Members Anderton Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Suppose I place some songs with TuneCore. How do I get paid? Does TuneCore act as a collector from the various online outlets, then cut the checks? Or would I get paid from the services that offer the downloads? Also, most record company contracts give the artist the right to inspect the books to make sure that royalty payments are in order (although trying to actually implement that clause is not always easy...). If TuneCore does the payments, do they have a similar clause? And can TuneCore look at the books for, say, iTunes to make sure TuneCore is getting accurate information? In other words, I basically trust TuneCore, but as more and more digital download sites appear, who makes sure they're giving honest stats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PeterTuneCore Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Suppose I place some songs with TuneCore. How do I get paid? Does TuneCore act as a collector from the various online outlets, then cut the checks? Or would I get paid from the services that offer the downloads?Also, most record company contracts give the artist the right to inspect the books to make sure that royalty payments are in order (although trying to actually implement that clause is not always easy...). If TuneCore does the payments, do they have a similar clause? And can TuneCore look at the books for, say, iTunes to make sure TuneCore is getting accurate information?In other words, I basically trust TuneCore, but as more and more digital download sites appear, who makes sure they're giving honest stats? Well, I can only speak for TuneCore, and again, my purpose here isn't really to answer questions about my company. So the short answer: the stores (iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.) have accounting periods, some of which are monthly (the monthly services provided accounting information and payment within 45 days after each month), some of which are quarterly (the services that report quarterly send out the accounting information and payments within 45 days after the end of the quarter). Your money, the accounting detail and sales information is displayed in your TuneCore MyAccount page available for you view, download or withdraw at will 24/7. You receive 100% of the revenue (TuneCore takes no backend) and all the detailed accounting information supplied by the store or service. We won't work with a store that we don't think is fair, and we check up pretty thoroughly. But it's their store, only they can tell what they sold and report it. It's very much not in their interest to fudge any numbers, most of them are publicly traded and the resulting lawsuits that could ensue if they were lying or stealing would probably be enough to destroy them. This is one of the things that worries us about new stores, and one of the reasons we don't stuff our customers' content into every new store that shows up. Until a store has PROVEN they will pay accurately, promptly and also account thoroughly, every single period, we won't do business with them. Finally, you ask about "the books." "The books" are supplied by the stores every accounting period, that's what they send and is displayed in your MyAccount page. In the event a TuneCore customer has any questions, we will make sure they are answered and provide all the information supplied by each store and service. Again, I don't want to sing the praises of TuneCore--these are just reasonable, honorable business practices I hope are true of every distributor, digital or otherwise. --Peterpeter@tunecore.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted December 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Well, I can only speak for TuneCore, and again, my purpose here isn't really to answer questions about my company. I didn't mean to put you on the spot, but you're off the hook talking about TuneCore because I asked you I just figured you'd know how the process works, and yup, I got the answers I needed. These are just reasonable, honorable business practices I hope are true of every distributor, digital or otherwise. Are you sure you've involved in an aspect of the music business ? Seriously though...remember, I was brought up in the Major Label world, and "reasonable" business practices meant anything from a false set of books, to shifting assets to a different company, to "returns" that mysteriously disappeared ("yes, well, we deducted the returns from your royalties...we, uh, destroyed the albums so they couldn't be, uh, y'know, resold..."). And I'm still owed thousands of dollars of royalties from some CDs I did in the 60s that were re-released on Collectibles records...I'm sure the guy who convinced Collectibles he had the rights (it wasn't the fault of Collectibles) knows it would cost me more in lawyer fees to recover the royalties than I would make from the royalties themselves. So forgive me if my paranoia shows through from time to time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PeterTuneCore Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Are you sure you've involved in an aspect of the music business ? Ha ha! I get that a lot. The biggest thing that people say to me is "what's the catch?"--they simply cannot conceive that we aren't up to no good. But by golly, the technology is there and the way of doing business is such that it's possible to actually treat artists fairly and STILL have everyone happy: fans get good music at reasonable cost, artists get paid, we make a fine living, stores get content and their cut. If only the whole world worked that way... --Peter peter@tunecore.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sabriel9v Posted December 28, 2007 Members Share Posted December 28, 2007 Do you need a Paypal account for TuneCore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PeterTuneCore Posted December 29, 2007 Members Share Posted December 29, 2007 Do you need a Paypal account for TuneCore? Nope. You pay through PayPal, but it's not necessary to set up an account with them. They're just providing our credit card "front end," so to speak. --Peterpeter@tunecore.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted December 29, 2007 Author Members Share Posted December 29, 2007 Peter -- I know you're a bit uncomfortable talking too much about TuneCore, but the fact is people ARE interested in what you are doing so don't worry too much about it. Let me emphasize that this forum is open to all those involved in online distribution, so their voices can be heard as well. I just really appreciate that you're available to clue us in to how at least your part of this world works. We're certainly open to hearing how others do it. But I gotta say, I've learned more about online distribution in the past two weeks by following this forum than I have in the previous several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sabriel9v Posted December 29, 2007 Members Share Posted December 29, 2007 Peter -- I know you're a bit uncomfortable talking too much about TuneCore, but the fact is people ARE interested in what you are doing so don't worry too much about it. Let me emphasize that this forum is open to all those involved in online distribution, so their voices can be heard as well. I just really appreciate that you're available to clue us in to how at least your part of this world works. We're certainly open to hearing how others do it. But I gotta say, I've learned more about online distribution in the past two weeks by following this forum than I have in the previous several years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PeterTuneCore Posted December 29, 2007 Members Share Posted December 29, 2007 Peter -- I know you're a bit uncomfortable talking too much about TuneCore, but the fact is people ARE interested in what you are doing so don't worry too much about it. Let me emphasize that this forum is open to all those involved in online distribution, so their voices can be heard as well. I just really appreciate that you're available to clue us in to how at least your part of this world works. We're certainly open to hearing how others do it. But I gotta say, I've learned more about online distribution in the past two weeks by following this forum than I have in the previous several years. Okay! Hey, give my leash an inch and I'll take a yard. I'll happily answer all questions about TuneCore. We could even start a thread specifically about it, if you want, to keep it all in one place, and to which we can refer people who ask redundant questions that have already been answered. --Peterpeter@tunecore.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cry Logic Posted December 30, 2007 Members Share Posted December 30, 2007 ".....I've learned more about online distribution in the past two weeks by following this forum than I have in the previous several years.....". Me too..... :thu: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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