TuneCore Finds A Way To Contribute To The Cesspool of Mediocrity: Tunecore claims it can get unsigned artists on digital stores including iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, and Rhapsody, for roughly $30 an album.

“Twenty years ago, an artist with an acoustic guitar and a four-track demo would need to find a label to get her album on the shelves at Tower Records. Getting that contract was a long and painful process for the few who could navigate it; for most, it never led to anything, and that four-track demo was heard only by friends, family, and patrons of the local coffee shop”.
(Ars Technica)

Jeff Price who heads TuneCore tells Ars Technica that “the music industry changed” on the day that TuneCore went live. Any person on the planet “can have access to worldwide distribution; there are no filters,” he says, and he says it with energy.

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow us to re-write the story. Twenty years ago, an artist with an acoustic guitar and a four track demo couldn’t get the album on the shelves at Tower Records because in MOST cases, it wouldn’t deserve such a prime placement. It wasn’t a distribution problem, it was called mediocre product problem.

Distribution won’t increase your popularity and certainly won’t increase sales especially if you’re an unknown artist. Jeff Price sees a marketing opportunity what he calls ‘worldwide unfiltered distribution’. Price is contributing to the cesspool of garbage and certainly doesn’t seem to care about the consumer or the music. Filling iTunes with unfiltered music is comparable to dumping raw sewage in our seas. We don’t need more music, we need better music.

If you’re a serious passionate artist looking to build a fan base and hoping to bring your music to the masses, then getting your songs on iTunes is not the solution. The solution is writing great songs and finding a producer that will attack the songs, making them even better. The next step is to play live and putting on a killer live show. Sell your CD’s at a live show for 5 bucks and you were certainly make a return on your investment. If your worthy and fans want more of you, then consider a line of merchandise including t-shirts. When you begin to feel the buzz and you’re getting hundreds upon hundreds of legit emails requesting music, then consider iTunes; or sell your songs on your website establishing a direct relationship with the fans.

If you’re that person with an acoustic guitar and a four-track demo wanting worldwide distribution, consider yourself a dreamer, certainly not an artist.

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