How do I sell a song I wrote?
Updated
Two ways to sell a song
To sell a song you wrote, decide first whether you are selling it outright or licensing it. An outright sale transfers ownership and pays you once. A licence keeps you a writer’s share of future royalties. Then find an artist or producer who needs the song, and put the agreed terms in writing.
Neither is wrong. They just pay at different times, and only one of them pays twice.
Know what a song is made of
There are two separate things: the song itself — the words and melody — and the recording of it. They are owned separately and can be sold separately.
If you wrote it but somebody else records it, you can keep a share of the song while they own their recording. Say which one you are selling in every conversation.
Where to find a buyer
Artists and producers who have the music but not the words, songwriting and producer communities, and sync libraries that place music in video.
Send finished work, not fragments. Say what genres you write for and reply quickly. Most placements go to whoever was easy to work with.
Put it in writing
One page: what transfers, for how much, whether you are credited, and what happens to any royalties.
That single page prevents nearly every dispute that happens in this business, and it costs nothing to write.