MUMBAI: Leading independent DIY digital music distributor TuneCore, owned by global digital music company Believe, introduces distribution to Social Platforms, a first of its kind, new distribution service, whereby music can be uploaded to social media networks as a pre-step to releasing music to streaming and download platforms. The service was created as a one-stop solution to facilitate discovery and virality for independent artists while monetizing their music right away. The announcement was made today by Andreea Gleeson, Chief Executive Officer, TuneCore.

Said Gleeson, “In the past few years, social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook have become the first stage for music discovery, providing a new way for music creators to start building audiences and accelerate discovery and virality. With the launch of distribution to Social Platforms, TuneCore is offering a one-stop solution for artists to release and monetize their music on key social media platforms with no-upfront fee to provide an easily accessible launchpad for creators.”

With the Social Platforms service, creators are now able to distribute their music directly into the music libraries of social media networks including TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Reels. There is no upfront fee for this new service. TuneCore will participate in a small share of revenues generated by the tracks on the platforms.  

When an artist posts a video of a new song directly on their social channels, they may get views and followers, but their music is not easily accessible for other creators to use in their posts and the artist does not generate revenue. Through Social Platforms, music creators can now make their songs available in the music libraries of key social media platforms easily in one step, increasing virality opportunities for their music and monetizing their art immediately.

Discovery algorithms of social media platforms have helped indie artists breakthrough to large audiences in different ways.

TuneCore artist Charlotte Sands is a prime example of how virality breeds success. In November of 2020, Sands posted a demo of her song “Dress.” Just a few hours after posting, the TikTok video had gone viral. The comments section was filled with requests for her to release the song - fans wanted to hear the entire song, not just the snippet she posted.

Sands released the song a few days later, and “Dress” was featured on multiple coveted Spotify playlists including New Music Fridays, Teen Beats, New in Pop, Fresh Finds Pop, and she was the cover artist for that week’s Fresh Finds playlist. Currently Sands has over 1million monthly listeners on Spotify, with “Dress” clocking in at 11 million streams, and the original video on TikTok at 1.3 million plays. She’s signed to TuneCore’s parent company Believe and released a new EP earlier this fall. The rest of this year has her touring the country as the opening act for Yungblud. All of this happened in less than one year and all because she posted a demo on TikTok.

Gleeson continued, “With social media, there are no gatekeepers, the fans decide what they like and what goes viral. As fan behavior and music discovery changes, artists need to pivot as well. TuneCore is not only enabling indie artists to connect with fans, and viral moments, we’re helping them to monetize those interactions.”

Distribution to Social Platforms becomes the pre-step to a wider release plan. If the music is good, fans will find it and crowdsource its popularity. With TuneCore Social Platforms, creators are able to test an unlimited number of songs for no upfront fee. As songs gain traction, creators can, with just a few clicks, distribute their music through TuneCore, where standard fees apply, to over 150 stores and streaming platforms worldwide.