use of online beats/backing tracks

[melodymessiah]

wonder if any of you have bought beats/backing tracks from any of these online services to put your own topline to them for pitching. seems to me that unless you pay a HUGE amount of money for total ownership, the trackmakers still own the publishing rights. the taxi listings says you must own 100 percent of the publishing rights to what you submit...
not that i blame the trackmakers though

[hummingbird]

I wouldn't use anything like that unless you have absolute certainty that you can include those sounds in music to be broadcast in media, that you own 100% of the sounds. IMO they would be labelled as 'samples' and 'uncleared'. IF you are pitching demos to artists, perhaps.

This is different from virtual libraries like say, Hollywood Strings or Stormdrum, where you have a written agreement that those sounds may be used in commercial music.

Bear in mind that if you use a backing track off the internet it's a non-exclusive use of whatever was provided. Unless you have written agreements with the producer/performer(s) you do not have ownership of those sounds and they can be used by a myriad of other folks.

Caveat: I am not a lawyer, this is just MHO.

IMO if you need backing tracks or beats best look for a collaborator in those genres.

[Len911]

Beats/backing tracks as far as I know aren't copyright able, sort of like Band-in-a Box I suppose. Beat-in-a Box??

[melodymessiah]

i think you're wrong len. why shouldn't a producer be able to copyright his tracks? band-in-a-box is a very different thing...
i'm most of all into pitching to recording artists. even on these listings, i see a lot of "You must own or control your master and composition rights" or "100 percent of the publishing rights".
does that mean that this doesn't apply to those listings that does NOT mention it...?

[Len911]

i think you're wrong len. why shouldn't a producer be able to copyright his tracks? band-in-a-box is a very different thing...
i'm most of all into pitching to recording artists. even on these listings, i see a lot of "You must own or control your master and composition rights" or "100 percent of the publishing rights".
does that mean that this doesn't apply to those listings that does NOT mention it...?

I could be wrong. It probably depends on the details, like whether it is an audio or midi track. If it's midi, you can apply your own licensed samples. If it's audio, they might have master rights to the audio. I'm not an expert in this field. If it's an audio track and the beat maker is selling you samples made by another company's samples? That could violate their licensing agreement. Publishing rights would be more about having another publisher with publishing rights, otherwise you would be the publisher.

A producer could maybe own the master, or if they wrote the song melody? A producer wouldn't be any different than anyone else.
If an arrangement is a derivative work, of a previously copyrighted product, it may be copyrighted. That's delving into law and I'm not qualified to practice,lol!

Maybe I've misunderstood the definition of "beats". I thought it was a drum track? Cubase has "Beat Designer", is that the same as making your own beats?

[hummingbird]

It really depends on a) the source of the sound, b) the licencing you received in purchasing those sounds, c) where you are pitching the track that uses those sounds.

For example, if you purchased a set of beats online and use them to make a demo to pitch to an artist, no problem except the screener/producer may comment on the fact you are using loops and that might be one of those things that leads to an R.

However, if you purchased a set of beats online and use them to make a track and plan pitch it to film/tv, unless you are absolutely certain you have ownership of the master, best not. They will not be happy with you if they are sued somewhere down the road because you did not own the rights to some of the sounds in the master.

If you make your own beats with software like stormdrum or stylus, then you have purchased a license that allows you to use those sounds in your own compositions and to sell/place those compositions commercially. What you're not allowed to sell is the sounds themselves.. i.e. create your own sound library using their sounds and sell them.

JMHO I am not a lawyer.

[Len911]

Melodymessiah, I'm not sure what perspective you are, producing or buying the beats? But there are several ways to make a beat for a do-it-yourselfer and then write a top line or melody to it, and then use a software arranger to do the arranging if one didn't feel comfortable in doing it themselves or a place to start and then do some editing.

[melodymessiah]

these are full (audio) backing tracks len, not just drum tracks, bought from this site: https://www.beatstars.com/
as i said my main focus is to pitch to recording artists.
maybe i'll just ask taxi

thanks for trying to help out guys

[Len911]

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Unless you were doing work for hire contracts, I'm not sure it would be a good idea. It doesn't sound like people who use this site would be looking to do wfh? The free beats probably have restricted use. I see nothing on the site about work for hire agreements. I doubt if the majority of their users are informed about wfh. If not, even if they signed the agreement it could be a nightmare for you. Just sayin'.

[VanderBoegh]

Hey Melody, I'm not sure what the legalities of this are, but you'd probably find the answers in the licensing agreement from wherever you bought the beat from.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you're probably not allowed to pitch for film / TV without including the beat-maker as a 50% owner of the song, and even then you'd be relegated to non-exclusive libraries (supposing you didn't put forth the big bucks to buy an exclusive license to the beat).

My advice, if I can be so bold, is to steer very far away from doing anything with other people's music that you don't know. Learn to produce tracks on your own - or collaborate with fellow Taxi members who know the business end of things - to avoid any pitfalls down the road.

As one library owner once told me, "better to be safe than sued".

~~Matt