Business Insider
AC/DC cover band AC/db made over $32,000 from music sales in November. How is that possible? Under the old business model of music sales on physical media, it wouldn’t be. AC/db, on the other hand, just had to do around $45,000 in sales at the iTunes store. After Apple took its 30 cents on the dollar, that left $32,000, of which the band’s distributor, TuneCore, took nothing at all. The company charges an up front fee to process recordings and upload them to music stores like iTunes — which won’t deal with individual artists. The band retains all rights to its music and keeps all the revenue past what the stores keep. With this system, anyone can record just about anything and offer it to the masses on a whim. And if they happen to catch a viral wave, they can end up making a decent living.