Create, Protect, Collaborate and Share Your Work
What Is Songbay?
Songbay began in 2011, created by songwriters and musicians for songwriters, lyricists, composers and music buyers.
It is a creative marketplace where original songs and lyrics can be developed, protected, presented, discovered and licensed. Members can build an artist page, publish the work they choose to share, set their own prices and keep the full value of their sales. Songbay does not deduct commission from sales or royalties.
Songbay also brings the creative process together. Members can contact one another through the platform, explore genuine collaboration opportunities and use Songbay Composer to turn a lyric or creative brief into a fully produced musical idea or starting point. These ideas can include vocals and instrumentation and can then be developed further with musicians, producers or a preferred recording setup.
Our digital copyright tools create dated records, certificates and Evidence Packs for eligible work. They help document when a work existed, preserve its authorship history, support responses to mistaken platform takedowns or ownership challenges, and give buyers and licensees clearer evidence of provenance when considering a work.
Songbay continues to develop practical tools that help creators move from an initial idea to a protected, presentable and licensable work, while keeping creative control in the hands of the songwriter.
What members can do
Songbay began in 2011, created by songwriters and musicians for songwriters, lyricists, composers and music buyers.
It is a creative marketplace where original songs and lyrics can be developed, protected, presented, discovered and licensed. Members can build an artist page, publish the work they choose to share, set their own prices and keep the full value of their sales. Songbay does not deduct commission from sales or royalties.
Songbay also brings the creative process together. Members can contact one another through the platform, explore genuine collaboration opportunities and use Songbay Composer to turn a lyric or creative brief into a fully produced musical idea or starting point. These ideas can include vocals and instrumentation and can then be developed further with musicians, producers or a preferred recording setup.
Our digital copyright tools create dated records, certificates and Evidence Packs for eligible work. They help document when a work existed, preserve its authorship history, support responses to mistaken platform takedowns or ownership challenges, and give buyers and licensees clearer evidence of provenance when considering a work.
Songbay continues to develop practical tools that help creators move from an initial idea to a protected, presentable and licensable work, while keeping creative control in the hands of the songwriter.
What members can do
- Create a beautiful artist page to showcase selected songs and lyrics to the world
- Offer songs as private digital downloads or under a Standard or Extended Licence
- Offer lyrics under a Standard or Extended Licence
- Set prices and keep the full value of sales and royalties
- Find original work and communicate through Songbay's member messaging
- Collaborate with other songwriters, lyricists and composers
- Explore songwriting, composing and creative collaboration opportunities
- Create musical ideas and starting points with Songbay Composer
- Use Songbay's creative tools for mixing, mastering and developing recordings
- Explore composing and arranging services, including Lyric to Song and AI to Human Song
- Create dated copyright records, certificates and supporting Evidence Packs
- Use AuthentiTrack to document the creative process and help demonstrate authorship, particularly for lyrics and AI-assisted songs
Selling and Licensing
Songs can be offered as private digital downloads for personal use or under a Standard or Extended Licence. Lyrics can be offered under a Standard or Extended Licence. A licence allows a buyer to use the work for the project and purposes covered by the chosen terms while the creator retains ownership.
If a buyer wishes to acquire the copyright itself, this begins as an enquiry and requires a separate written assignment agreed by the parties. Copyright ownership is not transferred automatically through an ordinary Songbay purchase.
Creators set their own prices. Songbay does not deduct commission from sales or royalties, so the agreed payment goes to the creator.
Songbay Composer
Songbay Composer helps lyricists and songwriters hear an idea take musical shape. From a lyric or creative brief, it can create a fully produced musical starting point with vocals and instrumentation. The result can be used as a creative sketch and developed further with a producer, musicians or the creator's own recording tools.
The current Composer experience is available through AuthentiTrack, which can also preserve a record of the creative process and the human contribution behind the work.
Collaboration and Contact
Members can use Songbay's messaging system to contact creators about a particular song or lyric, discuss a genuine project or explore a creative collaboration. Clear profiles and specific, respectful messages help useful conversations begin. Members decide whether and how they wish to respond.
Digital Copyright Protection
Songbay's digital copyright tools preserve dated records for eligible songs and lyrics and can issue certificates and supporting Evidence Packs. This material can help demonstrate when a work existed, document its authorship and development history, support a response to a mistaken platform takedown or ownership challenge, and provide clearer provenance when a work is licensed.
AuthentiTrack adds a structured record of the creative process, including human input in AI-assisted work. Together, these tools make important evidence easier to organise, verify and share when it is needed.
