September 14, 2010

Artist Ping Accounts

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The first TuneCore Artist Ping pages are live with many more coming….

As you may have heard, Apple just launched a new service called Ping.  A social network for music where iTunes music fans can follow their favorite artists and friends to discover music they’re talking about, listening to and downloading.

Ping has “People” accounts and “Artist” accounts.  Artist accounts allow musicians to upload and create their own pages featuring their pictures, videos, tour-dates, music recommendations and a lot more.

I was fortunate enough to speak with Apple the day they launched Ping to begin working on getting the first TuneCore Artist Ping accounts set up. Many are live with many more coming. We will continue to get more and more TuneCore Artists set up over the next weeks as Apple works to authenticate and set up Ping Artist accounts for the millions of artists within iTunes.


SETTING UP AN ARTIST PING ACCOUNT

Here’s how an Artist Ping account gets set up.

First an artist, or their representative, is verified as the authorized person to control the Artist Ping account (i.e. no, you cannot pretend to be Iggy Pop).  This is done via TuneCore coordinating with TuneCore Artists and then relaying information to Apple.


Once this info is received by Apple, Apple emails out a unique url link specific to the artist. When this link is clicked on,  the iTunes software opens in your browser and says “Ping Artist Account” – it will ask you to log in with your iTunes user name/password or you can create a new iTunes account just for your Ping Artist account.

Whatever account you use to log in will be part of your Ping Artist Account.  One of the the things the Ping Artist and People account will do is display what you bought via that account on your Ping page.

So, if you are Motorhead and you buy the Strawberry shortcake “Rockaberry Roll” album ( and yes, that is the name of a real album, I just looked it up) – this will appear on your Ping Artist Page.

Once in your Ping account you will be able to upload assets etc.  There may be a slight delay before they appear as Apple will check to assure the movies/images are not pornographic .

TuneCore Artist Andrew Belle was kind enough to take some screen shots of the process as he set up his Artist Ping account

You can view Andrew’s Artist Ping Account here.

MY OPINION AS TO WHY APPLE HAS THS PROCESS

The following is not from Apple, it is my opinion as to why this above process exists.

There are literally millions of bands on iTunes.  Apple has to come up with a way to authenticate that the entity that lays claim to the Radiohead etc Ping Artist page is actually authorized to do so.

To control this, there has to be a manual process (at least at inception) where Apple literally reaches out to an artist via the entity that provided iTunes the music so they can assure the control for that Artist’s Ping page is actually the person/entity that has the right to do so.

This would be consistent with the high quality experience that Apple provides. It’s an Apple process that many others do not do.

It’s this verification process that increases the value of the Ping page as the fan or follower knows that this is actually the artist’s page.

September 14, 2010 · 36 comments in Web/Tech

  • http://www.whyeverypresidentsucked.com Eric Olsen

    Can’t wait to get up there! One question. If I have both band and solo projects through Tunecore, can I manage both “artists” through a single account?

  • http://www.josephbangura.com Joseph Bangura

    Great looking forward for mine! Joseph Bangura

  • Aubrey

    Awesome info!

  • http://profile.typepad.com/atmoravi Atmoravi

    so that means every artist sooner or later will get an eMail from TuneCore with a link to set up an artist page on PING? or how do we get authorized?

  • http://www.about.me/stevencravis Steven Cravis

    I agree about your opinion as to why this is done. Amazon Central did a similar thing a while back, where one can claim their artist entity and create a special page that is not the same as regular album/song listings at amazon or amazonmp3.com Just google Amazon Artist Central for more info.
    Tunecore, thanks for getting the ball rolling on this one!

  • http://www.themixesandthedubs.com Jason

    Apple ‘literally’ reaching out to all those artists? They must have very long arms and a heap of free time ;-)

  • K. Desmond

    So…
    Do we request this for our account
    or is it automatically done by tunecore?

  • http://www.standardthompson.com Dan Behrens

    SO…how exactly do I request a PING account?

  • http://loveandlogicrock.com Marissa DeVito

    Can someone actually answer these questions? How does someone get verified?

  • http://www.johnlongen.com JLongen

    great! I am looking fwd to getting started too!

  • http://itunesping.me Jessica

    Awesome behind the scenes stuff!

  • http://www.myspace.com/rmazurek Rob Mazurek

    Thanks Jeff,I assume you’ll inform us when we can start to create these Ping pages by leaving us messages via our tunecore website?

  • http://profile.typepad.com/chesler Oliver Chesler

    Thanks Jeff for the update. Let me know when I can set my artist name up!

  • Mike (TuneCore)

    We are working with iTunes to make Artist Accounts available to all of TuneCore; if you use us, consider yourself in line to get an account. We do not have way to implement a sign up system yet as this is still a manual process—Apple reaches out to an artist via the official contact to assure the Artist’s Ping page is actually the person/entity that has the right to it. We will make efforts to continue to get more and more TuneCore Artists set up over the next weeks as Apple works to authenticate and set up Ping Artist accounts for the millions of artists within iTunes.

