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How Do I Sell My Song?

If you are a songwriter or lyric writer and you take your craft seriously, then teaming up with the right publisher to help sell your music is essential. But where do you even begin? It’s easy to spend hours online researching different ways to sell your music, but it can be difficult to make money from your music without knowing how to go about it. Demo My Song® has been helping artists release and sell their music since 2004. A common misunderstanding about selling your song is the difference between selling the copyright to your song (typically to a performing artist) and licensing your song. Read on to learn more about the differences between the two.

Cayman, NYC Songwriting Contest
Cayman, NYC Songwriting Contest

What does it mean to license your song?

Instead of selling the copyright to your song, you can sell a license for someone to use your song for a specific purpose such as putting it in a movie or commercial. There are more opportunities than ever to make money with your music by licensing your songs in tv, film, radio, commercials, and more. When you license your music to be used for such purposes, you are not actually “selling your song,” you are paid a one-time fee for the song to be used for a specified use and period of time. You can license a song as many times as you wish in addition to selling the track directly to your fans.

What does it mean to sell my copyright?

You may want to pitch a song to a particular performing artists. If you do land a placement with a major artist, typically you would receive a one-time buy out of your copyright. Opportunities to place songs with famous artists still exist, but for the artists that we collaborate with we focus more on the licensing and direct-to-fan marketing. If you are serious about selling your songs, developing a fan-base as soon as possible is essential. Create an online presence for your artist/band name and cultivate a mailing list to keep in touch with your fans. If you want help throughout the process from song creation to marketing, consider hiring Demo My Song® to co-produce and sell your next single or EP.

Songwriters Who Collaborated with Demo My Song® Say…