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 revenue 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 revenue from the use of your song in Christian movies, cable television, and network television; use in product commercials, music book publishing, royalties from churches that use 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 keep streaming flowing, you need to decide if you want a music publisher to handle your song and exploit the copyright or if you prefer to keep a higher percentage by self-publishing.

Next, you will need to have a demo recording (also known as “a demo”) to present your songs to Christian music publishers, producers, and record companies, a realized master recording, or a limited release CD containing your song(s). 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 will 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 keep all rights.

Keep in mind that you can’t sell a song for cash to anyone, anywhere, that’s not legal due to laws passed years ago. Many years ago, song publishers were taking advantage of songwriters who paid hungry songwriters a few dollars for a song and then made millions, so Congress stepped in. Cash flow comes from mechanical and transmission royalties. If you publish yourself, you’ll earn cash from downloads, sales of your CDs, and other sources mentioned above.

These days you can give away your publishing rights, but you can’t sell all of the copyright or your share of the songwriting rights.

That covers the basics of How to Sell Your Christian Songs. Whether you use royalties and cash proceeds to support yourself, boost your ministry, or donate to a good cause, it’s something to consider and pray for.