TuneCore, a digital distribution service for musicians who wish to place their work in streaming music services, released a summary of its 2014 business. It’s a growth story from 2013, as the company added new distribution outlets, tracked more streams, and paid out more royalties to artists.
The headline bullet in today’s announcement is artist payments: the company paid $134-million dollars during 2014, 11% more than the previous year. since 2006, TuneCore has paid a half-billion dollars to its artist customers. TuneCore clients pay an annual rate for the distribution service, and keep all the earnings which spin out from the music platforms.
TuneCore added 150 new outlets last year, distributing music to digital platforms in over 200 countries.
It’s not only global reach which informs TuneCore’s strategy. The service aims to be a multi-dimensional business resource for independent musicians — recording artists and songwriters both. TuneCore acquired DropKloud in December; DropKloud is a location-based app for music promotion. Musicians can tak advantage of LANDR self-service mastering to prepare albums and tracks for release, in addition to a professional mastering service. TuneCore can be the hub for CD manufacturing, merchandise sales, and website building.
The company is is on the year-end infographic bandwagon — click here to see a pictorial summary of 2014 accomplishments.