Sell music online downloads, stems and sample packs, paid directly to you.
Streaming pays per play. A download pays per fan, and the fans who will pay for a lossless album, the stems, or a sample pack are the ones who already follow you. Selling those directly, from your own site or your bio link, keeps the full price and gives you the email address, which is worth more to a touring musician than the sale itself.
Overview
EmbPay is a checkout for that direct sale. Upload the album archive or the sample pack, set a price or let fans name one above a floor, and share the link. Payment is by card into your own Stripe account, the download goes out by email the moment it clears, and there is no platform percentage on top of Stripe's processing fee.
How music are priced in practice.
Singles and EPs sold direct commonly sell for a few dollars, albums in the low tens, stems and sample packs from the tens into the hundreds depending on depth.
Pay-what-you-want with a floor is the classic direct-to-fan model and EmbPay supports it with a minimum you set. Put the album as the main product, the stems as an order bump for producers, and the sample pack as a one-click upsell. A limited run of a bonus-track edition can carry a quantity cap.
Pricing options that fit
- Pay-what-you-want with a minimum — the standard fan-pricing model.
- One-time — stems, sample packs, a deluxe edition.
- Quantity limit — a numbered-in-sales-count bonus edition.
One product can carry up to six pricing options; the buyer chooses at checkout. Full detail in subscriptions, split-pay and pay-what-you-want.
Selling music with EmbPay takes three steps.
- 1
Create the product
In the dashboard, add a product with a name, description and price. Choose how it is delivered: upload a file, point to a hosted URL, issue a licence key, or show instructions after purchase.
- 2
Package your music
An album is one zip: lossless files, a 320 kbps MP3 folder for convenience, artwork and a text file with credits. EmbPay hosts one file per product, up to 500 MB, which fits most albums in FLAC; a full WAV album or a large sample library may need to be split into two products or delivered from your own storage with the hosted-URL delivery type. Stems and sample packs are separate products with their own prices.
- 3
Share the link or embed the checkout
Every product has a hosted page you can link from anywhere, and an embed snippet for your own site. Connect your Stripe account and buyers can pay; until then the page says the product is not on sale yet.
The parts of EmbPay music sellers actually use.
Every item here is enforced in code, on the free plan unless it says otherwise.
Name-your-price with a floor
Set the minimum and fans choose at or above it. The server enforces the floor, so a modified page cannot pay less.
Stems and packs as bumps
Offer the stems as a tick-box on the album checkout, and the sample pack as the one-click offer after payment. Up to five bumps and a branching upsell funnel, on the free plan.
Your fan list
Every buyer's email is in your dashboard and can be pushed to Mailchimp, Kit or Klaviyo automatically for the next release or tour announcement.
Expiring links for large files
Choose the download window per product. For an album, a day or two lets fans download on a second device; for a sample pack you might go shorter.
What a sale costs you: Stripe's fee, and nothing else.
EmbPay platform fee
On every plan, including free. There is no per-sale percentage and no per-order charge anywhere in the payment path.
0%
Stripe processing
Billed by Stripe on your own account, as on any card payment. Usually 2.9% + 30¢ for a US domestic card; other countries differ.
Stripe's rate
Monthly
Free covers two products. Pro adds unlimited products, licence keys and API keys. Neither takes a cut.
$0 or $29
Work out the exact Stripe fee for your country and price with the Stripe fee calculator.
Selling music: the questions we get.
Can fans stream before they buy?
Put your previews on your own page or a streaming embed above the checkout. EmbPay delivers the download after payment and does not host a player.
What about sales tax on music downloads?
If you switch on tax collection, Stripe Tax on your own account calculates and collects it at checkout based on the buyer's location. Registration and filing remain yours; EmbPay is not the merchant of record.
Is 500 MB enough for a WAV album?
Often not. Deliver FLAC, which is lossless and roughly half the size, or split the album into two products, or keep the files on your own storage and use the hosted-URL delivery type so EmbPay handles the payment and sends the buyer to your link.
Can I sell a subscription for monthly sample packs?
Yes. A monthly subscription option with delivery as a hosted URL you update each month works well. Subscribers manage their own renewal and cancellation from the customer hub.
Does EmbPay take a cut?
No. The platform fee is 0% on every plan. Stripe's processing fee is billed to your own account, exactly as with any card payment.
Start selling music on the free plan.
No card required. Build the product and rehearse the checkout in test mode, then connect your Stripe account to be paid.
Also selling videos and stock footage, gifs, digital art or ai prompts? Or see everything you can sell with EmbPay.