{"id":17177,"date":"2016-03-16T10:53:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T10:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=17177"},"modified":"2021-03-25T13:19:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:19:47","slug":"songselect-onsong-zionworx-powermusic-comparison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/songselect-onsong-zionworx-powermusic-comparison\/","title":{"rendered":"Worship software evaluation. We compare some of the great but less well known options."},"content":{"rendered":"

Worship software evaluation:\u00a0SongSelect,\u00a0OnSong, ZionWorx and\u00a0Power Music – what do they do and which is best?<\/h2>\n

Names like SongSelect,\u00a0OnSong, ZionWorx and\u00a0Power Music may mean nothing to you at all\u2026.but if you\u2019re the person in charge of song projection or leading worship in your church you may have heard about them. You may even be wondering if one or more of them could be the answer to your worship-leading prayers!<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s the difference between these software programmes?\u00a0 And could they meet your needs?<\/p>\n

Inspired by an article written by CCLI\u2019s resident worship leader, Chris Williams, which focussed on some of the\u00a0less well known programmes that have the benefit of integrating with CCLI’s Song Select tool we’ve re-worked and expanded Chris’ article here with CCLI’s kind permission. You can read the original article on the CCLI website.<\/p>\n

Survey data shows that in the UK (excluding Powerpoint), SongPro and EasyWorship are the most popular programmes. In the US we find EasyWorship, Pro Presenter and, a little way behind, MediaShout. But we’d like to introduce you to a couple of others that we really rate (see the second half of the article below where we’ve gone into a lot of detail on Power Music and ZionWorx which integrate our chord charts and backing tracks.<\/p>\n

There are two basic sets of software to compare. The first looks at resources for managing music and chord charts for our musicians. The second looks at lyric projection software. Now of course most software also does a lot more than these two basic components but it is probably quite helpful to segment them into those two basic camps.<\/p>\n

Song library resources: digital solutions for managing music and chord charts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Song library resources such as CCLI\u2019s SongSelect<\/a> are typically websites from which you can download or obtain the sheet music or lyrics that you wish to project or sing, or in the case of musicians, play. SongSelect draws from multiple publishers and songwriters worldwide to create a huge database of worship song resources. Users can download the lyrics, chord sheets and lead sheets and then add the lyrics into their presentation software, share the music files electronically, or print them out for the musicians to play from.<\/p>\n

\"Song<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Provided you have permission, or the appropriate copyright licence, you can type out the lyrics of a hymn or worship song from a hymn book or music publication, but do ensure you take them from an authorised source if you obtain them online. Authorised sources tend to be those you pay for! Chord symbols don\u2019t count as musical notation so you can, once you have the lyrics, work out the chords and add them to each song.\u00a0 This all takes time which is why many musicians turn to song management software.<\/p>\n

We’re big fans of SongSelect here at Musicademy and consider it a worthwhile investment each year for any worship team.\u00a0See below to get a 15% introductory discount.\u00a0The ability to change key on the chord charts and lead sheets is particularly useful. Plus you know that the charts are from a legal source that has paid it’s dues to the song writers and publishers – which is more than can be said for the majority of free charts you find online. SongSelect is undergoing a refresh in the coming months which will see a fresh new look, a fully responsive (mobile friendly) site that will also work on iOS devices.<\/p>\n

Song management software: bespoke solutions for song lyric projection<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a growing trend for musicians to obtain their sheet music in a digital format from an online song library or directly from music publisher websites. Song management software stores and distributes these copies to the other musicians in the team for display using a tablet computer or other electronic display system.<\/p>\n

A popular example of this is OnSong, which is designed primarily for musicians creating a set list of songs in the key of their choice for distribution to other band members. OnSong, which can\u00a0integrate with SongSelect,\u00a0is essentially a chord sheet management system.\u00a0It\u00a0is very effective for a worship leader wishing to maintain song lists, or those wishing to transpose or add songs on the fly. OnSong only works on iOS based Apple products and other band members wishing to use these chord sheets will also require a copy of OnSong. However, there are other song management resources available to suit various needs.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

Power Music<\/a>\u00a0from Cambron Software<\/a> is a similar system for those wishing to display the words and music to their musicians via multiple screens. Like OnSong you can import chord sheet PDFs which can then be transposed to the most suitable key. Unlike OnSong, a single copy of Power Music can display the music on multiple screens and versions are available for PC, Mac and iOS based computers\/devices.<\/p>\n

Not only can the software display on multiple screens for band setups, all versions can display multiple pages per screen.\u00a0 You can even display the score and chord sheet side by side!<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/p>\n

What is unique about Power Music is that all the editions can share songs via a private account on Power Music Box https:\/\/powermusicbox.com<\/a>, Power Music\u2019s online storage service. This means that you can import from PDF or scan directly into the software on your PC or Mac, add your chord sheets and lyrics and then transfer to your iPad for performance.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/p>\n

Your Power Music Box account can also be used for legally purchasing digital songbooks in Power Music format, which can then be downloaded to any of the Power Music editions. Spring Harvest have been using Power Music for their digital songbooks since 2011 and we have a number of Musicademy\/Worship Backing Band chord charts available there too. See http:\/\/powermusicstore.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another advantage of Power Music Box is that ZionWorx (see detail on song projection software below) now integrates with users Power Music Box accounts, enabling you to download the lyrics of your songs to ZionWorx for song projection. So if you purchase any of the digital songbooks from Power Music Store which have lyrics, or upload your own songs to your PM Box account you can easily download the lyrics to ZionWorx.<\/p>\n

In summary:<\/p>\n