Adorata: New Worship and Praise Music Archives

The purpose of this archive is to encourage the free sharing of newly-composed worship and praise music among fellow Christians around the world. Some of the greatest music in history has remained royalty-free. This means that any local assembly of the Body of Christ can freely use that music without worrying about paying copyright fees or getting permission first.

Has God given you a gift for creating music for His glory? GET INVOLVED! Join in and share your gift across the world!

Our hope is that this page will encourage the musicians and composers in the Body of Christ to share their music for any who care to use it.

This music is in most cases copyrighted by its composers and is NOT in the public domain, although they have given specific but limited permission for its use. Before using any of this music, please take a moment to read the fine print below!

Do you have a submission? Send an email to the address on our email page. Files can be submitted in chord sheet format, with or without MIDI or WAV files. Or if you wish we can link to your own pages containing your music. However you choose to send the music, be sure to include full contact information, and a complete notice of copyright and permission to use the song.

We strongly encourage you to include a MIDI file of your music. Hearing the entire song is the best possible way for someone else to learn it correctly. Whatever you present here will determine how others learn the song! When preparing a MIDI file, please keep the orchestration as simple as possible, and make sure the melody is very clear. Don't use many different instruments, and limit yourself to four or fewer simultaneous notes.

If you need assistance with putting your song into HTML and/or MIDI format, please read about our music transcription services. We will be glad to take a tape and transcribe the music for you for a minimal fee.We can also add orchestration to a simple melody, create trax, and so forth.

By submitting music for inclusion on this page, the composers have given permission that it be used only for non-commercial purposes. This means that it can be played in church services, sung for special music performances as part of a church service, and freely copied and distributed by any means so long as no money is made in the process. This also means that recording or performing this music for financial purposes is strictly forbidden without the express written consent of the composer. Furthermore, the composer's name and copyright notice, if any are given on these songs, must remain attached to the music if it is distributed in any format. Also, any special copyright info on individual songs overrides this information.

The bottom line is that the music on this page was placed here by the composers for the edification of the Body of Christ, not for your financial gain. Please respect this intent!

We strongly support the concept and purpose of copyrights; those musicians whose livelihood is their composition certainly deserve to be paid. As the Scriptures remind us, "Muzzle not the ox that treadeth the grain." If you use copyrighted music, pay for it. Contact ASCAP, BMI, or third-party services like CCLI for more information.

If you really don't care what anyone does with your music, then may God bless your generous heart! If you do care, for example to make sure that your song is not claimed unfairly by another, you should consider pursuing a legal copyright on your music. You can do this with your government (in the US, you can copyright a song with the U.S. Copyright Office for only $20). A legal copyright is an excellent and recommended way to establish proof of ownership; however, according to US law, copyright is secured simply by fixing a work in a tangible format (even if only on the back of a napkin!). The primary reason to formally register a copyright is to win a court case in the event of copyright infringement.

For more info on copyrights and public domain music, you can also consult PDInfo, a web page all about public domain music and its availability. It contains a list of several thousand public domain songs. If you are searching for legitimate public domain info on the web, this is an excellent starting point.