TuneCore Pays $1M In January Fueled By Indie Artists

Many digital distributors are still trying to find their footing, but one outfit seems to have found its own indie sweet spot.

Customers of TuneCore.com earned $1,059,527.23 in January, 2008, marking the first time the revolutionary digital distribution service has helped musicians generate over $1 million in a single month. TuneCore customers have now earned a total of over seven million dollars from digital sales of their music.

Tunecores revenue growth is in part being fueled by big names like Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, Keith Richards and Jay-Z, But according to the distributor unsigned artists are earning the majority of the revenue generated.

Two examples of artists thriving under the new paradigm:

JOSH KELLEY
In just two weeks in January, major label refugeee Josh Kelley sold 18,000 copies of his album 'Special Company,' and over 47,000 additional individual songs, earning him over $135,000 via Tunecore. Kelley hit #7 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, and #27 on the magazine's Top Independent Albums chart.

MEIKO
Meiko has sold over 100,000 songs since November, 2007. Her self-titled album reached #35 on the iTunes Store Top 100 Albums chart and #1 on the Folk album chart. She was recently featured as an iTunes Store Indie Spotlight artist and Best of 2007 Spotlight artist.

Meiko said, "It's amazing to think that only a few years ago, it was pretty much impossible for an unsigned artist to have their music available to people worldwide...(and) I don't have to chase them down to get paid!"