TL;DR
The Vocal Market is a curated marketplace where producers license acapellas. You record, we review for quality, and your vocal earns every time a producer buys it, on repeat, with no client work involved. You keep 70% of every sale (we take 30%), set your own prices, and keep your neighbouring and moral rights. To join, email applications@thevocalmarket.com and we review every vocalist personally.
You can sing. You can record something clean. The question is how to turn that into income that keeps paying after the work is done. Selling acapellas on a marketplace is one of the few music income streams that's genuinely passive: record it once, sell it many times.
This is the full getting-started guide for selling on The Vocal Market: how the platform works, what actually sells, how licensing and payouts work, how to price, and exactly how to apply. If you want the broader view of every platform out there, we cover that in how to sell vocals online. This post is about getting started with us specifically.
What The Vocal Market Actually Is
The Vocal Market is a marketplace that connects vocalists with music producers and DJs who need vocals for their tracks. Producers browse, preview, and license acapellas directly. Most producers don't have a singer on speed dial, so they come to a marketplace instead of hiring session by session.
Unlike a general gig site where you bid for jobs and manage clients, here your catalog does the selling. You upload once. It stays listed. It earns whenever a producer picks it. No pitching, no deadlines, no revision requests.
Curated, not flooded. Every listing is reviewed for quality, so buyers trust the catalog and your work isn't buried under thousands of low-effort uploads.
You set your prices. You decide what each vocal costs and whether to offer it non-exclusively, exclusively, or as a cover.
You keep your rights. Selling a license is not selling your voice. You retain your neighbouring rights and moral rights on every deal.
How You Get Paid: The 70/30 Split
The model is simple. On every sale, you keep 70% and The Vocal Market takes a 30% commission. That 30% covers the storefront, payment processing, the buyer traffic, licensing infrastructure, and quality review, so you're not paying to run a shop or chasing invoices.
Because you set your own prices and offer both non-exclusive and exclusive licenses, your earning per vocal is in your hands. A strong vocal listed non-exclusively can sell to many producers over time. An exclusive sells once, for more, and then leaves the catalog.
Understanding the Three License Types (From a Vocalist's Side)
When you list a vocal, you choose how producers can license it. Knowing the difference helps you price and decide what to offer.
| License | What It Means for You | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Non-exclusive | Sells to multiple producers, stays in the catalog, earns repeatedly | Steady, compounding income |
| Exclusive | Sells once, then removed from sale permanently. Priced higher | A bigger single payout |
| Cover vocal | You perform an existing song; the producer clears the composition | Tapping into trending cover demand |
Most vocalists list the bulk of their catalog non-exclusively for compounding sales, and reserve a few standout performances as exclusives for producers who want something no one else can have. For the full comparison, see exclusive vs non-exclusive vocals.
What Actually Sells
Producers buy vocals they can drop into a track and build around. That shapes what does well.
Clean, dry recordings. Producers want to process the vocal themselves. Minimal effects, no baked-in reverb, no heavy tuning.
Clear key and tempo labelling. A vocal tagged with its key and BPM is far easier for a producer to use, so it sells more.
Hooks and toplines. Catchy, singable phrases that carry a song. These move fastest.
In-demand genres. Pop, house, afro, R&B, and dance vocals see steady demand. Cover vocals ride trends.
Variety within a listing. Including lead, harmonies, and ad-libs as separate stems makes a vocal more valuable.
Recording Quality Standards
You don't need a commercial studio, but the recording has to be usable. The bar is "a producer can drop this straight into a professional track."
1. Record in WAV, 24-bit, 44.1kHz or higher.
2. Treat your space. No room echo, no background hum, no laptop fan in the take.
3. Keep it dry. Deliver clean stems with no reverb or delay printed in.
4. Edit the obvious. Remove breaths that clip, mouth clicks, and dead air, but don't over-tune.
5. Label everything: key, BPM, and what's included (lead, harmony, ad-libs).
How to Price Your Vocals
Pricing is yours to set. A practical starting point: price non-exclusive licenses low enough to sell often, and exclusives high enough to make losing the vocal from your catalog worth it. Look at what comparable vocals in the catalog are priced at, then position yours based on quality and uniqueness.
Don't underprice your best work. A standout hook that a producer builds a release around is worth far more than a generic phrase. For more on maximizing sales, see our selling strategies guide and making money singing.
How to Apply as a Vocalist
We review every vocalist personally. This keeps the catalog high quality and lets us build a real relationship with the people selling on the platform, rather than an anonymous open upload.
To apply, email applications@thevocalmarket.com with:
1. A short intro: who you are and the style you sing.
2. Two or three of your best dry vocal samples (or links).
3. Your recording setup, so we know your quality baseline.
4. Anything relevant: genres you're strongest in, whether you write toplines, whether you do covers.
We'll review your samples and get back to you. If it's a fit, we walk you through onboarding, the vocalist agreement, and getting your first vocals listed.
Your First 30 Days: A Simple Plan
Week 1: Apply, and record five to ten clean, varied vocals across a couple of genres you're strong in.
Week 2: Once approved, list your catalog with clear key, BPM, and license options.
Week 3: Add a few cover vocals of trending songs to catch that demand.
Week 4: Review what's getting previews and sales, then record more in that direction.
The vocalists who earn the most treat this like building a catalog, not making a single sale. Every clean vocal you add is another asset that can sell on repeat.
The Bottom Line
Selling on The Vocal Market turns your voice into a catalog of assets that keep earning. You keep 70%, set your own prices, keep your rights, and let curated buyer traffic do the selling. The only real work is recording vocals worth buying.
If you can deliver clean, usable vocals, you have the one thing producers are actively paying for. Apply, build your catalog, and let it compound.
Ready to sell your voice?
Email applications@thevocalmarket.com with a couple of your best dry samples. We review every vocalist personally and get back to you.
See What Sells
