Selling Shorter Musical Works for a one-time fee

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If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s a way to sell smaller music projects—a cool sounding short chord progressions or a jingle-length ditty that might not make for a complete “song” in the more traditional sense, the answer is yes. You can do so in the online freelance market.

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For years I’ve been laboring under the misunderstanding that the road to earning any income at all from your musical creations is pretty narrow and that the on ramp to that road is controlled entirely by the “big music business” in ways that make it really hard for smaller independent artists to join the journey, so to speak.  It’s not because the music industry is bad or anything like that.  It’s just because everybody is trying to earn a living, and there is so much talent out there. Much to my happy surprise, there are actually a number of different untraditional ways to sell your music nowadays.

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The first untraditional way to sell a track or two from time to time falls under the larger general category of doing so as an “online freelancer.”  There is a steadily growing population of web-based services willing buy, on a one-time-total release of ownership basis, original musical works like jingles, or background music for training videos, and all sorts of other “one off” musical needs.  Sites like fiverr.com and upworks.com are designed connect people looking to sell their services in areas such as music, web design, proof reading—you name it, with people who are willing to pay for such services on a “one-and-done” type basis.  For example, on a recent review of online freelance sites, I found an HVAC business in Omaha willing to pay $500.00 for a 30 second radio-ready jingle with “a catchy tune an 8 year-old could sing” with an additional shorter 10-second clip that would be clearly recognizable as being related to the longer jingle. At the time I looked at the website, 11 artists had submitted their proposals to be considered by the business looking for the jingle.

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Another site, music.bed.com, buys songs and all rights from artists then re-sells them to photographers and film makers, and Shutterstock does the same for all sorts of musical needs.

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Some of these services advertise how sellers my present their work right on their webpages.  For others, you need to find a “contact” link and send an email requesting how to present your music for consideration. Most of the song “purchasing services” I checked out will only consider audio works that are not in any way covered by recording rights organizations like ASCAP or BMI.

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I am certain that some who read this will be inclined to think it’s foolish to “give away” for only a few bucks all your rights in musical work you’ve created for another re-selling business to hawk for its own profit.  And it’s true that if you sell all your rights for onetime fee, and the song thereafter shoots to #1, you may get lots of credit for creating it… but not a dime in payment.

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But, like it or not, that’s just the way this business works. If you make and share music for the joy of creating, and that’s it—may you be blessed, and thank you for creating beauty for the rest of the world to enjoy. I mean that in all sincerity.  But if you like the idea that doing something you’d do for free anyway might also net you some cash to by a new microphone, or some cables, or guitar strings, etc., from time to time, think about freelancing online. 

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The bottom line is, there are more ways to exchange the fruits of your creative smusical labor for dollars than you might think.  Just look around a bit, and you may be surprised at what you can find!

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DISCLAIMER:  THIS IS ALL SIMPLY PERSONAL OBSERVATION, AND I MAKE NO REPRESENTATION ABOUT WHETHER YOUR RESULTS WILL BE SIMILAR.   

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