FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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I leased a beat from you & I'm registering the song I made with a PRO. Do I need to reference Beatshotters® anywhere?
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I enjoy listening to your beats & - whilst I have no interest in licensing them for use in my own projects - would like to download them for my listening pleasure. Do you sell mp3s?
What rights do a Beatshotters® license come with?
We offer four different types of non-exclusive licenses & one exclusive rights license. Non-exclusive licenses are commonly referred to as “beat leases.”
Basic Non-Exclusive ($29.99)
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Receive a premium quality 24bit 44.1Khz WAV
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Plus a high quality 320kbps MP3 of the beat
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One tag remains in the intro of the beat
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Sell up to 500 units
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Up to 5,000 streaming audio plays (Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, etc)
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Up to 5,000 streaming video plays (Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc)
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No broadcasting rights
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Allowed to be used for Youtube, without monetization
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Beatshotters® retain full ownership of the beat & can continue to sell more non-exclusive licenses for that beat
Premium Non-Exclusive ($59.99)
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Receive a premium quality 24bit 44.1Khz WAV
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Plus a high quality 320kbps MP3 of the beat
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One tag remains in the intro of the beat
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Sell up to 2,000 units
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Up to 20,000 streaming audio plays (Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, etc)
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Up to 20,000 streaming video plays (Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc)
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Broadcasting rights limited to 5 radio stations
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Allowed to be used for Youtube, without monetization
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Beatshotters® retain full ownership of the beat & can continue to sell more non-exclusive licenses for that beat
Professional Non-Exclusive ($99.99)
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Receive individual tracked-out WAV files (commonly referred to as “stems”) for the beat
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Plus a premium quality 24bit 44.1Khz WAV
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& a high quality 320kbps MP3 of the beat
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Your choice to remove all tags from the beat
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Allowed for commercial use (album, digital single, performances) with limitations
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Sell up to 5,000 units
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Up to 50,000 streaming plays (Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, etc)
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Up to 50,000 streaming video plays (Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc)
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Broadcasting rights limited to 10 radio stations total
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Allowed to be used for Youtube, without monetization
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Beatshotters® retain full ownership of the beat & can continue to sell more non-exclusive licenses for that beat
Unlimited Non-Exclusive ($199.99)
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Receive individual tracked-out WAV files (commonly referred to as “stems”) for the beat
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Plus a premium quality 24bit 44.1Khz WAV
-
& a high quality 320kbps MP3 of the beat
-
Your choice to remove all tags from the beat
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Allowed for commercial use (album, digital single, performances)
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Sell unlimited units
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Unlimited streaming plays (Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, etc)
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Unlimited streaming video plays (Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc)
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Broadcasting rights on unlimited radio stations
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Allowed to be used for Youtube, without monetization
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Beatshotters® retain full ownership of the beat & can continue to sell more non-exclusive licenses for that beat
Exclusive Rights ($399.99)
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Receive individual tracked-out WAV files (commonly referred to as “stems”) for the beat
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Plus a premium quality 24bit 44.1Khz WAV
-
& a high quality 320kbps MP3 of the beat
-
Your choice to remove all tags from the beat
-
Allowed for commercial use (album, digital single, performances)
-
Sell unlimited units
-
Unlimited streaming plays (Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, etc)
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Unlimited streaming video plays (Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc)
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Broadcasting rights on unlimited radio stations
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Allowed to be used for Youtube, with monetization
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Beatshotters® can no longer continue to sell more non-exclusive licenses for that beat
Whilst there are limitations to what you can do with each non-exclusive license - you keep 100% of the profits you make from selling your songs made using the beats. Unlimited Non-Exclusive licenses & Exclusive Rights licenses do not have limits.
What’s the difference between an exclusive & non-exclusive license?
Non-exclusive licenses (also known as “beat leases”) have restrictions on the number of permitted sales etc., & can be sold to multiple artists at the same time. Beatshotters® retains full ownership of the beats when these licenses are purchased.
Exclusive rights licenses allow unlimited use of the song you make on any medium without any limit on sales, streams etc. After an exclusive rights license has been sold, that beat will no longer be available for licensing.
Can I post songs recorded over a Beatshotters® beat on YouTube?
If you purchase any of our licenses, you absolutely can. However, you will not be able to use YouTube’s monetization features on your videos unless you purchase an ‘Exclusive’ license.
YouTube’s content ID system only allows one person to collect revenue from copyrighted material. In the event that multiple people lease a beat from Beatshotters®, one licensee should not be in a position to retain money made by someone else’s song. For this reason, to avoid arguments, before making any beat available, the Shotters distribute & register all of our beats so that any videos posted using them are picked up by YouTube’s content ID system.
As a result we insist that – when distributing your song you must elect NOT to use any content ID facility your distributor (Distrokid, CD Baby, Tunecore etc.) might offer. Doing so will not impact on your ability to post a song to your YouTube channel.
If you wish to monetize a YouTube video for a song made using a Beatshotters® beat, you must first purchase an ‘Exclusive’ license.
