Tunecore, unquestionably the best service for artists and indie labels looking for digital distribution, has just gotten even better:

… [A] new feature for TuneCore customers… If you sold music in iTunes you will be able to log in and see weekly trending sales data showing how many songs and/or albums sold the previous [week], the zip code/postal code, country and city of the buyer. In addition you also see the date of the sale and the projected money you have earned.

Why is this a big deal? Because prior to this, data of this kind was closely guarded and/or cost thousands of dollars to access (hello, Soundscan). But now…

…for the very first time, musicians can have very detailed information about who their fans are, where they live, what songs are being bought, how often, what country, how much money they have coming to them when the accounting statement shows up the following month and more from the largest seller of music on the planet.

With this information, musicians have the ability to plan a tour to where their buying fan are as well as promote themselves to local radio, TV, newspapers with hard proof that they should be covered.

(via Tunecorner)