Music Forums

My song is in the music library w/o a download price right now. I was thinking of allowing downloads after I put my second song in. Or maybe after 200 listens.
I am concerned with what would happen if I made it downloadable, & then a film company wanted exclusive rights. Is this a legitimate concern?

You can always put a price, and then, if needed, remove the track from the library at any time. At least that way you can direct friends, family, and fans to be able to buy a copy and support you meantime :)

I'm not sure that someone paying for a download would actually jeopardise a film company having exclusive rights. If they wanted that, they would probably commission it? Even then, the artists often include it on a CD, so for example when Adele did Skyfall. Check out the top 15 best selling movie tracks, lots of these were also available as artist downloads:

15. “The Song Remains the Same” (1976) — Led Zeppelin
Copies sold: 4 million
Notable songs: “Rock and Roll,” “The Song Remains the Same”

14. “A Star Is Born” (1976) — Barbara Streisand & Kris Kristofferson
Copies sold: 4 million
Notable song: “Evergreen”

13. “High School Musical” (2006) — Various Artists
Copies sold: 4 million
Notable song: “Breaking Free”

12. “Frozen” (2013) — Various Artists
Copies sold: 4 million
Notable song: “Let It Go”

11. “The Big Chill” (1983) — Various Artists
Copies sold: 6 million
Notable songs: “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “My Girl”

10. “Flashdance” (1983) — Various Artists
Copies sold: 6 million
Notable songs: “Flashdance... What a Feeling,” “Maniac”

9. “Space Jam” (1996) — Various Artists
Copies sold: 6 million
Notable songs: “I Believe I Can Fly,” “Fly Like an Eagle”

8. “Waiting to Exhale” — Whitney Houston/Various Artists
Copies sold: 7 million
Notable songs: “Exhale/Shoop Shoop,” “Why Does It Hurt So Bad”

7. “Grease” (1978) — John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
Copies sold: 8 million
Notable songs: “You're the One That I Want,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You”

6. “Titanic” (1997) — James Horner & Celine Dion
Copies sold: 11 million
Notable song: “My Heart Will Go On”

5. “Dirty Dancing” (1987) — Various Artists
Copies sold: 11 million
Notable songs: “(I've Had) The Time of My Life,” “She's Like The Wind”

4. “Forrest Gump” — Various Artists
Copies sold: 12 million
Notable songs: “Hound Dog,” “Respect”

3. “Purple Rain” (1984) — Prince
Copies sold: 13 million
Notable songs: “When Doves Cry,” “Let's Go Crazy”

2. “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) — The Bee Gees
Copies sold: 15 million
Notable songs: “Stayin' Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love”

1. “The Bodyguard” — Whitney Houston
Copies sold: 17 million
Notable song: “I Will Always Love You”

Source: The Independent Newspaper (UK)

Thanks, guys. I think maybe next week I will go to the Music Library & make my song downloadable. I've wondered this whole time why some songs in the library are downloadable & some you can only listen to. I guess it's just a personal choice & doesn't have much to do with your intentions for the song?

I'm aging myself, but when my sister and I were growing up, she talked me into using my birthday money to buy a Prince album. It was a record. Sorry, that was just a side note ;)

Hey Shannon, I think this covers why you can download some songs and not others:

"Assign License - You will need to assign a Creative Commons license or leave the setting as 'No License'. If no license is set, members will have to contact you directly to discuss use. Also note that audio which is not assigned a license will playback in the Music Library with the ProCollabs audio watermark. Cover art without an assigned license will be displayed with the ProCollabs watermark. "

Also, I have loads of records, just don't have a deck any more, which is a real shame as I can't play them............... But I liked the old album covers, and reading them while you listened to the record......