TuneCore shifts to DistroKid-like flat-fee unlimited release pricing
TuneCore has made what it calls the “biggest change since opening for business 16 years ago” and it’s aimed at grabbing market share from DistroKid and other d.i.y. and indie digital music distributors.
Tunecore‘s new Unlimited annual pricing comes in four tiers as described by the Believe owned distributor:
- The New Artist Plan – FREE is a unique one-stop solution on the market that empowers free unlimited release of songs to the music libraries of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube (including Shorts, Content ID and access to YouTube’s Official Artist Channel) to facilitate discovery and virality on key social media platforms with no-upfront fee and paying out 80% of what is collected to the artist.
- The Rising Artist Plan – $14.99 per year is among the most affordable unlimited distribution plans on the market. It includes everything from the New Artist plan plus Unlimited release distribution to 150+ streaming and store partners like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer and Tidal all while continuing to pay artists 100% of revenue. This plan also includes access to pre-schedule all release dates, official verification on Spotify and Apple Music, as well as artist support response time within 72 hours.
- The Breakout Artist Plan – $29.99 per year includes everything from the “New Artist” and “Rising Artist” plans plus free access to Automator (automatically including your release in all streaming and digital stores that will be available in the future), downloadable reporting and artist support response time within 48 hours.
- The Professional Plan – $49.99 per year is designed for labels, managers and artists who are more advanced in their careers and would benefit from more sophisticated release features. It includes everything from the other three plans plus premium sales reporting, use of your own UPC and a custom label name, access to select country restrictions, exclusive partnerships, and promotional opportunities. This plan also gives the ability to add additional artist profiles (for $14.99/artist per year) and the fastest artist support response time, within 24 hours.
“We’ve spent a year speaking directly to artists and labels about how we can make our service better for them. What emerged is: artists want to be able to test their new music for free before distributing to all services, and they want to release the music they are creating instantly, regularly, and seamlessly with one annual subscription enabling unlimited music distribution,” said TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson. “TuneCore’s new program gives self-releasing artists at any stage of their careers the freedom to choose the plan that works best for them while maintaining the high quality of service TuneCore is known for. With TuneCore Unlimited, artists pay less and earn more.”
TuneCore vs. DistroKid vs. CD Baby
TuneCore’s previous pricing was $9.99 per single and $29.99 per album for the first year and $49.99 to renew albums after that.
In contrast to TuneCore’s new pricing, DistroKid charges a single artist $19,99 per year for unlimited release along with both free and paid add-on services. Per artist pricing decreases as the number of artists increases.
- Musician Plus: 2 bands/artists, $35.99/year (save 10%)
- Label 5: 5 bands/artists, $79.99/year (save 20%)
- Label 10: 10 bands/artists, $139.99/year (save 30%)
- Label 20: 20 bands/artists, $239.99/year (save 40%)
- Label 50: 50 bands/artists, $599.99/year (save 40%)
- Label 100: 100 bands/artists, $1199.99/year (save 40%)
CD Baby charges a one-time $9,95 single release and $29 album release fee, There are no annual renewal fees with CD Baby, but they do take a 9% cut of all collections. A $29.95 per single and $69 per album fee plus 9% adds music publishing-like services.
TuneCore’s New Unlimited Release Plan
