What is Liberty Music Group?
Liberty Music Group (LMG), a dba of Red Tie Music, is the official music publishing company of Liberty University. LMG is part of the Commercial Music Department of the School of Music, serving as an educational platform dedicated to training students for opportunity in all aspects of music publishing. LMG also serves as the connection between the music being created at LU and by our community partners and collaborators and the world. Our purpose is to publish and facilitate the use of selected songs coming from the student writers, alumni, faculty and staff of the university and to make those songs available to students, artists, churches, schools and ministries. LMG accepts song submissions from writers who are affiliated with or friends of the University or the ministries of Thomas Road Baptist Church.
LMG is primarily an online music publishing company.
Where did Red Tie and LMG get its name? What’s the story there?
LMG is the public name for the publishing company, and Red Tie Music, LLL. Is the parent corporation. The Red Tie label will continue to represent the music coming from Thomas Road Baptist Church.
Who can submit songs to Red Tie?
To best serve our students and other collaborators, LMG has primarily accepted songs written by students, faculty, alumni, and our partners with other connections to the University. LMG has recently begun accepting song submissions from writers who are affiliated with the University through a connected friend. We also accept song submissions from previously published writers who are looking for a publishing outlet for their unsigned songs.
How are songs submitted?
If you fall into one of the above categories, you can submit your song to the LMG listening panel by emailing a simple demo (i.e. vocal, guitar or piano) and lyric/chord sheet to songsubmission@libertymusicgroup.org. PLEASE NOTE: no submissions will be accepted without an MP3 recording and a lyric sheet.
Does LMG sell all of the musical arrangements used at Thomas Road Baptist Church?
Although LMG does sell many of the Thomas Road arrangements, we cannot, at this time, make all of the arrangements available. This is primarily due to copyright restrictions and royalty fees on songs we do not own.
When will an arrangement of a new song be available?
New songs are added to the LMG website on a regular basis! We strive to make a full line of product available for each song. These new songs can be discovered through the Red Tie Report as well as from the “What’s New” section on the home page of our website. If you are not currently on our newsletter mailing list, you are missing out on notifications as well as customer coupons and sales. You can sign up for the newsletter in the upper right corner of the home page.
What do I do if I want to record a LMG/Red Tie song?
We love it when people want to record one of our songs! However, a license is required for you to record or print any song with a copyright notice as the song, lyric and melody, are the intellectual property of the copyright holder. We have made this easy for you to request online through our website. You will find a description of which kind of license you need as well as the license request forms by clicking on the Licensing tab from the Home page. Simply fill out the request, click submit, and our team will get back to you as soon as possible.
What do I do if I want to use a LMG/Red Tie song in my church? Is this covered by CCLI?
If your church is a member of CCLI, your membership gives you the permission to use any of our LMG/Red Tie songs in congregational worship using our lead sheets. However, if you want to use our arrangements for a choir number or a special, and there is an SATB or piano-vocal arrangement available. You will need to purchase one copy for each of your singers. These sell for as little as $1 per singer, and this allows us to fund the costs to create these arrangements.
You can find more information about the CCLI regulations here: www.ccli.com.
- Want to be sure our writers can keep writing and we keep sending you great songs? We are trusting you to do your part to help make that happen. When filling out your annual report, please be sure to report the use of any LMG/Red Tie songs to CCLI. CCLI will pay us for your use of the song, and we will pass that along to our writers. We have provided the CCLI# for each song on the charts to assist you.
Why should I sign my song to LMG?
Because we can help you get your song to places you may not be able to reach! We make your song available to churches for use in worship, to choral and orchestra directors, to artists looking for material for their own recording, and to lovers of music who want to download your song. We connect with hundreds of thousands of people, and this can help give great exposure to your song! Plus, we administer all our copyrights, meaning we collect any monies earned, pay royalties, and issue license requests.
What happens when I submit a song?
It will be listened to by a committee of qualified professionals. If they feel it has potential for our use, our song will be passed through to a second group who will be listening for quality of lyric and music as well as evaluating the song for Spiritual truth. LMG is committed to publish songs that are Scripturally solid. If the listening committees agree and believe LMG can serve this song well, we will contact you with an offer of a song contract. If we enter into this agreement, we will move the song on to the product development stage. And, we’ll be off and running!
What does a publisher do for me that I can’t do for myself?
- Actively promote your song to our customer base, artists and other producers and publishers
- Post your song on PraiseCharts, CCLI, Lifewayworship.com & with other music distributors
- Introduce your song to people and churches worldwide (we have many songs translated in other languages)
- Create a quality recorded demo
- Make your song available for radio & online streaming through all major streaming outlets
- Produce quality tracks and charts so others can use your song
- Feature your song on our website
- Provide legal protection by then registering your song with ASCAP or BMI and The Library of Congress.
- Handle administration: licensing, contracts, collecting money, & royalty payments
What do I get in return? Do I still own my song?
When you sign your song to a publisher, you remain the writer but the publisher now “owns” the copyright. This means that your song can never be used in any form without you receiving payment for the song. The publisher keeps the publisher portion of the proceeds to pay for their investment in the development and promotion of your song.
How much do I receive when my song is sold?
LMG/Red Tie Music is a registered ASCAP, BMI and CCLI publisher in good standing. If we choose your song for publishing, we will offer you a song contract. This contract spells out the details of our agreement with you, however, you should know that Red Tie’s songwriter’s contract is not only industry standard, but goes above and beyond what you will find in most industry contracts. We pay royalties on a semi-annual basis and do a full accounting to our writers on each and every product that is sold.