Music Distribution: MondoTunes Review – The Honest Truth

What a lot of artist struggle with is the business side of their music and how to market themselves properly. Many would certainly agree that this side of things can be very intimidating. With all types of product based businesses, the ones with strong distribution strategies will tend to separate themselves from the pack. This is no different in music.

Now while you may not have the multi-million dollar backing to take advantage of certain distribution opportunities you can still be successful with your music career. Companies like MondoTunes are working to simplify the distribution process for artists, allowing you to focus more of your time on creating great music.

In todays MondoTunes review we will help you to understand exactly what this platform has to offer. Like always, there is no cookie cutter distribution company for any group of artists. Everyone has different needs specific to their situation and we only hope to help you choose the best distribution platform suited for your specific needs as an artist.

So if you’re ready lets not waist any more time and see if MondoTunes is right for you!

Who Is MondoTunes For?

MondoTunes is great for someone looking for unlimited yearly distribution for a yearly fee and is okay with the company also taking a 10% commission. If you are very budget conscious you will struggle to take advantage of some of MondoTunes additional features. These tools are meant to help grow your brand and exposure but are not cheap.

Due to their connections in the industry, they are able to distribute your music to a wide range of outlets that even reach the likes of Asia. It could also be said though that they leverage these connections a lot in their marketing to artists but it would be hard to pull any strong correlation to what these connections may do for you individually.

Fees & Commissions

As we make our way through the inner workings of these music distribution companies, a few factors becoming more and more apparent. One of these factors is how each company structures the fees and commissions that they take.

Keeping this in mind, we thought this would be the best place to kick off our MondoTunes Review. So is this platform right for you? Lets take a look and find out!

MondoTunes does not charge a fee to join their platform which is pretty standard across the industry. However, I would like to make a point about MondoTunes that I do not agree with when it comes to their registration process.

Once you sign up, you are not granted access to anything until you pay, which means you will not be able to see the inner workings of the platform until you fork over payment. It may not seem like a huge deal but with most platforms, you get to test drive the service before paying. This allows you to get familiar with things and see if you like the platform first before buying.

So although it is free to join, in a sense you are essentially paying to sign up depending how you look at it.

Distribution & Yearly Fees

MondoTunes is another company that charges annual fees in order to use their service. 

We have discussed in the past, how some people feel negatively about the thought of annual fees. 

However, MondoTunes differs from other platforms with annual fees like TuneCore for example. 

The difference here is that MondoTunes will allow you to release an unlimited amount of singles, EPs, and Albums under their annual fee of $39.99/yr.

This is a pretty solid price point considering you get unlimited releases and don’t have to incur fees every time you upload something new. 

There is one minor catch though, which is discussed in the commission section.

Commissions

Previously we mentioned that the annual fee charged by MondoTunes was pretty straightforward and on par with the industry. Here’s the deal though, MondoTunes also takes a 10% commission on the sale of your music.

Well, they don’t themselves take any money, but their global distribution partners do. To see how they break it down, we grabbed a quote directly from their site which you can also read here. 

“MondoTunes does not deduct anything. However, our partners do. The best way we can answer this is to give you an example. A typical single will sell on iTunes in the United States for 99 cents (selling price will vary from retailer to retailer). Out of that 99 cents, iTunes takes 29 cents, leaving 70 cents. Our global distribution partner (Interscope/UMG Digital Music Channel) takes 10 percent of the remaining 70 cents (7 cents) leaving a net royalty of 63 cents that is sent to MondoTunes.”

So what does this mean  for you as an artist? Well, they are taking two forms of income from you via the annual fee and a commission. With that said, the fact that you can upload an unlimited amount of albums, singles, and EPs within a year, helps to balance this out if you leverage it appropriately.

Outlets & Release Options

Before we move on, it’s important to note a few things that MondoTunes does not allow you to do. For starters, it should be said that MondoTunes distributes to over 200+ stores. They have strong ties to Interscope and leverage this to their advantage. 

Through these partnerships, they are said to distribute to the most stores out of anyone. So what’s the catch? Well, throughout the whole upload process, there is no section outlining which stores your music will be distributed to. Furthermore, you’re not provided with options to opt out of distribution to certain stores or territories.

Get This: if you don’t want to distribute to specific stores you need to contact them to inquire about doing so. Seems like a bit of a headache considering you don’t know who exactly they distribute to, outside of the obvious suspects (Spotify, iTunes, etc.). I find this a bit puzzling but I don’t see them changing this anytime soon.

Release Dates

We all know the importance of planning your marketing efforts and ensuring that your release date gives your distributor ample time to get your music distributed to stores.

