How Much Does A Song Cost?

So you have this great song idea and want to begin to write, produce, record, and release your song to the world. This may seem like a very simple task and straightforward. However, it may not be as simple as you may think. I want to take some time today to tell you about certain costs you may find you need to pay to be able to have your song created and released to the world. Before we get into pricing let’s talk about the steps it takes to make a song.

1. First you will have your initial idea. Whether that’s a melody or lyrics or just some sort of beat. You will need to have a way to jot that down so you don’t forget. This can be done easily on your phone’s notepad or voice memos. This is a great way to capture ideas so you don’t forget them when you want to start recording your song.

2. Once you have your ideas together the easiest way to start recording is with a DAW or digital audio workstation. This is a program on your computer or mobile device that allows you to record and write songs with digital instruments and audio input. Of course, if you don’t want to go the DIY route you can always find a local studio and pay for studio time and a sound engineer to help you with the recording process.

3. Once you have your song recorded it will need to be mixed and mastered by either yourself or a professional. Depending on your style, budget, and desired outcome this may look different for every project.

4. Now that your song is complete there are a few things you should consider that a lot of people don’t even think about. You will want to register your song with the USA copyright office if you are living in America. If you are from another country you will have a similar process just search how to register copyright wherever you are. In the USA you can go to https://eco.copyright.gov/ to register your work with the copyright office.

5. Another step, if you are a songwriter, is to be sure you sign up with a Perform Rights Organization or PRO so you can collect royalties as a songwriter whenever your song is performed. You can check out https://www.ascap.com/ and https://www.bmi.com/ which are the two nonprofit PRO’s. You will want to check out both and see which one is a better fit for your musical style and business model. You will also want to go to https://www.soundexchange.com/ and register yourself. This will ensure that you can collect all the royalties you deserve.

6. Finally once you have all of that figured out it’s time to get your music distributed. There are many ways to do this whether that be sending demos to a record label and getting signed or releasing independently. I would encourage you to check out https://vrlps.co/rRTQSVt/cp. This is the service I use to release music and you only pay $20 a year and get to keep 100% of your royalties.

So as you can see there is a lot of steps to getting a song ready to be on Spotify and Apple Music. But how much does this all cost? This is a complicated question and has a huge range of answers. It can cost you from < $100 to thousands of dollars. This all depends on your skill level and how much work you are willing to put in. Let’s go through each of the previous steps and I will give you a range of what you can expect to pay.

1. Your initial idea is free! You have all you need to come up with a musical idea, a brain, and creativity.

2. Now that you have that idea and you begin to record if you chose to go DIY you will need a few things. You will need a computer or phone to run your DAW. A DAW can range from free with Garage Band to $100 + a year with Pro Tools. There are also options like Ableton Live and Studio One that have different levels to accommodate your budget. If you want to record yourself or an instrument you will need an audio interface and Mic. Here is an article from Sweetwater about how to make a home studio under $600 https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/home-studio-essentials-under-600/. This will most likely be one of your biggest initial expenses but if you don’t have to pay $50+ an hour for studio time you will save money in the long run.

3. When it comes to mixing and mastering you can learn to do this on your own and pay nothing except your time (if you have a DAW, studio monitors, and some listening skills). If you don’t want to tackle these on your own you can find people offering these services from $50 - thousands of dollars. You just have to find someone who shares your musical style and interests.

4. If you want to get your song copyrighted in the USA it costs $45 for a single work with a single author.

5. Signing up with a PRO and Sound Exchange costs you nothing except the time it takes to fill out all of the forms.

6. Finally the distribution can cost a wide variety but my suggestion is to use Ditto Music. It only costs $20 a year and you keep all your royalties. I have a link that will get you started https://vrlps.co/rRTQSVt/cp

I hope this was helpful and a good start to get you on the right path to releasing your music! If you follow this and have a song you have released please share it with me! I would love to give it a listen and support you on your musical journey.