Apple made a lot of music fans happy with its iTunes Match feature. For only $24.99 per year, the service scans and matches tracks a user’s library and makes it available from iCloud to other devices. But one group that may be even happier are the independent musicians using TuneCore to sell their music.
The TuneCore Blog has announced some good news for indie musicians using their service to get exposure on iTunes. CEO Jeff Price seems quite happy with the first royalty payment from Apple’s new iTunes Match service, which puts more than $10,000 into the pockets of their musicians in only two months.
“This is magic money that Apple made exist out of thin air for copyright holders,” Price writes.
TuneCore’s CEO goes on to explain how iTunes Match is essentially “found money” for its clients. “Each and every time the consumer either re-downloads or streams a song he or she already has, copyright holders get paid,” Price reveals.
“A person has a song on her computer hard drive,” Price elaborates. “She clicks on the song and plays it. No one is getting paid. The same person pays iTunes $25 for i(Tunes)Match. She now clicks on the same song and plays it through her i(Tunes)Match service. Copyright holders get paid.
“Same action, same song, one makes money for the copyright holder, and one does not,” the CEO writes. “This is found money that the copyright holders would never have gotten otherwise.”
While some artists may be unhappy with their slice of the iTunes Match pie, Price sums it up thusly: “Well, before you were getting zero, now you are getting something.”
It will be interesting to see if iTunes Match becomes a steady income stream for indie musicians -- not to mention major record labels -- as time goes on. After all, at $24.99 per year and with Apple retaining its usual 30 percent share, it would seem like the money would hit a ceiling at some point…
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