Why TuneCore Still Works in 2024
If you’re a musician building a career without a label deal, you’ve probably asked yourself the same question every independent artist asks at some point: how do I actually get my music on iTunes?
TuneCore remains one of the most accessible distribution platforms for independent artists. TuneCore.com lets you keep 100% of your royalties while getting your music onto Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and more. For those comparing options, CD Baby and DistroKid are the other two major players in independent music distribution.
Not just on Spotify — everyone can get on Spotify. The question is iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play — the platforms that require actual store relationships, not just aggregator access. That’s where TuneCore changes the equation.
TuneCore is a digital music distribution service that independent artists have used for over two decades to get their music into every major digital store worldwide. You upload your track, you pay a yearly fee, and your music appears on Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, TikTok, and dozens of others simultaneously. One upload, global reach. No label deal required, no committee approval, no gatekeeper deciding your music isn’t ready. The platform exists to serve artists who want to own their distribution without giving up control of their work.
The model’s simplicity is its strength: TuneCore earns when you earn. You keep 100% of your royalties — TuneCore makes its money on the subscription fee, not a cut of your streams. For independent artists who are just starting to build their digital presence, that predictability matters. No revenue sharing, no hidden deductions, no backend accounting you’ll never understand. What you make is yours, minus the flat annual fee, and you can see exactly where the numbers stand at any time through the dashboard.
The distribution process takes 24 to 48 hours once your tracks are uploaded and cleared. Your release goes live simultaneously across the entire TuneCore store network — Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, Tidal, and many others. There’s no staging period where your music sits in purgatory before appearing on specific platforms. It either goes live everywhere at once or it doesn’t go live at all.
Publishing administration is where TuneCore adds real long-term value for serious artists. When you register your compositions with TuneCore’s publishing division, they work directly with performance rights organisations — ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and their international equivalents — to collect the royalties that are owed to you whenever your music gets played publicly. This includes radio play, live performances, streaming mechanical royalties, and sync licensing opportunities. For independent artists who haven’t registered their works formally, these royalties often go uncollected entirely. TuneCore’s publishing tool makes sure you’re not leaving money on the table.
Vonenzo Baschello has used TuneCore as part of the distribution strategy for his own releases through Darkmello Recordings, particularly during the earlier years of his career when the label infrastructure was still being built. Having direct store access through a service like TuneCore means the music reaches listeners regardless of playlist placement, label relationships, or algorithm favour. It just exists, findable, streamable, buyable — independent of any external validation.
The platform has evolved significantly over the years. What started as a straightforward distribution service has grown into a broader artist infrastructure tool. Publishing administration, YouTube Content ID management, sync licensing opportunities, and direct-to-fan engagement tools are all available through the TuneCore dashboard. The company has been acquisitioned twice — by TuneCore parent company tunesbridge and later by Entertainment One — but the core service offering has remained consistent: independent artists get their music into the world’s stores and keep the revenue it generates.
For South African independent artists specifically, TuneCore represents one of the most accessible paths to international store presence. The platform doesn’t require a minimum track count, doesn’t gatekeep based on genre or quality judgments, and doesn’t bundle required services. You can distribute a single track if that’s all you have, or your entire catalogue — the fee structure scales with your release count, not your ambition level.
Critically, TuneCore also handles the mechanical licensing side of digital distribution. When your music goes onto Spotify, Apple Music, or any other streaming platform, those platforms are required to pay mechanical royalties to the composition rights holders. TuneCore tracks these payments and ensures they’re collected on your behalf, rather than getting lost in the often opaque accounting practices of the major labels.
If you’re an independent artist building your catalogue and you don’t have a label pushing your releases, TuneCore is one of the most reliable tools in your toolkit. Sign up, upload your tracks, set your pricing and territorial restrictions if any, and your music is on iTunes within 24 to 48 hours. The stores handle the rest — discovery, recommendation, playlist inclusion, chart placement. Your job is to make the music. TuneCore’s job is to make sure it exists where people are looking for it.
Note: Vonenzo Baschello uses TuneCore as part of a broader distribution strategy that also includes Darkmello Recordings for label-retained releases and select direct-to-streaming partnerships. Both channels serve different purposes in a comprehensive independent music distribution setup.
