AmazonMP3 Pulls All TuneCore Tracks In EU & UK, Distributor Alleges Payment Issues
TuneCore informed its clients today that AmazonMP3 had pulled all of their recordings from sale in the UK and European Union. "Amazon removed your recordings as a result of an issue regarding royalty payments by Amazon to TuneCore customers," according to the flat fee digital music distributor.
The takedown began without notice on January 24th, according to TuneCore. Amazon sales in the U.S. and rest of the world are not affected.
Apparently the agreement between TuneCore and Amazon for UK and EU had expired. "Although we fully intended to renew," said TuneCore, they felt they needed "to address the fact that over the course of the agreement, Amazon had not been paying TuneCore Artists to license their songs for download in a significant number of the recordings distributed."
Amazon has not yet replied to Hypebot's request for comment.
TuneCore CEO Jeff Price is hopeful that the issue can be resolved soon. "We have been attempting, and will continue to work with Amazon to sort out this matter," said Price, "even in light of Amazon’s somewhat heavy-handed approach of simply pulling all of your recordings out of their store without notice."
oh boy. does this mean if i have a song up through tunecore, i am screwed?
Another crazy move by the increasingly insane CEO Jeff who of course blames Amazon and doesnt actually tell any of us before he removes our music.
Don’t worry Jeff, its not like we have fans in those countries or anything, we fully support your latest tirade against no one in particular.
Hopefully this will get you even more press than badmouthing ASCAP or other distributors.
Massively pleased i put my trust in you guys, maybe next week you can have a row with iTunes and i can lose fans that way. God knows its just so easy being an artist these days, i have fans coming out of my ears.
Idiots
No, you’re fine. It just means that if you had content through TuneCore distribution to the AmazonMP3 store, that content won’t be available in their E.U. or U.K. territories until everything is sorted out.
You’ll still get every penny from every sale that happened before, and once things come back (and we’re working hard with them to resolve this), you’ll still get every penny.
–Peter
peter@tunecore.com
This is an odd thing to say–I’m not certain if you’re a TuneCore customer. We said (from our statement, here: http://blog.tunecore.com/2012/02/why-your-music-is-currently-unavailable-in-amazonmp3-eu-and-uk.html):
Amazon removed your recordings as a result of an issue regarding royalty payments by Amazon to TuneCore customers. The delay in resolving this issue resulted in the TuneCore/Amazon European Union and United Kingdom agreement expiring without being renewed (note: this is just for Europe and the UK, the rest of the world is not affected).
Although we fully intended to renew, TuneCore also had to address the fact that over the course of the agreement, Amazon had not been paying TuneCore Artists to license their songs for download in a significant number of the recordings distributed.
We felt this put TuneCore in a position where if we renewed with Amazon in this territory without sorting out the position regarding all the rights involved, it would be contrary to TuneCore’s core business philosophy and purpose: getting artists and songwriters paid all the royalties they are owed.
So yep, we’re going to keep true to our mission, which is to make sure the artist gets paid what their owed, every time, from any store we distribute to.
All artists need to understand their rights, so they can be sure they get the royalties they’re entitled to. Here’s a link to how it all works: http://blog.tunecore.com/2012/02/the-rules-all-digital-music-services-must-follow.html
–Peter
peter@tunecore.com
Guys should check out Venzo Music. These guys are about to make some serious noise. They can put your music up on iTunes for FREE! – http://music.venzodigital.com
Guys,
Check out The Holding Pattern…www.holdingpattern.com.
New music platform where artists can upload for free and have their work exposed to all the global production houses for film and tv usage….pretty cool….
Hmmm…we’ve been in the Digital Distribution business since 2003 and with Amazon MP3 since the day they launched. Our relationships and payment history have always been excellent from these guys.
http://www.digitalmusicmarketing.com
If you are looking to get your releases back on AmazonMP3 in Europe and UK, then why not use RouteNote.com. We have a great direct relationship with Amazon as we are the largest independent digital music distributor in the UK.
It’s nice of all these other distributors to chip in with free advertising. Would it not be more intelligent, however, to get some more info about WHY this is happening? Is there any truth to the fact that Amazon is not paying authors’ rights on licences for downloads (I don’t know, but don’t remember seeing any)?
We have asked Amazon for comment and thus far gotten nothing.
