TuneCore Reviews 12,485

First time use, they overcharged the card, then refused to refund, de facto taking you hostage to use their mediocre services! Then came up with new plans unlimited release and refuse to convert the money they stole from the overcharged to be used for these new plans of their! Then holding your royalties for months when in fact they already received it! No transparency at all spotify issued reports are hidden from you the artist! Finally took my music offline no advance notice, no warning, no real explanation besides some stupid technically terms like artificial streaming! I put the music online beside Soundplate, dailyplaylist, pitchplaylist not paying any advertising business nor anyone as a matter of fact and they hold responsible for what people doing with the music! Used AI assisted in my previous release no pb suddenly after criticizing the genocides by Israel on social media, the refused to publish my new album suddenly no explanation given and when I wrote them email I put “Christ is King and I will be okay, that I will publish with them or without them” which I did but after that email they took my first album offline! They are just pitifully thieves, praying on people’s skill and talent offering nothing on the table! And the business that owned them Alison own Label radar another scamming website promising to get you heard by label once again take your money and have some bullshit label you never heard notifications that they supposedly heard your music and not interested but these notifications and communication ain’t coming from the label direcbut tunecore or label radar ! So what it the proof that they actually sent your music to labels! NONE! Simple thieves! Artist out there there is RouteNote distributing for free minus 15% of revenue, ReverbNation as low as $1 per track and your on spotify, iTunes etc… don’t have to use these juicy thieves, pre tending to care til they get your money ! You want to succeed avoid anything related to Belive music the company that own tunecore, label radar etc… very important to Google who you doing business with and paying money to! Cuz next you know they killing babies in Gaza with your money so F TuneCore, F LabelRadar

I’m writing this as a factual account of my experience with TuneCore.

I uploaded cover songs through their platform and clearly declared them as covers in the metadata. At the time of upload, their system allowed the release to go live even though I had not yet obtained a mechanical license. There was no blocking, no hard warning, and no restriction from their system.

TuneCore’s own guidance states that for streaming distribution, mechanical licensing is handled by the platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.), which reasonably led me to believe that I could proceed in good faith and resolve licensing as needed.

However, after the releases were already distributed, third-party claims were made, and TuneCore responded by:
- Blocking my releases
- Closing my account
- Withholding my funds (including earnings unrelated to the disputed tracks)

At this point, I was labeled as being in violation, despite:
- Accurately declaring my releases as covers
- Not falsifying any metadata
- Following the flow and guidance provided by their own system

What I find most concerning is the inconsistency:
If these releases were truly violations, why were they allowed to be distributed in the first place without any upfront enforcement or clear restriction?

Other platforms I’ve used are far more consistent — they either block the release at submission or require proper licensing before distribution. TuneCore, on the other hand, allows distribution first and enforces later, placing all risk on the user without clear safeguards.

Additionally, after raising these concerns, communication stopped entirely.

This is not about avoiding responsibility — it is about transparency and system consistency. A platform should not allow an action and then later penalize the user for doing exactly what the system permitted.

Artists should be aware:
If something goes wrong, you may face withheld funds, account termination, and limited communication, even if you acted in good faith.

Absolutely horrible experience with TuneCore. They froze my account and withheld over $21,800 of my earnings after falsely telling me that I was named in a lawsuit involving UMG. After reviewing the lawsuit myself, I found out my name was never in it. They used false information to justify locking my account and keeping my money. The song they claimed was the issue only made around $53 over six years, yet they froze over $21,800 in completely unrelated earnings from the rest of my catalog. That makes no sense and feels extremely unethical.
I provided them with a valid beat license, plus an agreement from the producer stating no samples were used. They ignored it. My attorney reached out. Ignored. My manager reached out. Ignored. Multiple attempts to resolve this professionally were met with silence.
Because of TuneCore holding my funds, I’ve lost business opportunities and major momentum in my career.
Artists, be careful. If something goes wrong, don’t expect communication, fairness, or urgency. My experience has been that TuneCore will hold your money, give vague excuses, and then stop responding.

Worst distribution experience I’ve ever had

Fraudelant Company . Just Know that you won't get your money, stay away from Tunecore.

