TuneCore Message Board

Sony announces iTunes competitor for music, movies, books

Mustafa — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:53:32 GMT

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/19/sony_announces_itunes_competitor_for_music_movies_ books.html

Sony on Thursday revealed it intends to launch an online store to sell music, movies and books, called Sony Online Service, designed to compete with Apple's iTunes.

According to BusinessWeek, the technology giant announced the tentatively named service during a management strategy meeting in Tokyo. It noted that the store is likely to "bear some similarities" to iTunes, as the company attempts to tie it to some of its most popular consumer electronics.

Sony reportedly plans to base its iTunes-like service on the existing PlayStation Network, a free online community that allows gamers to compete and communicate with one another, as well as purchase content. PSN currently has 33 million registered users worldwide.

"Sony will try to differentiate its service from iTunes," the report said. "One example: Users will be able to upload videos shot on camcorders, save photos taken with digital cameras, and post other digital content to their personal online accounts. That's how Google's suite of Net-based services (such as YouTube video-sharing and Picasso photo site) works. At some point down the road, Sony would consider letting independent software developers create applications for the service, much the way Apple does for its iPhone."

Sony competes with Apple in a number of markets, including MP3 players, portable games, computers and living room media players. Sony's announcement comes as the company has faced a number of struggles across its many businesses. Last year, the company lost $2.6 billion.

Sony has recently changed its focus to adopt a concrete software strategy. Under the direction of CEO and Chairman Howard Stringer, the company has attempted to shift away from its low-margin hardware business.

In 2005, Sony lured Apple executive Tim Schaaff away from the Cupertino, Calif., company. He was named Sony's senior vice president of software development.

Sony recently went download-only for software on its new PSPgo, a revised version of the PlayStation Portable handheld gaming platform. Much like Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch, the system offers a library of games that can be instantly purchased and downloaded.

Forum: DID YOU HEAR? What's happening in the industry now.

Nu-Prog anybody/

lapt0p — Thur, 19 Nov 2009 12:51:23 GMT

I have a Prog opera out on Tunecore/itunes.. its called the Golborne Variations.. It features Pink Floyd Bass Player Guy Prat amongst others... you can preview it here...

http://www.jccarroll.com/GV/GVPre.htm

Forum: REVIEW SWAP! You review my music, I'll review yours.

Royalty split help need

TheImmaterial — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:10:17 GMT

Hello,

I play in a band and we're looking to release our first album soon and the question of royalties has come up. It's a tricky situation as we're a three piece but the majority of the writing is done by one guy. We're not expecting to make much (if any) money but we think it'd be best to get these things sorted to avoid any disagreements later down the line.

We had a look on the net and found that there's usually a distinction drawn between mechanical royalties (the recorded tracks) and writer's royalties (people who wrote the songs). We feel that we've put an equal amount of effort into producing the recording so wouldn't mind splitting the mehanical royalty equally. It's the writing side that is tricky.

We saw that the usual split for writers seems to be either 50/50 lyrics and music or 33% lyrics, 33% melody and 33% music but that there's no hard and fast rule.

What i was hoping is if anyone could shed any light on how they do things? What is the usual split between mechanical royalty and writer royalty of an actual album sale (is it 50/50 or do the writers get a smaller share than the label?) Do people even bother making the distinction between writer and mechanical if you're not on a label? Do you just split things equally? Do you decide the split based on a vote? Do you just get paid for how much you put in? Does the drummer always end up missing out?

If you're interested the individual contributions breakdown like so:

Person A: 13/13 lyrics, 4/13 melodies, 13/13 guitar, 6/10 bass,
Person B: 9/13 melodies, 4/10 bass
Person C: 10/10 drums
So
Person A: has 100% of the lyrics, 30% melodies, 57% music so 61% of all material
Person B: has 70% of the melodies, 12% music so 22% of all material
Person C: has 31% of the music so 17% of all material

Forum: BULLETIN BOARD: Musician/Band/Help Wanted, Gear for Sale, Gigs/Calendar

upload check please

vries — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:05:06 GMT

as posted before it would be very good if we could listen to our uploaded wavs for final check.
When uploading a file the uploadbar fills up within a few seconds, after that the verifying circle takes a few minutes, and then the upload-window disappears without any confirmation is this to be expected?
Peter says that "when it's green, it's good" , on my page the "edit" and "delete" buttons next to to song are green after uploading, does that mean all is good?

Rene

Forum: General: Talk to us here, give suggestions.

3 day distribution no longer available?

dftba_records — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:14:30 GMT

I was searching the Promotions page for the 3 day iTunes distribution deal for $295 and couldn't find it. Is this offer no longer available?

Forum: General: Talk to us here, give suggestions.