I know it may not seem like a huge deal, but it is – especially when a good percentage of your fans are in EU & UK & buy their music via Amazon. Tunecore should seriously consider giving refunds/compensation to those affected.
I for one have already jumped ship. Although the customer service wasn’t bad with Tunecore, there were issues that I have not experienced elsewhere. One release in particular didn’t make it to iTunes until a MONTH after the release date. Rather than give a refund, I was given a free “single,” despite my requests for monetary compensation.
Another deal-breaker is that you have to renew your album annually for it to stay live in these stores whereas with other companies, they are there for life. Having to pay a little more for LIFETIME distribution is very worth it.
I agree. Which is why I believe people should check out Venzo Music. You don’t have to pay for any upfront fees and they focus on the best store: iTunes. How cool is that?
http://music.venzodigital.com
Venzo Music: $200 termination fee – How cool is that?
Hypebot- why don’t you ask Tunecore what this means:
“Amazon had not been paying TuneCore Artists to license their songs for download in a significant number of the recordings distributed.”
You don’t pay to license a song if you’re Amazon. You license the digital master rights and pay per track.
And what does he mean, “song” The composition? The (P) sound recording copyright? We all know Tunecore is trying to get into the music publishing business and claims no one can offer a performance and mechanical license anywhere in the world without their permission.
This is probably Tunecore fighting their personal battle over becoming a publisher on the backs of the people that just want them to do digital distribution.
There is no truth to that.
You are just shilling for Jeff Price. Nice try. He just wants everyone to believe digital music services operate illegally and collude with the performing rights organizations.
I am sure people have picked up on our offer via the digitalmusicnewsarticle here but if not we are offering all Tunecore customers affected by this Tunecore/Amazon dispute free distribution to Amazon UK and US , and we will get you live in around 48 working hours.
If anyone needs to contact me direct its lee@dittomusic.com
We have spoken enough about the issue so i don’t see the point in going back into it, the important thing at this stage is to get your music back on Amazon as fast as possible.
Lee
http://www.dittomusic.com
“This is probably Tunecore fighting their personal battle over becoming a publisher on the backs of the people that just want them to do digital distribution.”
This seems to me to be the crux of the matter. I presume that most of Tunecore’s artists are not affiliated with the MCPS, GEMA or other European societies for the publishing side of their songs. Since Jeff is now pushing a $50 service to collect those royalties, he’s probably trying to force Amazon to pay Tunecore directly for mechanical royalties instead of paying the societies.
Then Jeff can pay those royalties back to the artists that signed up to have Tunecore collect their PUBLISHING royalties and Jeff will look like the hero.
It’s quite likely that Amazon UK/Eur said no way, we’ll only deal with the societies. That leaves Jeff in the unenviable position of actually having to do work to register all the works from the artists that want to use his new service. Thus lowering his profit margin considerably.
End result: the artist are now missing their publishing royalties AND their digital sales.
Bonehead move, Jeff.
Good point!
Amazon SHOULD do the right thing by the artists. Tunecore IS DOING the right thing by reaching for what the artists are rightfully owed. I see this glass as half full.
You guys should check out Venzo. They just went live today and already making some huge noise. Check them out!
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/06/4242726/itunes-technology-platform-launches.html
When is this problem going to be resolved? it’s been well over a month and a half now!! I’ve been patient but I’m very likely going to change online distributors if this isn’t resolved within the next week or so!
We are a UK based recording label:
Fourstone Records
http://www.fourstonerecords.co.uk
As there is a current problem with the Tunecore/Amazon UK/EU online distribution service, we would welcome the opportunity to talk with RouteNote.com with regard to discussing RouteNote.com digital online distribution in the UK and EU territories.
Honestly I have to blame both parties in this matter. First, Jeff because he is pushing his agenda off on Artists. Second, Amazon because they are holding onto money that doesn’t belong to them. What has Amazon been doing with the royalties if they are not being payed to the Artist? The Music Industry has been robbing artist for many years this way. It would be good business for companies to be straight up with the people they represent. The problem is Artist need to study the craft there in. The information is out there for what you need to do to get your royalties. If Amazon owes anyone and hasn’t payed or put it in escrow they should be liable in a court of law. Simple as that. There are agencies and lawyers who will check both parties books to see who is stealing.