Meg Smith (Photo by Margaret Leyva)
TuneCore, the leading independent development partner for self-releasing artists—owned by Believe, one of the world’s leading digital music companies—has released the second edition of the TuneCore Accelerator Report, showcasing the increased streaming, revenue and fanbase growth self-releasing artists have experienced as a result of the company’s TuneCore Accelerator platform.
Launched in 2023, TuneCore Accelerator is the powerhouse platform that helps independent artists find new audiences and propel fan discovery at each phase of development. This first of its kind platform provides access to promotional and marketing programs designed with clear objectives to help today’s artists: drive the discovery of their music, build their audience, and promote deeper fan engagement. TuneCore Accelerator consists of four development plans specifically customized to serve artists at different stages of their careers:
- START: Early stage of development (tracks garnering <1,000 streams per year)
- Enables artists to find their first listeners
- AMPLIFY: Emerging stage of development (tracks garnering 1K - 9,999 streams per year)
- Builds artist discovery and listener engagement
- BREAK: Accelerating stage of development (tracks garnering 10K - 99,999 streams per year)
- Levels up artists to break and accelerate their fan exposure
- MAXIMIZE: Top stage of development (tracks garnering 100K - 1M+ streams per year)
- Optimizes catalogs of artists whose tracks already have significant audience reach and streams to deepen fandom while also maximizing exposure and catalog value
Andreea Gleeson, CEO, TuneCore, commented, “Throughout TuneCore’s years operating as a digital distribution platform, the industry has been constantly evolving, both providing new opportunities and creating new challenges for artists to get their music heard. It is apparent now more than ever that self-releasing artists—especially those in the early stages of their careers—need more from TuneCore than just distribution; they need access to programs that can help get their music in front of the right audiences to lay the foundation for long-term career growth. With TuneCore Accelerator, we are providing artists with unparalleled access to marketing and promotional opportunities that fuel streaming growth, support audience development, and ultimately help artists make more money.”
TuneCore Accelerator sits at the center of TuneCore’s pivot from an automated distribution service for independent artists to an audience growth and development platform specializing in helping artists in the early stages of their careers lay the foundation for sustainable, long-term growth. The continued expansion of TuneCore Accelerator includes multiple new marketing programs, DSP partner pilots, and access to Believe Group’s proprietary catalog optimizer tool which selects an artist’s tracks with the highest potential for growth to be included in promotional opportunities during each phase of development.
Key findings from the second TuneCore Accelerator Report include:
- In the first half of 2024, TuneCore Accelerator contributed to more than 3 billion track discoveries* for artists in the program.
- Tracks within TuneCore Accelerator gained over 3 billion new discoveries* and experienced nearly 10billion new streams, fueling music discovery and supporting audience development.
- More than 250,000 independent artists around the world have signed up for TuneCore Accelerator.
- In the first half of 2024, tracks from nearly 85,000 artists were selected by TuneCore Accelerator’s proprietary catalog optimization technology to be included in one or more of TuneCore Accelerator’s audience development programs, with almost 30,000 of those artists participating in the program for the first time.
- In the same period, 1 out of 12 artists within TuneCore Accelerator moved to a higher segment level and, on average, more than doubled their monthly royalty earnings compared to the first half of 2023.
- Artists starting out in the “Start” and “Amplify” levels increased their earnings 5x and 3x on average, respectively, in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
- TuneCore Accelerator is driving triple digit growth for both frontline releases and back catalog.
- TuneCore Accelerator’s catalog optimization tools helped significantly increase the value and exposure of artists’ catalog releases, with tracks released more than 18 months prior to inclusion within the program accruing an average 338% increase in streams** in the first half of 2024 compared to their baseline average prior to inclusion in the program.
- TuneCore Accelerator is fueling streaming growth for artists around the world.
- In the first half of 2024, the US showed a streaming growth rate of 33% for tracks within TuneCore Accelerator compared to the same period in 2023. Internationally, West & East Africa, Eastern Europe, LATAM, and Southeast Asia showed the most significant growth, posting 91%, 86%, 68%, and 55% year-over-year streaming growth rates, respectively, for tracks within TuneCore Accelerator.**
