TuneCore vs ONErpm [An Honest Review From An Indie Artist]

You've landed on this page because you want to know who will come out on top in the review of TuneCore vs ONErpm.

I've spent countless hours researching who might be the best music distributor for an independent artist. In this case, TuneCore vs ONErpm could be a good option for you so let's break down this post in my favourite six categories that I like to dive in on for my music distribution reviews. By the way, after reading this post if you want to start with TuneCore, I can offer you a 20% discount with this link here. I get a tiny kickback from the link and you get off to the right start.

If you're looking for other comparisons and reviews, you might also be curious to find out who wins between TuneCore vs DistroKid or TuneCore vs CD Baby. Besides these popular reviews, the six categories I like to dive in on are:

1. Cost

2. Distribution Reach

3. Features

4. Royalties

5. User Experience

6. Customer Support

Background Information

Before we dive into the details of each platform, you might benefit of knowing where each platform grew up.

TuneCore was launched in 2005 and now has established itself as a major player in the music distribution industry. Arguably, it's one of the biggest players and they've dominated the space. However, that doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows for them. They still have some things to work on which we will discuss. TuneCore offers comprehensive features tailored to independent artists, including global distribution, detailed sales reports, and various monetization options. They were acquired by Believe Digital in 2015, TuneCore continues to expand its capabilities, providing artists with extensive tools and resources to succeed.

ONErpm, founded in 2010, is a relatively newer player but growing quite fast in the music distribution space. It distinguishes itself with a focus on providing both distribution and marketing services. I'd say the marketing side of things for them is one of their biggest strengths, more on this later. ONErpm aims to help artists not only get their music on major streaming platforms but also to promote it effectively. The platform offers a unique blend of tools designed to enhance an artist's reach and revenue. It's important to note that you must apply and be accepted to work with ONErpm.

TuneCore vs ONErpm Comparison Chart

This review will be full of information and I understand not everyone will have the time to read every single line. If you're looking to get an answer to some of the questions between TuneCore and ONErpm, here is a quick glance comparison chart between the two distributors:

How Much Does Each Distributor Cost?

Let's get into the pricing plans and offers that TuneCore and ONErpm advertise and talk about what things you'll get with each tier. Let's start with TuneCore's pricing page first. TuneCore breaks down their service into four plans which try and target the value to an artist at different stages during their career.

Here is the snapshot pricing plan and their respective features:

• New Artist Plan - Free: Unlimited music to social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, keeping 80% of the revenue from these platforms.
• Rising Artist Plan - $19.99/year: Unlimited music releases to over 150+ streaming sites, keeping 100% of the revenue.
• Breakout Artist Plan - $34.99/year: Includes advanced features like Store Automator, cover art creator tools, and daily trend reports.
• Professional Plan - $49.99/year: Designed for labels and industry professionals, offering premium sales reporting, use of custom UPCs, and exclusive promotional opportunities.

You'll notice that the plans are also named for their respective "career stage". I somewhat agree to these stages but not wholeheartedly. For instance, I'm an indie artist and I've been doing this for over 10 years. The plan that could work for me is both Rising Artist and Breakout Artist. Do I consider myself rising or breaking out? Definitely not. I consider myself to be a professional but I do not need the Professional Plan. So, don't let the names of the plans distract you. Look to the value of the plans instead.

ONErpm operates with a very different model. They take a percentage of the revenue generated by the artist’s music. Here is a general outline of their pricing:

• Free Plan: Basic distribution with ONErpm taking a 15% commission on digital sales and streams.
• Advanced Services: For artists needing more comprehensive marketing and promotional support, ONErpm offers custom solutions, often taking a larger commission in exchange for these additional services.

ONErpm has also started a new distribution service called OFFstep. I've written a detailed review of TuneCore vs OFFstep here. In short, OFFstep offers three simple plans for artists:

• Basic Plan: $12 per year. This plan allows unlimited releases to 45+ streaming platforms while retaining 100% of royalties.
• Intermediate Plan: Adds marketing tools like pre-save links, promo art generator, advanced insights, and analytics.
• Advanced Plan: Includes everything in the Intermediate plan plus enhanced rights management and the ability to have up to 4 artists per account​.

I think OFFstep is a great add on for ONErpm to attract more indie artists who are curious to experiment with releasing their music.

Who Is The Cheaper Music Distributor?

TuneCore and ONErpm are equally cheap but have another layer of complexity to it. They both offer free plans. However, they each require you to split the royalties. TuneCore's free plan is a 20% cut. ONErpm's plan is a 15% cut. Technically, ONErpm's is a better deal not only because of their free value but because they allow this distribution to all major streaming platforms. Unlike TuneCore's free offering which only allow you to distribute your music on major social platform. For example, getting your music uploaded to TikTok.

Yes, cheap is going to save you money but it doesn't always mean cheap is good. I encourage you to really think about what your needs are as an artist before thinking about your wallet. You may want to dish out on something a tiny bit more expensive if it's going to benefit your artists career in the long run. We'll talk about more of these beneficial features in a bit.

Distribution and Reach

Let's talk about where TuneCore and ONErpm distribute their music.

