While searching for an alternative to TuneCore which would be able to add the "Classical" tag to my music, I came across watunes. Not quite clear how the costing is: on one blog entry a monthly fee of $10 is mentioned, but when I signed on, there was no mention of a fee at all - indeed, their service is FREE!
And WaTunes has the "classical" category - which is absolutely essential for my music. Also, they do have a great array of sub-cagetories, something that TuneCore does not have at all. They require only MP3 files (320 bps), no wave files. And they need the artwork only at resolution 600x600, not like TuneCore which requires 1600x1600.
So I think I will give it a try and upload there. Pity for you, TuneCore, that you guys were not able to fix the genre classification... but if I would publish all my music under those incorrect tags, nobody would ever find the files.
Some of the WaTunes interface is not yet stable. I tried to edit my account information, and while it had accepted everything when I signed on, it complained that my username was too long when I wanted to edit my account info. Also the system had forgotten that I wanted to sign on as artist, not as listener... and after I had created an yet empty album, I should have written down the UPC code - because that one is needed when preparing uploading the content. In order to see the UPC code, one has to go back to the main page and go to "My Discography".
It seems that the web developers for those online music distribution sites are a bit overworked, not being able to address simple issues such as classical music tagging or managing correctly the database access, but I guess this will change in the future.
WaTunes: cover art costs $20. TuneCore: cover art is free.
Stores for WaTunes (free): iTunes (no country specified), eMusic, ShockHound. For an additional $29.99 VIP charge per year, more stores are offered: Napster, Amazon, AmieStreet, zune, masterbeat, beatsdigital, and others, including mobile phone stores.
Stores for TuneCore: iTunes, Napster, Amazon, eMusic, ShockHound, AmieStreet, rhapsody, IMVU, Lala.
Hi Reinhold,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your great mention. WaTunes is definitely paving the way music artists and record labels sell their music. Our goal is to place the power of online music distribution back into your hands. To first point out, the $10 monthly fee has been eliminated since March 3rd, 2009 when we make this historical announcement to the world to offer an entirely free service.
There are a lot of features and bug fixes that we are working on with the new update of WaTunes (known as WaTunes New Experience or WaTunes N.E.). Through the WaTunes Free service, customers are able to gain entry into iTunes, eMusic, and ShockHound while they earn 100% of their royalties. Customers can even sell unlimited songs and albums, how they want, whenever they want!
For customers who want to take their music to the next level, we introduce the new WaTunes VIP service. For just $29.95 per year, we up the ante by providing you the following services:
- Sell Unlimited Songs & Music Videos
- Get on more stores including (Amazon, Rhapsody, Zune, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360!)
- Get unlimited iTunes Weekly Trend Reports
- Get considered for Marketing & Promotions
- Offer up Free Music Downloads
- Get Expedited Content Deliveries (1-4 weeks for priority content delivery)
- And More!
Once again, thank you for your mention and if you have any other questions (regarding more info on the company, score a 1-on-1 interview with me, etc.), don't hesitate to drop us a line at: press@watunes.com. Looking forward to working with you and your music. :)
Kevin Rivers
CEO, WaTunes.com
Thanks for the comment, Kevin!
ReplyDeleteThis certainly puts WaTunes ahead of TuneCore, to have such a rapid response and a comment post from you onto my blog!
Hey Reinhold,
ReplyDeleteThanks, we're all about Customer Service and providing a prompt response is our specialty. ;)
Let us know if you need anything at all and either myself or one of my CSRs will get a hold of you pronto! :)
Kevin Rivers
CEO, WaTunes.com