Harbor Church in San Diego has 240 members on Sunday mornings. Their worship team's original recordings have over 28,000 monthly Spotify listeners. Some of those listeners have never heard of Harbor Church. A few have started attending.
If your church writes or records original worship music — even simple acoustic recordings from Sunday mornings — that music can be on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and 150 other platforms within a week. The process is straightforward. The cost is under $25 a year.
Who This Is For
You don't need a professional recording studio. You need:
- Original songs your worship team has written (if you only sing covers, see the section on cover licensing below)
- A decent audio recording — a church with a good sound board can record directly from the mix
- A music distributor account — this is the only step that costs money
If your worship team has recorded anything in the last few years and that recording lives in a folder somewhere, you're closer than you think.
How Music Distribution Works
A music distributor is a company that sits between your church and the streaming platforms. You upload your tracks to them once. They push the music to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, and 150+ others simultaneously.
When someone streams your music, platforms pay royalties to the distributor, who pays them to you. For a church, this isn't a revenue strategy — it's a distribution strategy. The streaming income is small. The reach is the point.
The three distributors worth considering:
DistroKid — $22/year for unlimited releases. Fastest approval times (Spotify in under 24 hours for most tracks). Keeps roughly 80% of royalties, takes 20%. Best choice for most churches starting out.
TuneCore — $14.99 per single, $29.99 per album. You keep 100% of royalties. Better for churches that release infrequently but want full earnings.
CD Baby — One-time fee per release ($9.99/single, $49/album). No annual subscription. 91% royalty share. Good middle ground with strong publishing administration if you want to register songs with ASCAP or BMI.
Step-by-Step: Getting on Spotify and Apple Music
1. Record your tracks
If you record your Sunday services, the worship set may already be captured. Export individual song tracks as WAV files (44.1kHz, 16-bit minimum). Streaming platforms accept MP3 but WAV gives better quality and never causes upload issues.
2. Create cover art
Every release needs artwork. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music all display square album art at 3000x3000 pixels minimum. Canva has free church-appropriate templates. Keep it clean — your church name, the album or song title, minimal design. Busy artwork looks terrible at thumbnail size.
3. Create a distributor account
Sign up at DistroKid, TuneCore, or CD Baby. Enter your church name as the artist name. Use an email address someone checks regularly — platforms send approval confirmations and occasional royalty statements here.
4. Upload your release
Fill in: - Artist name: Your church name or your worship team's name (e.g., "Harbor Church Worship") - Track title: The song name - Genre: Christian & Gospel, or Contemporary Christian - Explicit content: No - Release date: Give yourself 5–7 days minimum for platform approval
Upload your WAV file and cover art. Submit.
5. Approve on each platform
Most platforms approve within 1–5 business days. Spotify typically approves fastest. Apple Music occasionally requests additional documentation for new artists — follow the email instructions.
6. Claim your Spotify for Artists profile
Once your music is live on Spotify, go to artists.spotify.com and claim your profile. This gives you analytics (who's listening, where, how often), the ability to pitch upcoming releases to playlist editors, and the ability to pin a song at the top of your profile. This step is free and takes 10 minutes.
Cover Songs: How to Release Them Legally
If your worship team performs popular worship songs — Hillsong, Bethel, Elevation, Chris Tomlin — you can release cover versions commercially, but you need a mechanical license.
The easy way: DistroKid has a built-in cover song licensing tool. When you upload a cover, select "This is a cover song," enter the original artist and publisher, and DistroKid handles the licensing automatically. The royalty from that track goes to the original publisher. You keep nothing, but you distribute it legally.
Soundrop specializes in cover song licensing and is worth considering if covers make up most of your releases.
What you cannot do: Upload someone else's song with your church's name on it without a license. Platforms remove these immediately and can suspend your distributor account.
Getting on Amazon Music + Alexa
Amazon Music pulls directly from your distributor submission — no separate process. Once your tracks are live, Amazon Music listeners can find them in search.
The underused opportunity is Amazon Alexa. When your church's music is on Amazon Music, members with Echo devices can say: "Alexa, play music by Harbor Church Worship" and Alexa queues it up. For congregations with older members who use Alexa daily, this is a genuine touchpoint.
Getting Onto Spotify Playlists
Spotify's editorial playlists drive significant streams. The most relevant for churches are genre playlists like "Christian Worship," "Contemporary Christian," and "Gospel Sunday Morning."
To pitch a track to Spotify's editorial team: 1. Log in to Spotify for Artists 2. Go to Music → Select an unreleased track 3. Click "Pitch to Editors" at least 7 days before release 4. Fill out the genre, mood, and context form honestly
Spotify editors review pitches for every release. Most don't land on major playlists immediately, but consistent pitching builds a relationship with the algorithm and increases the chance of being algorithmically added to personalized playlists like Discover Weekly.
Listener saves matter more than streams. When someone saves your track to their library, Spotify weighs that heavily for playlist recommendation. Ask your congregation explicitly: "Find us on Spotify and save our songs to your library." It takes 10 seconds per person and directly impacts algorithmic reach.
Practical Timeline
| Day | Action |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Export audio files, create cover art, sign up for DistroKid |
| Day 2 | Upload tracks, complete metadata, submit for distribution |
| Day 5–7 | Tracks live on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music |
| Day 7 | Claim Spotify for Artists profile |
| Day 8 | Pitch next release to Spotify editors (7 days ahead) |
| Week 3 | Share your Spotify profile in your bulletin and weekly email |
| Month 2 | Check analytics — who's listening, from where |
Beyond Just Streaming
Once your music is on platforms, use it:
- Sunday bulletin insert: "Find our worship music on Spotify — search [Church Worship Name]"
- Weekly email: Link to your latest release
- Instagram bio link: One link to your Linktree with Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube all connected
- Website footer: Streaming platform icons linking to your profiles
Members sharing your music on their personal playlists is free word-of-mouth that reaches people you'd never reach otherwise. Give them something worth sharing.
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