What to Know Before Downloading Commercial Beats & Professional Advice on

[Irene Tierney]

In today's record industry, commercial beats are used in a wide
variety of music productions. The fact that beats are, for the most
part, complete and finished instrumental compositions, usually without
any main or backing vocals means that they can easily and immediately
be used for an unlimited number of music media related projects.
Popular industries utilizing instrumental music today include
television and radio advertising, film soundtracks, audio for gaming
applications, pod casts and mobile phone ring tones, along with the
ever popular and ever growing audience of recording artists, record
producers, DJ's and singer/songwriters needing professional yet cost
effective and easily accessible pre-recorded music backing to support
their production needs.
The easiest and simplest way to acquired commercial beats is by
downloading them online through various beat-selling sites. Buying
beats online offers the buyer the privilege and convenience to preview
and audition products before purchasing them. This is of vital
importance as any rap artist, producer, singer/songwriter, artist
manager or DJ would need to know before hand if the beat works for
their project or vocal style. Elements that would require attention
are tempo, key, genre, style and rhythm to name a few. The
sophistication of beat productivity has developed far beyond the early
days of hip hop and rap music. As a result, it is widely accepted
these days to find an unlimited supply of recourses selling beats in
nearly any genre imaginable.
Film, television and gaming producers would need to know how
particular commercial beats would suit and support the visual aspect
of their production. Recording artists would need to check that the
beat is in a key that suits their vocal ability, complements their
style of singing or rapping and works with the flow of their lyrical
content. DJ's would want to ensure the beat sits well in their live or
studio mixing/re-mixing production with the support of creative
freedom at their fingertips.
When purchasing beats online, or anywhere else for that matter, it
needs to be understood just what the agreement is in terms of the
licensing options and/or restrictions before buying anything. The fee
for commercial beats usually reflects the licensing agreement.
Traditionally, fees up to around $500 or more carry non-exclusive
licensing rights, where as fees between $300 to $5,000 or more are
selling the exclusive licensing rights along with the beat purchase.
It is advised to familiarize yourself with the differences between
exclusive and non-exclusive licensing and what it could mean to the
use of your desired beat.
One very important issue to be clear on with purchasing or licensing
any commercial beats is whether they contain any un-cleared samples.
This is one vital aspect of buying beats that is often overlooked by
artists searching online for products to download and use for their
audio synchronization projects. Using beats that contain un-cleared
samples can cause enormous amounts of grief and cost lots of money due
to legal fees later when trying to obtain clearance after the fact.
Many sites that sell instrumental music backing will not inform you
whether the samples contained within the material are original and
cleared or not.
Do yourself the favour and do your research. A reputable site should
state all legalities, licensing issues, terms and conditions and
disclaimers regarding the products and material they sell along with
upfront information relating to the originality of all samples
contained within the beats being sold.



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