ShareSong.org songwriters frequently asked questions

Songwriter FAQ
1. What is ShareSong.org all about? 2. What is CCLI? 3. Why should I submit my songs? 4. What about copyright and CCLI? 5. What's in it for me? 6. Do I need to copyright my songs before uploading them to ShareSong.org? 7. Can I remove or change my songs later? 8. How I do submit my songs to ShareSong.org? 9. Why can't you just link to my site? 10. What if my work isn't ready to be published yet? 11. How do I update my contact details? Can't find your question? Send it here.
1. What is ShareSong.org all about? Just as the commercial music industry has had to re-think the way that it distributes music, ShareSong.org aims to provide a vehicle for praise and worship song writers that uses the Internet to efficiently get music into the hands of the people who will use it for God’s glory. Check out the Manifesto and Press Release for a more detailed look at what we're about.
2. What is CCLI? Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) has created an efficient, low cost system that gives churches a very liberal licence to copy and use copyrighted material while still protecting, and providing income for the song owner. Rather than making churches purchase enough copies of every song that they wish to use, a CCLI Photocopying Licence allows a church to legally make copies of songs. The details of these copies are recorded and forwarded to CCLI twice a year. Income from the CCLI licences is then distributed amongst the song owners who have registered their music in proportion to the usage of their songs (approx $US2-5 per registration). ShareSong.org encourages users to register the use of their songs with CCLI if they are used in the context of a church which holds a CCLI Licence (see Use Agreement and Contributor's Agreement). 3. Why should I submit my songs to ShareSong.org? We hope that the main reason that you would want to contribute your songs to ShareSong.org would be that you want to share what God has given you with as many people as possible (“Freely you have received, freely give.” Matt 10:8). ShareSong.org facilitates the distribution of your songs freely via the Internet at no cost to the writer or user. ShareSong.org is ideal for churches and individuals who create their own worship CD and, after a number of months find that they have promoted it to to as many people as they know in their circle of contacts. Publishing on ShareSong.org will give further exposure to the work that with corresponding CD/songbook sales and increased CCLI reportage. ShareSong.org provides a "win - win" arrangement for songwriters and churches. Churches get interesting, fresh music without necessarily having to buy expensive CD's or songbooks. Songwriters get more reported use of their songs to CCLI and exposure to more people, promoting the possible purchase of commercially available recordings. 4. What about copyright and CCLI licenses? The ShareSong.org Use Agreement affirms and respects the songwriter's ownership rights and encourages users to report the use the material available through ShareSong.org to CCLI. Worship leaders can use the SetBuilder program to track their usage of songs and generate usage reports ready to simply to print out send to CCLI. 5. What's in it for me? The efficient distribution of your songs will enable further exposure of your work with the potential for increased sales of your material, and increased reportage of the uses of your material to CCLI (and the related income). 6. Do I need to copyright my songs before uploading them to ShareSong.org? Being able to prove that you wrote a certain song on a particular date is the most important thing in proof of ownership. Writing your song lyrics and chords down in a tangible form shows that you are the copyright owner. Uploading your material to an independent website such as ShareSong.org will actually help to show that you are the author as you uploaded the song on a particular date. In the seven years of ShareSong.org being in existence, we are not aware of any copyright problems that have arisen through writers sharing their music through the site. However many positive links between writers and users have been formed. 7. How do I update my songs once they've been uploaded? Just click on the asterisk () next to the author's name on the song page, enter your email address and password and modify the required fields. If you wish to remove a song, simply send an email detailing your request to reese@rawministry.org. 8. How I do submit my songs to ShareSong.org?* There are three ways to have your songs distributed through ShareSong.org: You can prepare and submit your material by following the instructions in the songwriters section of this site. Obviously, we prefer this method because it requires less work on our part. Give us permission to "mine" your website using the mining permission form. If you are really busy, this is the EASIEST way for you to submit your songs. Email song files to freepraiseandworship@yahoo.com. Please email one song at a time. 9. Why can't you just link to my site? Our goal is to build a common repository where worship leaders can have access to all songs that they could want for any worship service. To do this, the search engine and SetBuilder tool require control over the files. To enable a worship leader searching for songs to find a song on a particular topic, the site’s search engine requires the text files to be on our server. If you have songs in the ShareSong.org database there will automatically be a link back to your site. This will help to increase the traffic to your site. You can link directly to your songs on ShareSong.org by using the link http://www.sharesong.org/userpage.htm?XXXX where XXX is your user number. 10. What if my work isn't ready to be published yet? Many people write great songs but don't have the means to prepare their work for publication. The Share Song Writers Discussion List has been set up to facilitate discussion and collaboration between song writers. You can also post your unfinished work to the Share Song Notice Board for other people to pick up where you have left off. 11. How do I change my details? Simply click here to update your detailed, retrieve your password or upload your photo and bio blurb.

Songwriter FAQ