What are the differences between exclusives and leasing licenses?
The main difference is the number of users of the same instrumental/beat. “Exclusive” means that when you purchase an exclusive instrumental/beat, you will be the unique (exclusive) user of it. No other user uses or will ever use the same instrumental/beat as yours. MajikBass Beats won’t be allowed to exploit it in a profitable way anymore. However, “lease” beats can be acquired by multiple users, this is why such leasing licenses are called “non-exclusive”. Also, exclusive licenses grant you with broader rights than leasing licenses. Common points: Exclusive and lease beats are royalty-free. Legally, the instrumental/beat is not actually sold but licensed to you. B.A. remains the owner of the instrumental/beat (i.e. the “master” sound recording) and its copyright.
Do I acquire the copyright of the instrumental or beat when I buy it?
No, for every instrumental/beat (lease, exclusive and custom*), MajikBass Beats and its producers still own copyright to it. Our producers have composed and arranged the music, so if you’re making a song with our music, remember that our producers are part of the songwriters (music part). Therefore, whenever you use an instrumental/beat from MBB, for a commercial purpose or not (on a CD, mixtape, website etc.), intellectual property laws impose every user to include credits to the authors of it (lyricist, composer, arranger etc.).
For example, for an instrumental/beat produced by MajikBass Beats, the credits shall be given as follows:
“Music produced by MajikBass Beats.” or: “Music composed and arranged by MajikBass Beats.”
or “Copyright [2018] MajikBass Beats. All rights reserved.”
What does royalty free mean?
First of all, only licensed instrumentals/beats (lease and exclusive) are royalty-free, not custom ones.
Purchasing a royalty-free instrumental/beat means that once you have paid the one-time fee (non exclusive or exclusive license), you may use the instrumental/beat with no ongoing royalty obligations towards MajikBass Beats. No royalties are due, nothing is due to any copyright collection society worldwide (BMI, ASCAP, GEMA, SACEM…).
Consequently, if you are a singer/rapper and have recorded vocals over the instrumental/beat and therefore created a song, you are NOT allowed to register that song at any copyright collection society worldwide.
Please note that royalty-free is not the same as copyright-free. The copyright of the instrumental/beat is still owned by MajikBass Beats and its producers. For more info about copyright, please refer to questions about copyright of the FAQ.
What does new work mean?
First of all, you are aware that when you purchase a licensed (lease or exclusive) instrumental/beat on MajikBass Beats, you are not allowed to use it alone, for any profitable purpose or not. You must associate or combine it with something else. For example, a singer would add recorded vocals over it (lyrics), a filmmaker would combine the music with his motion pictures (synchronization) etc. The song created by the singer (instrumental+voices) or the movie created by the filmmaker (instrumental+motion pictures) is called “New Work”. For recording artists: The Standard license allows you to use the instrumental/beat for 1 profitable New Work only. If you would like to use it for multiple profitable New Works, please purchase a Gold (2 profitable New Works allowed) or a Platinum (5 profitable New Works allowed) license. If you would like to use it for more than 5 profitable New Works, please refer to the next question of the FAQ.
Please note that recording a song in 2 different languages using the same instrumental/beat constitutes 2 different New Works.
How can I get an extra licenses (beats for lease only)?
The instrumentals/beats purchased under Standard leasing license can’t be used for more than 1 profitable New Work (e.g. for 1 song only or 1 video only or…). In order to use the same instrumental/beat for other profitable works (e.g. 1 song in English and 1 other song in Spanish and 1 video and…), you have different options:
Buy another Standard license for one extra profitable New Work.
Buy a Gold license which allows you to use the instrumental/beat for 2 profitable New Works or even better, buy a Platinum license with 5 profitable New Works allowed.
If you would like to use the Instrumental/beat for more than 5 profitable New Works, you just have to buy the non-exclusive license you wish, as many times as needed. The easiest way is to “re-buy” the designated instrumental/beat in the player. You will then receive a new dated agreement (license), granting you new non-exclusive rights of use. Please note that these contracts mention the time when they have been edited, so these licenses granted are all unique and they may serve as evidence in the event of a dispute.
Do your beats use samples?
I use samples in some of my beats. The most of them are royalty free samples. This means that you don’t have to clear them before you use them on your album/mixtape. If a beat contains a non royalty free sample you will need to get it cleared by Artist or Record Label. If you would like to know if a certain beat uses a sample you can contact me anytime.
I purchased a Beat, Can I make changes to it? like alter it or cut it?
As long as you have purchased a beat, you are allowed to do changes to the beat-length, mixing, sounds, etc. by asking for permission via e-mail. This includes only purchased beats.