New Music Store Selection Feature + Free Service Going iTunes Only + New Wal-Mart Partnership!

Hey guys,

As you can probably already noticed during the weekend, we’ve added a new Music Store Selection feature which enables you to select your music store services for $1 per store/per album (with the exception of MediaNet being $5 and VidZone $10). Now as a free customer, you’ll be able to gain access to extra stores easily and gain more distribution without paying any annual fees. As always, you’ll be entitled to 100% of royalties from all music store services. Another bulletin is that starting today, the WaTunes free service will be only available on the iTunes Store. This means that moving forward, the iTunes Store will be the only store where we’ll deliver your content for free!

Another great announcement is that we’re finalizing our new Wal-Mart MP3 deal. This enables you to sell your music into the Wal-Mart store with great ease. As a VIP customer, this store addition will be added into your services entirely free. For free customers, you can OPT-IN to the new Wal-Mart store for just a buck! No annual fees, no track fees, nada!

Customers who are power hungry for iTunes will still be able to gain access into the iTunes Store entirely free while receiving 100% of the royalties. So what are you waiting for? Get into the new music store services today and take advantage of these new offerings. 🙂

Amazon CD On-Demand Sample + New Updates Coming

Hey guys,

Amazing times ahead. Only several weeks away until the unveiling of WaTunes New Experience (I hope that you all will be well pleased and send us your feedback of any suggestions, new features, updates, etc.). I am proud to say that Monday, we’ll have a new Music Store system update and model infrastructure. This may make some of you happy, some of you not. However, in the long run we want to make sure that everyone benefits from the REAL treats that is to come within the coming months.

Today was a very great day as I was able to receive a copy of a On-Demand CD from Amazon from WaTunes artists ‘The Silver Movement’ with his debut album ‘The Voice Within’ (which I recently blogged about to display our ability to enable you to Pre-Order your CDs on iTunes). Below are great snapshots of what your On-Demand physical CD could look like based on your Artwork templates that we receive and other great information.

CD Cover (Front)

CD Cover (Back)

CD Disc

CD Booklet

Amazon Deal + Who says that Pre-Orders are not possible?

Hey gang,

Wow what a rushing weekend. Announcing our Amazon deal has made quite a stir for the past couple of days and it is still making waves around the web. The ability to now be able to digitize your digital albums into real-life, professionally wrapped, physical CDs at little to no cost is another game-changing step from WaTunes.

Today, I’d like to share with you more additional add-ons for the iTunes Store. Ever wanted to input a digital booklet into your product? How about a Pre-Order of your upcoming new album? Well nothing to worry about, WaTunes is now able to offer Pre-Orders and Digital Booklet implementation into your albums. To learn more about how you can setup your albums with a digital booklet or schedule a Pre-Order, simply contact our Content Team. You can check out an example by The Silver Movement with his upcoming debut album “The Voice Within” schedule to be released in November 23rd, 2009. The album will have an exclusive release available on Amazon On-Demand & AmazonMP3.

So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the new Amazon services and new iTunes add-ons today!

WaTunes partners with Amazon to offer On-Demand CD Service

Hey guys,

For those who has been itching to get your music on AmazonMP3, not only have your prayers been answered, but it is official that WaTunes has partnered with Amazon to offer you Amazon On-Demand! With Amazon On-Demand, you’ll be able to sell physical CDs on the Amazon store as well as digital downloads on AmazonMP3. Now you can take control of your complete music products and bring them into the physical CD world. Even though CD sales are declining, they are still a huge by product of your sales. We highly recommend that you go for Amazon On-Demand if you are selling a full-length (10 tracks or more) album.

Q: So what does this mean for VIP customers?

As a VIP customer, you’ll be able to OPT-IN into Amazon On-Demand + AmazonMP3 entirely free as apart of your $29.95 yearly fee. As always, you’ll be entitled to earn 100% of your royalties (about 40% paid out to every artist through Amazon On-Demand). If you’re a VIP customer and you are selling only singles, you can still OPT-IN into the AmazonMP3 store for digital downloads.

Q: So what does this mean for Free customers?

As a Free customer, you now have the option to OPT-IN into the Amazon On-Demand + AmazonMP3 service for $10 per album. Normally, you are able to sell your music entirely free into iTunes, eMusic, and ShockHound. Now, you’ll be able to optimize your music into physical CDs and sell them on Amazon at the lowest cost possible with no annual fees. As always, you’ll be entitled to earn 100% of your royalties (about 40% paid out to every artist through Amazon On-Demand). If you only want to OPT-IN into AmazonMP3 you can still do so for $10 per album (including singles).

The Wait Is Over! WaTunes VIP Goes In Full Swing!

Hey guys,

The wait is now over! WaTunes VIP service is fully launched. If you are a VIP customer, your contents are now being processed to go into every store that is covered with the VIP service. Please note that these stores may take up to 4-6 weeks before you see your music available at these music store services. So what are you waiting for? Upgrade your account to VIP and gain entry to more music stores today!

What Stores Do You Want? Let Us Hear From You!

Hey guys,

It’s been an amazing time this year. Since March, we’ve made history by becoming the world’s first freemium online music distribution service. Giving you the power to sell your music to iTunes, eMusic, and ShockHound entirely free while you control your rights, masters, and 100% of your royalties has become a compelling model that taken route to new opportunities for you.

