In the Philippines, musicians and singers can be found anywhere. What sets them apart is that such talent is not only ingrained in them from birth, but also because Filipinos, as a culture, are in love with music. As artists work to find success, the rise of digital music services has helped democratize the music industry, providing more opportunities for these artists to be heard and find their fans. TuneCore, the leading development partner for self-releasing artists—owned by Believe, one of the world’s leading digital music companies—aims to provide access to music distribution services for independent artists at all stages of their careers, helping to further reduce industry gatekeeping, and ensure self-releasing artists can get their music out into the world. Their latest endeavor to support the next generation of Filipino music and music creators is a monumental partnership with Mint College, the only school in the Philippines offering a degree in Music Business.
The new partnership between TuneCore and Mint College serves both companies’ goals of expanding educational programs for creators and facilitating opportunities for student musicians to pursue careers in music. As the leading creative school offering programs such as Music Business, Multimedia, and Film, Mint provides students with a solid foundation on which to build their careers. TuneCore enhances the student experience by exposing them to real world wisdom via lectures and workshops led by industry experts. This will also allow them to flex their musical muscles under the guidance of people who have not only ridden the waves of the music industry, but who have helped shape it as well.
Mint College’s Executive Vice President Hendrik Kiamzon commented, “We already have a lot of advantages, given the kind of education our students have from their professors coming from the music business industry. The partnership with TuneCore is just one more thing that legitimizes our cross-disciplinary approach.”
This alliance also addresses one of the bigger challenges facing aspiring musicians: catching that crucial first break. “One of our missions is to do our part to drive emerging markets to maturity across the region. By partnering with Mint College, we aim to bridge the gap between aspiring student musicians and the music industry,” explains TuneCore’s head for Southeast
Asia, Cyrus Chen on what they bring to the table. “We will provide networking and performance opportunities, mentorship, and workshops for the students, among many other initiatives.” This is a testament to TuneCore’s mission in providing the most innovative and expansive suite of digital music services to artists at all stages of their careers around the world.
The partnership between TuneCore and Mint College was signed, sealed, and delivered at a ceremonial signing at Mint’s new satellite campus in Ortigas. Cyrus was joined by Believe’s Country Head for the Philippines, Georgette Tengco, while Kiamzon was joined by Mint College’s Frankie Endriga, Board Director, and Mony Romana, Program Head of Marketing. This formalized an initiative that is potentially lifechanging for many student musicians.
Tengco commented, “Believe’s mission is to develop independent artists in the digital world via the solutions they need to grow their audience at every stage of their career. Arming student musicians with the right tools from the very start, while helping ensure that they are free to do what they are passionate about. Simultaneously, we open doors to opportunities that were previously only available to professional musicians. This partnership aims to do all that for the students of Mint College. The combined forces of Believe, TuneCore, and Mint will allow for a greater network to bring these aspiring talents closer to their dreams and ambitions in the music industry.”
This initiative of TuneCore follows on the heels of innovative programs that they have recently launched in support of self-releasing artists. The first is the Unlimited Release plan, which allows artists the greatest flexibility in releasing music at an affordable price. while refining their sound. This is followed closely by the introduction of GCash as a payment method on the platform as part of TuneCore’s localization efforts for the Philippines. Lastly, they recently presented their latest feature launch – Splits.
TuneCore takes into account the importance of collaboration in making music. This is, oftentimes, the key ingredient in making a hit record. At the same time, this can also lead to discord among the collaborators when it comes time to divide royalty splits. The Splits feature introduces an efficient solution to this, allowing the artists to input royalty percentages for each collaborator, and providing automatic payouts along with comprehensive payout details. Artists are able to easily edit their splits at any time, adding or removing collaborators, and updating percentages. This will allow more time to focus on their music. Andreea Gleeson, Chief Executive Officer, TuneCore, explained further, “Our goal is to make our artists’ lives easier so that they can focus on making music. For years, self-releasing artists at all stages of their careers have been required to take on additional support roles to sustain their artistic endeavors. By offering splits, TuneCore artists can now spend less time being accountants and more time making great music.”
From every stage in an artist’s journey, TuneCore, alongside Believe, hopes to bring creativity in music to fruition. Arming the next generation of Filipino artists with a solid educational foundation, via the Mint College partnership, is what will redefine and reshape how the future of the industry will look. With ample support via innovative tools and programs, there is nothing but greatness ahead for these artists.
