We reported on TuneCore-distributed music being pulled from Amazon’s EU and UK MP3 stores earlier this week (Bulletin, 2-Feb-12). Now rival digital distributor Ditto Music is hoping to capitalise with a direct appeal to the artists affected. “Any issues with contracts should have been sorted out months before this whole mess started,” says CEO Lee Parsons. “For the record, we have been distributing to Amazon since 2006 and have never had an issue with them. They have been fantastic at getting our artists’ content live and keeping it that way.” And then the killer blow: “I’m opening the door to ALL TuneCore customers who previously had releases on Amazon and offering you FREE distribution to Amazon UK and Europe.” Expecting a response from TuneCore in 3…2…1… In separate news, TuneCore has inked a deal with streaming service Simfy, which will be paying TuneCore both recording and composition royalties for the songs for which it owns both rights.
this is something TuneCore posted up at its blog, I thought it important to post it here
I am Happy Tunecore is willing to fight for our Royalties even if it means sending our Fans to the Stores that that do pay we Artist all of our Royalties!!
This is from tunecores blog….thought it was important to share here…
All of you have become an impressive force. In just the last three and a half years, through TuneCore, you have sold over half a billion songs and earned over a quarter billion dollars. If you remove major label catalog sales (i.e. The Beatles, etc) all of you represent over 60% of all new music sales in the United States.
The power and market share you control has literally brought us to a crossroads in the music industry – keep things as they are or change them further. You, not TuneCore, get to make this decision.
As many of you may already know, TuneCore has a dispute on your behalf with Amazon regarding your royalty payments. The dispute over your royalties resulted in Amazon stoppping the ability for people to buy your recordings in the Amazon European Union and United Kingdom MP3 store.
Until this dispute gets resolved (and we are aggressively and activly working on getting the royalty matter settled) your songs will not be available to buy via Amazon in the UK and EU.
We understand that you may lose income as we fight on your behalf resolve things with Amazon.
And as sure as I am typing this, there will be more disputes like this one.
We don’t know why other entities are not protecting the rights of their customers to ensure artists and songwriters get all the money they are owed. It is most likely because they don’t have the infrastructure to check the royalty statements. In other cases its because they don’t have an understanding of the rules and laws on who is supposed to get paid and why.
Worse yet, entities that claim to represent artists learn about news that hurts their artists and songwriters and, instead of taking action, run from the fight.
Isn’t that how it has been for years?
We should be sticking together for all artists, to change the world for the better. But if we have to do it alone, so be it.
And that’s the question we need TuneCore artists to answer for us. There is a royalty dispute. Do you want to us to fight for you? Do you want to allow digital music stores to sell your music and not pay all your royalties or, when they don’t pay all your royalties, have TuneCore fight on your behalf to get them.
This is your income, these are your rights and this is your decision. If you want things to change and have artists get all their money, there is no other way to do it unless you confront those that are not paying. If you want TunCore to fight for the collective voice of all of you, we will. And we will win – but sometimes it might not be easy and take some time. When these entities are confronted, it is possible they will use every tactic they can to get you to give up.
We know this is easy for us to say as we are not the ones that may be missing out on sales until things are sorted out. But believe it or not, they need you more than you need them. Without you, the music stops and therefore so does their service.
Ultimately, this is your money and we recognize that. You get to decide if you want to fight for it or if you forgo it.
If you want it, we will fight for it. If you don’t we will let it go.
We just need you to let us know….
This is posted on Tunecore’s blog, I thought it was important to post it here.
“All of you have become an impressive force. In just the last three and a half years, through TuneCore, you have sold over half a billion songs and earned over a quarter billion dollars. If you remove major label catalog sales (i.e. The Beatles, etc) all of you represent over 60% of all new music sales in the United States.
The power and market share you control has literally brought us to a crossroads in the music industry – keep things as they are or change them further. You, not TuneCore, get to make this decision.
As many of you may already know, TuneCore has a dispute on your behalf with Amazon regarding your royalty payments. The dispute over your royalties resulted in Amazon stopping the ability for people to buy your recordings in the Amazon European Union and United Kingdom MP3 store.
Until this dispute gets resolved (and we are aggressively and actively working on getting the royalty matter settled) your songs will not be available to buy via Amazon in the UK and EU.
We understand that you may lose income as we fight on your behalf resolve things with Amazon.
And as sure as I am typing this, there will be more disputes like this one.
We don’t know why other entities are not protecting the rights of their customers to ensure artists and songwriters get all the money they are owed. It is most likely because they don’t have the infrastructure to check the royalty statements. In other cases its because they don’t have an understanding of the rules and laws on who is supposed to get paid and why.
Worse yet, entities that claim to represent artists learn about news that hurts their artists and songwriters and, instead of taking action, run from the fight.
Isn’t that how it has been for years?
We should be sticking together for all artists, to change the world for the better. But if we have to do it alone, so be it.
And that’s the question we need TuneCore artists to answer for us. There is a royalty dispute. Do you want to us to fight for you? Do you want to allow digital music stores to sell your music and not pay all your royalties or, when they don’t pay all your royalties, have TuneCore fight on your behalf to get them.
This is your income, these are your rights and this is your decision. If you want things to change and have artists get all their money, there is no other way to do it unless you confront those that are not paying. If you want TunCore to fight for the collective voice of all of you, we will. And we will win – but sometimes it might not be easy and take some time. When these entities are confronted, it is possible they will use every tactic they can to get you to give up.
We know this is easy for us to say as we are not the ones that may be missing out on sales until things are sorted out. But believe it or not, they need you more than you need them. Without you, the music stops and therefore so does their service.
Ultimately, this is your money and we recognize that. You get to decide if you want to fight for it or if you forgo it.
If you want it, we will fight for it. If you don’t we will let it go.
We just need you to let us know….”
I am a loyal TuneCore customer. Things like this happen sometimes and I don’t blame them for it. It seems like a misunderstanding. No one is perfect. They work REALLY hard for their artists. They provide many of us with a service that allows us to make money for our music, to sell our songs throughout the world, and a small issue like this is certainly not enough to make me walk away from them. I’m confident the matter will be resolved, and I hope that my fellow TuneCore artists realize that and stick with them!
I’m confident Tunecore and Amazon can sort this out.
I am absolutely confident tunecore will take the best action in regards to protecting my music and money. Just because they push and amazon doesnt like it does not make them bad representation. They should fight and not always will that result in more online stores to distribute to. But I’d much rather have them protect my rights.
And 99 cents is a weak offer if you wish to stand up to the customer service offered by tunecore
It does sadden me that something of this nature has occured and. I know the gang will sort it alll out. Normally I have worked with many distribution firms in the past and I will tell you that these guys are slowly breathing the soul back into mainstream muusic and I am a man of allaiance..
Instead of reposting there blog piece multiple times.. I think we all as artists, distributors and next aspired multiple million labels sshould drop Amazon a nice letter stating and help TuneCore out where we can. Cause these guys have done so much. Its our time to give back.
Aside from charge you to put your money on iTunes and post here under fake names, what has Tunecore done for you exactly?
No one from Tunecore has actually clarified what royalties they are supposedly not receiving, and no other distributor is having this problem.
I am not confident with a distributor that gets into a fight with one of the biggest retailers in the world on a whim, which is why i removed my music from their service.
If you want to sit around listening to BS while they grow rich off you, you do that. And that goes to the Tunecore employees also who have been posting on these threads