It can be argued that a music video is a good promotional tool. And while that may be true, bluegrass artists seeking to get a video out to their fans have quite probably felt some frustration. Youtube and other online streaming services can be a good way to let people see your video, but what about getting a higher quality version into the hands of your fans?
TuneCore may be your solution. The company has been around for a while and offers a service allowing you to sell music through iTunes and other similar digital retailers. The way TuneCore works is quite different from other services such as CDBaby. TuneCore charges you a flat rate submission fee (per song, album, or video) along with a yearly hosting fee. After that, you keep 100% of the money paid out by iTunes.
Your video must meet iTunes requirements, and at this time only music videos are being handled by TuneCore. No other type of video will be submitted to iTunes. iTunes sells the videos for $1.99, you get $1.40.
Most videos will cost you $85 upfront and a $20 annual hosting fee. Longer videos may incur a higher setup charge from TuneCore. The upfront submission fee is non-refundable, so if iTunes rejects the video for quality reasons, you lose the money.
A band would only need to sell 75 copies of the video through iTunes to break even during the first 12 months.
If your band does submit a video that gets accepted into the iTunes store, please let us know so we can get the word out here to the bluegrass community.
