WARNING: Tunecore Has Been Hacked

The last several months have not been kind to the security measures implemented by some of music’s biggest digital platforms. Following data breaches of Patreon and Spotify in recent weeks, it’s now time for users of Tunecore to begin fearing for their data.

On Friday, December 4, Tunecore CEO Scott Ackerman sent an email to all users explaining that their accounts had been hacked three weeks earlier on November 17th. “We recently discovered suspicious activity on TuneCore’s servers in November,” he wrote, “and that on November 17th an individual illegally collected information from our servers.”

The data stored on the compromised server is sure to keep many users up at night. According to the company,  customers’ names, addresses, email addresses, TuneCore account numbers, and protected TuneCore passwords were all accessible to the hackers. According to the company. “It is possible for a determined hacker with sufficient time, using advanced computing tools, to recover those passwords,” admitted Tunecore, who has invalidated all of its user passwords.  

Users logging on to Tunecore today will be prompted to provide their email address a second time in order to reset their password.  “You should also change your password on any other accounts or websites that share your previous TuneCore password.” cautioned Ackerman.

With the rising number of music companies being hacked, users of these services would be wise to change their passwords on a regular basis. Also, never use the same password for multiple services. You cannot prevent hacks, especially when they involve companies you do not control, but you can take measures to protect yourself regardless of what happens. Do that, and you will be miles ahead of your peers should a worst case scenario become a reality.

James Shotwell