Can I sell a beat that I have already used/sold?

[Andy Grewal]

Hey FP

I have a couple of questions regarding selling beats that I have already used or sold:

1) If I make a beat, rap over it etc and use it in my album/mixtape, can I still sell that beat if someone would like to buy it off of me? Do think a rapper would buy a beat that's been already used?

AND

2) If I sell someone a beat with lease rights, can I still sell that beat with exclusive rights later on, if I find a buyer who would like to purchase it (for more money) ?

Thanks in advance, guys. Looking forward to your feedback

Happy Producing

 

[SFTRAXX]

In a nutshell, you can license your work/music however you want, to as many people as you want, as long as you hold the copyrights and have not granted exclusive usage rights to anyone. When it comes to licensing your music, assuming you hold all copyrights, you can dictate what rights you want to "grant" to others who choose to license music from you. With that said, you also want to make sure that your licensing does not cause conflicts down the road as well.

 

[bandcoach]

depends on your lease arrangement entirely - what you specify in the contract.

If after the sales permitted target is reached someone else want to buy an exclusive license then you are free to do what you want from a legal point of view. You may have an ethical (and perhaps legal) obligation to the original lessee, particularly if you have given them them right to extend or otherwise deal with you first in terms of the license in the original lease contract.

More succinctly you can do what you want within the confines of the legal arrangements you have already laid out.

 

[Andy Grewal]

Thanks SFTRAXX and bandcoach for the quick replies. So I guess whatever the contract I arrange outlines, is what goes.

Thanks again guys!

Happy Producing

 

[B.U.M.]

1) If I make a beat, rap over it etc and use it in my album/mixtape, can I still sell that beat if someone would like to buy it off of me? Do think a rapper would buy a beat that's been already used?

You can license that beat to someone else if it's not already tied to another agreement, which doesn't seem to be your case. Would that rapper buy it if it's already in use? I'd say only he knows if it's a bother. The best is to be transparent about who used that piece of music.

2) If I sell someone a beat with lease rights, can I still sell that beat with exclusive rights later on, if I find a buyer who would like to purchase it (for more money) ?

It can't really be exclusive if it already has been sold once. Unless that former lease had an end date.

 

[Andy Grewal]

Thank you for the in depth answer/reply.

So if a lease has an end date, what does that mean for the person who bought and used it?

Thanks,

 

[bandcoach]

Most leases are based on a total sales cutoff point e.g. 2000 sales or 5000 sales
- reporting on sales is always tricky to get from lessees, but there are ways to find out and enforce your end of lease clauses.

Some leases are time limited instead, which requires that the lessee ceases to use and sell the beat from that date
- policing this is also tricky as if they sell it on a cd at shows there is no actual record of the sale reported (usually)

 

[B.U.M.]

Most leases are based on a total sales cutoff point e.g. 2000 sales or 5000 sales
- reporting on sales is always tricky to get from lessees, but there are ways to find out and enforce your end of lease clauses.

I'm curious to know what are the means you refer to to monitor the amount of sold/streamed copies?

 

[Andy Grewal]

What would/could be different if I don't "sell" them the beat itself, but "make" the beat for them and record them on the track?

ALSO

Since I'm not that big right now, and don't know much about royalties and SOCAN, ASCAPm BMI etc, would it smart to sell beats/produce for people with a one time payment? How would the agreements/contracts differ if I decide to go forth with this method instead of taking royalties?

Thanks again guys, sorry if I'm asking too much

 

[bandcoach]

What would/could be different if I don't "sell" them the beat itself, but "make" the beat for them and record them on the track?

By recording them as well as making the beat you are taking on the additional roles of recording and mixing engineer

This also means that you should be charging more for these value added services - recording time including setup and breakdown and mixing time

ALSO

Since I'm not that big right now, and don't know much about royalties and SOCAN, ASCAPm BMI etc, would it smart to sell beats/produce for people with a one time payment? How would the agreements/contracts differ if I decide to go forth with this method instead of taking royalties?

Thanks again guys, sorry if I'm asking too much

Thing is you are almost always better off to sell leases than to sell the beat outright. First thing you do is to become a member of ONE of the PROs you mentioned. read the literature they provide members so that you know what to do to register your work. Follow their guidelines and ensure that you maitain your rights in all of your work.

If you insist on selling your work instead, make sure that it is for a much higher payment and maybe even negotiate a residuals clause; i.e. sell it for a one time (high value) fee that covers an initial 10000 sales. Every 10000 sales after that you are to be compensated at standard royalty rates