Selling beats — license types

MP3 lease (basic)

Cheap license $20–50: buyer gets MP3, capped streams/sales (~50–100k), producer tag stays. Non-exclusive — the beat sells on.

WAV/Trackout lease

$50–150: WAV + separated stems for mixing, higher caps (~250–500k streams). For serious releases — this tier minimum.

Unlimited lease

$100–300: no stream/sales caps but still non-exclusive. YouTube monetization allowed, royalty split with producer usually 50%.

Exclusive

$300–5000+: the beat comes off sale, buyer gets all usage rights on the recording. Producer authorship and song share — separately in contract.

What to fix in contract

Stream/sales caps, license term, YouTube Content ID, tag required or not, CMO registration allowed, 'prod. by' credit.

Royalty-share sales

Alternative: beat free/cheap + producer takes % of song royalties. For budgetless artists; for the producer — long-term income.