Analysis: Vinyl, Digital Sales Hit New High Marks

Mustafa — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:11:31 GMT

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i9ba793168e904e3ee69da6ae4f6cc0fd#

Analysis: Vinyl, Digital Sales Hit New High Marks
November 11, 2009 - Digital and Mobile | Retail

By Glenn Peoples, Nashville

Vinyl and single track download sales set new records last week, according to data from Nielsen SoundScan. The two events represent very different trends that were born from the rising popularity of digital music.

As of November 8, four artists broke Rihanna's single-year digital tracks sales record of 9.9 million tracks: Michael Jackson (11.3 million tracks year-to-date), Lady Gaga (11.1 million tracks year-to-date), Black Eyed Peas (10.3 million tracks year-to-date) and Taylor Swift (9.98 million tracks year-to-date). The top three artists have already topped 10 million tracks sold this year and one, Taylor Swift, will surely pass the mark next week. Next week, sales of digital albums should surpass last year's total of 65 million and sales of digital tracks should top the 1 billion mark.

Year-to-date vinyl record sales topped two million units last week, breaking the previous record of 1.9 million units last year. At the same point in time last year, SoundScan had tracked 1.5 million sales of vinyl records.

That's roughly a 37% year-over-year improvement. Vinyl has come a long way from the period in the '90s when it was a format that was almost exclusively used by underground rock bands and DJ-oriented genres. Many years passed when most artists - especially mainstream artists - did not have vinyl releases (many still do not have vinyl releases). Though it gained momentum towards the end of the decade, it wasn't until the mid-2000s when new releases of all stripes were being released on vinyl, when it was seen as a purer way to experience music in an era of near-ubiquitous digital music. Labels started offering MP3 downloads with vinyl purchases, thus creating a great digital-physical combination. Today, consumers can find vinyl in both mass merchants and the usual Independent stores.

The two trends - digital sales on one hand, vinyl records on the other - could not be more different. For all the efficiencies of digital music's distribution and supply chain, vinyl counters with an equally expensive and inefficient process. Yet, the two are on the rise.

There is no doubt digital formats represents the future of recorded music. iTunes is just the beginning. New types of digital services promise to change how consumers acquire and experience music. Yet the concurrent rise of digital and vinyl tells us this: Through their purchases of vinyl, a small yet dedicated group of music fans are showing artists and labels that digital does not fill all their needs.

Forum: DID YOU HEAR? What's happening in the industry now.

Shockhound & Amie Street

Gweb — Thur, 12 Nov 2009 00:37:29 GMT

Why is that, despite Tunecore doing a great job, the stores: shockhound and Amie Street still do not show our release... it's been nearly three months!! Do those stores operate differently?

Forum: PRODUCTS & SERVICES: Talk about what we provide and how

Clearer ways to identify UPC & ISRC

Gweb — Thur, 12 Nov 2009 00:30:29 GMT

I have yet to find my ISRC code that was assigned to me, I can find the UPC code... maybe someone could help.

Also, I am trying to register the song here in the UK with the body which issues ISRC codes (PPL) and wonder if there will be an issue using the ISRC code that was auto-generated by Tunecore (it will be a USA ISRC code I'm assuming) - should be ok?

Also, is there way - or any value in changing the ISRC code to be an official one given by the PPL? Or now that the ISRC has been issued, is that it now forever?

Forum: General: Talk to us here, give suggestions.

Very disappointed with Tunecore CD manufacturing

Rev2010 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:18:44 GMT

I received my CD's today (100 for $300) and am sad to say the quality is subpar, lower than what I could've done at home with my Epson inkjet printer (which prints directly on printable CD's.

I'm posting this with the intent of helping others decide whether using Tunecore manufacturing is right for them. I know Peter has a very open policy about not deleting negative posts so hopefully this will remain up.

So, on to the issues. Graphically everything is aligned correctly and matches the layout of the templates I used. Thank God I redid my layouts with Oasis' templates before sending out the images. While Tunecore's template are correct, they don't have anywhere near the level of "safe lines" and such as the Oasis templates. After doing the graphics I literally just copied and pasted them back into the Tunecore templates. So all came out well in that department. However, the semigloss paper is more matte than anything and is very dull and bland. What looks fantastic printed on economy HP semi gloss paper using my printer looks dull and boring on their paper. The biggest gripe I have however is the jagged white crease lines where they fold the 6 panel insert. The ink obviously didn't stay on the paper when they folded it so I have these clearly noticeable ugly jagged white fold lines going through my black background. You see it immediately right through the jewel case when looking at it. And flip the jewelcase over and you can clearly see it on the edges of the traycard. Very amateur, this is the *primary* thing I wanted to avoid and hence had a company do this rather than do it at home.

This is basically what I'm referring to (found this image which is enough to explain - look at the red areas of the binders:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/2314775565_26fd8b9ffd.jpg

Next up, the CD... man... what a let down!! LOW quality printing which completely stunned me due to the fact that offset printing is supposed to be far superior to silkscreening. The CD is black with light grey 10's in a circular pattern. Well, the grey looks like it's made of small multicolored dots, almost like a colored version of TV static. When I printed the same image to a CD using my Epson it looked phenomenal! Not so with Tunecore's manufacturing. And to make things worse, there are horizontal band lines in the ink instead of a smooth even coat of black ink. And to get to the absolute worst... there are white specs in the ink at spots on the disc! If you've ever printed a CD label on a laserjet printer and saw how the toner wears off the paper in time - well it looks similar to that.

