TuneCore vs Symphonic [Honest Comparison From An Indie Artist]

You've found this page because you're trying to decide between TuneCore vs Symphonic for your music distribution needs. I know what it feels like to be in your position.

It can be overwhelming, right? There are so many music distributors out there, how do you know which one is for you?

I've taken the time to review almost every distributor on the market and I've had hands on experience with most of them so I'm ready to give you a solid breakdown of which distributor is right for you. I'm n indie artist and I make a living from releasing my music with my Charles Cleyn project. Some of my other popular music distribution reviews include TuneCore vs DistroKid and TuneCore vs CD Baby.

I want to reassure you as well, if you make the wrong choice at the beginning, that's okay. You can always switch music distributors. It can be a headache but it's absolutely possible. Last thing I'll mention before we get started, if you end up wanting to sign up with TuneCore, I can offer you a 20% discount on sign up with this link. If you end going with them, I'll get a tiny kick back, and you'll get off to the right start.

Let's get into this review of TuneCore vs Symphonic by covering these six categories below:

1. Cost

2. Features

3. Royalty Payments

4. Distribution Reach

5. User Experience

6. Customer Service

Before we dive into each category, I often find it valuable to give you a bit of context from where each music distributor was started, how long they've been in business, and some interesting. Let's start with TuneCore first.

Company Background

TuneCore was established in 2005 and has been a pillar in the music distribution industry. They are known for its wide-reaching distribution network and comprehensive artist services, like TuneCore Music Publishing. They've become a go-to for independent artists looking to get their music on major streaming platforms. Acquired by Believe Digital in 2015, TuneCore has expanded its offerings, providing artists with a robust toolkit for global distribution, monetization, and marketing. I have used TuneCore before as my main distributor and throughout this post I'll be sharing my hands on experience with them, the good, the bad, and the ugly

Symphonic Distribution was founded in 2006 and has steadily grown into a respected player in the music distribution space. Symphonic is known for its focus on personalized artist services and an extensive distribution network. It aims to provide independent artists with the tools and support needed to maximize their reach and revenue. Their hands-on approach and dedication to artist development make them a noteworthy competitor in the industry.

In general, both companies started around the same time. However, Symphonic is far less popular than TuneCore although they offer some very competitive features like rights management and sync licensing. Let's dig into how they are differentiated and what one you should choose to get your music uploaded to streaming services.

TuneCore vs Symphonic Quick Comparison Chart 

Here is a quick comparison chart when we look at TuneCore vs Symphonic. We will be going over these line items individually throughout this post but this might be helpful if you're looking for a quick answer to help you decide which platform might be right for you.

Cost

Let's dive into the cost of TuneCore and Symphonic and what each platform will cost you in terms of a monthly or annual fee. You'll start to see some distributors also offer free music distribution but usually requires a cut of your music royalties in return. Usually, around 10% or 15%.

TuneCore offers a variety of plans tailored to different stages of an artist's career:

• New Artist Plan - Free: Unlimited music uploads to social media platforms, retaining 80% of revenue.

• Rising Artist Plan - $19.99/year: Unlimited music releases to over 150 streaming sites, keeping 100% of revenue.

• Breakout Artist Plan - $34.99/year: Adds advanced features like Store Automator and cover art creation tools.

• Professional Plan - $49.99/year: Designed for labels, offering premium sales reports, custom UPCs, and exclusive promotional opportunities.

I've mentioned this before, especially in my review on TuneCore vs UnitedMasters. Don't be fooled by the names of the plans. You might consider yourself a professional musician, that doesn't mean you need to get the Professional Plan. I make a living from my music and I consider myself a professional, (at least I hope I am). By the way, you can check out some of my music here. Either way, I am comfortable with the Rising Artist Plan or the Breakout Artist plan as they both fit my needs as a full-time artist. 

If you want to learn more about TuneCore pricing on their website, you can check it out here.

Symphonic operates on a percentage-based revenue model and offers customized plans, let's take a look:

• Standard Distribution: Symphonic takes a 15% commission on digital sales and streams, with no upfront costs.

• Premium Distribution: Available for a one-time fee per release, which includes additional marketing and promotional services.

• Customized Plans: For artists with specific needs, Symphonic provides tailored solutions, often involving a higher commission in exchange for enhanced services.

