What is a license and how does it work?

A license is a form of permission, granted by the creator of an intellectual property, such as an instrumental, or a piece of artwork.

This glorified bathroom pass comes with a set of terms and conditions, which are basically limitations and details that further explain what you are permitted to do. In the case of instrumentals, as an artist, you seek out a license from a producer (like myself) and ask me for permission to use my music. Because your end goal is to merge your music with my music, the terms and conditions lay out a framework of what you can do with your song.

To simplify, you pay a producer an amount of money, to get permission to use my instrumental in your song. What normally confuses people are the terms and conditions that accompany this permission, because terms and conditions come in many shapes and sizes.

 

Non exclusive and exclusive…what’s the difference?

As mentioned in the previous answer, terms and conditions come in a great deal of variety. On this website you will find two distinct different “licenses” that you are able to choose from to better fit your needs.

A lease is a non exclusive license. This means that the terms and conditions described reflect how this license is not exclusive to just one person. It means that many people can purchase this license (remember its just permission) to use in their music.

An exclusive license is a bit different. The main function of this license is to grant exclusive use to for you to use. This means that from the date described on the terms and conditions, no one else can have access to the instrumental, other than you and me.

 

If I lease an instrumental, and a week later it gets purchased exclusively, what happens to me?

There is a particular clause added to the exclusive package that states that the exclusive license cannot supersede any previously purchased leases. This is to protect those who have already leased an instrumental.

As a side note, all licenses have an expiration date. Standard and Premium Leases last one year, Exclusive licenses last 2 years. This means that after your lease or license expires, you are no longer protected, and thus if someone who purchased an exclusive license wants to take down all songs other than their own (what’s known as a DMCA), they are legally allowed to do so. This is in place to protect those who purchase instrumentals exclusively.

 

So I’m new to this beat purchasing process…Where do I start?

First, evaluate your situation. Are you an artist? Or a manager? Or a trailer editor? Whatever you are trying to accomplish, figure out what your goals are. For example, if you are an artist, are you trying to make a high quality album? Or are you preparing to release a bunch of summer time singles?

Once you have figured out exactly what you are doing, you’ll need to figure out what you need. Create a budget for yourself, which will tell you how much money you will need to get your goals accomplished.

Now you are ready to hit the beat store. Let’s say you are going to create your first album. You are not sure if it’s going to take off, but you need a body of work that you can show to people. You decide that your budget for music production is $1000. What should you look for?

Well first, you need to consider quality. A premium lease grants 44k Wav files, which in the music tech world, is the standard CD quality for albums. If you are just trying to impress a panel of record executives with ears, you might want to go for an exclusive license, which will give you access to tracked-out files, which you can send to an engineer for a quality mix. If your album is intended for a more general audience like friends and fans, then by all means, go for a premium or standard lease.

So you’ve decided that you like 3 beats from a particular producer (like myself) and you find that a premium lease will fit your needs, then your next step is to look for a sale. If there is, the beat store will automatically deduct the price based on the number of beats purchased. Sales are always in the form of “Buy Z amount of beats for $XX instead of $YYY.” Always remember that the producer is usually an email away, so don’t be shy, and send me an email if you have any questions or are confused, I’ll be more than happy to guide you through the process.

Add the beats to the cart, and pay via PayPal of credit/debit card. Once you’ve gone through the payment process, you’ll receive your beat via a link in an email attached to your payment email. (for example if your PayPal email is 1234_5678@gmail.com, then the beat will be delivered to that email.)

If you purchased an exclusive license, you must wait between 24-72 hours before your files will arrive. Leases are instant deliveries.

 

How does copyright factor into all this?

It’s very simple. I own the piece of music you are singing or rapping on. You own the vocals that you place onto my music.

Together it becomes a new intellectual property that we both own together. Pretend that as we shake hands, a gnome appears next to us. This gnome is the thing we’ve created together. Neither one of us can claim the gnome is ours, because the gnome is a separate entity, but together we can say that we own the gnome.

To be a bit more precise;

-If you file a content ID on YouTube, you must tell me what information you put in so that revenue can be split between us. To do so without telling me violates my rights.

- If you file at the copyright office, you cannot put my instrumental under your copyright under any circumstance without my knowledge.

 

I have a dumb question, or I have a unique situation. What do I do?

Email me at justiceretrohunter@gmail.com

I will respond within a few minutes to a few business days max. After an email correspondence, you can send me a call or text as well, for faster response time.

Trust me, no question is dumb, no matter how insignificant, I will always do my best to give you a quality, to the point response.