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Sharing a Song on WorshipCommons

If you wrote a song and want churches to sing it freely, you can share it on WorshipCommons. You can also share a translation or an arrangement of a song that's already in the library. Every song is read by a person before it goes live, usually within a few days.

Before You Begin

  • Sign in to WorshipCommons. See Your Account and Writer Page.
  • You must be 18 or older, and you must have written the song or control its copyright. Every co-writer must have agreed in writing.
  • Have the words ready, and at least one way for a church to learn the melody: a demo recording (a phone recording is fine), sheet music, a MIDI file, or a video link.

Starting a Submission​

  1. Click For Songwriters in the top menu.
  2. Follow the four steps on the page: The song, Files, License, and Your word. Click a step name at the top to jump to it.

Your work saves as a draft automatically once the song has a title -- watch for Draft saved at the top of the form. You can leave and come back later from My submissions by clicking Continue.

Impormasyon

Writers who want to release a song without uploading it can copy the release notice from the Call for songs page (linked at the bottom of every page).

Step 1: The Song​

  1. Under What are you adding?, choose New song, Translation of an existing song, or Arrangement of an existing song.
  2. Enter the Title.
  3. In Writer(s), type every co-writer exactly as they should appear on chord charts.
  4. Add the Year written, Original key, and Tempo (BPM). The key is read from your first chord until you choose one yourself.
  5. Click the Themes that fit. Click More themes for the full list.
  6. Choose the song's Language and, if it's based on a passage, add a Scripture reference (for example, Isaiah 40:4). Churches see the passage on the song page.
  7. If churches already report the song to CCLI, add the CCLI number (optional) so nothing changes for them.
  8. Paste the words into Lyrics and chords, one section at a time, each starting with its name (Verse 1, Chorus, and so on). Chords are optional -- put them in square brackets before the syllable, like [G]Holy, holy. You can also click Load from a ChordPro or text file.

A Chart preview shows exactly how churches will see your song, with any problems listed underneath.

Babala

If your song looks like one already in the library, you'll see a warning with a link to it. If it's the same song, open it and propose an edit instead of uploading a copy.

Sharing a Translation or Arrangement​

When you choose Translation of an existing song or Arrangement of an existing song:

  1. Under The original song, search the library by title and choose the original from the list.
  2. For a translation, fill in Translator and choose the song's new Language (it must be different from the original's). For an arrangement, fill in Arranger.
  3. Finish the rest of the step as usual. An arrangement starts with the original's title, writers, and key.

WorshipCommons links the two song pages together, both ways. Files are optional, because the original already carries the tune.

Impormasyon

Some licenses don't allow translations or arrangements. Those songs show as unavailable in the list, marked as needing the writer's permission. If you published the original song yourself, you can still add a translation of it.

Step 2: Files​

Drop a file on a box, or click it to choose one. Each box lists the file types it accepts and its size limit.

  • Demo recording -- MP3, WAV, or M4A
  • Accompaniment track -- The music without the lead vocal
  • Sheet music -- A lead sheet or vocal score as PDF or MusicXML
  • MIDI melody -- Churches can play it in the browser as a piano preview
  • Multitracks -- A ZIP of stems, one file per part, each starting at bar 1
  • Cover art -- JPG, PNG, or WebP
  • Video link -- A YouTube (or other) web address where churches can hear the song

If you upload a recording, check This recording is mine (or I have the owner's permission to share it).

Step 3: License​

First choose what you're giving: The composition alone, or The composition and a master recording.

Then choose the Composition license. Every option makes the song free for worship forever. They differ in what you keep:

  • Free for worship (recommended) -- Churches may sing, project, print, stream, transpose, arrange, and translate it. You keep recording and sheet-music sales, sync, concerts, radio, and ownership of the song.
  • CC BY 4.0 -- Anyone may use it for anything, including commercial use, as long as they credit you.
  • Public domain -- Everyone may use it for everything. You keep nothing (a permanent CC0 dedication).

Click Read the license. under an option to read it in full.

If you're also giving a master recording, a Master recording step appears. Upload the finished mix and choose its own license -- it can differ from the composition's.

Step 4: Your Word​

Read the summary, then check every box to confirm that you're 18 or older, you wrote the song (or control its copyright), every co-writer agreed, no publisher or rights society has taken away your right to make this grant, you understand worship use is forever, and the words and melody were written by people, not generated by AI.

Babala

Churches may keep every copy even if you later ask for the song to be taken down. Only share a song you're ready to give the church for good.

Sending It for Review​

  1. Click Add it to the commons. If anything is missing, a list appears above the button -- click an item to jump to it.
  2. Wait for Thank you — it's in review.

Track the song in My submissions. If a reviewer asks for changes, its status changes to Changes requested and their note appears at the top of the form when you click Continue. When it's approved, it shows as Live.