TuneCore distributes to over 150 digital stores and streaming services, including major platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Of the 150, there are some very small distributors as well that I've never heard of. This is great because if gives you another opportunity to have your music discovered, get paid and a better chance to build a fan base. You can view the entire 150 streaming platforms here.

ONErpm distributes to all major platforms as well. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, etc. You can view their distribution partners on their website. However, it's noticeable not 150 as compared to TuneCore. Although, they capture the major platforms.

Who Distributes To More Streaming Platforms?

TuneCore distributes your music to more streaming platforms. However, this is only what we can see online. TuneCore promotes the release of their music to over 150 stores while it's noticeable that ONErpm does not match this. For now, TuneCore surely wins in this category. By the way, if you decide to go with TuneCore, you can use this like to get a 20% discount.

Both TuneCore and ONErpm provide extensive distribution networks, but ONErpm’s additional focus on marketing and direct-to-fan sales offers a unique advantage for artists looking to expand their reach beyond traditional streaming services.

Features

I strongly recommend diving into the features of any distributor you're looking to go with because it's the features that will set a music distributor apart from the pack. In short, all music distributors do the same thing; they get your music on the streaming platforms. However, some distributors offer payment splitting, some offer marketing help. Let's dig in on TuneCore and ONErpm to see how they stack up against each other.

TuneCore has a really strong set of features that are targeted to artists just starting out all the way to professional artists looking scale the big time. These are some of TuneCore's best features:

• Unlimited Uploads: Release as much music as you want.
• Detailed Sales Reports and Analytics: Comprehensive insights into sales and streaming performance.
• YouTube Content ID and Monetization: Helps artists collect royalties from YouTube.
• Publishing Administration: Assists in collecting royalties from various sources worldwide.
• Split Payments: Automate royalty payments to collaborators.
• Social Media Monetization: Tools to monetize music on social platforms.

ONErpm has been around for more than a decade and they've managed to build some pretty impressive features for their artists. Here are some worth highlighting:

• Revenue Splits: Automatic and transparent royalty splits for collaborators.
• Detailed Analytics: In-depth insights into revenue streams and performance.
• Marketing and Promotion Tools: Comprehensive suite of marketing tools to enhance reach and visibility.
• Direct-to-Fan Sales: Integration with merchandise and physical sales platforms.
• Sync Licensing Opportunities: Helps artists get their music placed in films, TV shows, and commercials.

Who Has Better Features, TuneCore or ONErpm?

TuneCore offers a huge set of features for artists that are looking to offload a lot of the headaches about being a musician. For example, payment splitting, publishing administration, or helping you understand your analyics to make better decisions. On the other hand, ONErpm’s features heavily focus on their marketing and promotion help. I'm going to crown ONErpm the winner in the features category because I think marketing and promotion is so crucial in today's music landscape. According to Variety.com, over 100,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify every day. Every single day! That's a lot of music and you need to break out from the noise with your marketing campaigns.

Royalty Payments

I remember getting paid for releasing my first single. It was only $0.75 but I was thrilled. I realized the potential of building a career as a full-time artist. I now do this for a living but I can because I am organized in making sure I collect all my royalties. I also release a lot of music! Here's what I sound like if you're interested. Besides the royalties that your distributor pays you, it's important that you sign up for your PRO (Performing Rights Organization). For example, mine is SOCAN because I'm in Canada. If you're in the US, look at BMI or ASCAP. Other services you should look into are SoundExchange for performance royalties, and SongTrust for publishing royalties. On the other hand, you could use something like TuneCore Music Publishing, which we'll talk about soon.

Take a look at the image below to understand how royalties work when a song is published:

TuneCore allows artists to keep 100% of their royalties on all paid plans. For their free plans that distributes only to social platforms, artists need to give a cut of 20% to TuneCore. For payments service, they offer flexible payment options, including direct bank transfers and PayPal. This could also depend on your location. In general, payments are processed quite quickly and you can withdraw them at any time. TuneCore also provides payment splitting which is really helpful to split collaborators. For example, on my song Back In Full, I have automatic splits set up so I don't have to worry about anything.

ONErpm operates on a commission-based model, taking a percentage of the revenue. This split is a cut from your royalties at 15. They also provide automated revenue splits, making it easy for artists and their collaborators to get paid accurately and on time. The offer detailed financial reports to help artists track their income from various sources too.

What Pays More Royalties?

You need to ask yourself, do you want to pay for distribution and keep 100% of your royalties? Or do you want free distribution while giving up about 15% of your royalties? Remember, royalties are different than copyright, you're not giving up any of your rights, you still own 1000% of the rights.

Let's look at a quick example, let's say you got 10,000 streams on your new song and the song payout per stream is 0.006

With TuneCore, you would get 10,000 x (0.006) = $60 

With TuneCore, you would get 10,000 x (0.006) = $60 - (15%) = $51

You could look at these numbers and think, well, you get more money with TuneCore, right?

Yes, you get more royalties. However, you still need to pay for the TuneCore distribution. For instance, let's say you were on their Rising Artist Plan of $19.99. This $60 now becomes $40.01.