To be totally honest with you…MondoTunes’ speed to distribute your music is not impressive. Distributing your music with MondoTunes could take up to 30 days to get your music distributed. Obviously, this won’t always be the case and shorter times are certainly possible.

However, MondoTunes then try to charge you more to expedite your release but can only promise to reduce the time to about 10 – 14 days. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t horrible. But let’s not forget that other companies are providing this speed of delivery at no extra cost.

Additional Stores & Takedown Costs

You could say that it’s a positive thing that there are no fees for adding additional stores. The only thing is you really don’t have a choice in the first place.

As for takedown costs, MondoTunes has you covered here and make removing your music quite simple. All you need to do is submit an inquiry here and they will help you through the process

General Features

MondoBio

Want to know more about how you can strengthen your brand with MondoTunes? A big component of your marketing and branding is your overall narrative and the perception of you as an artist.

A great way to craft this narrative and have fans perceive you the way you want them to is through a strong Biography. MondoTunes offers an Artist Biography service to help you with building a brand around your platform.

They begin by discovering more about you through discussions with their marketing team. They then take the information they find and craft a unique biography for you to use on various mediums. The service will run you $49.99 if this is something of interest to you.

MondoBlast

Want further exposure for your upcoming release? Many artists fail to fully promote their releases at an optimal level. This can happen due to a lack of resources, laziness, misinformation and more.

One element that artists should consider when promoting their music is a strong press release. MondoTunes provides you with the opportunity to get a press release completed for your next release. Whether it’s a single, EP, album or music video, MondoTunes will help you promote it and get the word out.

They begin with discovering more about you and your release and also take the time to listen or watch what you are about to share with the world. Next, they will craft a solid press release that you can utilize to help promote your release. The service will run you $99.99.

Music Video Distribution

What are more distribution companies realizing they need to start helping artists with? You guessed it, Video Promotion! The importance of not only making quality music videos but successfully promoting them is growing ever so quickly.

You need to have a strategy in place to properly promote the videos you create. Thankfully MondoTunes does offer Video Distribution Services. They promise to get your videos on VEVO, Vimeo, YouTube, Filmon, and more.

The catch here is that the service is a bit pricey. How much are we talking? Well, the service will run you $249.99 per video. If your pockets are deep enough this may be something of interest to you.

Mastering Services

MondoTunes will also get your tracks mastered for you before your release. Depending on what you are releasing, there are different pricing levels to be aware of.

Soundcloud Monetization

With Soundclouds recent finacial troubles they have been looking for ways to restructure their business model. One new change that they have implemented helps artists get paid from the Soundcloud platform through ads.

What Soundcloud will do is place ads on your songs and you are paid for allowing them to leverage your music for advertising. Not all artists would be thrilled about this feature but this is something that MondoTunes helps you to take advantage of if you so choose.

SoundExchange Collection

Is your music getting played on digital radio stations like iHeartRadio or Sirius? If not, does it have the potential to be? You should ensure that you are registered for SoundExchange otherwise you are leaving money on the table.

If you’ve talked with anyone who has had to register for sound exchange on thier own, I’m sure they will tell you that the process is the furthest thing from fun. Luckily for you MondoTunes helps you to easily register for the service and collect money on your behalf which is an added benefit forsure!

Payouts

So I’m sure you don’t mind getting paid, right? MondoTunes provides you with two options to get your money. Either via PayPal or in the form of Physical Checks.

Note: physical checks are only available to musicians living in the United States.

MondoTunes imposes a $25 threshold before you can withdraw your funds. Unfortunately, MondoTunes does not have any payment splitting options for artists.

Ease Of Use

Once you get familiar with the MondoTunes platform it is very straightforward and easy to use. They have helpful hints and tips to help you along with the upload process and a decent FAQ that you can reference. Once again, I will mention that you do not get to experience the actual platform until you submit payment.

Analytics & Reporting

We have discussed the importance of your analytics in previous posts and ensuring that you are utilizing this information to further your career. An important aspect of this is ensuring that the data you are receiving is thorough and accurate.

MondoTunes does provide you with an analytics section to keep track of your music and release performance. They, unfortunately, do not have the most comprehensive analytics on the market which is something to consider.

Customer Service

Where customer service is concerned, MondoTunes provides you with 24/7 support for their email turnaround. They prefer you contact them via email but do have options to contact them via phone as well. I have heard very good things about their response times and helpfulness in getting issues resolved.

Final Verdict

MondoTunes provides a solid distribution platform for their artists. No one can deny that they will get your music out to the largest selection of stores in comparison to the competition. However I do not feel like they are among the best in the industry.

Their additional features are helpful for artist but are not as strong as some other platforms. With that said the platform can be pricey if you are looking to take advantage of these features. Dependent on your needs this may be the right solution for you though.