TuneCore is a global platform for independent musicians to build audiences and career with technology and services across distribution, publishing administration and a range of promotional services.
The organisation recently commenced operations in Africa with the launch of its African operations with two regional heads covering South and West Africa.
A Nigerian, Chioma Onuchukwu, was appointed as head of TuneCore, West and East Africa.
According to Chioma, after Believe purchased the company, many advantages were presented.
As a TuneCore artist, you have the opportunity to upstream from TuneCore to Believe for enhanced artist services. Look at it as career progression. You get a lot more opportunities to push you and your music further. Believe offers distribution services, artist development, marketing solutions and analytics.
She notes a lot of artists do not know how to get started with distributing their music on digital streaming platforms. Some are completely clueless about it.
“ Some do not know why it’s important to do so and how it can help boost their carrier as musicians. They focus on just CD production and distribution and some even give out their music for free to “promote music” website and most time get nothing back in return. We do our best to educate independent musicians on the how-to’s and why’s of digital music distribution.
Chioma further states “as with any other type of businesses, having a music career is a business and it’s important to have a clear understanding of the business.
Especially, as an independent artist, you shouldn’t focus solely on the production side of thing. You must have a plan for distribution; how will your fans find your music, and of course, marketing and promotion; how to you make your fans and potential fan aware of your music. Your music career/business doesn’t just stop at production.
Chioma disclosed TuneCore was created to make the lives of independent artists easier. For one, artists retain all creative control and rights to their musical works. This will also include 100% of their distribution revenue when they distribute with TuneCore. Our platform is very easy to use and provides you with tools and resources to support your career as a musician; an analytics dashboard for insights on your tracks, and the groundbreaking educational series, TuneCore Rewards program for masterclasses on all aspects of DIY releasing.
Do you believe that distribution companies are applauded for being more transparent than labels? She had this to say
“ For TuneCore, yes. We pride ourselves on being transparent. No hidden costs or deductions. Artists always get 100% of the earnings. We provide our artists visibility on the performance of their releases via their analytics dashboard. Transparency builds trust and we want our artists to trust us.
She says artistes should be consistent and always show up. They should interact with their fans on social media, plan tours, leverage social media. Build relationships with industry experts. Be present. If or when you have the resources, build a team.
“ Absolutely, social media is a great marketing platform for creators and a fantastic discovery platform for music listeners. Lots of people discover new music via social media when used in videos and/or challenges. Challenges on platforms like Instagram & TikTok can make your music go viral.
“ The continued provision of information and education especially to new and aspiring musicians, as well as support of African music is key to a more sustainable system; We need a shift to more local music streaming, in order to enable growth in streaming revenue in the future, which is starting to improve. As an industry, we also need to ensure that what is owed to music creators is paid to them.