MUMBAI: FreshTunes is an artist services platform that has encouraged a community many music companies forget: The vibrant world of artists from less income-rich markets who deserve the same premium level of service as their wealthier counterparts. With large and growing bases in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and now North America, attracting artists from 140 countries, FreshTunes offers a radical new perspective on how to make the music business work for musicians everywhere.
Based in Dubai and London, the crew behind FreshTunes are self-professed “IT guys,” seasoned tech experts obsessed with music. “If artists need a tool, we want to provide it,” says Nick Okorokov, Co-Founder and CEO of FreshTunes.
Offering everything from publishing administration to analytics to YouTube ads, the platform lets artists pick, choose, and use whatever services make the most sense for their career and fanbase, with human support for any challenges that arise. Artists pay nothing for the basics, and they keep all their rights and revenue. To give artists everything they need, FreshTunes has partnered with some of the strongest musician-serving brands out there, with more announcements to come this year.
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A quiet success in the DIY music sphere, FreshTunes grew from the company’s original service that provided music fans custom ringtones back in the day, a once-popular music usage before the advent of the smart phone. “We started to think about how to be successful in music beyond ringtones,” recounts Okorokov. “We were working with major labels on various projects, and we came to understand their business and how they signed their artists. We felt that musicians deserved more options. We looked at other DIY distributors’ models and found them attractive but we wanted to make them better. We wanted to make our service completely free. That’s how we came to the FreshTunes model.”
This model serves the majority of music makers around the world exceedingly well, as in many markets, artists simply can’t afford even the seemingly small fees charged by other self-serve distributors. This free-to-start approach brings more artists into the global flow of music, getting their work onto major DSPs around the world. “Every independent artist should have a chance to be everywhere that matters and to find their audiences. We want to help make this happen,” says Andrew Rudetskikh, FreshTunes COO.
While keeping the core service free and accessible, FreshTunes has built on its initial offerings by creating the equivalent to the “in-app purchases” found in many popular mobile games, add-ons that allow artists to unlock more tools to promote their music and run a music-based business. The team behind FreshTunes had extensive experience in mobile gaming where approaches to customers and pricing reigned. “We are all veterans of the games industry and we’ve seen the power of the freemium model,” says Okorokov. “People aren’t paying straight away and they are only paying for the value-added elements inside the game that they want. The same approach works well for musicians.”
A baseline cost-free service, however, doesn’t mean FreshTunes has compromised on quality, not when it comes to technology or to customer support. Questions don’t fall into an online void, never to get a response. FreshTunes has devoted resources to ensuring artist issues get a helpful response within 48 hours, a commitment many free or lower-fee services refuse to make.
FreshTunes’ commitment to serving artists well, despite the low barrier to entry, also involves filtering out fraudulent content and behavior, a huge challenge for self-serve distributors of all kinds. FreshTunes has met this challenge and consistently maintains and follows all major DSPs’ regulations and anti-piracy initiatives. This in turn ensures that artists’ music is distributed on a predictable schedule, making release planning easy.
“Our footprint is different. We’ve built our reputation in the underground, very organically, by supporting that iceberg of emerging artists beneath the surface,” notes Rudetskikh. “We have a different regional aspect compared to other companies and we’re very proud to serve these artists.” Thanks to FreshTunes and its decade of hard work, these artists have access to a growing music business toolkit that gives access to all without sacrificing premium features and with more tools to come.
