Leasing and Exclusive Licenses for RnB Beats

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:48:59 +0000

Today I’m going to talk about the difference between a lease license and an exclusive license. This stuff is important when you’re buying your RnB Beats . Get it wrong, and you could be in a lot of trouble (and out of pocket). And it all depends on what you want to do with your music.

Leasing Rights

If you go to a beatmaker’s site and you’re offered to lease an RnB beat, you’re buying the right to use the artist’s beat for one recording. You’re then free to use this as a demo, and you can give it to whoever you want.

You are also allowed to sell copies of this recording. However, there is a limit to how many copies you can sell. When you lease a beat, you should be told how many this is – SoundClick’s license allows you to sell 2,000 copies. Anything over this and you’re breaking the terms of your contract, and could get into serious trouble.

Also, the beatmaker still has the right to sell the beat to anyone else. This means that you could make a hot track, only to find someone else has bought the exclusive rights to the beat and made millions from it.

Leases are great for getting yourself heard – you can send them to record companies and sell them at gigs. However, if you’re planning on selling your own music on a larger scale, you’re going to need an exclusive licence.

Exclusive Rights

Exclusive licenses grant you the right to use the RnB beats you’ve purchased as you wish – you can make as many recordings, and sell as many copies of these, as you like. The beatmaker cannot lease or sell the beats to anyone else – they’re exclusive to you!

Exclusive rights are great if you’re an established artist looking for an RnB beat for your newest track. However, it’s an expensive way to work. If you’re still trying to get your name heard, it makes sense to go for a lease – unless you’re so good you know you’re new joint’s gonna be selling like hotcakes!

It’s also important to mention that, unless a beatmaker has already sold exclusive rights to his beat, you can always go back to him and request to buy an exclusive license. This way you only need to spend the big money if your track’s already selling well, although you run the risk that someone could come along and steal your new sound from under you.

I hope that’s cleared things up. Make sure you check what kind of license you’re buying before you do – and if it’s not obvious, ask! After all, you’re the one putting money in these guys’ pockets.

Technorati Tags: hip beats, r&b beats, rnb beats, top beats