Beat licence matrix

Can I put a song on this beat on Spotify?

Basic (MP3) licence

Permitted up to a cap

On the Basic (MP3) tier, distribute to spotify and apple music is permitted up to a cap as these agreements are ordinarily written. 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.

The trap

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.

What to check in your agreement

Find the stream and sale caps, and find what the agreement says happens when you cross them.

The same question on every other tier

Licence tierDistribute to Spotify and Apple Music
Free (tagged)Not permitted
Premium (WAV)Permitted up to a cap
Trackout / StemsPermitted up to a cap
Unlimited leasePermitted
Exclusive rightsPermitted

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.