Buying a work in the Marketplace

In the Marketplace you buy rights to creative works — lyrics, music, beats, rhythms, leads — listed by other members. This page walks through what happens when you buy, where your purchases live, and what your purchase record proves.

Finding a work

Browse Marketplace from the Music menu. You can filter by kind of work, genre, BPM range, musical key, and maximum price, and search titles and descriptions. Each card shows the kind of work, the writer, and the lowest right on offer. Open a listing to see:

• A preview clip (if the seller uploaded one) — this is all that plays before purchase.
• For lyrics, the first few lines — the full text stays private until purchase, on purpose.
• A table of the rights on offer: each right's name, a plain-language summary, its full terms, and its price.

Not sure which right you need? The rights tiers, explained has a "which should I buy?" section.

Buying a right

1. On the listing, find the right that fits what you want to do and choose Buy.
2. You go through checkout and pay. The price is for that right, on that work — nothing more, nothing less.
3. When payment completes, the purchase is finished and the work is delivered immediately (next section). If you leave checkout early, nothing is charged and nothing is delivered.

The seller keeps 85% of the price; the site keeps 15% — that's already reflected in the price you see, not added on top.

Where your purchases live

Everything you buy is under Marketplace → My purchases. Each purchase page has:

• The work itself — a download of the full audio or lyrics file, and a page with the full lyrics text when the work has one. If the seller bundled extras — stems, sheet music, guitar tabs — those download from the same page. These only open for you, the buyer; the links refuse everyone else.
• Your terms — the exact wording of the right you bought, recorded at the moment of purchase.
• Your license certificate — a printable certificate naming the work, the seller, you, the right you bought, the price, and the full terms. Open it from your purchase page ("View license certificate") and print or save it as your proof.

Access doesn't expire. If a seller later edits or unlists the work, your purchase page and your terms stay exactly as they were.

What the sale record proves

At the moment of purchase, the site snapshots three things onto your sale record: the right's name, its full terms text, and the price paid. That snapshot never changes — even if the site's standard tier wording is edited later, your purchase keeps the wording you agreed to.

That makes your purchase page your proof: if a question ever comes up about what you may do with a work, the answer is the terms on your purchase, not the current listing (which the seller may have changed or closed since).

After an ownership or exclusive purchase

If you bought Full ownership, Ownership with credit, or Exclusive use, the listing closes — you're the only buyer who could ever get that right on that work. For ownership rights, the work is yours; for exclusive use, you're the only one who may use it while the writer keeps ownership. The details are in After an ownership or exclusive sale.

Questions on a listing

Every listing has a Questions & comments section at the bottom of its page. Not sure if a beat fits your song, or what a right covers in practice? Ask there, before you buy — your question is public, so the answer helps the next buyer too.

• The seller gets a notification when you comment, and when either of you replies, the person you're answering hears about it.
• The seller's answers carry a small pencil Author mark next to their name, so you can spot them at a glance.
• Comments on a listing work exactly like comments on posts: threaded replies, Like and Dislike, the full reactions row if you press and hold Like, and a press-and-hold menu on any comment for Edit, Delete, and Share (a direct link to that comment).
• When a work sells and the listing closes, the questions stay readable, but no new ones can be added.

Troubleshooting

• I paid but can't find the work. Go to Marketplace → My purchases — delivery is there, not in your messages or email.
• The download or lyrics page refuses me. Those pages only open for the account that bought the work. Make sure you're signed in as that account.
• The listing vanished after I bought. Ownership and exclusive sales close listings, and sellers can unlist. Your purchase page is unaffected.
• Can I get a right I didn't buy later? If the listing is still open (a non-exclusive sale), buy the additional right the same way. If it closed, the rights have moved and there's nothing left to buy on it.