Tunecore Expands Operations Into Southeast Asia Spearheaded By Cyrus Chen

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The leading digital music distribution service provider for independent artists worldwide continues its global expansion, making its debut in Southeast Asia



TuneCore, a global leader in digital music distribution for independent artists worldwide has officially launched operations across Southeast Asia (SEA). TuneCore is owned by Believe, one of the world’s leading digital music companies based in Paris. Believe currently operates in 50+ countries and together, the two companies distribute a significant share of the world’s digital music. Earlier this year, TuneCore launched operations in LATAM and Africa, bringing its total presence to 14 countries in 4 continents, and thereby making the company the independent DIY distributor with the largest global footprint.

TuneCore distributes music to a network of more than 150 digital stores and streaming services worldwide, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, JOOX, KKBox, Amazon Music, TikTok, QQ Music and Netease. The company boasts 14 localised and fully translated websites, including Southeast Asian languages Thai and Bahasa (Indonesia). The Vietnamese and Mandarin (simplified and traditional) versions of the website are expected to be added later this year.

Cyrus ChenTuneCore’s operations in Southeast Asia will be spearheaded by Cyrus Chen, who joined the company in late 2020. Prior to joining TuneCore, Cyrus worked with organisations such as Changi Travel Services and eatigo International, where he was responsible in conceptualising and orchestrating strategic plans that reinforced brand image and helped companies develop integrated business strategies to scale across regions.

Said Faryal Khan-Thompson, Vice President, International, TuneCore to whom Cyrus will report, “In the Southeast Asia market, the music industry is growing at a steady pace, with the number of potential music listeners in Asia exceeding 3.5 billion1. With Cyrus at the helm, TuneCore is uniquely positioned to help independent artists in Southeast Asia grow their fan base through the company’s game changing education, best in class tools and wide ranging global reach, all while allowing artists to keep all rights to their music and earn 100% of 100% of their revenues,”

Commenting on TuneCore’s expansion, Cyrus said, “I am honoured to join TuneCore and work with Faryal and the larger team to introduce the company’s services to Southeast Asia. We are an emerging music market with vast potential and a diverse population of varying cultures and languages. TuneCore’s parent company Believe entered the market in 2013 and has since developed a deep understanding of each country’s local music scene. TuneCore is leveraging that deep local industry knowledge to build our offerings, catered to the specific needs of independent DIY artists in the region, with scalable services at a competitive price, while supplying high value.”

Sylvain Delange, Managing Director Asia Pacific, Believe expressed, “TuneCore’s deep commitment to champion independent artists from all four corners of the world is in line with our vision [at Believe] to propel artists’ growth. There is an opportunity for TuneCore & Believe to further contribute to the growth of the thriving Southeast Asia independent artists community and help them take advantage of the exponential growth to come in the digital space while still allowing musicians to continue to maintain control and ownership of their work. Together, we are excited and are confident we’ll provide the most comprehensive set of services and products to artists in the Southeast Asian market.”

The region is ripe for partnerships and activations, as demonstrated by Cyrus’ already robust slew of country-specific initiatives. Highlights are below:

Indonesia: Elevating local voices with HOOKSpace
TuneCore has partnered up with HOOKSpace, an Indonesian music media company which focuses on up-and-coming local talent. Through this partnership, TuneCore and HOOKSpace will provide independent artists with education on marketing, promotion and best ways to navigate their careers in order to reach the widest audiences.

Thailand: Thai-ing things together with FungJai
TuneCore has collaborated with FungJai, a music community that connects musicians and their fans through engaging online platforms and offline activities, such as music streaming, an online magazine, concerts, and seminars. TuneCore and FungJai will work together to develop educational content curated for DIY artists and their unique needs across FungJai’s platforms.

Singapore: Roaring it live with SGMUSO
Earlier this year, TuneCore celebrated its 15th anniversary by donating to SGMUSO’s Musician Support Fund (MSF), which supports the Fund-A-Gig program. This is the 3rd edition of Fund-A-Gig in the last 12 months and was created to support Singapore’s musicians and artists who have lost performance opportunities and revenue due to the prolonged effects of COVID-19 on the nightlife and live music industry.

Philippines: Celebrating local relevancy with PhilPop
In the Philippines, TuneCore has partnered with PhilPop Musicfest Foundation, Inc., a non-profit foundation that organizes music and song writing programs to grow Filipino Pop Music. TuneCore will be a sponsor of the 2021 Songwriting DigiCamp, an activation targeted towards aspiring songwriters across the Philippines. The DigiCamp is one of PhilPop’s key 2021 programs, and leads into the PhilPop 2022 Songwriting Festival, a year-long celebration of original Filipino music compositions.

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