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Getting Your Music Out There, a Look at TuneCore and Founder Jeff Price
With the interviews I’ve conducted so far, I found a common thread that I’d like to address. The rules for getting exposure as an artist have changed dramatically over the last decade or so. Each of the artists I spoke to stressed the importance of “being heard”, and getting your music out to the masses one way or another. The internet has certainly been a powerful new force in that arena, and has become the obvious first step beyond the record companies, as well as searching out distribution companies on your own. But with the new rules, where do you start? I recommend taking a look at the way Jeff Price, founder of a company called TuneCore, is changing the face of online music from the musician’s point of view! I find his approach enlightening, and most definitely “musician friendly”.
Jake Kot, Editor
Meet TuneCore Founder, Jeff Price
Jeff Price wanted to change the world — in particular the outdated business model of the music industry. The New York-based music industry veteran, who’s spent the better part of two decades giving voice to hundreds of eclectic artists (Pixies, Apples In Stereo, Richard Thompson, Ron Sexsmith, Clem Snide, Nellie McKay etc) via his SpinART label, is now taking the indie aesthetic to a whole new realm with the revolutionary delivery and distribution company TuneCore.
Price began honing the TuneCore concept during his four-year stint at eMusic, where he worked as Snr. VP of Content Acquisition, Interim GM of their New York office and Snr. Director of Business Development. In 1997, via his relationship with eMusic, spinART became the first record label in the history of the music industry to put its entire available catalog on-line to purchase as MP3s. As he watched online music sales grow exponentially, he grew increasingly disenchanted with the business practices of aggregators who, he felt, took far more than a pound of flesh for their role in getting music onto consumers’ computers.
“It made no sense to me on a moral or philosophical level,” he says. “Labels and artists were being told they’d have to give up the exclusive digital rights to their masters for a three to five year term, and each time something sold, they’d would have to pay between 15 and 30-percent of the income as a fee to the aggregator. On the one hand aggregators – and now physical distributors moving into the digital realm – want to control the masters like a label, but unlike a label they do not provide advances, A&R support or help, connection to studios to lower recording rates, provide tour support, front the money, and provide the staff, to manufacture CDs, make posters, buttons or stickers, put together street teams, embark on new media marketing campaigns, design, pay for and place specific print or banner adds, send out mailings to press radio or retail stores, hire independent promoters, publicists and countless other label services. On the other hand, like a traditional music distributor, aggregators also want to take a % of the money generated from the sale of the music. Unlike a physical distributor who earns this % via their services, aggregators do not have: a physical warehouse staffed with 40 people picking, packing and shipping orders. a staff to refurbish returned CDs to make them re-sellable, a 30 person sales force that go to actual physical retail stores around the country and speak to the buyers in those stores in an attempt to get shelf space for the new release, provide access to specific cooperative marketing programs in retail stores to increase profile and sales, price protection where the artist/label does not need to worry about collecting money from the retail accounts in order to get paid, insurance covering the physical inventory in their warehouse and countless other services. I was incensed by it.”
For more information, click here to visit Tunecore
Instead of just getting mad, however, Price decided to change the model of the music industry through TuneCore. He’s fond of comparing his business model to Federal Express — a paradigm of physical delivery services — in that TuneCore is predicated on a simple flat-fee transaction, rather than a Byzantine set of financial agreements that takes a disproportionate amount of rights and revenues for access. A band wishing to market its work through the service need only pay a small up-front charge – usually a one time fee under 30 dollars, — and then begin the process of selling.
“We treat it as a service sector model,” says Price. “I think of it as analogous to Fed Ex. You walk into Fed Ex, say ‘deliver this to I-Tunes,’ and they say ‘okay, that’ll be 25 dollars’ and that’s the end of it. The reason is twofold. From a business perspective, I am providing a needed service in a very cost effective way. It also gives me an edge within the market to take on people who are very well funded.”
