CD Baby vs Tunecore?

You know, Jonah, we were just asked about the most important things TuneCore can do by a newspaper in Germany. It fits so well to what you want to know, at the risk of cutting-and-pasting (I'll write more afterwards), here's how we answered a few of their questions: - Do you help the artists to promote themselves? Yes.

We have had over a dozen TuneCore Artists featured as the iTunes single of the week and over 600 artists featured at the digital stores or included in cross marketing and promotions with major brands and sponsors. We believe its our job to provide artists with the information and knowledge they need and want to make the best decisions possible. Every week we publish articles from leaders in the music industry - from “how to record” articles from top producers to legal advice from world re-known lawyers to industry tips from former record label heads and musicians.

We also have a series of free PDF downloads with tips on How To Market and Promote on-line Finally, we provide a media-widget for all TuneCore Artists that they can place anywhere on the net, from their homepage to a blog. Each widget loads in twitter feeds, YouTube channels, links to buy the bands music and more. - What is the best way for artists who signed up at your website to promote their tracks on iTunes?

There are many tips - from "cover" songs, to naming songs in such a way that they surface in search results, to placing you song in an iMix to be discovered via other more popular bands in the genre. We have a free PDF guide of marketing tips here - http://www.tunecore.com/survivalguide_v6.pdf - How many artists are signed up for your service? There are over 300,000 TuneCore account holders representing one of the largest and most valuable music catalogs in the world.

Each day there are between 250 - 300 new releases distributed via TuneCore - there is more music released in one day via TuneCore than via any single major record label over the course of a year. - How much money did they make on iTunes last year? In 2009, more than one song a second sold by a TuneCore Artist on iTunes.

TuneCore Aritsts now represent one of the most valuable and wanted music catalogs in the world. Every penny of the US $45,000,000 million dollars earned in music sales by TuneCore customers has gone directly back to them. - Can you give me four to five examples of the most successful artists who use your service including their earnings on iTunes (per month or per year)?

While we can not disclose their earnings as it would violate our privacy policy, we can provide you a quick short list of Top Sellers. All of these artists were "unsigned" when they sold the following Kelly sold over 2,000,000 million tracks William Fitzsimmons sold over 150,000 tracks Soulja Boy sold over 200,000 tracks Boyce Avenue sold over 1,200,000 tracks Ron Pope sold over 250,000 tracks Colt Ford sold over 300,000 tracks Secondhand Serenade sold over 250,000 tracks Tapes N Tapes sold over 200,000 tracks Nevershoutnever sold over 1,000,000 tracks Drake sold over 300,000 tracks MGMT sold over 225,000 tracks The Medic Droid sold over 150,00 tracks Nickasaur sold over 150,000 tracks Harry and the Potters sold over 200,000 tracks Back to the more personal answer, Jonah. The very biggest difference between TuneCore and CD Baby is the percentage.In the end, with us, you keep all the money your music makes, while with CD Baby they will always take 9%, forever.

For me, that's philosophically a problem: why are they taking a percentage, why should ANYONE get a cut of your earnings unless they're materially contributing to your success? And just delivering a digital file to a store isn't something that helps you succeed, only the absence of it would prevent you from succeeding: it was a roadblock, a barrier to getting into the stores.So TuneCore's mission is, in part at least, to get you past that barrier. It's a service, and deserves a nice, small up-front fee.

We help maintain your relationship with the stores, that deserves a nice, small recurring fee. But a percentage? That means you're working for someone else.

Thanks for letting me go on at length. I've got one more thing: openness. Anyone can write us, or even me, and we'll be here to help.

Music isn't windshield wipers or toaster pastries, it's what you've poured your heart and soul into, you want to find a partner who will help. I put my name behind TuneCore, that we'll always be that partner to our artists. --Peter [email protected].

Where as CD Baby and Tunecore have relatively the same degree of market distribution, the difference is in the fees. CD Baby charges a one time $35 fee for each album you wish to sell and takes 9% of your gross digital sales. Depending on how many songs are on your album, the upfront fee Tunecore takes is about the same as what CD Baby takes up front.. Tunecore doesn't take a percentage of your digital gross sales, but they do charge an extra $20 a year per album.

Over a two year period, if you sell 370 downloads both services end up costing the same. If you plan to sell more than 370 albums, Tunecore is more cost effective. If you don't think that you will sell 370 downloads, then CD Baby is more cost effective.

I trust the page at Cnet for the source because the author has no vested interest in either service, has been in the industry for years, and simply states the facts.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.