TuneCore Digital Music Delivery Service and Distributor Announces Official Launch and Strategic Partnership With Guitar Center

TuneCore, the upstart music distribution service, announced its official launch May 3, coinciding with a series of programs initiated by its strategic partner Guitar Center Inc. After a year of live beta testing, which has helped customers generate over $1.2 million from digital downloads, TuneCore's infrastructure is now able to infinitely scale to serve Guitar Center's massive customer base. TuneCore is the first and only distributor ever to work on a flat fee basis.

With this launch, TuneCore has added additional features, customization and functions making the site more automated, flexible and customizable and leading to an improved user experience. At the same time, Guitar Center Inc., which has made an investment in TuneCore, is promoting TuneCore's functionality and site to its tens of millions of customers while embedding it into all Guitar Center properties - both online and in the physical world.

Guitar Center will market and promote TuneCore's services in a number of ways, from inclusion in their Buyers Guide -- mailed to 2.1 million people in April alone -- to placement and banners within all Guitar Center properties, as well as email blasts, radio spots and much more.

Subsequent opportunities offering qualifying TuneCore customers the ability to sell physical CDs in regional Guitar Center stores as well as additional in-store and on-line promotional vehicles for the artist will roll out over the next six months.

In the 14 months since its beta launch, TuneCore has successfully delivered hundreds of thousands of songs to iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and many others, and its customers have earned 100% of the over 1.2 million dollars from the sale of their music without paying any back-end percentages or giving up their rights.

CEO of Guitar Center Marty Albertson says:

"TuneCore is one of the most significant developments for musicians in the rapidly changing music distribution structure. Guitar Center's customers, most of whom are musicians, benefit from this new do-it-yourself environment. Artists profit from groundbreaking business models such as that of TuneCore, which enables bands to distribute and account for their full song and mobile ring tone sales across most of the online download stores, including iTunes, an opportunity previously not available to independent bands.

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"There has never been a better opportunity for artists to gain exposure to new fans. TuneCore is one of a series of valuable musician services that we offer across our brands to help musicians further their ambitions. TuneCore is well aligned with our philosophy to enable success in today's changing music business."

CEO and Founder of TuneCore Jeff Price says:

"Guitar Center's philosophy - to empower and serve the artist to realize their passion, create music and succeed - is exactly in line with TuneCore's. Guitar Center's customers are TuneCore's customers and vice versa. Not to mention, being able to contribute towards someone's dream and enabling them to succeed is extremely fulfilling on a personal level."

Musicians and labels using TuneCore get 100% of what all the stores and services pay; keep all rights and ownership of their music and master recordings; and sign no contracts. TuneCore is non-exclusive, musicians and labels are never locked in to any terms. In addition, all TuneCore customers can log in and take their money 24 hours a day 7 days a week, all artificial accounting periods are gone,

TuneCore has already caught on with many noted musicians in diverse genres including Frank Black (of the Pixies), Tapes 'n Tapes, Ziggy Marley, MC Hammer, Secondhand Serenade, Izzy Stradlin (of Guns N' Roses), Joe Ely, Ricky Skaggs and Skaggs Family Records, Roger O'Donnell (of The Cure), Juliette & The Licks, comedian Liam Sullivan, Frank Zappa estate and many more.

In addition, an initiative offering customers a 10 percent discount off TuneCore will be available first in West Coast area Guitar Centers followed by a national rollout.

For more information, visit their web site at www.tunecore.com.