how to copyright music beats [No Fluff]

Last updated : Sept 13, 2022

Written by : Erick Myren

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Can beats be copyrighted?

Drumbeats and drum patterns are not typically considered songwriting â€“ it's not typical to copyright a drumbeat. The law makes clear that lyrics, melody, harmony, and rhythm can be copyrighted. Most often, lyrics and melody are afforded protection under the law before the other two.

How many beats can you copyright at once?

If the authorship and ownership are the same for each song than yes, you can register the copyright for up to 10 songs as a single copyright filing.

How can I legally use someone else's beat?

If you have written the lyrics, you own the copyright to them. However, if you did not create the beat or instrumental backing track, then somebody else owns the copyright of that. You would need their explicit permission before adding the sound to your profile. Read more about copyright here.

How much is it to copyright beats?

If you file a paper application with the Copyright Office, the cost to formally register a copyright is $85. (6) the application must be submitted by the author/claimant or an authorized third party.

Can I get sued for using a beat?

If you use copyrighted material without permission, you can be sued. Period. If that copyrighted material was not registered within 3 months of publication, they can only sue you for an injunction and actual damages.

Do I need to copyright my beats?

In fact, music is automatically copyrighted the moment you create it in a tangible medium; like on paper or on an audio recording. That's right! All you have to do is write your original song down on paper or record it, and you own the copyright.

Can I copyright my music for free?

If you have written a song (lyrics, music, or both), you may register that song, completely for free, with any of several commercial licensing agencies. Registering with these agencies is designed to help you sell licensed use of your song, but it does not provide legal protection for your copyright.

How do you register a beat?

In the Beats app for Android, display the screen for your connected device, then scroll to display the registration information.
Tap Register, then follow the onscreen instructions.

How much does it cost to copyright 10 songs?

The Copyright Office's fee per filing can range between $45 to $85, and sometimes up to 10 songs can be filed together.

What happens if you use someone else's beat?

Anytime you use someone else's original music, the creator has the right to compensation through a license fee, and/or a songwriting credit that ensures a fair share of royalties.

Can you get sued for using free type beats?

Generally speaking, an indemnification clause provides that, if the company allowing use of their â€œfree beatsâ€ gets sued for something you did with the beat, you are going to hire an attorney to represent them in court, and you'll pay any judgment entered against the company if they lose at trial.

How much do artist pay for beats?

Nowadays, beats can cost anywhere from $20 to $100,000 or more. It all depends on the quality of the beat and who produced it. If you're looking for a high-quality, industry-standard beat, then you should be prepared to spend at least a few hundred dollars.

Can you use a beat if it's sold?

It won't affect you! An exclusive sale of a beat you've previously licensed non-exclusively will not affect you in any way. The exclusive buyer is fully aware of the artists that licensed the beat before him.

How long does copyright last?

As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

How much does a song license cost?

If it is a song by a small independent artist, the cost of a license could be between $50 and $150. However, if you're looking to license famous songs by top artists, the price can skyrocket to several thousand dollars without any problem.

How do producers sell beats?

Platforms like BeatStars, Airbit and Soundee help beatmakers run an automated beat selling business. Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are the most popular places to sell your beats and to build a loyal fan base. The beat selling industry generates at least $30M a year.

How do you check if a beat is copyrighted?

Public domain songs: The website PDInfo not only has information about copyright law; it also lists all the songs available in the public domain. Typically, these are songs composed or recorded in 1926 or before, as of January 2022.

Can I use 3 seconds of a copyrighted song?

Any use of copyrighted material without permission is, according to U.S. copyright law, copyright infringement. It does not matter if you use one second or the entire song, using copyrighted materials without the consent or permission of the copyright owner, constitutes copyright infringement.

How do I create a copyright?

To register your copyright, you need to go to the eCO Online System, create an account, and then fill out the online form. There's a basic fee of $35 if you file online. The processing times are generally faster if you apply online, but eFiling still takes between three and four months, according to Copyright.gov.

How long does it take to copyright music?

Copyright registration is effective on the date the U.S. Copyright Office receives the completed application and appropriate fees. When you file for copyright, you will receive an email confirming your application has been received. On average, it takes about 3 months for a copyright to be registered.

