Beat licence matrix
Can I register my song with YouTube Content ID?
Unlimited lease licence
On the Unlimited lease tier, register with youtube content id is not permitted as these agreements are ordinarily written. 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.
The trap
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.
What to check in your agreement
Search the agreement for 'Content ID', 'fingerprint', or 'digital rights management'. If it is silent, assume no and ask in writing.
The same question on every other tier
| Licence tier | Register with YouTube Content ID |
|---|---|
| Free (tagged) | Not permitted |
| Basic (MP3) | Not permitted |
| Premium (WAV) | Not permitted |
| Trackout / Stems | Not permitted |
| Exclusive rights | Depends on the contract |
What this tier is
Caps removed. Everything else is unchanged: the beat is still sold to other artists and the producer still owns it. Typical price: $150–300.
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.
Part of the Beat Licence Checker and
an open dataset published under CC-BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with attribution.
Last reviewed 2026-08-12.