCore Artists graced the stages of local venues and nationally acclaimed festivals with a high percentage of the performers having distributed their music with TuneCore:
- 30% of artists performing at SXSW
- 40% of artists performing at CMJ
- And 50% of artists performing at the A3C Hip-Hop Festival
Expanding Artist Services
Recognizing that independent artists are looking for new ways to hone their craft, create music and share it with more people around the world, in 2014 TuneCore launched Artist Services, a suite of tools and services that enable artists to promote their work and connect with fans while remaining independent. TuneCore has built-out this suite of tools to include new products such as YouTube Sound Recording Collection Service, enabling artists to collect additional YouTube revenues, TuneCore Track Smarts, providing artists with fan reviews and actionable song element analysis, and TuneCore MerchLink, giving artists access to attractive, affordable fan merchandise.
In 2014, TuneCore also undertook a significant initiative to better understand musicians’ thoughts and expectations for the future of the music industry. An online survey of TuneCore Artists revealed that independent artists are optimistic about their future and encouraged by innovations in the industry, including the growth of distribution platforms like iTunes, Spotify and YouTube and the availability of social networks like Facebook and Twitter to facilitate deeper connections with fans around the world. The TuneCore Survey also confirmed that artists strongly believe that streaming makes it easier for new fans to find their music and anticipate streaming will be a driver of the business’ future.
Innovation
Echoing the sentiments expressed in the 2014 TuneCore Artist Survey, TuneCore continues to look for innovative partnerships and new services to add value for musicians. Realizing the importance of connecting artists with fans, TuneCore acquired DropKloud. The DropKloud app, launching in Spring 2015, offers digital enhancement to street team promotion, allowing artists to drop digital content – exclusive access to a song, an invite to a pop-up showcase or behind the scenes photos – into ‘Klouds’ available to fans in specific physical locations. DropKloud co-founders joined TuneCore’s team and will head a new TuneCore Innovation Lab in Boston, which will support TuneCore’s commitment to product development and expanded services for artists.
Looking to 2015
In 2015, TuneCore has exciting plans to build on the successes of this past year, leveraging the new Innovation Lab to provide artists with added services to help amplify their craft, and expanding artist revenue opportunities through strategic partnerships and special artist-centric events. The year has kicked off with a strong start with the announcement of TuneCore’s newest Artist Service, the LANDR Instant Mastering tool which provides all artists with quick, affordable access to mastering. TuneCore will continue to strengthen its core offerings, always with an eye towards new store partners to increase artists’ opportunities to have their music heard by audiences across the globe.
An infographic with year-to-date milestones can be found here.
Tags: downloads featuring growth independent music music publishing streaming tunecore