royalitues
Well it depends on what you mean by giving away a free beat! most people on soundclick give away free downloads. An artist can throw lyrics on it, but he CANNOT sell it. Think of it like itunes. if you go to itunes and download a free track or buy one for 99 cents, then you have the beat, but that doesn't mean you own the rights to the beat.
Other producers also lease their beats to artist. Maybe some give them away for free, but you never give away your beat without a lease.
A lease can have any type of rules you want. for example, the artist can make some something out of your beat and sell it but he can be restricted to sell only 1000 units of your beat. Once he goes over this limit, he has to pay you for an extended lease or whatever you guys come up with on the leasing terms.
But first and foremost, when you release a song on soundclick or reverbnation or any other place imaginable, it would be smart to have that song copyrighted. This gives you leverage over your beat. if someone steals your beat, you can sue him or take half of his profits.
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:14 PM ----------
Quick Addition: If your not signed up for BMI or ASCAP, you will NOT recieve any royalties.