Custom song

Custom songs, or personalized songs consist of a non-songwriter providing information to a songwriter so that the information can then be turned into a piece of music. Unlike the Song poem of the 1960s and 1970s, these songs are more often than not purchased as gifts and do not claim any commercial intentions. The consumer demographic consists mostly of Generation Xers who are trying to be creative in their gift giving. With the Internet, songs can be written, recorded, and sent via email so that the whole process can take very little time.

The spectrum of services provided in this field are broad. Some agencies merely offer a song with a certain theme (e.g. an anniversary or birthday) on a CD with a personalized label. Others are a step up and provide a pre-recorded song with the name of the recipient inserted into the song. The most popular sites; however, offer completely original songs written and recorded from start to finish based on information provided by the customer. Some sites use a specific composer or songwriter to compose the music where others use crowdsourcing by allowing multiple songwriters and composers to compete for the project.

One example is Chris Staples' 2008 EP (under the pseudonym Discover America) "Songs For Sale," in which he wrote songs put to lyrics submitted by fans.