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Comment by Eldon Seubert

what is good producers today we are back for content id part two when you should and when you should not use content id to claim your beats and how you can use content id claimer beats in the best way possible in my personal opinion so let's talk about it all right so if you guys watched the video yesterday you will know that i gave a scenario of when two producers use the same loop from a loot pack and then in a scenario where one producer will go out and claim uh content id on content they do not exclusively own and then so ironically of course the day after i make this video i go ahead and i'm start making like some of the baby type beats because he's releasing uh the deluxe version of his owl so i figured why not make some tight beats just to get some people who are looking up uh that search term and whatnot so i figured why not just go ahead and look up some baby sample packs on youtube and use some so then i used one and to my knowledge the last one i made i was like all right you know i have enough uploads for the week now i'm good the last one i upload it gets content id claim so i'm not gonna like say who claimed it or what not but i'm gonna show you guys the issue of what producers are doing when it comes to content id and their beat shout out dj payne he made a very very good video on explaining content id and honestly if you need like more videos of like the legalities of leasing beats and content id and a whole bunch of other [ __ ] go watch his videos his videos are great but in the one video i believe he didn't emphasize that your content needs to be exclusively owned by you you can't use samples you can't lose loops that you don't exclusively own because guess what those loops are going to be given out to other producers or they can be given out other producers so when you claim content id on that it can be the exact same situation of where another producer who used that free loop that they have access to um that isn't exclusive right anybody can use it they're going to get with your content id claim i actually got content id claimed by a network called ex mge music what i want to explain to you guys here is that you can't hate on the network and i'll i'll show you why you can't hate on the network why this can't be blamed on the network is because the way they have things set up is if you look here if third parties uploading your exclusively owned audio visual or visual content for youtube which is eligible for fingerprint matching content id you guys need to understand this says if third parties are uploading your exclusively owned content so here's what a lot of producers do and here's what dj payne sent the video which i wish you would emphasize more is that yeah if you make a beat by scratch and you upload it to youtube and you sell it and you want to keep track of that and see like who's using your beat and who's you know potentially stealing it or you know keep track of everything it's great as a producer who made that loop himself right and you didn't give away to anybody you're the only producer using that loop and if somebody comes along and another producer uses that loop somehow it's odds are because they literally sampled you right if you're not giving away that loop in a loop pack or you're not you know giving it away in a sample pack or whatnot for a free download for you know a purchase or whatnot if you still own the exclusive rights to that content and you're not giving it away anywhere else that means that in order for another producer to have used that sample or get your loop they had the youtube mp3 themselves and then put it in their beat which does go against your copyright also if you do make the loop and sell it and give it away to people in a loop pack or whatnot you're not giving them the exclusive rights that's all that matters right whether or not they downloaded it from a beat you have on youtube or you actually gave it away in a pack if they claim content id on something that you exclusively own that's that that's the major issue here so i think content id in that way is very good when you exclusively own it because then at that point odds are it's going to be very very rare that a producer comes along here's your beat and youtube the mp3s it just to get your sample out of like the loops you know what it's going to be a rare thing i don't know how many times you guys heard a beat you know how many times have you guys heard a beat on youtube from a tight beat producer and went ahead and went like i want to youtube the mp3 that just to get the intro melody out like it that's not a thing this is very helpful in the terms of i made the loop i made the sample blah blah blah and then i want to keep track of which artists are using it and yes you can go ahead and actually basically quote unquote whitelist these claims which means like you can let people which basically means that you can let somebody else's content pass through and not get claimed or you can remove the claim from that that is possible to do right so as the content id owner in that situation you can be like hey um this person actually does have a lease to this they can actually use that to monetize it and whatnot so remove the claim from that video so that is something that can be done but once more it's just content id is abused by producers in the sense of it's not content that they exclusively own basically what i want you guys to understand is that content id is great in the sense of yeah you can keep track of your beats but what happens is when you use a sample or a loop that you don't exclusively own yourself that is against the youtube content id claims and listen if you were to ever get into any real legal situation also not a lawyer this isn't legal advice what i would imagine here is just how based off things work in the real world they're going to say hey in our website for exgme music it says you need to exclusively own that content to content idea you don't exclusively own that that's your fault not our fault don't come to us you know what i mean at the end of the day just don't content id your beats if you don't exclusively own the audio samples used in them and it's easy as that if you do if you made everything from scratch yourself then boom go ahead use content id um i have no clue i didn't make an outro for this video i just i just said i'm done recording so yeah if you own the exclusive rights to the audio samples or you made them from scratch yourself then go ahead use content id but if it's something you got off luberman or loot pack on youtube or if you purchased a loop kit that doesn't mean you own the exclusive rights right if you purchased a loop kit from like producer grind or something you don't own the exclusive rights to that you it's it's available to thousands of hundreds of other people so you don't own the exclusive rights to that either so just because you paid 15 bucks for a loop kit doesn't mean that you can content id now because you paid for it no all right you have to understand how all that stuff works always read the contracts know your contracts and i'll see you guys in the next one

Thanks for your comment Eldon Seubert, have a nice day.
- Erick Myren, Staff Member

