Soundstripe has long been a long favorite for churches looking for quality music at an affordable price, but even the the biggest Soundstripe fans know that The Musicbed has the high quality music from some of the biggest names. The issue has always been the price, so when Musicbed announced their subscription we couldn’t wait to see what it looked like.

So how does Musicbed Membership stack up?
NOTE: All price comparisons listed are for churches and nonprofits.

Traditional Per Track Pricing

• $79 per song – Internal Projects AND External Projects
• $79 per song – Streaming projects: Vimeo, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Crowdfunding, etc.
• $149 per song – Internal, External AND Streaming

Rates increase if your church is larger then 1,000 people or the track is used for advertising.

Musicbed Membership Pricing

Unlimited Song downloads

• $49.99 paid monthly totaling $599.88 per year.
• $479.88 when you pay yearly

Coverage:
– Internal Projects: Videos shown only to your employees
– External Projects: Non-broadcast presentations like conferences, events, congregational gatherings, tradeshows, etc.
– Streaming projects: Vimeo, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Crowdfunding, etc.
– Allows up to $25,000 (USD) in online paid advertising spend per video.

Perks of Musicbed Membership

• SyncID which takes care of YouTube Copyright claims
• 25% off tracks not included in membership
• Every track can be used in advertising, streaming and internal / external.

Downsides of Musicbed Membership

• Memberships are a year long contract
• Not all artists are included. Many big names like Hillsong, Bethel, Needtobreathe, Rend Collective and more are not included.
• Videos with Membership audio can’t be shared with other churches on a site like ChurchMediaDrop.com

Subscription Cost:

• $15 (paid monthly) – TOTAL per year: $180
• $135 (paid yearly)

Coverage:
“…a gratis, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-transferable license to use, copy, publicly perform and display, synchronize with video, publish, and distribute the sound recording (including the composition embodied therein) (“Property”), solely in connection with (the “Video”), in perpetuity, in any medium currently known or later created.”

Basically in any project for any use besides illegal activity and pornography(stated in another section of the agreement).

Perks of Soundstripe

• Use the audio anywhere
• Share videos with Soundstripe audio with other churches on ChurchMediaDrop.com
• Pay monthly and cancel at anytime.

Downsides

• No Content ID, video may get flagged by YouTube, but you can dispute the claim to remove flag.
• No big named artists

Final Thoughts:

Musicbed may have some great artists on their site but many that churches would like to use are currently missing from memberships (they say their goal is to eventually add everyone but there is no guarantee). So the premium cost of Musicbed Memberships is not justified because it doesn’t include the premium big named artists at this time. If Musicbed Memberships add the missing premium artist the cost would have a better justification so, we will keep checking to see if they get added.

Our Pick:

Soundstripe is hands down our choice, You can use the music anywhere, share with other churches, and the cost is less than 1/3 of the cost of Musicbed. It is easily the smartest $135 you can spend each year for your ministry. We are not sponsored by Soundstripe but you can use Promocode: CHURCHMEDIADROP to save 10%.

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