I am a professional Italian artist with 20 years of experience. In 2025, I moved my project, Zelda Mab, to TuneCore, subscribing to the Professional Unlimited plan and Publishing Administration.
​The service has been a professional nightmare:
​Unjustified Penalties: TuneCore removed my standalone single 'Blu Cobalto' based on false accusations of 'artificial streaming'. I was required to pay a mandatory fee to resolve the flag and reinstate my music, yet the single remains deleted and my account is still unfairly penalized. My Spotify for Artists data proves my traffic is 100% organic: 90% comes from Spotify Radio and official algorithmic playlists.
​Missing Royalties: I haven't received a single cent from Meta and TikTok in 18 months. My dashboard shows 'zero' revenue despite active use of my music. I am currently blocked: I cannot move my previous catalog to TuneCore or release new high-profile collaborations until I am officially whitelisted.
​Inconsistent Support: Support suggested I pay for Meta verification (blue checkmark) to receive royalties. This is technically incorrect: royalties depend on ISRC mapping, not profile status.
​I want to continue working with TuneCore, but I demand a manual audit of my ISRC/UPC mapping, the reinstatement of my single, and a retraction of the false claims. I expect the transparency and respect a professional client deserves.
​Release ID (EP): 1232310361
UPC: 859707987721

Tunecore have accused me of using AI. I don't use any AI at all though so their detection system is wrong. But they won't listen. Their replies completely ignore my evidence and offers to give them access to the original project files. I wouldn't mind but the track is from a few years ago - before AI generation.

I'm glad they are weeding out the AI scammers. They create problems for real creators. But now it seems distributors are also creating more AI-related problems for real creators.

Never again!

As soon as they had a year charge, they said my songs were AI generated and denied publishing. Yes and no, guess you better not use cakewalk either. No arguing with their robot about it. Guess I will try another distributor, what a waist of money. They need a smarter AI filter bot.

They make you also pay separately for Beatport, but basically their service is very poor.
You are always stuck with your releases for annoying stuff like a small detail to fix in the cover art that is irrelevant through other distributors and also the platforms they don't care about almost all the "issues" Tunecore say to fix to deliver the releases.
After a while they will use the excuses that you are using AI for music to get you stuck, it's the same fraud the banks and payment gateways do blocking the transactions and funds because they suppose "you did not respect the terms and conditions" without giving you explanation, in this case Tunecore just blocks your release with no human review..
It sounds very cringe, they suppose you use AI for music and they don't want it but they use a whole system based on AI, maybe the support is all made by AI with no humans at all.
I used it just for a while like a month and they did not want to refund me at least partially.
If you see this review and others and you decide anyway to use their service you are so stupid and you will face the bad consequences of your decision.
Really.

State attenti e voi. Il contratto è fatto da loro e per qualunque motivo, appena arrivano soldi e si inventano qualunque scusa e ti chiedono l account!!Ed i messaggi sono questi: “ Thanks for reaching out. After completing a full review of your account, we’ve confirmed that, due to flags of abnormal activity, your content has been removed from stores, and your funds will remain on hold in accordance with our Terms & Conditions.

This decision includes the permanent closure of your TuneCore account, so we won’t be able to send any additional releases from this account to stores. Please note that uploading new content to this or any other TuneCore account will not be supported.

Thank you for understanding.
Best,“

Questo è tutto quello che ti dicono senza altre spiegazioni. Complimenti Tunecore vi auguro di essere denunciati in Europa e vi succederà. State lontani è il peggior contratto che si possa avere. Ho dovuto spostare tutte le canzoni verso altri distributori e non ho mai più avuto questi problemi con le stesse canzoni da loro eliminate e solo perché sono arrivati soldi dopo 6 mesi. Complimenti e voi

Garbage company that doesn't understand basic laws surrounding music. They do not read email period. I have 5 emails where their response has nothing to do with what was stated in the email. They do not accelerate anything. Thats a fake program that doesn't exist. Everytime you click on it it logs you out and redirects you to log in creating an endless cycle of clicking and logging in. Tune core is a scam. Distrokid is much more professional.