Word of mouth has earned the company a litany of raves from satisfied customers — a group as varied as Frank Black of The Pixies, Izzy Stradlin of Guns N’ Roses, Joe Ely, Roger O’Donnell of The Cure, Ziggy Marley, Frank Zappa’s estate, the Bottle Rockets, Secondhand Serenade, and Tapes and Tapes, the last of which have regularly spread the TuneCore gospel in interview after interview. Price says that the service’s appeal stems in part from its wallet-friendliness, but also touts its inherent user-friendliness as a major plus.
“There’s a major difference in the way you’re paid with TuneCore,” he says. “Everyone else pays you in royalty cycles, usually quarterly, so they can hold on to your money and earn interest on it. We’ve created a model where people have 24 hour, seven day a week access to their money, so they can take it out whenever they want. In addition, the TuneCore system allows you to use it to administer your finances as well. Use it to pay who you want, whatever you want as often as you want.
“The system is also incredibly easy to navigate. Everything is laid out in a very simple way, so that it only takes a few minutes for an artist to get his or her music out there,” he adds. “You type in the name of a band, of an album, upload the art and you can upload lossless music files immediately. Someone can put in a CD, upload it, and decide where they’d like to sell it and that’s it.”
Price certainly knows something about trying to get music heard. He founded the New York-based independent record label spinART more than 18 years ago, a span that’s seen the release of nearly 200 albums — including acclaimed releases by artists as varied as The Pixies, Richard Thompson, The Eels, Boo Radleys, The Fastbacks, Echo and the Bunnymen, Apples In Stereo, Clem Snide, Nellie McKay, The Church, The Dears and many more. The label, — the first to make its catalog of releases available as paid MP3 downloads — continues to maintain a rigorous release schedule, both under its own name and in partnership with such grass-roots imprints as Nellie McKay’s Hungry Mouse.
Price’s relationships with SpinART’s artists have been invaluable in TuneCore’s evolution — including Price’s current interest in taking the company beyond being a conduit between artist and consumer in the music-delivery realm. He envisions TuneCore as growing into a one-stop of sorts for artists seeking to take control of their own destinies on a basic business level.
“From day one, I wanted to use technology to take the headaches out of being a musician or label by providing services they want at prices lower than they can get on their own — under a new model,” says Price, who’s gone a long way towards achieving that goal already. “Bands can go to the site to make CDs or T-shirts, which they can do in a number from one to infinity. In the near future, they can have the cost debited from their account if they want. I also realized that with the financial aspect, we have a full automated administrative accounting too through which they can pay their mechanical royalties, buy guitar equipment, and make posters, buttons. I want to take the headache out of their lives without taking anything off the back end.”
Price grants that he’s spoken to many industry veterans who at first could not understand how he can make money by not taking money form the sales of the music. But after a conversation discussing the shift in the model from ownership to service provider, the bells would always go off. The fact that the company has delivered thousands upon thousands of releases via its system in its first year — with hundred of new releases coming under its purview each week — bears that out, as do the sales that’ve been driven through the myriad outlets that TuneCore services.
“Some people have asked me how we expect to make money,” Price says with a laugh. “I point out that Fed Ex has a fleet of airplanes around the planet based on 20 dollars at a time. What’s our overhead? Broadband and server space– that’s it. Our knowledge and connections come free with the service. I think the key to our success, though, is that even though we’re a technology company, we’re wrapped in a music industry shell. Everyone here is involved in music in some very basic way, whether that’s playing in a band, working as a DJ, so there’s a mix of passion and expertise, which I see as a winning combination.”
Gear News
New Gear: Esopus Guitars Launches New Acoustic/Electric Bass
Esopus Guitars Launches New Acoustic/Electric Bass…
Esopus Guitars is proud to announce the new “Tailwater” bass guitar, from legendary bass luthier Stuart Spector. This 32” scale bass is handcrafted by Stuart using the only finest woods and components at the Esopus Guitar workshop located near Woodstock NY in the Catskill Mountains.
