TuneCore launches in Australia

Digital distributor TuneCore will open an Australian office.

TuneCore Australia will be based in Melbourne, marking the company’s fourth country-specific service; it follows loaclised launches in Canada in 2011, in Japan in 2012 and in the UK in September this year.

TuneCore execs sparked consumer hunger for an Australian launch in 2009 when co-founder and former CEO Jeff Price delivered a keynote at the Australasian Music Business Conference in Sydney.

When TuneCore launched in 2006 it made history; it made it possible for artists to go to a website, upload their music and cover art, pick the stores they wanted their music distributed to, and receive 100% of the money from the sale of their music. Now, TuneCore still pays artists 100% of the royalties. The company has said that since its inception it has delivered more than US$600 million to artists from more than 22.5 billion downloads and streams.

Australian-based artists can now head to TuneCore.com.auto upload and distribute their music. It will cost $14.99 for a track upload, $39.99 for an album in the first year and $65.99 each year following. TuneCore also offers publishing administration services. Australian-based acts can pay a one-time fee of $99.99 for access to TuneCore Publishing Administration.

TuneCore collects revenues from streaming services like Spotify and digital download stores like iTunes, along with songwriter royalties and royalties earned from sync licensing.

Scott Ackerman, CEO of TuneCore said in a statement: “Our primary focus has always been to help music makers get their tracks and albums out worldwide for fans to enjoy. Our continued global expansion into the Australian market will help further our mission to bring more music to more people around the world, while also helping musicians and artists collect revenue through TuneCore’s variety of services.”