Comment by Toby

partially crazy in my mind but the genius is out when I was trapped in California all I've seen is a drought I'm better now got a better plan to get the Cape so much for this edge he said huh she let you guys know that this the wooden desk I was talking about it's gonna be here next week so although this looks pretty clean right now it's gonna be even better and I want to get like real sound panels like actual ones instead of these that I poorly tried to build so the question of the day today is should you copyright your beats is there a need to copyright your beats should you convert your beats if you're putting beats out if you're sending beats people the quick answer that I like to tell people is no don't worry about it the reason I wanted to talk about this in this vlog today is a lot of people get stuck at that point where they're worrying too much about copyright and not even putting their beats out there and there's really no need to worry about that there's a few different ways you can be a producer in 2018 you can sell beats on the internet you can send beats to an artist you can make beat making videos you can do all three so there's different reasons why you might need copyright copyright is essentially just something that protects you so no one steals your music in my opinion it's just another one of those things that deters people from getting started it deters people from putting out beats cuz they think they need to copyright it honestly I'm guilty of a to not necessarily copywriting but Content ID I didn't want to put other people's songs in my videos because I was to think oh man imagine if this person eventually stops being independent and gets signed and then the label starts just content and ID and I have their song in here and they start taking down all my videos three-strikes YouTube my career is over when it comes to protecting your beats like that's why we have tags let's say you copyright on your music and you copyrighted your music so you had the actual rights to it someone can still steal your music it doesn't protect someone from stealing one of your beat and using it it just makes it a lot easier if that song turned into some sort of a hit for you to say hey I own this but still at the same time you're gonna have to take the steps to do that like you're still gonna have to make the effort to do something about it it's not just like a thing where you send them the screenshot of the copyright and then magically you get your splits you're still gonna have to do something about it it's like if someone came up it's like if someone came out to you in the middle of the street and just punched you in the face they're not just gonna get slapped with a battery charge - the next day like you literally have to sue them and take them to court and then it's this whole process so if you're worried about someone making fifty bucks off of some stupid song on soundcloud then it doesn't even matter anyways and you might get to a level where you're selling a lot of beats and you're sending a lot of beats out to artists and your pop and you're making hundreds of thousands of dollars on the internet and you're sending out beats at that point you can probably sit down some day and submit all your content ID submit it through some distribution website like this Joe Kidd or whatever that protects people from you can have the Content ID whole thing set up so that people can still use your beats but you're still protected on YouTube or anything like that I honestly don't have that I don't think it's it's not worth my time right now and if you're sending out beats you can have a team of people you can have a lawyer you can have a manager you can have people doing all that stuff for you so that you don't have to worry about it those people are gonna track down people that are using your beats and if it's worth the money if they're making thousands of dollars you're gonna get your splits because you have a lawyer and all that stuff in place and even if you don't have it even if you don't have the copyright set in stone you still own the beat you know I mean you made it it's on your computer here's the FLP I make be make videos here's a video of me making it or whatever but yeah I don't know really what I'm trying to say but I just wanted to talk about this for a second at the beginning of this vlog just because I feel like little things like that really deters people from getting started and it's almost like used as an excuse because they don't have their copyright set up they don't have their Content ID set up so I can't post beats and don't get me wrong I've done the same type of [ __ ] with Content ID put tags on your beats and don't worry about it it's getting this beat ready to put out on my website and Kyle viscom right here when I'm putting out beat to my website there's four different files that I like to put out mp3 file untagged wav file untag and then the tract out stems which is basically everything in one track after you do those you're also gonna have a tag to mp3 that you're gonna put over the top so you're gonna have four main files this is really simple I mean a lot of you guys probably already know this but when you're exporting a beat and you go to wave if you want to track out the stems click split mixer tracks right here and that will give you the stems of each beat that will just give you every single one of these tracks has its own wave file so that an engineer can drag it in but if you don't have everything in a track it's not going to do it and it's gonna name it whatever you have the name here so basically I put those in it if you put those in a zip file that's the track out with them that's really basic stuff but in case some of you guys don't know that someone at someone asked me out the other day so baby's not the sexy name [Applause] there is what's that big dog I did alright so here is the man on my FaceTime game actually just put out an album yeah last night yeah talk talk yellow yellow EP it's four song little small project I'm doing all these small projects right now just like four songs so this one's first one and then there's another one like a month I got a bead on there it's tight so you got the best song bro that shit's got like more views than anything else really significantly he put it out last night midnight so to celebrate going out to breakfast why you be always taking those pigs got you convinced that you was really stunning just going through some beats right now I didn't realize how many beats that have on here like there's like folders and folders of just random beats I completely forgot about even beats out I haven't even mixed or haven't even put into a folder because they're still in FL Peas alright guys so that's pretty much the end of this video thank you guys for coming through thank you guys for watching appreciate all the views and if you haven't subscribed yet make sure to subscribe to my channel I'm out here making beats every other day so until the next time make sure you drop a like and I'll see you guys in the next one peace you you

Thanks Toby your participation is very much appreciated
- Erick Myren

About the author

Erick Myren

I've studied critical pedagogy at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany and I am an expert in economic sociology. I usually feel crushed. My previous job was home entertainment system installer I held this position for 9 years, I love talking about birdwatching and pen pals. Huge fan of Kesha I practice ultimate frisbee and collect paper currency.

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