I'd give zero stars if possible. First, they appear to have ceased all human review and customer service and are relying 100% on AI. You can imagine how that goes. No real answers to questions. No phone line to call. 10+ times I've asked in email for a live human to call me, never addressed. The AI will flag a problem, not tell you the specific issue, and then never update the "Release Issue" notification so it never gets released. The irony is if the AI detects AI use in the song such as Suno, even if the entire song is original and written by you, it will reject it within 1 min. You appeal, and it's almost instantly rejected with a "No more appeals". So fast you know it's AI, and since they don't have humans working, guess what. Stuck. Sometimes an email comes in and they have named the AI and will even ask "How'd Frank do", but I've realized the responses are all copy/pasted uninformative information just being pulled by AI yet again. Either that or the employees are mindless husks that don't understand that a specific question actually has a specific answer. Stay away stay away stay away. I'm never renewing my account. There has got to be something better as an option, because you can only go up from here.

I was quite happy... until most of my tracks half ai generated - half recreated was flagged as 100% AI generated. I cant even delete rejected tracks because UI has missing button. Now? I can't even publish organic tracks now because support reply time is a nightmare last time. If anyone is looking for the best way to waste time and money TuneCore is the Best opportunity to do so. Sorry... but no. Quitting, switching to DistroKids.

The customer service at Tunecore is incredibly poor. I paid for a one-day support plan, and it took a month for some concerns to even be addressed. The staff is highly unprofessional; they don’t want to help and rely on an AI tool to scan music. If the AI says it’s AI, they accuse the artists. When I offered proof to the contrary, they completely ignored it. I also asked for a phone call back, but they said they don’t do that.

I even got a publishing account, paid the $99/USD fee, and asked for a refund because I can’t log in. Their parent company is ruining what Tunecore used to stand for. I’ve now switched to another distributor, and they have nothing but excellent client service.

Tunecore, do better or get out of the game. Adapt with the times or get out of the game. Holding artists back because an AI tool designed in a “test” environment at 99.9% success rate doesn’t work in a live setting is unacceptable. It seems Tunecore is completely ignoring the fact that their “tool” doesn’t work in the live setting and expecting “test” results to give percentages until live percentages can be verified. Poor service, Tunecore.

I started out very excited to release my meditations on tune core. Very quickly, it became clear it was not for me. They would not allow for hardly any space in the meditations for silence. I asked for my subscription to be canceled and initially they were very good and I got a refund. Then I got an email this year that they were renewing my subscription which I of course had already canceled and would be charging me. I reached out to customer service and the first person just tried to get me to stay and then stopped answering my emails when I told them I wanted it canceled. I emailed again and got one response saying they would do it. But then I got another email saying they were charging me. That was the last time they responded to me. I sent about five emails asking for status and they never responded. I would never go with this company for anything. Very untrustworthy and lacking customer service.

Accused of using AI. Again! Their software to identify AI-created music in not very good, is it?
Sometimes they say I´ve used AI and sometimes not though I´ve recorded in the same way since 2005 with the same instruments. And needless to say, never used AI.

I bought a yearly membership and put out an album. They unfinalized my album and said the album artwork needed fixed. (I used their program for the artwork) So I did what they said and the album is still unfinalized. I emailed three separate times and still no response. DON'T WAIST YOUR MONEY!!

Everything is flagged now as AI, even 2 Decade old songs. Also it has the worst support there is, they answer weeks later and releases need 4+ weeks till they are live. Absolutely no comparison to Distrokid where there is everything online within hours.

Tunecore was good when I started as they gave artists who aren’t signed to a label a means to release their music. Their customer service was much better when they were a newer platform. Like many platforms they have just been comfortable collecting yearly fee’s
from artists while totally bailing on the customer service. You have to jump through a bunch of hoops just to make a support inquiry.. they will then give you a ticket # and you will be lucky if you ever hear back from them because of “back log”. This is very frustrating. They removed one of my releases without any explanation whatsoever. I switched to distrokid and will be removing my releases from my tunecore account. Distrokid is much less hassle and the customer service has been amazing. Also if you are using royalty free vocals from sites like splice or vocal packs good luck getting your song releases with tunecore. Their review team is ridiculous and doesn’t understand that 80% of EDM producers use these packs. They are a headache to deal with but its hard to even get into dialogue with them when this issue does happen because the customer service has become so unimportant and terrible.

They froze my brother's money and never even told him why a single time.
Now, I am writing comments using his email and account. He took his own life because of poverty.
He told me several times that the company, which is named TuneCore, froze his money and wrote that it was temporary, but he couldn't wait any longer.
If one day I reach Europe or America, I will take this case to court, and I hope the law will prevail