How do I get on Itunes?

[Lee]

Hi everyone, I have been researching ways to get my bands ep on itunes and other legitimate music download sites and have hit a bit of a wall. We are independent, currently have no label or distribution deal and we're happy DIY. I read that itunes recommend four aggregators in Australia but it's written that these companies don't accept individual artists. How is everyone else in this situation releasing their music on itunes and other online stores? I hope this turns into a fruitful discussion.

[Wiz]

I use cdbaby.

Tune core is another

[Lee]

We have physical cd's to sell but we also want to sell downloads. Is there anyone on here who uses tunecore and can share their experiences using them? What other alternatives are there?

[Wiz]

I should have been clearer.... I go through cdbaby,to get my music on iTunes.

[Lee]

Thanks Peter, how do you find it?

[Wiz]

No complaints so far.


The thing I remember as the deciding factor when I chose between cd baby andntunecore...was tune core charged a yearly fee...regardless of sales....vs cdbaby who take a cut of each sale. It comes down to how many copies you sell I guess.

I don't sell much 8)

[Lee]

How do you monitor your sales? ie Do you find them reliable and trust worthy?

[Kurt]

We're doing ours through reverbnation, I think it's $40 a year. Gets our stuff into a heap of online stores (iTunes, Amazon etc) Integrates well with facebook and myspace. No idea about sales tracking as our album hasn't gone live yet.

[Wiz]

How do you monitor your sales? ie Do you find them reliable and trust worthy?

When you log in to your account You can look at your sales, monitor them etc.

It takes a while for each of the iTunes territories to report back. It used to be every quarter or six months, or something like that, now its gone to monthly, though I haven't seen any reports from iTunes USA since December, that might just mean I haven't sold anything....8)

You also, can make your music available to things like spotify etc through them, or not.

The payment rates for internet radio stuff is extremely low...something less than .002 of a cent per play, think of it more as "at least getting your music out there".

You can also become a iTunes partner, there is a process (and I think a cost) to go through.

The major deciding factor to me, as I said, was the one of cost ( i think 15 bucks) to put the song on iTunes and letting CDbaby take their cut, rather than a larger (YEARLY) fee through Tune core, and no cut taken out.

If you search the web Tunecore vs CDbaby, you will come across some charts, comparing the two with regards to amount of sales, and the cost benefits of both.

[smash]

We have a CD and a few music vid's on Tunecore.

Positives
They give clear and concise info on when they will pay
Great Reporting
Cheap fees - We are selling enough to warrant Tunecore over CD baby
Easy to upload

Negatives
They don't do physical distribution - not an issue for us as we have physical distribution
You cannot make changes after you submit an album - they claim you can but I've been unsuccessfully trying for months.
You will not be able to get through to a real person. At all. I sent dozens of emails, always got a cursory "we're looking into it reply" but never got a response. They are legendary for only replying to people after negative comments are posted on forums. After I posted on Turtlerock - see my post "Tunecore Sucks" I immediately got an email adivising that they were looking into my isssue, and asking to remove the negative post from here, but the issue was still never resolved.

In short, think of Tunecore as a "No Frills" "Homebrand" type aggregragtor.
Provided you need nothing special, or don't need to make any changes, they are fine, and most people seem to have no issues, if you need to make changes, or want to do anything 'special' for example a "Hybrid" album where you get a free video clip when you purchase the CD - you have no chance.

Simon "Smash" Ashby

[ether]

I use TuneCore, and can't recommend them highly enough.

At one point a glitch in the iTunes store killed some of my albums, so Peter Wells - one of the TuneCore founders - helped out personally. This was a while ago now, so maybe things have changed, but I got great service at the time.

CDs? What are they?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/+-0.001/id348977416

[Damien]

we also use cd baby.. they sell download and physical cd's.. its really easy.. we have the product on itunes and amazon...

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/littlefeetmusic

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/jump-a ... d481397772