From its fully carved spruce top (the top is carved on both its exterior and interior surfaces) with a thumb rest that is elegantly carved into the top, to its custom-made Fishman piezo pickup and super hard Carnauba wax finish, every detail of the Tailwater is part of creating the ultimate playing experience.
The Tailwater bass features a fully chambered spruce over alder body (15.5″ lower body bout width, 2.25″ body thickness measuring from the peak of the carved top) that delivers a super comfortable tonal tool for all your low-end needs.
Each Tailwater bass is hand-signed and numbered on the back of the peghead by Stuart Spector. A very limited number of Tailwater basses are handcrafted each year at the Esopus workshop.
“I am proud to present the Tailwater bass, a bass that I have spent the last three years perfecting. The Tailwater is a culmination of all of my 45 years of experience, knowledge, and passion for bass guitar crafting. I am so eager to hear what fellow musicians create with this exciting new instrument.” -Stuart Spector
Direct Pricing : $4995.00 plus options.
For more information about Esopus Guitars and Stuart Spector’s handcrafted instruments, visit www.EsopusGuitars.com.
Bass Videos
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
Ian Allison Bassist extreme…
Most recently Ian has spent the last seven years touring nationally as part of Eric Hutchinson and The Believers, sharing stages with acts like Kelly Clarkson, Pentatonix, Rachel Platten, Matt Nathanson, Phillip Phillips, and Cory Wong playing venues such as Radio City Music Hall, The Staples Center and The Xcel Center in St. Paul, MN.
I had a chance to meet up with him at the Sellersville Theater in Eastern Pennsylvania to catch up on everything bass. Visit online at ianmartinallison.com/
Latest
This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
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Features
Interview With Audic Empire Bassist James Tobias
Checking in with Bergantino Artist James Tobias
James Tobias, Bassist for psychedelic, Reggae-Rock titans Audic Empire shares his history as a musician and how he came to find Bergantino…
Interview by Holly Bergantino
James Tobias, a multi-talented musician and jack-of-all-trades shares his story of coming up as a musician in Texas, his journey with his band Audic Empire, and his approach to life and music. With a busy tour schedule each year, we were fortunate to catch up with him while he was out and about touring the US.
Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Dallas, Texas and lived in the Dallas area most of my life with the exception of 1 year in Colorado. I moved to the Austin area at age 18.
What makes the bass so special to you particularly, and how did you gravitate to it?
I honestly started playing bass because we needed a bass player and I was the one with access to a bass amp and bass. I played rhythm guitar and sang up until I met Ronnie, who I would later start “Audic Empire” with. He also played rhythm guitar and sang and we didn’t know any bass players, so we had to figure something out. I still write most of my songs on guitar, but I’ve grown to love playing the bass.
How did you learn to play, James?
I took guitar lessons growing up and spent a lot of time just learning tabs or playing by ear and kicked around as a frontman in a handful of bands playing at the local coffee shops or rec centers. Once I transitioned to bass, I really just tried to apply what I knew about guitar and stumbled through it till it sounded right. I’m still learning every time I pick it up, honestly.
You are also a songwriter, recording engineer, and a fantastic singer, did you get formal training for this?
Thank you, that means a lot! I had a couple of voice lessons when I was in my early teens, but didn’t really like the instructor. I did however take a few lessons recently through ACC that I enjoyed and think really helped my technique (Shout out to Adam Roberts!) I was not a naturally gifted singer, which is a nice way of saying I was pretty awful, but I just kept at it.
As far as recording and producing, I just watched a lot of YouTube videos and asked people who know more than me when I had a question. Whenever I feel like I’m not progressing, I just pull up tracks from a couple of years ago, cringe, and feel better about where I’m at but I’ve got a long way to go. Fortunately, we’ve got some amazing producers I can pass everything over to once I get the songs as close to finalized as I can.
Describe your playing style(s), tone, strengths and/or areas that can be improved on the bass.
