{
  "meta": {
    "name": "The Beat License Matrix",
    "version": "1.0",
    "publisher": "RapCanon",
    "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
    "attribution": "Data by RapCanon (rapcanon.com). Free to reuse, including commercially, with attribution and a link back.",
    "as_of": "2026-08-12",
    "description": "What each standard beat-licence tier actually permits, use by use, as the terms are ordinarily written across the major beat marketplaces. Industry-standard defaults, not a reading of any individual contract.",
    "scope_limit": "This models the STANDARD form of each tier. Any individual agreement overrides it. Where a cell says 'depends', the answer is genuinely contract-specific and no general resource can resolve it.",
    "sources": [
      { "id": "sfr", "title": "Beat Leasing vs Exclusive Rights Contract Explained", "url": "https://sfrbeats.com/tools/beat-licensing-agreement" },
      { "id": "jbz", "title": "Exclusive vs Non-Exclusive Beat Licenses Explained", "url": "https://jbzbeats.com/exclusive-vs-non-exclusive-beat-licenses-2026/" },
      { "id": "pook", "title": "Beat Leasing or Exclusive Rights? What to Know in 2026", "url": "https://pooksomnia.com/theplug/beat-leasing-or-exclusive-rights-contract" },
      { "id": "mayu", "title": "Beat Licensing for Beginners: Exclusive vs Non-Exclusive vs Royalty-Free", "url": "https://mayubeatz.com/blogs/news/beat-licensing-beginners-guide" }
    ]
  },

  "tiers": [
    { "id": "free-tagged", "name": "Free (tagged)", "short": "Free",
      "typical": "$0", "exclusive": false, "tag_required": true,
      "gist": "A promotional lease. The producer tag stays in the record and commercial use is usually not granted at all." },
    { "id": "basic-mp3", "name": "Basic (MP3)", "short": "Basic",
      "typical": "$20–40", "exclusive": false, "tag_required": false,
      "gist": "The entry lease. Mixed MP3 only, hard caps on streams and sales, and the beat stays on sale to everyone else." },
    { "id": "premium-wav", "name": "Premium (WAV)", "short": "Premium",
      "typical": "$40–80", "exclusive": false, "tag_required": false,
      "gist": "Same rights shape as Basic with a higher-quality file and higher caps. Still non-exclusive." },
    { "id": "trackout", "name": "Trackout / Stems", "short": "Trackout",
      "typical": "$80–200", "exclusive": false, "tag_required": false,
      "gist": "You get the separated stems, so you can genuinely mix it. Rights are still a lease and still non-exclusive." },
    { "id": "unlimited", "name": "Unlimited lease", "short": "Unlimited",
      "typical": "$150–300", "exclusive": false, "tag_required": false,
      "gist": "Caps removed. Everything else is unchanged: the beat is still sold to other artists and the producer still owns it." },
    { "id": "exclusive", "name": "Exclusive rights", "short": "Exclusive",
      "typical": "$300–2,000+", "exclusive": true, "tag_required": false,
      "gist": "The beat comes off the market. It does NOT mean you own it: in most exclusive agreements the producer keeps the writer's share and the publishing." }
  ],

  "uses": [
    {
      "id": "stream-distribution",
      "name": "Distribute to Spotify and Apple Music",
      "question": "Can I put a song on this beat on Spotify?",
      "mechanism": "Commercial distribution is the core grant of a paid lease. What varies is not whether you may distribute but how many streams you may accumulate before the licence lapses and must be renewed or upgraded.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "capped", "premium-wav": "capped", "trackout": "capped", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {
        "basic-mp3": "The cap is on the LICENCE, not on the release. Passing it does not stop the song from streaming, it makes the streams unlicensed, and the obligation to notice is yours.",
        "free-tagged": "A free download is almost never a commercial licence. Distributing on it is the single most common way independent artists end up with an unlicensed release."
      },
      "check": "Find the stream and sale caps, and find what the agreement says happens when you cross them."
    },
    {
      "id": "monetized-youtube",
      "name": "Monetise a YouTube video",
      "question": "Can I monetise a YouTube video using this beat?",
      "mechanism": "Monetisation is normally granted alongside distribution on any paid tier. The friction is not permission, it is that several artists may be monetising the same instrumental at once.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "capped", "premium-wav": "capped", "trackout": "capped", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {
        "unlimited": "Unlimited removes YOUR caps. It does not remove the other artists licensing the same beat, and their claims can still land on your video."
      },
      "check": "Whether monetisation is named explicitly, and whether video views count toward the audio stream cap."
    },
    {
      "id": "content-id",
      "name": "Register with YouTube Content ID",
      "question": "Can I register my song with YouTube Content ID?",
      "mechanism": "Content ID asserts an exclusive claim over a recording. A non-exclusive beat is, by definition, in other people's records too, so registering it claims work that is not solely yours and generates claims against them.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "no", "premium-wav": "no", "trackout": "no", "unlimited": "no", "exclusive": "depends" },
      "anomaly": true,
      "traps": {
        "unlimited": "This is the most expensive misreading in beat licensing. 'Unlimited' sounds like it covers Content ID and it does not. Registering a non-exclusive instrumental is how one artist ends up claiming every other artist who bought the same beat.",
        "exclusive": "Even on an exclusive, the producer may already have registered the instrumental, or may retain that right. Being the only artist on the beat is not the same as holding the right to fingerprint it."
      },
      "check": "Search the agreement for 'Content ID', 'fingerprint', or 'digital rights management'. If it is silent, assume no and ask in writing."
