About

We believe that by giving musicians with positive social messages the tools to protect their music and earn an income from it, we’re empowering communities to create and sustain their own economies, based on arts that are powerful, inspiring and valuable.

We see ourselves as a fair trade music movement, empowering unknown musicians in developing nations with marketing and legal knowledge and access to online platforms to share their music globally. Using innovative learning and incentive models, we conduct expert-led workshops to educate these artists on their rights and tools to grow their careers.

Implementing a social entrepreneurship model, PeaceTones also operates as a nonprofit record label for musicians that exemplify positive voices for social justice and demonstrate distinguished musical talent as determined by PeaceTones fan via a worldwide online competition.  With these musicians, we create fair trade business relationships coupled with mentor relationships to amplify their voices and talent.  With the far majority of profits going directly to the musician and a community development project of their choosing, PeaceTones is reducing poverty and injustice and creating an arts-led movement for peace, social change and economic development.

Why music? We work with musicians because they have the unique ability to transcend socio-political and economic divides and speak the universal languages of peace and justice.  In times of difficulty as well as joy, musicians bring their communities together, act as voice boxes for grievances that are otherwise rarely heard, and act as conduits for their communities to celebrate the culture they were born into and have helped create.  Music can mirror society, but it can also transform it. We want to support musicians who do both – mirror the aspects of their cultures that are inspiring so the rest of the world can witness them, and begin to transform aspects that are problematic by starting a conversation around them.

Through our hands-on workshops and mentoring, we educate musicians on how to protect their craft using legal, technological, and practical mechanisms and strategies.  This includes information ranges from general concepts, such as the importance of written agreements and certain contract terms to the more complex and nuanced fields of intellectual property law and copyright.  We also teach musicians about the many, often free, technology platforms available to “Do it Yourself” or “DIY” musicians.  These tools allow musicians from anywhere in the world to market, promote, and sell their music to a global audience.  In conjunction with our in-country educational workshops, PeaceTones conducts a contest using online platforms  which allow the world to vote for their favorite musicians. Eligible musicians are those that have successfully participated in the workshops, have created their own original music, and are voices for improving the world around them.  Winners receive the opportunity to record a professional studio album and work with PeaceTones to market, promote, and distribute their music and voices to an international audience as PeaceTones ambassadors.

With their unique ability to transcend what divides us, musicians speak the universal languages of peace and social justice.  Having been empowered with education, our musicians are positioned to be effective leaders within their communities and to disseminate positive messages for accountability and equality.  A lyrical voice for empowerment and justice, assisted by the amplifying power of technology, resonates not only with a community, but a country, and the world.

We promote international commerce, but we buck two trends of trade: 1) profit-taking by middle-men; and 2) the belief that developing countries’ competitive advantage is in exporting natural resources, which are often concentrated among the nation’s affluent. PeaceTones teaches musicians to protect their rights and to sell their music online without a talent agent, promoter, or manager, by using social media marketing and direct-to-fan sales methods. The products we promote are based on intellectual property (e.g. unique musical compositions), goods usually attributed to developed nations. Our focus on digital, proprietary business ensures less profits going to intermediaries and production, less environmental impact, products with ongoing revenue streams, and product marketing and sales across national boundaries to a global audience.