Interesting, right? It gets more interesting when you take the perspective of time too. That cost of $19.99 is not just a one time fee. You need to pay this every single year. Let's say it took you three years to get 10,000 streams, now that $60 actually comes (60 - 59.97) = 0.03. In this example, you're at the cusp of losing money.

So, where does this make sense? Well, it makes sense to keep 100% of your royalties if you're going to get A LOT of streams. However, it's quite difficult to do this unless you're established. Look at my Spotify page, I have about 7,000 monthly listeners but it's taken me a long time to get an active listener base.

Consider this equation in your head and think about what your interest and needs are as an artist and the potential streams you think you might be able to get from your music. Here's another article on the top free music distributors if you're interested to learn more.

Customer Support

You might be wondering, why would you put Customer Support as a key category when we're trying to compare TuneCore vs ONErpm. Honestly, I would add customer service as a metric when you're deciding between any distributor. Whether that be DistroKid or you're deciding between TuneCore vs United Masters or TuneCore vs Amuse. A day will come where you will need to call or email their support teams and get help, especially if you're a beginner artist.

TuneCore offers a tiered support service. Meaning, their customer service will get back to you faster if you sign up in their higher paid plans. However, the free plan still includes support with a response time of five business days. That's actually quite good for a free plan.

I reached out to TuneCore customer service when I launched my first single because I wasn't sure how to get a Spotify pre save campaign running. Notice, in the image below, it took them only one business day to get back to me and I was not enrolled in their professional plan.

ONErpm also offers customer support primarily through email and online resources. Although, if you sign up for their advanced services the support becomes much more individualized and you'll receive faster response time. You can also submit a request for free anytime on their website. I have no hans on experience with the ONErpm customer service team so I can't speak at length to how good or bad they are.

Who Has Better Customer Support

As I mentioned, I don't have much experience with ONErpm's customer service team but I do with TuneCore's. I will keep the winner neutral here but I can speak highly for TuneCore's customer service team and I also appreciate how they are quite transparent about their response times and adding this into their plans plans so you know what you can expect when you sign up.

User Experience Of TuneCore and ONErpm

 I'm a fan of great design and I appreciate signing into a website where I don't have to think about it and I never get frustrated. Isn't it awful using a terrible website? It can be downright confusing and frustrating. That's why it's important to weigh in the user experience and design of each platform.

TuneCore has recently updated their platform design, offering a sleek, user-friendly interface. It's a night and day difference to where they've come from. Inside the app, it's intuitive and easy to use. The one thing I don't understand why TuneCore hasn't done yet is build a native mobile app for their artists. I can't believe they don't have one yet, it's almost unheard of in today's world. Other distributors like United Masters and DistroKid are dominating the mobile space. To find out, simply to a search of TuneCore on the Apple App Store and you'll find nothing.

ONErpm offers an interesting design. I say interesting because it's "not bad" but to be honest it's not "really good" either. It's more of a "blah" site that seems to have been built in the early 2000s and they've stayed in that era. They definitely need to work on their design and give it a new face lift, I hope they do that soon!

User Experience Comparison

I'm going to crown TuneCore as the winner for better design as they've recently re-hauled their entire website and app. Still waiting on a mobile app from them but even with that, it beats ONErpms legacy early 2000s design. By the way, if you're going to jump in with TuneCore, you can use this link for a 20% discount.

TuneCore and ONErpm Pros and Cons

Let's do a quick overview and recap of the PROS and CONs of TuneCore vs ONErpm.

TuneCore

PROS

• Extensive distribution network.
• Comprehensive analytics and sales reports.
• Robust features like YouTube monetization and publishing administration.
• Reliable customer support with tiered response times.
• Split payments with collaborators.
• TuneCore Music Publishing

CONS

• Higher costs for advanced plans.
• May be complex for very beginners because there's so many features

ONErpm

PROS

• Revenue splits and detailed financial tools.
• No upfront costs; commission-based model.
• Marketing and promotional tools.
• Direct-to-fan sales integration.
• Sync licensing opportunities.

CONS

• Takes a percentage of earnings.
• Less extensive distribution network compared to TuneCore.

Final Thoughts On TuneCore vs ONErpm

Both TuneCore and ONErpm offer valuable services for independent artists, but they value in them is different depending on where you are as an artist. You really need to ask yourself, what do you want from a distributor? Is it marketing help? Is it administrative help? Is it help with collecting royalties? Is it help with social media management? Or is it just plain and simple, you want to get your music on Spotify. The answers to these questions will help lead you in the right direction.

TuneCore is ideal for artists seeking comprehensive features, detailed analytics, and an extensive distribution network. In contrast, ONErpm is perfect for those looking for a cost-effective solution with added marketing and promotional benefits.

I'm going to say I think TuneCore is right for those who want to keep 100% of your royalties, you're looking to get your music everywhere on the major platforms and you're interested in features like payment splitting or TuneCore Music Publishing. On the other hand, I say you should choose ONErpm if you're comfortable giving away a cut of your music royalties and you're interested in getting help with building a fanbase through the support of their marketing and promotion help.

Good luck to you on your music journey and feel free to reach out with any questions. I'm only a comment away on my YouTube channel.