RememberMe vs Etsy: A Memorial Song for Someone You Love

Part One

Built for Remembering

How each one learns about the person you lost.

A marketplace of separate shops

Etsy is a marketplace. It runs the storefront, the checkout and the rules, and each listing is run by an independent shop that decides how its songs are written and recorded, how long they take, whether they can be changed, and what the buyer may do with the file. Two sellers on the same search page can work in completely different ways.

Most of what turns up for a memorial song on Etsy isn’t a song. Etsy’s custom memorial song page and its memorial song page each show more than 5,000 items, and those include plaques, lyric prints and music boxes alongside the digital songs. Among the 25 song listings we read, most were written for every occasion, with a memorial named somewhere in a list that also included birthdays and weddings. A few were written for a memorial, a funeral or a pet that died.

What a seller asks for

On the listings we sampled, you buy the listing first and tell the seller about the person in a personalization box at checkout. Etsy’s seller help calls this field “Custom options” and says it “lets buyers tell you what they’d like customized, like a name for engraving or a special message.” It is the same box a shop uses for an engraved bracelet or a printed mug.

Sellers write their own instructions for that box. One listing in our sample asked buyers to “Tell us who the song is for (name + relationship), the occasion (birthday, wedding, memorial, etc.), and any special memories or details to include. Also add your preferred genre + vocal style.” That was typical. The box asks for the facts and leaves the rest to what you think to write, in a text field, during the days after a death.

After that, many sellers send lyrics back for approval through Etsy Messages before they record. One listing said, “We send you the lyrics to approve before we record.” Another said, “We’d have you review them in the chat on Etsy before moving onto the song creation process.” Some listings skip this step. Any further questions about the person happen in Messages, if the seller asks them.

Five questions, all about them

RememberMe makes songs only for people and pets who have died, so every question is written for that. Each one uses their name, and each one asks for something different:

• What made them special? Who they were: how they treated people, what they were known for, what everyone said about them.
• What moments with them do you still hold onto? The scenes: the places you went together, the things you always did, the days you come back to.
• What do you miss most about them? The things only family knows: their laugh, their voice, their hands, the way they said your name.
• What would you want them to know? The words you want to say to them, in your own way.
• What did they leave behind? What carries on: the values they taught, the family they built, the people who still live the way they showed them.

You answer in your own words, as much or as little as you like. Most people finish in about 10 minutes. The lyrics are written from those answers, with their name in the song along with the moments and the words you gave us. We don’t make songs for birthdays or weddings, so none of the questions are written for them.

In the song for Bill, “Straighten Your Collar,” the first verse begins with how he said goodbye in the morning:

The bridge of “Tenfold,” the song for Paul, is built on one line his wife gave us:

Those lines came from what each wife told us about her husband. Bill left his collar up because he knew she would straighten it as they hugged goodbye. You can hear both songs in Part Four.

Who the songs are for

We delivered 11,907 memorial songs between January 1 and November 11, 2026. Forty-three of every hundred, 5,123 songs, were for a husband. The next most common were for a son, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a father, a brother and a sister, and more than 200 were for a pet. Every one of them started with the same five questions, asked about one person by name, and went through the same process from there.

Part Three

The Sound of Their Song

How it should feel, the music they loved, the voice and the length.

The words carry who they were. The music carries how it should feel to hear them. At RememberMe you make a few choices, and none of them needs any musical knowledge.

How it should feel

You choose one of four tones. These are the descriptions families see when they choose:

In 2026, Peaceful Remembrance was chosen for 31% of our songs, Celebration of Life for 29%, Honoring Their Legacy for 22% and Healing & Comfort for 18%.

The music they loved

Then you choose the music: Country, Pop, Acoustic, R&B/Soul, Worship, Gospel, Contemporary Christian or Traditional Hymn. Choose the music that sounds like them: what they loved to listen to, or the music of the church they belonged to. Songs we have made include “Boombox in the Silverado,” “Front Porch Playlists,” “Saturday Night Bluegrass” and “Johnny’s Lounge.”

From the 11,907 RememberMe songs delivered between January 1 and November 11, 2026.

The voice, faith and their photo

You choose a female voice, a male voice or no preference. In 2026, families chose a female voice for 62% of songs, a male voice for 28%, and no preference for 10%. You also choose whether faith belongs in the song. If it does, the song can speak of heaven, of God’s care, or of seeing them again. You can add a photo of them, and it becomes the song’s album art.

How long the song is

A RememberMe song has two verses and a chorus, about two and a half minutes. Adding a third verse (a bridge and another chorus) for $24.99 makes it about four and a half minutes, so there is more room for what you want to say. Titles like “Coffee Cups and Hershey Kisses,” “Measure Twice, Cut Once” and “Forty Years of Holding Hands” come from the details families gave us, and the longer song leaves room for more of them.

How the sound is decided on Etsy

On Etsy, the sound depends on the seller and on what you write in the box. The listing we quoted above asks you to “add your preferred genre + vocal style,” and that is how most sampled listings handled it: you name a style in your own words, and the seller produces it with whatever tools they use. There is no shared set of tones or genres across sellers.

What you receive also varies. The listings we read usually delivered an MP3. A few added a WAV file, an MP4, a lyric sheet, two versions of the song, or a photo video as a paid add-on.

If you don’t like the sound once it is finished, what happens next depends on that seller’s revision policy, which we come back to in Part Seven. Some sellers don’t revise at all.

Part Five

At the Service, and After

Playing their song for family, on the day and on the days that follow.