I honestly don’t know what my style would be considered. We’ve got so many styles that we play and fuse together that I just try to do what works song by song. I don’t have too many tricks in the bag and just keep it simple and focus on what’s going to sound good in the overall mix. I think my strength lies in thinking about the song as a whole and what each instrument is doing, so I can compliment everything else that’s going on. What could be improved is absolutely everything, but that’s the great thing about music (and kind of anything really).
Who were your influencers in terms of other musicians earlier on or now that have made a difference and inspired you?
My dad exposed me to a lot of music early. I was playing a toy guitar while watching a VHS of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble live at SXSW on repeat at 4 years old saying I wanted to “do that” when I grew up. I was the only kid in daycare that had his own CDs that weren’t kid’s songs. I was listening to Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, and The Doors when I could barely talk. I would make up songs and sing them into my Panasonic slimline tape recorder and take it to my preschool to show my friends. As I got older went through a bunch of music phases. Metal, grunge, rock, punk, hip hop, reggae, ska, etc. Whatever I heard that I connected to I’d dive in and learn as much as I could about it. I was always in bands and I think I kept picking up different styles along the way and kept combining my different elements and I think that’s evident in Audic’s diverse sound.
Tell me about Audic Empire and your new release Take Over! Can you share some of the highlights you and the band are most proud of?
Takeover was an interesting one. I basically built that song on keyboard and drum loops and wrote and tracked all my vocals in one long session in my bedroom studio kind of in a stream-of-consciousness type of approach. I kind of thought nothing would come of it and I’d toss it out, but we slowly went back and tracked over everything with instruments and made it our own sound. I got it as far as I could with production and handed it off to Chad Wrong to work his magic and really bring it to life. Once I got Snow Owl Media involved and we started brainstorming about a music video, it quickly turned into a considerably larger production than anything we’ve done before and it was such a cool experience. I’m really excited about the final product, especially considering I initially thought it was a throwaway track.
Describe the music style of Audic Empire for us.
It’s all over the place… we advertise it as “blues, rock, reggae.” Blues because of our lead guitarist, Travis Brown’s playing style, rock because I think at the heart we’re a rock band, and reggae because we flavor everything with a little (or a lot) of reggae or ska.
How did you find Bergantino Audio Systems?
Well, my Ampeg SVT7 caught fire at a show… We were playing Stubbs in Austin and everyone kept saying they smelled something burning, and I looked back in time to see my head, perched on top of its 8×10 cab, begin billowing smoke. We had a tour coming up, so I started researching and pricing everything to try and find a new amp. I was also fronting a metal band at the time, and my bass player’s dad was a big-time country bass player and said he had this really high-end bass amp just sitting in a closet he’d sell me. I was apprehensive since I really didn’t know much about it and “just a little 4×10” probably wasn’t going to cut it compared to my previous setup. He said I could come over and give it a test drive, but he said he knew I was going to buy it. He was right. I immediately fell in love. I couldn’t believe the power it put out compared to this heavy head and cumbersome cab I had been breaking my back hauling all over the country and up countless staircases.
Tell us about your experience with the forte D amp and the AE 410 Speaker cabinet.
It’s been a game-changer in every sense. It’s lightweight and compact. Amazing tone. And LOUD. It’s just a fantastic amp. Not to mention the customer service being top-notch! You’ll be hard-pressed to find another product that, if you have an issue, you can get in touch with the owner, himself. How cool is that?
Tell us about some of your favorite basses.
I was always broke and usually working part-time delivering pizzas, so I just played what I could get my hands on. I went through a few pawn shop basses, swapped in new pickups, and fought with the action on them constantly. I played them through an Ampeg be115 combo amp. All the electronics in it had fried at some point, so I gutted it out and turned it into a cab that I powered with a rusted-up little head I bought off someone for a hundred bucks. My gear was often DIY’d and held together by electrical tape and usually had a few coats of spray paint to attempt to hide the wear and tear. I never really fell in love with any piece of gear I had till I had a supporter of our band give me an Ibanez Premium Series SDGR. I absolutely love that bass and still travel with it. I’ve since gotten another Ibanez Premium Series, but went with the 5-string BTB. It’s a fantastic-sounding bass, my only complaint is it’s pretty heavy.
