Beat licence matrix
Can this song be played on the radio?
Basic (MP3) licence
On the Basic (MP3) tier, radio and broadcast play is permitted up to a cap as these agreements are ordinarily written. 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.
The trap
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.
What to check in your agreement
Whether broadcast is capped by number of stations rather than by plays.
The same question on every other tier
| Licence tier | Radio and broadcast play |
|---|---|
| Free (tagged) | Not permitted |
| Premium (WAV) | Permitted up to a cap |
| Trackout / Stems | Permitted up to a cap |
| Unlimited lease | Permitted |
| Exclusive rights | Permitted |
What this tier is
The entry lease. Mixed MP3 only, hard caps on streams and sales, and the beat stays on sale to everyone else. Typical price: $20–40.
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.