    },
    {
      "id": "music-video",
      "name": "Shoot and release a music video",
      "question": "Can I make a music video with this beat?",
      "mechanism": "A music video is an audiovisual use of the recording. Paid tiers normally permit it, usually with a view cap that mirrors the stream cap.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "depends", "basic-mp3": "capped", "premium-wav": "capped", "trackout": "capped", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {
        "free-tagged": "Free tiers sometimes permit a video specifically because it promotes the producer, while still forbidding paid distribution. The two are licensed separately more often than people expect."
      },
      "check": "The video view cap, and whether monetisation of the video is separately addressed."
    },
    {
      "id": "radio",
      "name": "Radio and broadcast play",
      "question": "Can this song be played on the radio?",
      "mechanism": "Broadcast is usually restricted by station count on lease tiers and unrestricted on exclusive. It is one of the few places the tiers still differ sharply.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "capped", "premium-wav": "capped", "trackout": "capped", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {
        "basic-mp3": "Entry leases often cap radio at a specific number of stations, which is a number nobody tracks and everybody exceeds the moment a record catches."
      },
      "check": "Whether broadcast is capped by number of stations rather than by plays."
    },
    {
      "id": "sync-tv-film",
      "name": "Licence it for TV, film or an advert",
      "question": "Can I license this song for a TV show or a commercial?",
      "mechanism": "Sync requires clearance from BOTH the recording and the composition. Even on an exclusive, the producer typically still controls a share of the composition, so a sync deal usually needs their signature as well as yours.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "no", "premium-wav": "no", "trackout": "no", "unlimited": "depends", "exclusive": "depends" },
      "anomaly": true,
      "traps": {
        "exclusive": "This is where 'exclusive is not ownership' becomes expensive. A sync opportunity arrives on a deadline, and discovering mid-negotiation that you cannot clear the composition alone is how placements die."
      },
      "check": "Whether sync is granted at all, and who must sign to clear the composition."
    },
    {
      "id": "live-performance",
      "name": "Perform it live",
      "question": "Can I perform this song at shows?",
      "mechanism": "Live performance is broadly permitted across paid tiers and is one of the least restricted uses, because performance royalties flow through the PRO rather than through the licence.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "depends", "basic-mp3": "yes", "premium-wav": "yes", "trackout": "yes", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {},
      "check": "Whether paid ticketed performances are distinguished from free ones."
    },
    {
      "id": "physical-copies",
      "name": "Sell physical copies",
      "question": "Can I sell CDs or vinyl of this song?",
      "mechanism": "Physical sales carry their own unit cap on lease tiers, counted separately from streams.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "capped", "premium-wav": "capped", "trackout": "capped", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {
        "premium-wav": "The physical cap is frequently much lower than the stream cap and is easy to miss because it sits in a different clause."
      },
      "check": "The unit cap for physical copies, stated separately from streams."
    },
    {
      "id": "pro-registration",
      "name": "Register the song with your PRO",
      "question": "Can I register this song with ASCAP or BMI?",
      "mechanism": "You may register the song, but you must register it with the correct splits. The producer of a leased or exclusive beat is ordinarily a co-writer and holds a writer's share.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "depends", "basic-mp3": "yes", "premium-wav": "yes", "trackout": "yes", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {
        "exclusive": "Registering yourself at 100% because the licence said 'exclusive' is a misregistration, not a shortcut. It surfaces later as a dispute or as royalties held in suspense."
      },
      "check": "The producer's stated writer's share, usually 50% of the composition unless negotiated."
    },
    {
      "id": "publishing-claim",
      "name": "Claim 100% of the publishing",
      "question": "Do I own the publishing if I buy exclusive rights?",
      "mechanism": "Almost never. In the standard exclusive agreement the producer retains the publishing and the writer's share of the composition. Exclusivity governs who may USE the beat, not who OWNS it.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "no", "premium-wav": "no", "trackout": "no", "unlimited": "no", "exclusive": "no" },
      "anomaly": true,
      "traps": {
        "exclusive": "The word 'exclusive' does the damage on its own. Buyers routinely assume it transferred ownership, and the clause that says otherwise is one line long."
      },
      "check": "The publishing split clause. If you want the publishing, it has to be bought separately and named explicitly."
    },
    {
      "id": "resell-beat",
      "name": "Resell or transfer the beat",
      "question": "Can I sell the beat on, or let another artist use it?",
      "mechanism": "A licence is granted to you and is not transferable. Even exclusive rights normally forbid onward sale of the instrumental itself.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "no", "premium-wav": "no", "trackout": "no", "unlimited": "no", "exclusive": "no" },
      "traps": {
        "trackout": "Holding the stems feels like ownership and is not. Passing stems to another artist is a breach on every standard tier."
      },
      "check": "The assignment and transferability clause."
    },
    {
      "id": "remove-tag",
      "name": "Release without the producer tag",
      "question": "Can I remove the producer tag?",
      "mechanism": "Paid tiers deliver an untagged file. Free tiers require the tag to remain, which is the entire consideration the producer receives.",
      "by_tier": { "free-tagged": "no", "basic-mp3": "yes", "premium-wav": "yes", "trackout": "yes", "unlimited": "yes", "exclusive": "yes" },
      "traps": {
        "free-tagged": "Editing the tag out of a free download is the clearest possible breach and the easiest for a producer to detect and act on."
      },
      "check": "Whether an untagged file is actually delivered, rather than merely permitted."
    }
  ]
}