Tunecore hikes yearly renewal from $19.98 to $49.99 for digital distribution even though it advertised a static yearly fee. Brooklyn, Internet

I saw CD Baby mentioned above as an affordable distribution alternative to Tunecore, and yes, obviously I agree, but I wanted to clarify on some of the details.

Whereas Tunecore has a setup fee and yearly maintenance fee of $49.99 per album, CD Baby charges a one-time $39 setup fee per album and then we keep a 9% cut of sales. This way,  if an older album's sales are in decline (as they tend to do after a few years) you won't need to worry about coming up with yearly fees out-of-pocket. CD Baby only makes money when you do! With Tunecore, if you reach a point where sales aren't justifying that $50 expense year after year, they'll remove your music from their distribution catalog, and from iTunes. With CD Baby, we're happy to distribute your music no matter how much money you're earning, forever ever. Forever ever.

I know a lot of artists are frustrated with Tunecore's sudden rate hike right now, so to ease the burden, CD Baby is offering half-off to folks who want to switch to CD Baby. Email cdbaby@cdbaby.com and put "Tunecore Switch" in the subject line (don't forget all your contact info), and we'll not only help you switch to CD Baby, but we'll give you a 50% discount on your submission!

It's true, as of Wednesday, April 6, 2011, album renewal rates are now $49.99 a year (flat, regardless of how many tracks or how many stores the album is distributed into). Ringtone and Single renewal rates remain $9.99, as always. It's the first time we've touched our prices in over three years.

I truly want everyone to understand the change and why it's not arbitrary. We've made some astonishing improvements and additions to our services, offering more features and significant upgrades, such that TuneCore is far more than distribution. In many cases, these improvements will save you time and money, perhaps even in excess of the difference in renewal price. Here's a short list:
 
Free iTunes Trend Reports: Now there are no more monthly or one-time charges for iTunes trend reports. You get them for free! Each iTunes trend report shows detailed information about the person who bought your music in iTunes around the worldthis can include the US city, state, zip code (in the US) or postal code (outside of the US)as well as provide information on how much music you sold and how much money you should expect.

25 Free TuneCore Media Players: Instead of charging for additional media players, every TuneCore account now gets up to 25 free streaming media players. Your custom-made media player can be placed on Facebook, MySpace, your website, and other social networks. Each player allows you to stream your songs, have iTunes buy links as well as a plug into your YouTube channel, Twitter account and link to any other website. You can also list tour dates and to give away a song for free in exchange for an email address.

Free Upgraded Sales Reports: We updated the entire sales reporting system to a professional-grade level, allowing you to filter your sales information by release, song, store, timeframe, highest earned and more. You can view it online or download it as a spreadsheet. For example, when you run a promotion within a specific timeframe, you can filter your sales data to see how that promotion affected your music sales. It's truly a full accounting system, showing in astonishing detail trends and more, with real sales data.

Upgraded Song Uploader: We overhauled the entire upload system, allowing you to upload up to 100 songs at once and more quickly. When the upload is complete, you can now play back each song you uploaded to assure it is the right track. 

Free Exclusive Artist iTunes Ping Page: With an exclusive Artist iTunes Ping Page you can connect directly with iTunes customers and show them videos, tour dates, playlist of music and more. TuneCore will work with Apple directly to set up your own exclusive Artist Ping Account. Check our blog (http://blog.tunecore.com/2010/10/create-your-ping-page.html) to read more about Ping, or download the registration form directly (http://tunecore.typepad.com/files/tunecore-ping-artist-page-submission-2-2.xls).

Changes like these aren't easy to make, and the increase in renewal reflects the time, thought and effort that went into improving TuneCore, for now and for the future. You can imagine the coordination this required, internally and with our partner stores. We haven't so much raised renewals as "right-sized" them.

Of course, I understand there's some frustration: it's a surprise, and while surprises like improved features are welcome, surprises like increased renewals can be a shock. Anyone who'd like to to end the relationship (which would be a shame, especially just as we've improved so many systems), of course every TuneCore artist has that right. It's true, when something isn't renewed, the stores will takedown the music and that removes all reviews and comments. This is not a TuneCore policy. The stores themselves have no mechanism for transfer. Let us know (support@tunecore.com) and we'll begin the takedown process for any or all releases, no questions asked.

Anyone is welcome to write me with any questions.

--Peter

Peter Wells
Co-founder, TuneCore