Today (April 22) is Earth Day, and in line with the celebrations of nature and the life-sustaining ecosystems in which we all exist, TuneCore has announced a new partnership with Brian Eno‘s EarthPercent organization and its Sounds Right Initiative.
Through the new initiative with TuneCore, a development partner for self-releasing artists, these independent artists can directly support ecosystem restoration by donating a portion of their streaming revenue to Indigenous and community-led nature conservation and restoration efforts. TuneCore artists who want to donate a percentage of their streaming royalties to Sounds Right can simply list “Nature” — the official artist page for the natural world — as a collaborator on their release to arrange a royalty split.
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Once the track is out, the determined percentage of distribution royalties will automatically be donated to nature conservation via the Sounds Right Fund, with these funds prioritizing small and medium-sized conservation initiatives. Find more details on the partnership here.
“As we navigate a new era in the music industry, it is our responsibility to act with sustainability in mind,” TuneCore’s Chief Business Officer Brian Miller says in a statement. “In addition to helping artists succeed in a changing musical landscape, TuneCore is proud to help fund EarthPercent’s climate and nature initiatives and make it easy for independent creators to do the same. Artists have always used their music to stand up for what they believe in, and through this partnership with EarthPercent, they can now use their music to directly fund the environmental causes that are important to them.”
“Music has always been a powerful force for change, not just emotionally but culturally,” Eno adds in a statement. “With EarthPercent, our aim is to give artists a simple, direct way to contribute to the health of the planet we all share. TuneCore’s support helps us extend that mission to independent creators everywhere, empowering them to weave planetary care into the fabric of their work.”
In tandem with the announcement, TuneCore also pledged £10,000 ($14,500) to EarthPercent, an amount EarthPercent will double to £20,000 ($27,000) as part of their “Big Give” campaign in April.
Launched in 2024, Sounds Right is a cross-DSP playlist that features songs that sample the sounds of nature — from waves to bird calls to the wind and rain — with “Nature” credited as an official artist and royalties generated by these songs going to conservation efforts. Last November, Sounds Right announced that since its launch, it has raised $400,000 for Indigenous and community-led conservation in the Amazon and Congo Basin regions, building on the $225,000 it directed to projects in the Tropical Andes in 2024.
The 11 projects in the Amazon and Congo Basins and the Colombian Tropical Andes currently receiving funding include Yunkawasi, a Peruvian nonprofit working across more than 37,000 hectares of community-managed forests, along with the African Marine Mammal Conservation Organization (AMCO) along Cameroon’s coast and inland waters, a project that protects manatees, cetaceans, and other aquatic species.
In 2026, projects focused on ocean conservation in the Asia-Pacific will be added to the Sounds Right slate.