You'll notice that Symphonic has a very different pricing structure. It's good to ask yourself, are you more interesting in free music distribution while giving up some of your royalties? Perhaps that's not a bad choice if you're just testing out a song and you know it might not get many streams.

However, let's say you have a song that might be a hit (by the way, I think all my songs are hits but I am definitely wrong most of the time). If your song goes to get 1,000,000,000 streams, you'll be offering a significant cut to your distributor. It's a good thought exercise to go through though and I encourage you to do so. Sometimes you need the music distributor to help you get millions of streams because, like Symphonic, they offer music marketing services that can help you get there.

By the way, if you're thinking of going with TuneCore after reading this, I can offer you a 20% discount when you sign up at this link.

Who Is The Better Distributor Based on Price?

If we're talking dollars and cents, Symphonic is the cheaper music distributor because they offer a free service that will get your music uploaded to Spotify and all other major platforms with a 15% cut in royalties. Although TuneCore does offer a free plan as well it does not include the major platforms but includes getting your music uploaded to TikTok and other social sites, as well as a 20% cut in royalties.

It's not all about the money though, it's about the philosophy of either splitting your royalties or keeping them. Remember, royalties to not mean rights. Whether you go with TuneCore or Symphonic, you will always keep 100% of your copyright. Royalties are different, it's the money you make from the songs on the streaming sites, we'll touch on more of this later in the royalties section.

Distribution and Reach

It's important to know what the distribution reach is for each platform you're looking to get on with. Most distributors will send their music to all of the major platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, etc. The difference will come down to how large their networks are around the world though

For example, TuneCore distributes music to over 150 digital stores and streaming services. That's a lot! I don't even know half of them. You can look at TuneCore distribution network here.

Rest assure, you will get your music on all the major platform with TuneCore plus many others. It's a big benefit to TuneCore because the more digital stores you can get your music on, the better chance you'll have to reach a wider audience for your music.

Symphonic also offers a comprehensive distribution network, reaching all major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Additionally, Symphonic has strong connections with niche platforms too. They advertise a network of over 200 digital stores and streaming services. That's even more than TuneCore! If you want to see Symphonic's network, you can learn more about it on their website here.

Who Has A Bigger Distribution Network?

TuneCore and Symphonic will get your music on all the major platforms but when we look at the niche platforms, Symphonic takes the win here by offering 200 digital services to their customers. 

Core Features

I think features will be a big deciding factor for you when it comes to what distribution platform you'll choose. For example, are you looking for right management or admin publishing? These are quite similar . Or let's say you're looking for split royalty payments, sync licensing opportunities, or youtube monetization. Both TuneCore and Symphonic offer similar features so this section will get interesting!

Let's start with TuneCore first. They offer a suite of features designed to support artists at all levels:

• Unlimited Uploads: Artists can release as much music as they want.

• Detailed Sales Reports and Analytics: Gain insights into sales and streaming performance.

• YouTube Content ID and Monetization: Helps 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.

Let's get into Symphonic now and then after do a brief comparison on which ones might be a better fit for you,

Symphonic offers a range of features aimed at empowering artists:

• Revenue Splits: Automated and transparent royalty splits for collaborators.

• Detailed Analytics: In-depth insights into revenue streams and performance.

• Marketing and Promotion Tools: Comprehensive suite of 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.

• Rights Management: Help collect your royalties from around the world

Who Offers The Best Features?

I believe TuneCore and Symphonic are two of the best platforms that offer the most valuable features. There is a lot of overlap between them. For example, a popular choice among artists is TuneCore Music Publishing which can help collect your royalties for you. Symphonic also offers partnerships with services like SoundExchange and SongTrust to help manage and collect you royalties.

Besides this, both offer split payments that make it easy to pay your collaborators and both offer a variety of sync licensing and marketing opportunities to help expand your reach as an artist. I think both offer great value and you'll be happy with either when it comes to features.

Royalty Payments

Let's dig into how each distributor pays you your royalties. This is the big difference comes into play with TuneCore and Symphonic.

TuneCore allows artists to keep 100% of their royalties on all paid plans, with payments processed quickly through direct bank transfers or PayPal. The free plan requires artists to give up 20% of their royalties. In all, 20% is really a good deal for free distribution on social accounts like getting your music uploaded to TikTok.

Symphonic operates on a commission-based model, taking a 15% cut of digital sales and streams. Payments are automated and timely, ensuring artists and their collaborators receive their due earnings accurately.

