How Can I Sell a Song?

The short answer to this question is You don’t want to sell outright, a song you have written. Under the United States copyright laws, you are entitled to a royalty each time your song is used for commercial purposes. If you were to sell the song, you would be agreeing to accept one payment, and would forfeit all future earnings. A person who would take advantage of you in such a fashion would be highly unethical. The industry is full of stories about the bad old days, when people would take advantage of a writer’s poverty and/or ignorance by buying a song.

One such story is told about Willie Nelson and Faron Young. Willie Nelson was an unknown songwriter, in need of a few dollars. Faron Young was a major star near the peak of his career when Willie offered to sell him a song. He took the song and handed Willie the money he had requested. At that point, the song belonged to Faron. He would have been legally justified in putting his name on the song as writer and applying for a copyright. However, Faron was a highly ethical man. He listed Willie as the writer and recorded the song. The song was “Hello Walls.” It became a number one hit for Faron and has earned decades of royalties for Willie. Some folks say it launched Willie’s career. If Faron had put his name on the song’s copyright application nobody else would have known Willie was capable of writing a hit song.

If a person talks to you about buying your song or offers to help sell your song, one of two things is true. Either that person has very little knowledge of how the music industry really works, or has questionable ethics.

Here’s the proper way to earn income from a song you have written. Join a performance rights organization, hire a professional song plugger to pitch your song to people and companies who will use it for commercial purposes, convince at least one of them to use it, file all required forms with your performance rights organization, and collect your royalties.