  • http://www.myspace.com/bobryszkiewicz Bob Ryszkiewicz

    Thanks Jeff: Please let me know when it’s a “go”. Though I have to wonder if I am a TuneCore Artist responding to this email, have a MySpace & Facebook, why a click or two can’t set up the Widget that TuneCore already provides; with iTunes? I’m Googleable, sooo…
    But all this is a step in the right direction for the “Genius”(sorry Apple), and future Billionaire, who can GET ARTISTS HEARD(I’m not shouting, I’m getting that warm and fuzzy excited vibe hattenin’. Yes, Yes I know, not a typo…
    read “happening”, just tryin’ to get you Fonkified…)
    A “Listen to TuneCore Artist’s freeform singles radio station/stream on iTunes” would be nice, or did that happen when I wasn’t looking?
    Peace & Love…
    bob
    FonkyLynx on YouTube

  • http://www.myspace.com/bobryszkiewicz Bob Ryszkiewicz

    Waitaminnit;oops, now that I’ve read my post and THOUGHT about it, perhaps I wasn’t clear. It just seemed to me that TuneCore already has the info, and that authentication should be a simple “yep, he’s one of us type thing.”
    Probably has issues that are a bit more complex…But Thanks again for doing this…bob

  • http://www.myspace.com/drtydancing Eric Schoen (Dirty Dancing)

    Definitely interested in this. Do you need iTunes 10 (the newest version) to use Ping, and to also therefore set up an artist account or is this something that we’ll be able to do through TuneCore?

  • http://www.myspace.com/drtydancing Eric Schoen (Dirty Dancing)

    I’m definitely interested. So do I/we need to have iTunes 10 (the latest version) to use Ping and/or to be able to set up an artist account, or is that something that we’ll be able to do through tunecore?

  • http://www.helenwebb.com Helen Webb

    Thanks, I would like to set up an artists ping account asap. I have already set up an ordinary account. I would want the artist account to have the same name and registration details if possible. Will this be OK?

  • http://profile.typepad.com/michelleconceison Michelle Conceison

    I appreciate your suggestion why Apple is handling initial Ping artists manually. How is Apple addressing situations where labels don’t manage artists’ day-to-day web/social media? Ideally artist accounts will be set up with connection to “real” artist’s purchase behavior (not dummy accounts) and with ability for the artist to respond to posts themselves – not have to go through their label… But then how can others help them manage if the volume of activity grows?
    Is Andrew able to manage his account himself? What method will you use to alert TuneCore artists as they are invited? Will you set these accounts up on the artists’ behalf or will you provide the access for them (or their teams) to do so?

  • Derek

    “This is done via TuneCore coordinating with TuneCore Artists and then relaying information to Apple.”
    -How do I start this process?

  • http://profile.typepad.com/sunep87 SunEP87

    I would like a Ping account for mine. How do we do this or is Tunecore automatically doing this for us?

  • http://www.trakxchange.com James Webb

    I am interested in setting up a Ping account. I would like to do so asap. Please include me in the next wave of accounts. Thanks.

  • Jim

    This article is frustrating. It leaves out the most important bit of information: HOW TO ACTUALLY CREATE THE ARTIST ACCOUNT!

  • http://www.winbournemusic.com Max

    Sounds great! Can’t wait to be able to open one up! Really appreciate the update, we’ll look to hear back from y’all.

  • http://www.mister1234.com Mister 1-2-3-4

    I too am frustrated by this article. Could you please clearly state what Tunecore artists have to do in order to create a Ping account? Do we just wait until Tunecore gets to us? Will we receive an e-mail notice to activate the account? Do we have to go somewhere online to get registered? Are only certain artists eligible? Please give more detail.

  • http://www.tunecore.com Jeff

    When you use TuneCore, you are warranting and representing that you control the rights to the master recordings. This means you are the entity that will be contacted on behalf of the artist to set up an Artist Ping account.
    In other words, you are “pre-verified”.
    Apple is authenticating millions and millions of artists and then sending the entity that represents these artists a URL. It just takes time.
    You do not need to do anything beyond use TuneCore for distribution to be eligible for an Artist Ping account. If additional information is needed, we will absolutely reach out to you.
    You do not need to register anywhere else or do anything else. It’s just a matter of time as Apple creates and sends out the URLs.
    Jeff

  • http://www.itunescs5.com Jake

    So ready to be on ping as an artist. Anybody had TuneCore contact you yet? Let us know!
    And change that nasty iTunes10 icon. Please. http://www.itunescs5.com

  • http://www.sevenlies.com CJ

    So we do not need to do anything? Just wait to be contacted by Tunecore? CJ

  • http://www.wafmusic.com without a face

    Without a Face (released worst debut album ever & the 1st album was better) would like a ping account!

  • Kaleb Cobb-(K.Cobb)

    How do you go about getting your artist account approved using the island def jam distribution which is powered by tunecore?

  • http://sevonica.com jason

    email support@tunecore.com and ask them to get the ball rolling for you…

  • alvaro. v.

    automatically doing this for us??? haha this is pretty comic.

  • http://www.maximumhuge.com MaximumHUGE

    BOOM, that’s how it is, other places are doing it too. including our label ViaENGAGE – see you on the ‘Ping of Death’

  • Anonymous

    Ping me

    • Anonymous

      You are ponged

      Thank You

      Jeff Price
      Http://www.TuneCore.com