I really like how both TuneCore and Symphonic are strong at paying you in a timely fashion and give you the flexibility to split your payments with collaborators.

The key difference here is being comfortable with giving up a slice of your royalties or sharing them in return for services like free distribution and marketing help. What are your needs? What are you comfortable with? These are questions you need to ask yourself.

I think this is a good time to show my drawing skills with this home made chart I put together for you. It outlines how you can think about music royalties and what you should be thinking of collecting and having organized when you release a song.

You see that your distributor is only collecting a portion of your royalties. You'll want to create a SoundExchange account, look into publishing administrators that can help you collect your royalties. Some options would be SongTrust or going with the options you can get with TuneCore or Symphonic. Lastly, signup with a PRO (Performance Rights Organization). I'm signed up with SOCAN which is the Canadian PRO. You can look into BMI Music or ASCAP Music if you're in the US.

By the way, if you'd like to give TuneCore a try after reading this, I can offer you a 20% discount when you sign up at this link.

Customer Service

You might think customer service is something you should ignore when looking at a music distributor but I personally think it's worth looking at when you're making a decision between platforms. Yes, it might not be the most important deciding factor but it's something to take notice.

TuneCore offers tiered support based on the plan, with faster response times for higher-tier plans. The free plan includes support with a response time of up to five business days, while the professional plan promises quicker assistance.

I've also had some hands on experience with TuneCore. I was signed up for the Rising Artist plan at the time and I received an answer from my support request one day after I sent it which is the value of the Professional plan. Take a look at my communications with them below:

Symphonic prides itself on providing personalized support, especially for premium and custom plan users. They offer email support, an extensive FAQ section, and dedicated account managers for advanced plans. I don't have hands on experience to compare with Symphonic but I imagine their quality to be strong since they speak so highly of it on their website.

Who Wins With Their Customer Service?

I think Symphonic wins when it comes to their premium plans. You can get dedicated account managers to help you directly with your plan and marketing strategy. This is something you can't get with TuneCore. Although, you get fast response times on the TuneCore Professional plan, you don't get dedicated team support. I imagine the latter to be really helpful in situations when you're questions; how many releases should I do this year? What should my marketing strategy by? Or the other few hundred questions that come up in an independent artists life.

User Experience and Design

As an independent musician who releases a lot of music, I'm regularly using my distributor every week. I'm either uploading new music, checking stats, or checking my millions of dollars (more like cents). Anyways, I think the user experience and design on the applications is important because you'll be using them a lot.

TuneCore's recently updated platform features a sleek, user-friendly interface. The intuitive design makes it easy to navigate, though a native mobile app is still missing. It's unfortunate that they have yet to make a mobile app. So much of my life is now done on my phone. I suspect that they'll develop one soon.

Symphonic's platform is designed to be straightforward and efficient, with a focus on usability. While it might not have the flashiest interface, it effectively serves the needs of independent artists. You can just see this from their website. I think it's pretty bad, they are noticeably using stock images and it looks as if it was a grade 8 student who has built a website for his school project. It doesn't really instill confidence to me that my music will be in the right hands. Although, you can't judge a book by it's cover, it's hard not to in this case.

TuneCore vs Symphonic Pros and Cone

Let's go a quick glance over of the pros and cons of TuneCore vs Symphonic and then finish off with a final review.

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.

CONS:

• Higher costs for advanced plans.
• Can be complex for beginners due to the wide range of features.

Symphonic

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.
• Smaller distribution network compared to TuneCore.
• Final Thoughts on TuneCore vs Symphonic

Final Thoughts On TuneCore vs Symphonic

Both TuneCore and Symphonic offer some of the best features on the market when it comes to music distribution and their valuable services are noticeably tailored to the needs of independent artists. I would TuneCore is ideal for those who are new to the game, they're looking to get their feet wet but want a lot of features on the side that can build them up over the long term.

I think Symphonic is perfect for artists  who have been in the game for some time but are now looking for a cost-effective solution with added marketing and promotional benefits to help them scale. It's a tough decision because both offer so much value. You really need to ask yourself, what are your needs as an artist? What is your gut telling you when it comes to each one? I know "gut" isn't always objective but remember to rely on your intuition as well.

Remember, if you're leaning towards TuneCore, you can use this link to get a 20% discount. Good luck on your music journey, and feel free to reach out with any questions!