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Greetings! My first-ever Forum post. I am new to TAXI and wondering if it's kosher to submit music that makes use of prerecorded Garageband samples/loops. I, of course, don't want to get into a situation where I'm violating Apple's licensing rules, so just want to make sure. Wouldn't want to get a Forward on a piece of music that I then cannot legally have published. Thanks!

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One very easy thing to do is to manipulate those loops to create new ones that do not sound anything like the original.
Another very easy thing is to layer multiple samples together, thus generating something totally different and new

It's not a question of violating Apple's license, it's more that there have been frivolous lawsuits when party A has accused party B of copying their track when in fact the hook/loop has been legitimately used by both parties from a sample pack.

Whilst the usage may be completely above board and within the end user license agreement terms, it still winds up costing time and money to sort out for the library that gets accused.

For this reason most exclusive libraries now insist that no loops are used at all so you'd be wise to steer clear of them. One library I'm with has even written into their terms that any issues caused by the writer using loops will result in the writer being heavily fined.

Avoid melodic loops (guitars, pianos, synths, etc) unless you really chop them up so that they sound entirely different. One shots like kick drums, snares, impacts, etc should be no problem.

The main concern from libraries is that they don't want a new track to be picked up by content ID tools as someone else's track. This is possible because the song detecting technology is still new and imperfect, so a strong melodic loop in your track could fool the tools into thinking it's the same song as something else.

Ed Sheeran's use of loops is different because he is using them in his own compositions and projects.

"You may use Apple and third party audio content (*Audio Content*), contained in or otherwise included with the Apple Software, on a royalty-free basis, to create your own original soundtracks for your video and audio projects. You may broadcast and/or distribute your own soundtracks that were created using the Audio Content, however, individual samples, sound sets, or audio content may not be commercially or otherwise distributed on a standalone basis, nor may they be repackaged in whole or in part as audio samples, sound files, sound effects or music beds."

Can You Publish Songs Made in Garageband?"