Love your new video Take Over! Let us know what you’re currently working on (studio, tour, side projects, etc.)
Thank you!! We’ve got a LOT of stuff we’re working on right now actually. Having 2 writers in the band means we never have a shortage of material. It’s more about getting everything tracked and ready for release and all that goes into that. We just got through filming videos for 2 new unreleased tracks with Snow Owl Media, who did the videos for both Love Hate and Pain and Takeover. Both of these songs have surprise features which I’m really excited about since these will be the first singles since our last album we have other artists on. We’ve also got a lot of shows coming up and I’ve also just launched my solo project as well. The debut single, “Raisin’ Hell” is available now everywhere. You can go here to find all the links distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jamestobias/raisin-hell
What else do you do besides music?
For work, I own a handyman service here in Austin doing a lot of drywall, painting, etc. I have a lot of hobbies and side hustles as well. I make custom guitar straps and other leather work. I do a lot of artwork and have done most of our merch designs and a lot of our cover art. I’m really into (and borderline obsessed) with health, fitness, and sober living. I have a hard time sitting still, but fortunately, there’s always a lot to do when you’re self-employed and running a band!
Follow James Tobias:
jamestobiasmusic.com
Facebook.com/james.tobias1
Instagram.com/ru4badfish2
TikTok.com/@jamestobiasmusic
audicempire.com
Bass CDs
New Album: Avery Sharpe, I Am My Neighbors Keeper
Avery Sharpe and his Double Quartet to release, I Am My Neighbors Keeper
A new recording will be released on JKNM Records by internationally renowned bassist/composer Avery Sharpe, “I Am My Neighbors Keeper” is scheduled for release in June 2024.
Sharpe has composed a new work that highlights our commitment to one another. Avery initiated the project as a response to the political and racial division that has grown over the past seven years in the country. “The U.S political climate has drastically changed in the past 40-plus years, especially during the last seven of those years. In this age of greed, which Sharpe refers to as “IGM,” I Got Mine, basic human compassion has been eroded. Racial, economic and social strides are being turned back.
“We have food insecurity, the unhoused, pandemics, school shootings, domestic violence, and an opioid problem, just to name some. There is a need to remind people that each of us is here on this planet for a very short period of time. It doesn’t matter if one has a religious approach or a secular approach, it all comes down to concern and compassion for each other. Through these compositions and recordings, Avery’s mission as an artist is to remind us that we all are interconnected and that ‘We Are Our Neighbor’s Keeper.’ When we help to uplift one, we uplift everyone,” Sharpe said.
Each movement in the piece describes the values we should strive for to help one another for this multi-media (video slide show during performance) and multi-discipline performance.
Many of Sharpe’s projects and recordings have been about “standing on the shoulders of ancestors, heroes and sheroes.” Among his recordings and projects, include “Running Man” (celebrating the athlete Jesse Owens), “Ain’t I A Woman” (about Sojourner Truth), and his most recent project “400: An African American Musical Portrait” (marking the 400 years from 1619 to 2019).
Avery Sharpe has recorded and performed with many jazz greats from Dizzy Gillespie to Yusef Lateef. He had an illustrious run of 20 plus years with the legendary Jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, of which he recorded more than 25 records with Mr. Tyner and performed countless worldwide concerts.
Visit online at averysharpe.com/
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
New Gear: The Dingwall John Taylor Signature Model
Interview With Bassist Edmond Gilmore
Have Fret Sprout? Sharp Fret Management… a How-To Video
This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
New Gear: Spector Woodstock Custom Collection Volume II
New Gear: The Dingwall John Taylor Signature Model
Tour Touch Base (Bass) with Ian Allison
