You went to school for music and are struggling to make ends meet. Consider if you should sell digital sheet music as a side hustle.
I’ve sold a few pieces here and there, so nothing big. But it’s a nice surprise when I make a sale, and it helps me treat myself occasionally, so it’s worth trying out.
Before we get into the tips, this post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy to learn more.
Where to Sell Digital Sheet Music
If you want to self-publish and sell digital sheet music, you have a few options. To maximize your reach, I’d recommend looking for places that don’t require exclusivity.
That way, you can publish the same piece on multiple websites. You’ll get your music in front of more potential buyers.
With that out of the way, here are some of the best places where you can sell digital sheet music.
ArrangeMe
ArrangeMe is a program ran by Hal Leonard, and it allows composers and arrangers to sell sheet music through Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct.
You upload your titles to your ArrangeMe dashboard, and it will distribute them to those two sites. That way, you can save a bit of time uploading your music.
This program also grants you access to thousands of copyrighted songs. So if you like to arrange pop or movie music, it’s a great option.
It’s free to join and publish your sheet music. For original works and public domain arrangements, you’ll earn 50% of each sale. You’ll get 10% of the sale of copyrighted arrangements.
Musicnotes Marketplace
You may also want to join Musicnotes Marketplace to sell digital sheet music. Like ArrangeMe, you can upload original works as well as arrangements of public domain and copyrighted works.
Their library of copyrighted works is a bit smaller than that of ArrangeMe. But it still includes tons of songs, so you may not find a difference in what you can arrange.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any information about the commission rates. My guess is it’s similar to ArrangeMe in that you’ll get more for original and public domain stuff than copyrighted arrangements.
It’s also worth noting that you can only upload 10 works for free. After that, you’ll have to pay a one-time fee to upload an unlimited number of titles.
MusicaNeo
MusicaNeo is the first place I uploaded digital sheet music for sale. It’s a smaller marketplace in that not many people know about it, but that means there’s less competition.
You can upload original works and arrangements. But if you want to arrange copyrighted songs, you’ll need to acquire the rights on your own.
When you sell on MusicaNeo, you’ll get 2/3rds of the sale price. You can also sell licenses bundled with the sheet music or separately.
I also like how you can advertise your composing services to get commissions. And you’ll even get your own website within MusicaNeo that you can promote to your audience.
JW Pepper MyScore
If you write a lot of music for ensembles, you might want to try JW Pepper My Score. Unlike the other options, you can sell digital and print sheet music (but you don’t have to do the printing).
JW Pepper will give you a composer profile page, and you can upload as many works as you want. They’ll also help you reach a ton of potential customers.
When you sell a digital copy, you’ll make 50%, and print copies pay 25% of the sale price. However, you do need to pay $99 one time to get started.
And you can only sell unpublished works through the program. So keep that in mind when choosing whether it’s worth joining.
Your Website
My favorite place to sell digital sheet music is through my own website. Since I use WordPress, I use the Easy Digital Downloads plugin to upload music and sell it.
When you sell digital sheet music on your site, you’ll keep more of the sale price. You’ll typically pay a small processing fee of about 3%, so you’ll get over 90% of the sale.
Of course, that also means you have to do more work to get buyers to your page. But once you do, they’ll have your music to look at, so you won’t face any competition at this stage like on a marketplace.
You can also typically upload as many pieces as you want. While you can start for free, you can also upgrade to a paid EDD plan for more features.
How to Sell Digital Sheet Music
Once you decide where to sell digital sheet music, you need to be strategic about what and how to sell. You can technically create any piece or arrangement you want.
However, if you actually want to make money from it, you need to think critically. Here are my best tips to upload sheet music that will sell.
Publish In-Demand Titles
I’ll be honest, unless you’re an established composer, no one is going to care about your original works. So to get your name out there, consider arranging music that people know and love.
You can find out what music people want in a few ways. First, if you have an audience, ask them what songs they’d like to see arranged and for what instrumentation.
Another option is to lurk in Facebook groups and other forums. See what people are talking about and asking for from arrangers.