I received a notice from YouTube about a song I posted which uses a Beatshotters® beat I licensed. Should I worry?
No. If you read the notice from YouTube you'll see that it says you haven't done anything wrong & that your video will continue to run without restrictions.
YouTube keeps track of audio with a content ID system. It searches for audio matches to ensure people are getting the proper credit, information & ad return for their music.
Since you have a non-exclusive license, YouTube is letting you know that it detected that you don't own the music exclusively & that you aren’t able to monetize your video as a result. Since you have permission to use the song with your non-exclusive license, there are no copyright strikes or other penalties against your YouTube account & you won’t actually need to do anything.
I leased a beat from you & I'm registering the song I made with a PRO. Do I need to reference Beatshotters® anywhere?
Yes - this will be covered in full detail in the license you will have acquired when you leased the beat(s). For your ease of reference, in summary: -
All of the licenses we sell require that the rights & ownership of the underlying composition embodied in the song to be split evenly (i.e. 50% : 50%) between the Licensee (you) & Producer (Beatshotters®). Furthermore, Beatshotters® control & administer 100% of the so-called "Publisher's Share" of the underlying composition (i.e. the beat itself).
We appreciate publishing splits can be a divisive subject, but for clarity these are standard splits used in beat leasing & are not negotiatiable.
When completing splits, please ensure you detail Robert William Thomas (registered with the Performing Rights Society [PRS] - CAE / IPI number 650298833) with the shares outlined above accordingly. The onus is on you to arrange for this to be done correctly as we do not issue "split sheets", & failure to do so will render any license null & void.
Please note that, if distributing your song for release (via Distrokid, Tunecore, CD Baby etc.), you'll also need to input metadata to credit Beatshotters® as producer.
If you have any questions about any of this, please feel free to contact us. If you have misplaced the license for your beat lease, please let us know & we'll arrange for a duplicate of the paperwork to be sent over to you.
Can I commission Beatshotters® to produce a beat to spec?
Yes, we can produce a custom beat for you – our fee starts at $499.99 & varies depending on a number of factors (e.g. genre, extent of instrumentation, arrangement).
Beats with hooks start at $599.99 & vary as above.
e-mail us with a link to a track similar to what you’re looking for. On receipt we'll drop you a line with a quote, & once payment has been received we can get to work.
Can Beatshotters® mix & master my song?
Having also worked extensively as a Mix Engineer, Beatshotters® CEO Rob Phonetix is renowned for his mixdown abilities & has the distinction of coming highly recommended by leading mastering facility South East Studios. That means commissioning Beatshotters® to put the final touches on your track is a great idea!
Prices will be dependent on the number of files you provide: -
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A 2 track mixdown (i.e. one stereo beat + vocal files) can be done at a cost of $69.99 if the beat was produced by Beatshotters®; or £99.99 otherwise.
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Trackout mixdowns (meaning each instrument has it’s own audio file) start at $149.99 for 6 tracked-out stems, & go up in price from there at a cost of $9.99 per stem (i.e. if you send us 11 tracked-out stems to mix, you’ll pay $199.99). To allow for the best results, we need the kick & snare parts to be separated from the rest of the drums as individual stems, so be sure to factor this in when rendering stems for us.
Digital mastering is included in the above fees.
Digital mastering (independent of mixdown services) can be arranged at a cost of $9.99 per track.
e-mail us with a breakdown of what you’re looking for. On receipt, we'll drop you a line with a quote & once payment has been received we can get to work.
I represent someone in film, TV, video games or advertising & we’re interested in obtaining rights to use your beats for syncing purposes. How do I go about organising this with you?
The licenses available via the Beatshotters® Bandcamp & Beatstars pages permit use of our music in the creation of songs, however our music is also available for syncing purposes. Please e-mail us if this is something you wish to discuss further.
I enjoy listening to your beats & - whilst I have no interest in licensing them for use in my own projects - would like to download them for my listening pleasure. Do you sell mp3s?
Not any more. Unfortunately people were buying the mp3s & recording songs over them, effectively bypassing the need to license the beats properly. However, you'll find our full catalogue available to stream on all major streaming platforms (including Spotify). Just to be clear - our music hosted on streaming platforms is for listening only & cannot be used in your own projects without a license. Our distributor will block any recordings made where no license is in place.
Do Beatshotters® undertake remix work?
We can consider remixing your track & our rates are negotiable, depending on the scale of your release. However, given that our ability to remix is dependent on how busy our schedule is at any given time – you will need to e-mail us in the first instance in order to find out whether we’re able to remix your track.
There's a problem with my order. Who should I contact?
We strive to offer the best customer service possible & will do everything in our power to resolve any problems you have with an order.
If there's an issue with files you've obtained via Bandcamp or Beatstars, e-mail us & we'll endeavour resolve it for you ASAP.
If your issue is with a payment handled by Bandcamp or Beatstars, contact the respective service provider in the first instance.