How to sell christian songs
If you’ve written a faith-based song and want to make money from it, here’s how to sell Christian songs!
The income stream from Christian songs includes radio airplay on Christian stations, CD sales through Christian bookstores; CD sales through secular stores like Walmart; CD sales at live events, direct downloads from your own ministry website; and sales through Amazon.com, iTunes, and other sites.
You can also include income from the use of your song in Christian movies, cable television, and network television; use in product commercials, music book publishing, royalties from churches using your song in plays or worship, foreign uses for all of the above… the list goes on and on. If your song is played on the radio, you will receive royalties from SESAC, BMI or ASCAP.
To get streaming going, you need to decide if you want a music publisher to handle your song and exploit copyrights or if you’d rather keep a higher percentage by self-publishing.
Next, you’ll need to have a demo recording (also known as “a demo”) to pitch your songs to Christian music publishers, producers, and record companies, a master recording made, or a limited release CD containing your songs. songs). ) ) for their self-publishing efforts.
A master single or limited release CD can also serve as a demo, but is more expensive. This step will cost money, but if your song is good enough to sell, it’s a necessary investment that you’ll pay back later.
Most composers write both lyrics and music. If you only have lyrics written so far, you’ll need to have a melody and chords created for your lyrics because professionals in the music industry don’t read lyrics, they listen to demos. Most demo services will write music for a fee under a “work for hire” agreement that allows you to retain all rights.
Please note that you cannot sell a song for cash to anyone, anywhere, that is not legal due to laws passed years ago. Many years ago, song publishers were taking advantage of songwriters who would pay hungry songwriters a few dollars for a song and then make millions, so Congress stepped in. Cash flow comes from mechanical and transmission royalties. If you publish yourself, you will earn cash from downloads, sales of your CDs, and other sources mentioned above.
These days you can assign your publishing rights, but you can’t sell all of the copyrights or your share of the composition rights.
That covers the basics of How to Sell Your Christian Songs. Whether you use the royalties and cash proceeds to support yourself, further your ministry, or donate it to a good cause, it is something to consider and pray about.