Your Music on iTunes & Funked Up Complete LE for FREE?

Inspiration Sounds have recently partnered with TuneCore to offer customers a royalty-free sample pack of uncompressed and totally awesome .WAV files for you to use on your next production. TuneCore gets your music into iTunes, Amazon MP3, Rhapsody, Napster and many other stores--even ringtones--around the globe and you get all the money your music earns and you keep all your rights. They offer a fantastic service to producers and musicians worldwide and we are delighted to announce this partnership. Now when you make music you can distribute it worldwide and never sign away your rights.

Funked Up Complete LE (pictured above) features 40 megabytes of free .WAV files unavailable anywhere else, selected from our Funked Up Series of sample packs--yours to download for free whenever you pay to have an album, EP or single digitally distributed through TuneCore.

TuneCore customers (past, present or future) worldwide who have an album paid for delivery to any of TuneCore's digital retailers between 12:01am EST, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 and midnight (11:59pm EST) Jauary 31, 2008, will receive an email containing a link to download Funked Up Complete LE free of charge.

What is Funked Up Complete?

Funked Up Complete is the mother of all sample packs. It features over 1,800 live acoustic loops, riffs and samples performed exclusively by some of the UK's leading instrumentalists and vocalists, suitable for a wide variety of different genres including funk, dance, jazz, house, ethnic and more! All of the content was produced in a state-of-the-art recording studio using Pro Tools HD (TDM), mixed through the legendary Control 24 Mixing Desk and Class A Focusrite preamps. Most samples have been left dry (without effects) to give you maximum sonic control.

How does TuneCore Work?

TuneCore is a digital delivery system. They work with the major download sites internationally and they can deliver your music to iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, AmazonMP3, Music.com and other similar sites. When your track sells at these sites, you keep 100% of the royalties! TuneCore don't take a penny of your sales.

How much does it cost?

TuneCore takes a small, fixed fee for your album (everything is technically an album: a single is just an album with one song). It's $0.99 per track, plus $0.99 for every store you want the album delivered to: these are one-time charges. The annual storage and maintenance fee is $19.98. In return they handle the distribution and deliver your music to the major download sites--and get you the money and sales data back from the stores after your music sells, complete with fully disclosed accounting and instant payment.

Tracking your Sales and Withdrawing your Cash?

You can track your sales by simply logging in to your TuneCore account any time, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. As soon as the stores (iTunes, etc.) provide data and money, it appears on your TuneCore My Account page. When you want to withdraw funds you can request a cheque or direct payment into your PayPal account.

Why should you have your music on iTunes?

Besides being a fantastic sales and marketing channel for your music, iTunes represents music from the world's best-known and loved artists and this is your chance to appear alongside them. Right now, iTunes is the third largest seller of music, period (that includes all bricks-and-mortar stores, too). If you still want to get signed to a label, you can! Prove to them you sell well by showing them your iTunes sales. Send them a link to your music on iTunes. TuneCore is non-exclusive, you can cancel any time and TuneCore will take your music down from all the stores, no questions asked. Impressive, to say the least! You will also be able to actually prove how much you are selling, which is another factor worth knowing!

Should I get Signed? Or should I promote my stuff alone?

Whether you decide to promote your music alone or use your presence on iTunes to get yourself a record deal is totally up to you. Either way, TuneCore can assist. Many of the artists who use TuneCore do their own promotion, and when you can keep 100% of the royalties, you can see why this is appealling, but then again, if you get a good record label behind you they can often get you established much more quickly. TuneCore embraces both labels and artists so either way they are there to support you.

Summary

I hope you enjoyed reading about our recent partnership with TuneCore. We sell thousands of Sample CDs, Virtual Instruments and Sound FX every year, and it's been a pleasure to offer your some practical advice on how to get your music out there. If you have any questions about TuneCore, Funked Up Complete, Getting Signed to a Record Label, then please do not hesitate to contact me personally. I will do my best to assist you in any way I can.

Warm regards,

Mr. Jan Franklin (Owner, Inspiration Sounds)