We are always looking for more high-quality, original
Christian music
We are seeking
high-quality recordings of original music, especially songs with
a faith-filled message - everything
from living a victorious life, full of the joy of the Lord, to
being real about dealing with the struggles, temptations and storms
in life! The songs should be catchy and professional, matching the quality of
music heard on broadcast radio.
Summary of our service
The goal of
our service is to provide an easy way for Christian artists to
share the songs and musical talents
that the Lord has given you. There are no monthly or
annual fees, and we send you 70% of the sales proceeds from
your songs, so you earn 70 cents per copy sold for songs
priced at $1 (this was increased from 50% in October 2007).
We now offer another way to sell downloads
of your music - Artist Giftcards! These
are giftcards that you can sell alongside your CDs (or instead
of CDs) after a performance. Click
here for more information.
Your faith
 Our
service is intended as a means for Christian artists to share
their works with other Christians and with the rest of the world.
To make use of our services, we hope that you can honestly say
that you agree with the following simple Statement of Faith. (Some
music from artists that choose not to sign the Statement of Faith
in our Agreement may be offered on our site if we determine that
the songs are suitable for our intended audience and that they
fit within the genres of music that we offer; however, a notation
may be made on the artist's page that the Statement of Faith
was not signed.)
a. I believe that the Bible, consisting of Old
and New Testaments, is verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit,
is inerrant in the original manuscripts, and is the infallible
and authoritative Word of God. All Scripture is inspired by
God and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and
training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
b. I believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three
persons: Father, Son (Messiah/Christ), and Holy Spirit. Christ
(Yeshua/Jesus) clearly stated, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30).
c. I believe that salvation and eternal life comes from repentance
and faith in Christ, who died on the cross as payment for our
sins, who rose again three days later, and who ascended to heaven to be with the Father until
his future return to earth in power and glory. There is no other way to heaven,
as Christ proclaimed, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6).
Although Christians are not perfect, we are
called to live a life pleasing to God, seeking strength, guidance,
and fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit. With this in
mind, the songs that we share on Christian Originals should encourage,
edify or exhort our brothers and sisters in Christ or they should
tell the lost about salvation through Christ.
Your music
 We
are most interested in high-quality recordings of original works
created by you or your group. We prefer original songs written and recorded by
you, or first releases written by other songwriters, but we may
accept cover songs and public domain songs too. It is important,
if you are not the originator, that you have legal permission
to use the works that you submit to us for distribution.
We recommend
that you have your works copyrighted
(see Tips on copyright registration
of your music).
What to send to us
 Just
mail your CDs (and preferably lyrics too) for evaluation
to Christian Originals, PO Box 190, Morgan Hill, CA 95038. If the songs are not in English, please send translations of the song titles
and lyrics. After
we receive your materials, we will review them to be sure that
they meet our standards of quality and content,
and appropriateness for our target audience.
Upon approval, we will contact you for a signed Artist Agreement,
completed Song List Form,
and payment for the set-up fee (which helps cover some
of the expenses of preparing a web page for each artist, converting
the music to the appropriate format and making preview versions
of each song, and adding song descriptions and/or lyrics). Set-up
fees vary with the number of songs and other details, but are
usually less than $50.
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Artist Agreement (PDF
file)
By signing the agreement, you are stating that you own
or have obtained rights to the songs on your recordings,
and that you are giving us permission to sell copies
of your songs for you.
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Song List Form
(PDF file)
This form lets us know what genre you would
prefer to have each of your songs listed under.
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What we do
Upon approval, we will make a webpage for you,
including a short biography and description of your ministry
or musical career,
along with a photo of you or your group. Please provide
us with this information if it is not available on your own website. We
also appreciate your suggestions as to which genre to
assign each of your songs to, and welcome any background information
about each song that you would like to share.
Songs will be converted to MP3 files in full-length,
high-quality (192 kbps) format for purchase and download, and
in shorter, lower quality (64 kbps) format for song previews. We
prefer to perform the MP3 conversions and tag editing ourselves
in order to provide more consistent quality and uniform file
parameters. Digital art and videos may be offered in a
range of formats and sizes.
We will provide a link to your website if you
have one and if you add a link from your website to ours, mentioning
that your songs can be purchased and downloaded individually
at our site (see next item).
Make a link on your website
 You
can significantly boost sales of your music by making a link
to Christian Originals (If you offer your music through other
services too, we suggest that you list them all, as each has
its own following. Our site would be the choice of people
who favor Christian sites or music sites that do not require
subscriptions or software downloads.)
Click here for
a choice of logos to use and directions for adding links.
Disclaimers / Nonexclusivity
We reserve the right to select only the works
that meet our qualifications, purposes and vision. While we wish
we could respond personally to every submission, we may not be
able to as the volume of material we receive increases. Likewise,
we are not able to return materials sent to us.
After you join Christian Originals, we request
that you do not sign up with any exclusive digital distributors
that would try to prohibit us from continuing to sell your music. Most
services that serve independent artists, such as CD Baby, are
nonexclusive and not a problem.
Helpful information is also available in our Resources section. |