Leases Vs Exclusive Beats 101

[Jeremy Connolly]

If you found this post your probably having trouble picking between
leasing a beat and purchasing exclusive rights to a beat. Either that
or your trying to understand what the difference is between the two.
Lucky for you it's a lot easier to understand than it might seem.
Leases when referring to selling/buying beats is when you buy the non-
exclusive rights to a beat for usually under $50. In other words it's
like renting a beat, except instead of blockbuster it's a professional
beat seller and instead of 2 days you can rent it out until you sell
3,000 copies or someone buys the exclusive rights to it. You pay a
small fee for the beat but the producer can keep reselling the beat
until the exclusive rights are sold.
People that purchase leases are generally up and coming artists/labels
that want hot music but don't want to pay such a high price. Usually
by purchasing the beat the artist(s)/label come to a non-exclusive
agreement with a producer stating the terms which both parties can
abide to.
Tip:
You should buy a lease license for a beat when you want to make some
money off of your songs. It's always a bad idea to try to sell your
music with unlicensed beats because it will come back to haunt you.
You can find lease beats ranging anywhere from Soundclick.com to
Myspace.com to My Beatshop.com. There are also private beat sellers
that lease out beats through there own websites.
Exclusives - When referring to selling/buying beats is buying the
exclusive rights to use a certain instrumental. In most cases you will
find exclusives starting at $500 but there are exceptions where you'll
find beginner producers selling their exclusives for $25 even $50. An
exclusive license basically allows the artist/label to be the only
ones that can legally use the beat.
Only serious artists, labels, TV shows, movies should purchase
exclusives. So if your not making big moves (3,000 + copies of
product) with your career, then just purchase a lease license until
you can afford an exclusive license. If you want to have a beat that
no one else can legally use than an exclusive license is for you.
Why would I lease a beat?
You would lease a beat for the following reasons:
a) Your operating on a tight budget. b) Your planning on distributing
3,000 copies or less of an album/mixtape. c) You want to test out a
beat at a show to gauge fan reaction.
Why should I lease a beat instead of buying an exclusive at first?
a) You will save money . b) You can sell enough copies to later buy an
exclusive beat which really ended up only costing you the price of the
lease beat. c) You don't waste the producer's time and money if you
don't do anything with the beat.
What happens if I lease a beat and someone buys the exclusive rights?
What usually happens when someone buys an exclusive beat is you are
notified or a notice is posted on the site saying the beat has been
sold. From that date you usually will have 6 months to use your
license. So if your beat shopping make sure you don't hesitate for
very long because the exclusive right can be bought up any time. The
sooner you buy the lease the quicker you can make enough money to buy
the exclusive rights.
So which one is better for you? Here's an easy guide:
MySpace Rapper/Singer = Lease Local mixtape Rapper/Singer = Lease
Signed 2 Major Indie/Major Major Label = Exclusive Tv Show/Movies =
Exclusive

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