One of the best things about WaTunes is that it is based on ideas by you, the artist! It’s you that has given us the ability to provide new opportunities and features to best cater to your needs. Giving more music store options, more market opportunities, and more! Your ideas, your feedback, your suggestions, your reviews, is what helps WaTunes become a powerhouse in the digital music landscape. So I have to ask all of you two questions:

Q: What music store services would you like your music to be made available?

AND

Q: What are other ideas, suggestions, and feedback you believe would benefit you through WaTunes?

Please post your comments and thoughts here and let us know as we’d like to hear more from you. 🙂

Indie-Punk Distributor Lumberjack Mordam Music Group Goes Under. WaTunes Paves The Way For Digital Distribution for Lumberjack labels!

Excerpt from Musformation

Our earlier speculation turned out to be true! Lumberjack/Mordam is shutting down all operations. Earlier we concluded that this will be a symptom of people buying less records and going more digital based. We had an astute commentor who gave the following insight:

“I run one of the labels involved. It’s not the digital that did them under, over the years since Dirk Hemsath took over the company things have gone downhill, and labels have not been getting paid at all (with very few exceptions)
Their digital sales, they also never paid to their labels.

Their phones/E mails etc, have been turned off since late June.

Anyway, I just don’t agree at all, that it has anything to do with digital music, but more to do with simple accounting and morality, (as their digital sales of labels material were very rarely ever paid to the labels either)”

It’s very sad to see a very reputable indie-punk digital aggregator going under. In most cases, it’s always interesting to see a more clear focused distributor that targeted particular music. In like of dark moments for the labels at Lumberjack, there is indeed a ray of hope. Here at WaTunes, we’re able to provide them with the most prominent digital distribution on the web. As the first and only free digital distribution platform, labels are able to re-gain entry into the digital landscape, increasing their profits, while their distribution cost is reduced to little to zero.

Though I am biased, I believe that it is our goal to help musicians and record labels increase their profits and reduce their distribution cost to help save them time, efficiency, and of course money. In this world’s current economical state, it’s only fitting that a freemium model could be a possible solution to reducing the challenges many music acts and businesses are facing. On the behalf of the WaTunes team, I speak for all of us when I say that I hope that things will work out for the labels of Lumberjack and that we are always more than willing to extend our hand in providing them with the most effective online music distribution services out there.

NBA Legend Earl Monroe Joins Revolutionary Music Service

DETROIT – June 8th, 2009 – NBA Legend and Hall of Famer Earl ‘the Pearl’ Monroe has recently announced a strategic digital partnership with WaTunes, the revolutionary social music service that enables music artists and record labels to sell their music entirely free on iTunes while creating a social networking environment for fans to discover new music. Through his own record label Reverse Spin Records, Earl Monroe will be able to distribute his entire label catalogue to leading retailers including iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, Zune Marketplace, Amazon, and Wal-Mart.

“WaTunes is always looking to create innovative ways to enable our customers to take control of their music careers. We are very excited to be able to offer a complete digital turnkey solution for Earl and Reverse Spin Records as we work to help build the brands of the label. ” said Kevin Rivers, Founder and CEO of WaTunes.

“We are excited about our digital partnership and anticipate a long prosperous relationship with WaTunes” said Earl Monroe, CEO and Founder of Reverse Spin Entertainment Group, LLC.
The first artists to be digitally distributed by WaTunes are ChinaBlak, a hip-hop artist from New York City and Ciara Corr, a pop artist from Long Island, NY. ChinaBlak’s hit single ‘Hey Now’ is currently available on iTunes.

* Official Ciara Corr Page: http://www.ciaracorr.com
* Official ChinaBlak Page: http://www.chinablak.com
* Official Website: http://www.reversespinrecords.com
*Contact: press@watunes.com

Why We Think You Should Expand Your Music!

With the ever-changing internet, the digital music industry has enabled almost anyone to gain entry to digital retailers including iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, and Amazon. Today, thousands of digital distributors have distribute and delivered content to the masses on the behalf of their artists & labels. Most distributors requires a certain percentage from the royalties of their contents, while some requires an upfront cost, or both. As you guys know, here at WaTunes, artists & labels are given the power to sell their music on iTunes, eMusic, and ShockHound entirely free and they are able to receive 100% of the royalties!

But, what if you want to expand to more stores? What if you want something more than iTunes? In this day and age, there are many digital distributors who have a large amount of store offerings to expand your music availability. However, they require a certain percentage of your sales for the distribution cost. My philosophy is that should an artist wish to gain entry to more stores, create a cost effective way of providing them that option. This is why we’ve introduce the premium VIP service. For just $29.95 a year, artists & labels will not only be able to gain entry to more music store services, but also the top mobile markets and gaming markets as well. Expansion is key and by providing this low cost solution to expand your music, you’ll be able to re-invest your sales into even greater availability through WaTunes.

If you would like to request a copy of our full list of music store services, please feel free to contact us and I’ll personally e-mail you our PDF of our store offerings and listings. 🙂

Of course, the VIP service is optional. Therefore, as a free user, enjoy the fruits of getting your music on the iTunes Store without restrictions, without any upfront cost, and without any royalties taken from the sales of your music.