The underside of the CD is clearly a CDR. You'd have to have really bad eyes not to be able to distinguish the difference between it and a real pressed disc. But that aspect was the least of my concern, at least it's not a blue or green CDR. As someone else mentioned it's more a champgne color - like a very slight yellowish tinge to it.

So, I'm very saddened by this and am kicking myself. I had originally placed the order and then considered canceling and going with Oasis now that their minimum order is 300 - comes out to just over $1000. I've always held the belief, if you're going to do something do it right, best to get it done correctly and over with. My step father's father used to tell the family "We can't afford to buy cheap" and that's partially where I got that mentality from. Everything I've done for my music has always been done by this strict rule except for these CD's. This is the one time I opted to go the cheap route and totally regret it.

When you're wife is upset with you cause you cheaped out instead of doing it right even though the better route is $700 more... well that speaks for itself.

Now, if you don't mind CD's that look like they were done at home, or actually worse than that, then the service might be for you as it's cheap and they do it all for you, except the graphics of course. If quality means something to you and your band or projects image than do yourself a favor and go with real CD production or buy an Epson Artisan and do it yourself!

Rev.

Forum: PRODUCTS & SERVICES: Talk about what we provide and how

A couple of things...

LHPRecords — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:56:31 GMT

A couple of things I would like to see, this would really help Tunecore offer a more 'whole' service, making it easier for artists/labels to do more without having to travel from site to site to PR company to licensing company...

1) More physical distribution options
2) The possible production of vinyl records - this medium is still huge with the DJ scene
3) Working with HMV, Play.com, last.fm, ilike, MTV, VH1, NME
4) More mobile phone sites - virgin, organge, T Mobile...
5) The option for ringtones
6) Spotify
7) Licensing - TV/film etc
8) Twitter / RSS - All artists released pushed through this
9) Promotion of releases - especially through viral networks, but also traditional media like magazines, newspapers and radio stations
10) Review sites - Giving feedback on releases by professionals (also helps with promotion)
11) Gigs / tours / venues - US, UK and Europe

Don't forget Tuncore, while the US maybe the music centre of the world...many of us dont live there and need hellp accessing local markets in our own countires...

Forum: General: Talk to us here, give suggestions.

my prediction about EMI

kutmusic — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:16:07 GMT

it will be bankrupt and sold in pieces within 6 months.

Forum: PREDICT IT: What's the future of music online?

Universal

Mustafa — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:06:33 GMT

I couldn't help myself but this is from http://twitter.com/TuneCore

Universal distribution sites for Interscope, Island Def Jam, Republic and Motown live through TuneCore. Press release Wednesday morning.

Forum: General: Talk to us here, give suggestions.

Two questions regarding 15% off promotion...

transducr — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:35:05 GMT

#1: Under the promotion it gives you the option to get a code for "single" distribution for $9.99. Isn't this what it already costs for a single (I've used the single feature a few times)? If not, why wasn't there some sort of email about the price increase?

Speaking of which, why isn't there clear and easy-to-find information on exactly what the products and services cost anymore?

#2: The promotion also states: "Albums delivered to Amazon Disc on Demand must be under 78 minutes in length." It has been previously stated on this forum, on more than one occasion, by Peter that releases couldn't exceed 74 minutes total. The wording of this suggests that this is no longer the case and, in fact, the only store that you must limit that length for is the one that sells physical discs. And even that store apparently adds 4 minutes to the previously established max.

Clarification please?

Forum: PRODUCTS & SERVICES: Talk about what we provide and how

Distribution Sale?? end in october, but now november..?)

stekfdd — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:42:02 GMT

I find distribution sal album, info say about distribution sale end at 31 october..

but now i can go to this page and buy this sale??? or not??

written that is to 31october, now november... its functionality or this promotion is really end at now?

Forum: PRODUCTS & SERVICES: Talk about what we provide and how

Copied Widget Code How Insert in Web Page

midivox — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:51:59 GMT

Hello Everyone
    I am making a new web site and want to stick the songplayer widget on my web site.
    I copied the widget code into the clipboard but do not know anything about how to save or convert the clipboard widget code into a Flash swf file.
    My web site design software has a Insert Flash Movie command, but to use it I have to save the widget code I copied into the clipboard as a Flash swf file and then import the file into web site design software.
    My web site design software has insert text file, insert html file, I tried those that did not work.
    So, now that I have copied the widget code, what do I do with it?
    Do I need software that creates or saves Flash files?
    And once I have the swf file, do I embed it in my web site?
Thanks
Happy Songs
MidiVox

Forum: General: Talk to us here, give suggestions.