The music industry has been going through a consistent decline for many years and the onslaught of piracy and newer digital delivery models have all but destroyed the traditional method of doing business. Record labels are seeing their revenues fall significantly and companies are either going belly up or are being acquired to form larger firms with larger collections of assets. These mega companies are looking to get a bigger cut of the business from artists in order to make up for lost profits. This means that new artists are being forced into signing deals in which they are not only giving up a part of the revenue from their music but also from their tours and other merchandise, which used to be a recording artists’ personal domain. A lot of record companies are signing “360 deals” with artists and are getting a share in everything the artist does as a result.
This new shift in the way the record labels deal with talent has caused some newcomers to the industry to go ahead and make a go of it on their own in order to differentiate themselves from the pack. The technology available to artists today allows them to record, produce, distribute and market their own music with relative ease.
A Canadian start up named Tunezy has tapped into this growing demand from artists and has created its own platform that utilizes existing technology to give artists a crowd sourcing record label. They can also use the platform as a promotional tool where social media and gamification is used to get artists noticed. Tunezy even has virtual currency called “Notes” that people can use to support their favorite artists and their songs.
Tunezy also allows their users to give their virtual currency as tips to their favorite artists. All these notes that an aspiring artist collects cannot be changed into real cash but can be used to help get things that the artist will need in the real world to get their career off the ground. This includes things like contracts, studio time and gear.
The freemium model is employed by Tunezy and allows for basically everything on the site to be used for free. However, the site hopes that users will purchase extra notes to get things that they want or that fans will purchase notes to give artists tips and support them.
Derrick Fung, the CEO of Tunezy spoke with Nibletz and had some interesting things to say about his startup. Fung explained his company and its goals by saying that, “Tunezy is a Music Experience Marketplace – a place where Independent Musicians and their fans come together to amplify their connections with one another. We have a virtual currency on the site, called “Notes”, powered by how engaged fans are, and the unique experiences musicians offer on Tunezy. It’s been a fantastic 7 month journey so far, having just launched Public Beta and being featured in numerous media articles, segments, and events. You can learn more about the site first hand by signing up at Tunezy.com.”
Fung also spoke about being a Toronto based entrepreneur and the advantages that has created for his company. He explained, “The start up culture in Toronto and at large is an exciting one. We see consistently talented people come together to make technology magic happen, and we see Tunezy as being one of these companies. Things literally can happen over night, changes is constant, and every day is dynamic.”
Tunezy is going to be taking on the heavyweights of the industry and hopefully the business model is strong enough to create a strong enough ecosystem to help the firm grow and launch the careers of the next big artist in music.
Source: Nibletz
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