So you’ve invested in the drum set, paid for singing lessons and endured band practice in your basement. Now it’s time for the payoff. Releasing your child’s music worldwide, to the delight of Grandma, is as easy as a few clicks of the mouse.
The Web site, www.tunecore.com, allows you to post original music on a variety of digital download stores, keeping all your rights and your profits.
TuneCore Founder and CEO Jeff Price came up with the idea in the shower. After running a record label for 20 years, he realized the barriers preventing amateurs from releasing an album no longer exist."With modern technology, anyone can record music right to their home computers very inexpensively.”
All that was missing was a conduit to worldwide distribution. Price created TuneCore as that conduit.
Artists of any age or experience level can upload an album of original music to TuneCore’s site, which offers in-depth tutorials on how to"rip” and upload. Choose your own album art, from pictures or scans, and then decide where to sell your music. TuneCore charges a flat fee of $19.98 annually for maintaining an album, which can be any number of songs, from a single to hundreds of tracks. Additionally, customers pay a one-time charge of 99 cents per song and 99 cents per digital store.
In the future, TuneCore plans to offer music video uploads, customized ringtones, gift packages and CD manufacturing.
So instead of buying your nephew a gift certificate to the big-box record store, you can give him a package that includes 25 CDs of his own music, worldwide distribution and posters and postcards of his album cover. A $45 gift includes an eCode for worldwide distribution to iTunes, ringtones, AmazonMP3 and other online digital stores. Best of all, your nephew keeps the royalties from any sales of his music.
Gift certificates and packages are not currently available online, but you can call TuneCore’s Customer Service department 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at (646) 651-1050 or e-mail support@tunecore.com.
