Estate planning as a TuneCore account holder

TuneCore is a music distribution and publishing administration service used by independent artists to release recordings to streaming and download stores (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and others) and to collect the royalty earnings those plays generate. The estate-relevant assets are the distributed catalog, which continues earning after the artist dies, and the accrued and future royalties held in the account. Earnings are withdrawn through Payoneer to PayPal, a bank account, or a prepaid Mastercard. TuneCore documents account-ownership transfer by changing the account email and password, which moves the entire catalog and all past accounting data to a new owner.

When a TuneCore account holder dies, their royalties can be transferred to heirs through the estate. This requires documentation including a death certificate and, in some cases, court documents.

TuneCore supports transferring royalties to another person during the account holder's lifetime.

What happens at death

A TuneCore account and its catalog do not disappear at death. The distributed recordings stay live on the streaming and download stores and keep earning royalties, and any accrued earnings remain in the account. TuneCore documents account-ownership transfer by changing the account email and password: doing so gives the new owner access to and ownership of every album in the account and all past accounting data. The new email address cannot already be attached to an existing TuneCore account. This is the practical path for an heir or estate to take over a deceased artist's catalog and continue collecting royalties through the same account. TuneCore does not offer a beneficiary designation. Its Terms & Conditions (Section 27(g)) state that the Terms and the rights and licenses granted under them "may not be transferred or assigned by you," so there is no user-initiated formal assignment of the agreement; the workable mechanism is the credential transfer above, optionally with TuneCore Artist Support updating the account details. Royalties are paid out roughly 45 days after each calendar quarter and are withdrawn through Payoneer to PayPal, a bank account, or a prepaid Mastercard.