Skip to content

What each beat license lets you do

Streams, copies, music videos, radio and paid shows are separate allowances, each with its own limit. How to read each one against your release plan.

Updated · 4 min read Lesson 2 of 4 in Licensing Guide

In short

  1. Each right in a beat license is counted on its own: streams, copies, music videos, radio stations and paid performances.
  2. Passing a cap, such as 5,000 streams on Basic MP3, means it is time to ask about an upgrade.
  3. Monetization, Content ID and ownership follow the written license, not the tier name.
In this lesson (10)
  1. Three offers in one week
  2. Rights are counted separately
  3. Streams and copies
  4. Music videos
  5. Paid performances
  6. Radio
  7. Reading the tier name as a summary
  8. Map your plan to the rows
  9. Check yourself
  10. Sources

Three offers in one week

Your song on a leased beat is doing well. In one week a director offers to shoot a second video, a venue offers you a paid slot, and a community radio station asks to play it. You say yes to all three, then open the license to check.

Each of those offers is a different right in the license, and each one has its own limit. The stream count you were watching says nothing about any of them.

Why it matters

Rights are counted separately

A beat license is a bundle of separate allowances: how many times the song can be streamed, how many copies you can sell, how many music videos you can make, how many radio stations can play it, and whether you can perform it at paid shows. Passing one limit is not covered by staying under another.

These are the current Virzy Guns tiers, read from the same source as the beat store. The written license issued at checkout is what applies, so confirm scope, territory, credit and upgrade terms there before release.

Basic MP3

Price
$15
Files
MP3 (320kbps)
Copies you can sell
2,000 copies
Online audio streams
5,000 streams
Music videos
1 video
Radio stations
0 stations
Paid performances
No
Content ID
No
Credit
Prod. By Virzy Guns

Basic Pro Lease

Price
$25
Files
MP3 (320kbps), WAV (24-Bit)
Copies you can sell
5,000 copies
Online audio streams
200,000 streams
Music videos
1 video
Radio stations
2 stations
Paid performances
Yes
Content ID
No
Credit
Prod. By Virzy Guns

Premium Lease

Price
$50
Files
MP3 (320kbps), WAV (24-Bit), Track Stems
Copies you can sell
10,000 copies
Online audio streams
500,000 streams
Music videos
1 video
Radio stations
2 stations
Paid performances
Yes
Content ID
No
Credit
Prod. By Virzy Guns

UNLIMITED Lease

Price
$100
Files
MP3 (320kbps), WAV (24-Bit), Track Stems
Copies you can sell
UNLIMITED copies
Online audio streams
UNLIMITED streams
Music videos
2 videos
Radio stations
2 stations
Paid performances
Yes
Content ID
No
Credit
Prod. By Virzy Guns
Current Virzy Guns license tiers, taken from the same source as the beat store. Exclusive rights are agreed individually.

Streams and copies

Streaming allowances count plays on services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Copies cover downloads and physical sales. The two are counted separately.

Figure 1. Online audio stream caps per tier, on a log scale: each tick is ten times the one before, so the smallest cap is still visible. The steps between tiers are different sizes, so compare your plan with the actual number.

Say you buy Basic MP3 and the song reaches 10,000 streams. That is past its cap of 5,000. Contact us before it goes further, so an upgrade or replacement license can be confirmed in writing. "Unlimited" in a tier describes the listed stream and copy caps; it does not make every other right unlimited too.

Music videos

Visuals are counted on their own. Basic MP3 covers 1 music video, so the second video in the hook needs a tier such as UNLIMITED Lease before the shoot.

A paid performance is any show where you earn money: ticket sales, a fee or a booking. Basic Pro Lease is the first tier in the table that includes them. If you are booked for paid shows, choose a tier that covers them before the first gig.

Radio

Radio play is counted per station. Basic MP3 covers no stations, so the community station in the hook needs a tier such as Basic Pro Lease before it plays the song. Radio also earns performance royalties, collected through performing rights organizations such as ASCAP or BMI. How those royalties are split between you and the producer is set by the written license and your registrations.

Common mistake

Reading the tier name as a summary

A tier's name reads like a summary, so you treat it as a description of everything it allows. UNLIMITED Lease has no stream cap, and still covers 2 music videos and 2 radio stations.

The second mistake is assuming monetization and Content ID come with the video count. They are separate questions. YouTube's Content ID requires to the material it evaluates, and YouTube lists music licensed without exclusivity among its common examples of material that may not be exclusive (YouTube Help, n.d.). None of the current tiers allow Content ID registration, because it would claim the beat on every other artist who licensed it.

Takeaway

Map your plan to the rows

Before you buy, write down your plan for the song: streams, sales, videos, radio, shows. Find the tier where every row covers it. When one row gets close to its limit, ask about an upgrade before you pass it, and keep the answer in writing.

This is a plain-language guide, not legal advice. The basics of what a lease is are in the lesson on beat licensing, and every beat's licenses are in the beat store.

3 questions

Check yourself

  1. Your song on a Basic MP3 license reaches 10,000 streams. What has happened?
  2. Which tier is the first to include paid performances?
  3. Can you register a song made on a leased beat with Content ID?

Sources

Show the source

Next lesson · 3 of 4

Streaming a track vs licensing it for your videoA stream gives you listening access. Using the recording under your own video needs a license that names that use, shown step by step with the Flow catalogue.

Previous: Beat licensing explained: what you buy when you lease a beat

Portrait of Virzy Guns

Written by Virzy Guns

Songwriter and producer, founder of Virzy Guns Production. Now building HealingWave.

Browse beatsAbout Virzy Guns

Later in Licensing Guide

See all 4 lessons

  1. Commercial use vs personal use: when you need a beat licenseIf money or promotion is involved, it is commercial use. Where the line falls for streaming, video, shows, social posts, client work and background music.