Finally, you can look at websites like Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Direct. Check out best selling titles to get an idea of what you should publish.
Pre-Sell Your Sheet Music
Before you spend a lot of time writing a piece, try to pre-sell it. Give people an idea of what it may sound like or how difficult it will be.
Then, set up a page on your website to pre-sell the music. If you get enough interest and sales, you’ll know it’s worth the time to complete that piece.
You can also set up a consortium where people contribute smaller amounts. It’s similar to a commission, but it’s more accessible, and it can be more lucrative if you get enough people to buy in.
Ask for Requests
Of course, you can ask your audience members to request specific arrangements or works from you. Take note of what people are asking for and prioritize the most common requests.
If you get a request that someone seems serious about, you can ask if they’d like to commission you. You’ll write the piece for them, and you may need to offer an exclusivity period.
But after six months or a year, you can publish the music for others to purchase. So you’ll get the money you’re looking for upfront, but you can continue to earn when someone else buys the piece.
Make Your Music Professional
Another essential tip to selling digital sheet music is to make the music look good. I’d recommend including a cover page that represents the music.
You can also upload a few preview pages of the piece to give buyers and idea of what it looks like. If you’re not a designer, consider hiring a designer to make the cover.
Or use a tool like Canva to design the cover yourself. A professional-looking piece can bring in new buyers and help you get repeat customers when you publish something new.
Write Compelling Sales Copy
One step that can make or break whether you sell digital sheet music is the sales copy. Good copy will entice people to purchase a product.
You should write a good description that tells the buyer everything they need to know. Answer as many questions as you can in the description.
Make the reader or customer feel good. If you don’t feel comfortable writing sales copy, you can hire a copywriter to do it for you.
That way, you can still get buyers to purchase your music, but you don’t have to learn how to write good sales copy.
Include an Audio Sample
Another vital element that can help you sell digital sheet music is offering an audio sample. This is particularly important for original works, but it’s also helpful when selling arrangements.
You can record yourself playing the piece and use that, or you can export an audio sample from your sheet music notation program. Either way, give your buyer an idea of what the music sounds like.
If you want to get even more reach, upload the audio with a background image as a YouTube video. You can then optimize that video for search, so you can get traffic to it.
Then, if you link to the sheet music in your video, you may get even more sales.
Share a Preview
It also helps to share a page or two of the actual music. Of course, you don’t want to give all of it away or you won’t get any buyers.
But share one or two pages, depending on the length. To protect yourself, you can even add a watermark to each preview page so that people can’t use those pages to learn the music.
You can then share the preview images when marketing your music on social media. That can help attract more buyers, and you can get them to your website to make the final purchase.
Consider Holidays
When deciding what to upload next, think about different holidays. Of course, I’d recommend selling sheet music that’s relevant all year.
But you may want to sell seasonal titles, and you need to do so strategically. For example, I’d suggest uploading holiday titles a few months ahead.
That will give search engines time to recognize your new piece and rank it in search results. It will also give buyers time to learn the music and perform it at the right time of the year.
For example, upload Easter titles around the new year. Publish new US patriotic pieces in the spring and Halloween music in the summer. Finally, upload Christmas and Hanukkah works in the early fall.
Promote Your Music Regularly
Unfortunately, you can’t just upload your sheet music somewhere and watch the money roll in. You need to promote it to get people to click and purchase, especially as a new composer.
Consider using various social media platforms, like Instagram and Facebook. I’ve used Instagram to promote my sheet music and have made a few sales from it.
I learned how to use it for marketing by taking The Instagram Marketing & Sales Academy. You’ll learn how to build a brand and get people to see your content.
Will You Sell Digital Sheet Music?
Whether you want some extra income or a full-time career, you may want to sell digital sheet music. It’s a great way to earn money on your own schedule.
You can upload the music once and then focus on getting sales. There’s no printing and shipping, and you can publish your music in multiple places to get even more money.
If you want to learn even more, download the Musician’s Guide to Composing and Arranging.
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