For some people beat licensing can be confusing.
You might have a bunch of questions about it.
HEY, I LIKE YOUR BEAT, CAN I RECORD A SONG TO IT?
Glad you like our music and yes, you can record a song to our beat! If it is purely for non-profit / personal use (e.g., on YouTube, Soundcloud, social media), you can even upload it for free. Just make sure to give us credit by linking to our website / YouTube channel etc. in exchange! In case you want to make any profit with your song (for example distribute it to Spotify, Apple Music etc.) you will need to purchase a license for the beat on our website.
WHAT IS A LICENSE?
Basically, a license gives you the necessary permission to record vocals and lyrics to the beat and distribute your song for a profit (for example Spotify, Apple Music etc.).
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ALL THE LICENSES ON YOUR WEBSITE?
We offer different licenses. The Basic License ($29.95), The Premium License ($49.95), the Pro License ($99.95), the Unlimited License ($199.95)
Here is a brief overview of our different options:
Basic License ($29.95) gives you a non-Profit use, Limited to 10.000 streams. it´s for promotional purposes & don´t allow you to distribute your music.
The $49.95 Premium License gives you all the rights to get started. You get MP3 and WAV of the beat, can record vocals to it and distribute your song to Spotify/Apple Music etc. for a profit. You get 50% writer’s and publisher’s share in the song. In addition, you get to keep 50% of the master and mechanical royalties. This license is limited in a sense that it permits you to make profit up until 100k audio/video streams and sell up to 10,000 copies (physical, or digital downloads). After that you will need to upgrade to the Unlimited Lease. The $49.95 license doesn’t allow radio pitching. You can film and upload one music video to free-access internet video platforms (such as YouTube).
The $99.95 Premium + stems License will give you the same rights as the Premium License , but you will get all the different sounds we use in the beat you bought (for instance the Kick, Snare, Guitars, Synths etc.) separately. This gives you the flexibility to restructure the song, use different elements in different parts, or you can have an engineer mix the song in an alternative way.
The $199.98 Unlimited Lease gives you everything the other two licenses give you (including the Trackouts), but with unlimited rights, meaning there is no restriction on audio/video streams or sales. Additionally, mainly important for artists looking to get airplay, this gives you the ability to pitch your song to radio! You can film and upload two music videos to internet platforms and monetize them. Sync licensing is possible with this license only.
CAN I PERFORM MY SONG LIVE AT CONCERTS?
Yes, with any license you may perform the song publicly (for example, in a live concert performance, at a festival, or in a nightclub), even if people are paying to see you perform.
CAN MULTIPLE PEOPLE LICENSE THE SAME BEAT?
Yes. All the licenses on our website are non-exclusive – this means we don’t take the beat offline after it’s been licensed, and technically other artists can license and use the same beat. The reason we can license our beats at such a good price is our non-exclusive licensing model. However, since all our licenses are non-exclusive, and we don’t allow Content ID registration you should never run into any issues with another artist.
WHAT DOES “NO CONTENT ID REGISTRATION ALLOWED” MEAN?
This part of the lease simply clarifies that you can’t register your song with YouTube Content ID or any other content identification systems like it. Those systems “scan” their sites to see if anybody is using exclusive content without permission. Since all our licenses are non-exclusive, we don’t allow people to register with those systems. Otherwise, if one of our customers were to register their derivative songs with those content ID systems, the content identification system might improperly flag all other users of that Beat as infringing users. Of course, we don’t want that! That’s why all our licenses are non-exclusive, and we decided to include that Content ID clause in there – just to make sure nobody registers it by accident. So basically, it’s in our contracts to protect you as the artist 🙂
So, when uploading your song to Spotify etc. at your distributor / label simply don’t register it with any Content ID system and you should be all good!
IS IT POSSIBLE TO UPGRADE MY LICENSE?
Yes, upgrading is no problem at all. Just write us at Lhanzebeats@gmail.com and we will make sure you only pay the remaining difference.
CAN I PUT MY SONG ON SPOTIFY?
With any of our licenses you are allowed to put the song on Spotify, however, with the $49.95 / $99.95 licenses there is a 100k / 300k stream limit.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I GO OVER 100K AUDIO STREAMS?
You will have to upgrade the license to an Unlimited Lease. By the time you have gotten 100k streams, you will have made quite some money off the release, and this shouldn’t be an issue. Also, we can give you a deal, so you only have to pay the remaining difference.
I GOT A CLAIM ON YOUTUBE, EVEN THOUGH I BOUGHT A LICENSE – HELP!
Don’t worry, we do work with Content ID on YouTube, meaning we can monetize videos of people using our beats. However, we never take videos down or anything like that – we can simply monetize them. In case you got the License you can remove our claim disputing with your license and monetize yourself.
ARE THE SAMPLES YOU USE ROYALTY FREE?
Some of our samples are royalty. Third party should be cleared by licensee.
HOW DO I NEED TO CREDIT YOU IN THE SONG?
You will have to credit us as producers of the New Recording (e.g., “Produced by Lhanzebeats”) and co-writers of the New Composition (e.g., “Co-written by Unama Madita [and other co-writers]” at your distributor, in any and all metadata, liner notes, and/or other customary place for such credits.
CAN I BUY A LICENSE AND JUST UPLOAD THE BEAT AS IS ON SPOTIFY, YOUTUBE ETC.?
No, you can only upload a so-called “derivative version” of it, meaning after you add vocals and such to the beat.
I BOUGHT A LICENSE – DO I NOW HAVE COPYRIGHT OVER MY SONG? AND CAN I REGISTER IT WITH THE U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE?
Yes and no. We as the producers are and always remain the sole owner and holder of all right, title, and interest in the Beat itself. However, You may own a copyright to the extent of your contributions embodied in your song (e.g., your topline lyrics, melody, and/or other new instrumental elements). You are free to register anything you create with your national copyright office. However, you may not register the beat itself. This means any registration or claim of copyright as to the new song and/or new recording must be as a derivative work disclaiming any ownership to the copyright(s) in the beat itself.
CAN I USE YOUR BEAT FOR A NOT-FOR-PROFIT SONG?
Yes. If it is purely for non-profit / personal use (e.g. on YouTube, Soundcloud, social media), you can upload your song for free. Just make sure to give us credit by linking to our website / YouTube channel etc. in exchange.
WHAT CURRENCY ARE THE PRICES IN?
All prices are in US $. But don’t worry, if your PayPal account is in another currency, that’s no problem. PayPal can convert it to US $ for a small fee.
HOW CAN I PAY FOR THE LICENSE?
All payments can be made via PayPal / Stripe
I DON’T WANT TO RECORD A SONG – I’M A CONTENT CREATOR AND WANNA USE JUST THE BEAT IN A VIDEO. CAN I DO THAT?
Yes. If you just wanna use our music (without adding vocals or anything) for non-profit videos, simply mention us in the description i.e., music provided by Pacific + link and you’re good to go. We do use Content ID on YouTube but don’t worry – we never take videos down or anything like that. We simply might monetize them. If it’s more than that and you’re looking to make a profit off the video (for example monetize on YouTube) you’ll need a content.
Have a look to all licenses available on my website: