Songbay began its journey in 2011 with a simple ethos: a company created by songwriters and musicians, for songwriters and musicians.
Initially, Songbay served as a song and lyric licensing marketplace—a place where songwriters and lyricists could showcase their work to the world, and where buyers could discover and purchase original songs and lyrics of the highest quality.
In 2012, we launched our Copyright Protection service, which quickly became an industry leader in protecting the creative works of songwriters. This feature remains one of our most popular and valued services to date.
Over the years, Songbay has grown into the world’s largest market place for the sale and purchase of original songs and lyrics. We've introduced a wide range of features to support creative songwriters and buyers—from song licensing and mastering to copyright protection, from artist collaboration, to song mastering and distribution. Whether you need lyric services, AI song selling tools, or personalized human expertise, Songbay offers it all!
We are proud to be the first company to facilitate the sale and purchase of AI-created songs, alongside groundbreaking songwriting tools tailored for today’s AI artists and buyers.
Throughout our journey, we’ve remained committed to researching and developing innovative services for creators and buyers alike. Despite our growth and evolution, our essence remains unchanged: we are still a company run by songwriters and musicians, for songwriters and song buyers.
Welcome to Songbay!
Typical users include:
- Companies looking for music for websites
- Managers/Agents searching for new material for artists
- Bands/Solo artists wishing to make their own cover versions of songs and lyrics
- Producers looking for music for films and TV commercials
- Composers looking to collaborate with Lyricists
- Lyricists looking to collaborate with Composers
- Songwriters looking to copyright their songs and lyrics
- Songwriters looking to improve their songs and lyrics
- AI artists looking to copyright their AI songs
Selling Options
As a seller on Songbay, you can sell your music and lyrics in the following ways.
- As a Download -Allowing personal use only.
- As a Cover Version -Allowing other artists to make a cover version (re-recorded) version of your song or lyric.
- As a License -Allowing your song or lyric to be used by another person/organization for a specific purpose.
- As a Copyright Exchange -Allowing all rights and ownership to be purchased by a Buyer.
Most songwriters are familiar with digital downloads, but less clear on music licensing and copyright exchange.
Licensing
This is the most popular selling choice for songwriters at Songbay. In simple terms, a music license is like agreeing to loan a song or lyric to another person for a specific purpose. Instead of 'loan', the music industry uses the word 'license'.
Example uses of these licenses (loans) might be for a website, a company video, a radio commercial, film track, etc.
The buyer pays the artist a fee for a license and can then use the work legally (for one single project only).
A license is a great option for both seller and buyer. The seller keeps total control of their work and is also entitled to receive royalties whenever their work is performed or broadcast, whilst the buyer gets to use the work legally without having to own the copyright.
Copyright Selling
Another useful selling choice at Songbay is Copyright selling.
For a fee (set by the seller), a songwriter or lyricist can sell the copyright of their work to another person. The new person then becomes the legal owner and copyright holder of the the music or lyric.
To compensate for the relinquishment of all rights, copyright sales generate much higher fees for sellers,
How much will I receive for my work?
Everything! We allow sellers to set their own fees for their work without deducting commission from sales. So whatever fee payments you receive at Songbay, you keep!
When uploading your songs and lyrics to our online sellers area, we advise you on the recommended industry prices, to ensure you do not over or under charge for your work.
Contact from buyers and collaboration offers
Each day Songbay sellers receive work offers via our unique 'Buyer/Seller' email function built into each seller's artist page and via our live 'chat' feature in the user dashboard. Commonly, whilst searching our library, a user will discover an artist and wish to contact them in relation to a specific composing request or collaboration project.
Please take a look at some examples of this in action. Contact Examples >>
Membership Options >>