At the funeral or celebration of life

A memorial song can be played as people arrive, with a photo slideshow, or at the close of the service while everyone is still together. A few practical things help on the day:

• Ask the funeral home or venue how they play music, and send them the MP3 a day or two ahead.
• Keep a copy on your phone as well.
• If you’d like the words in the printed program, the lyrics are on the song’s memorial page, ready to copy.
• Send the streaming link to anyone reading or speaking, so they know when the song comes in.

With a photo slideshow

The length of the song decides how many photos fit. At four to five seconds a photo, a two-verse RememberMe song of about two and a half minutes holds about 30 to 37 photos. With a third verse, about four and a half minutes, it holds about 54 to 67.

Getting the song, and sharing it with family

A RememberMe song arrives as an MP3, a streaming link and a memorial song page with the lyrics, with album art made from your photo. The link and the page can be sent to anyone, so family who couldn’t be at the service can hear it the same day, on whatever phone they have.

On Etsy, a custom song is a made-to-order digital download. Etsy’s download help page describes these as “Digital items that the seller will make to your specifications after you purchase them. The seller will send your files to you once they have completed them.” The files appear under your Purchases. The same page says, “You can’t download a digital purchase through the Etsy app at this time. To download a digital file, please sign in to Etsy on your mobile browser or computer.” A relative who only uses the Etsy app has to find a computer or a browser to get the song.

Some sellers in our sample delivered outside Etsy’s download system: songs “sent to you in Etsy messages,” “delivered to a secure Google Drive folder,” or sent “via link for download.”

On Spotify and Apple Music

A RememberMe song can be published to Spotify and Apple Music for $79.99, so anyone can find it by name. Streaming services can take up to 21 business days to show a new song. On Etsy, what you may do with the file is set by each listing, and one listing in our sample excluded “Registering or claiming copyright in the song.”

Whose song it is

When you pay for a RememberMe song, full rights to it transfer to you, including commercial use. You can play it at the funeral, put it under a tribute video, post it online and share it with anyone. There is nothing extra to buy, and no one to ask.

Etsy sets no standard license for custom songs. Each listing writes its own terms, and in our sample they included:

• A “License for Personal & Commercial Use,” with “Commercial resale or redistribution of the original file is not allowed.”
• “Personal use only,” and on one listing, use “at a personal monumental event” with commercial requests handled by message.
• A paid “Social Media License (+$25).”
• “Commercial Rights: Use your song anywhere.”
• “The purchase of this file does not transfer rights or ownership to the buyer.”

So whether an Etsy song can be played at a funeral home, used under a slideshow posted to Facebook, or shared on YouTube depends on the listing it came from. Few listings mention memorial services at all. One in our sample said its songs could be played “at weddings, parties, birthdays, memorials and family events.”

On the days after

The song is still theirs after the service. It can be played on their birthday, on the anniversary, at the holidays, and for grandchildren who want to know who they were. The memorial song page keeps the lyrics and the album art together in one place.

Part Seven

If It Needs to Change

Revisions and refunds on each.

At RememberMe

Every RememberMe song includes one free revision round within 14 days of delivery. It can cover the lyrics, the tempo and the arrangement. The revised song is checked by a person on our team before it is sent, the same as the first one. If you are not satisfied, you can ask for a full refund within 30 days of delivery. You don’t need to show that anything was misdescribed. Write to us at support@rememberme.fm.

Revisions on Etsy

Revisions are set by each listing, and the 25 we read covered the whole range:

• None: “Revisions are not included,” and on another listing, “songs cannot be edited after delivery,” with a new order needed for changes.
• One round, on a few listings. One of them added that a revision “does not include creating an entirely new concept.”
• Loosely worded promises such as “easy revisions” and “Minor revisions included,” without saying what they cover.
• “No refunds, we will work with you to achieve best results.”

Refunds on Etsy

On every song listing we sampled, the delivery section said, “Made-to-order digital items don’t accept returns or exchanges. Please contact the seller about any problems with your order.” Etsy’s download help page says the same thing in another way: “digital listings are not able to be returned or canceled. If there’s a problem with your digital order, like it’s not as described in the listing or the seller never delivers the file, you may be covered under Etsy’s Purchase Protection.”

Etsy’s Purchase Protection promises a “full refund if your item isn’t as described, arrives damaged, or doesn’t arrive at all,” with “Exclusions apply.” Its Buyer Policy spells out what that means. Buyers “may receive a full refund for purchases that never arrive, arrive late, arrive damaged, or do not match the listing description,” and items “should not be significantly different from the listing description or photos.” The same policy lists as ineligible “Items that are accurately described but don’t meet a buyer’s expectations.” It says “Etsy will decide, in its sole discretion,” whether a purchase is covered, that “You have no legal claim under the Etsy Purchase Protection Program,” and that refunds on Etsy are allowed for 180 days after the purchase. Only purchases made through Etsy checkout can use the case system.

For a memorial song, that line matters. A song that arrives on time and matches its listing, but has a melody that doesn’t fit them, a tone that misses, or a voice the family doesn’t want at the service, is accurately described. Whether it can be put right then depends on the seller. Etsy’s returns help page says, “Sellers aren’t required to accept returns, exchanges, or provide a refund unless stated in the return policy on their listing,” and its Buyer Policy says, “Each seller has his or her own return policies… Not all sellers accept returns.”

Buyers outside the United States may have other rights, but Etsy’s Seller Policy notes that in the EU and UK, “The right of withdrawal may not apply to certain items like custom items… Rights with respect to digital items vary by EU member state or in the UK.”

Part Nine

The Practical Details

Everything above, side by side.

What the extras cost

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