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Spurned TuneCore founder concerned about company’s future
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 30 August 2012
TuneCore co-founder Peter Wells who, as it turns out, was forced out of the company in May, before the possibly more surprising axing of his fellow co-founder, Jeff Price, earlier this month, has spoken to Hypebot about the two men’s respective departures and what it might mean for the company.
Wells confirmed that both man were taken by surprise when they were respectively fired by the TuneCore board, particularly so in the case of Price, as he has always been the very vocal figurehead of the company. Now, says Wells, he worries that the company will be grown by its investors to the cost of the digital distributor’s original ethos – inviting artists to “sell your music, not your soul”.
Wells says that his own departure in May, although a shock and disappointment, was basically pretty amicable. He tells Hypebot: “I left TuneCore on excellent terms: they were very happy with my work, there were handshakes all around. I was told my position was ‘dissolved’, that’s all. I was extremely surprised. [And] I was disappointed that no effort was made to find [an alternative] place for me after my position was dissolved. I was even more disheartened that I wasn’t given a chance to come up with something on my own. But I was assured my leaving was no reflection on my performance, but was best for the company’s bottom line. Okay, sometimes a founder has to go. I understand there are phases in the life of a company. Gary Burke and Jeff Price, the other two co-founders, were still there, I knew TuneCore was in good hands”.
However, he continued: “[Then] more than a month ago, Jeff Price was asked to leave. This was lightning out of nowhere, and it gives me real reason to worry. Jeff was the heart and soul and brains of TuneCore, and I can’t understand why he was asked to leave … I’ve not heard any satisfactory explanation as to why Jeff was asked to leave, nor have I been told who’s running the company. I and the other shareholders need to be kept informed, and the silence is distressing”.
Discussing TuneCore’s potential future direction, he said: “Most concerning of all, the company is now in the hands of its big-money investors, principally Opus Venture. When TuneCore began in my living room with Gary and Jeff, we only had ourselves and the artist to answer to. But VC never has a pure motive: they enter a company to grow it, to make it a success, but not necessarily solely for the company or its vision, its employees or its customers. VC has to answer to its own needs, its return-on-investment, and its ultimate exit. This is the double-edged sword of venture capital: you get from them the money to grow, the support and know-how, sometimes even personnel. But you also dilute your vision. Your investors answer to different, at best mixed priorities”.
Read the full interview here.
