Ascap lisence and copywriting

yungboss

yungboss

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Can anyone fill me in on the process of applying for an ASCAP lisense and copywriting my work? I'm an aspiring producer and I want to begin selling my beats but I want to lease them not sell the entire beat. I was told I need an ASCAP lisence but I dont know what exactly for and when I went to apply for it the application it says stuff about company and what not and in the end I really dont understand it. Any help would be deeply appreciatied :)
 
Relic

Relic

Voice of Illmuzik Radio
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Battle Points: 83
bthis!
disappointed with the answers here.

Heres the deal on all that, and we have a link some where here I will try and link you to that has a sample contract for leasing beats.

I believe you can apply online for ASCAP or BMI, those companies ensure that you get paid whenever a song you have registered with them plays. (generally)
I recommend ASCAP as BMI isnt very customer service friendly unless you are selling million I guess. I have yet to recieve any help from them even though I have emailed them over the years.
lol, soon as I figure out how to get away from them I am.

Copyrighting your beats is pretty simple , you basically fill out the copyright forms and send in a cd with your beats on them. Last I heard it would cost about $45 per cd. I say that because you can copyright songs individually but it would be $45 each, a good idea is to put as many songs as you can on a cd and name the entire batch something like "Yung Boss Beats Vol1" and then attach a list of the names of the beats to the form. It goes to the spot up in DC and takes around 6 months to get a response from them.
Make sure that all the beats on the cd you send in are just you, if you have say a bass player on 3 out of ten songs you are sending in and you want to say something like " all songs done by me except songs 3,5,9 on the list in which it was me and bassplayer X" they are gonna reject that and ask that you send in seperate forms for those songs.

I will go and try and find that lease contract for you but it may be under the part where you have to have a producer page for it, dont know if Fade will let me repost it.


EDIT:
I found it, it is under the producer page section once you sign up for your own page.
PM'd you the info.
Now go buy the page. lol
 
2infamouz

2infamouz

Mad Beats, No Angry Vegetables
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 10
Relic said:
disappointed with the answers here.

Heres the deal on all that, and we have a link some where here I will try and link you to that has a sample contract for leasing beats.

I believe you can apply online for ASCAP or BMI, those companies ensure that you get paid whenever a song you have registered with them plays. (generally)
I recommend ASCAP as BMI isnt very customer service friendly unless you are selling million I guess. I have yet to recieve any help from them even though I have emailed them over the years.
lol, soon as I figure out how to get away from them I am.

Copyrighting your beats is pretty simple , you basically fill out the copyright forms and send in a cd with your beats on them. Last I heard it would cost about $45 per cd. I say that because you can copyright songs individually but it would be $45 each, a good idea is to put as many songs as you can on a cd and name the entire batch something like "Yung Boss Beats Vol1" and then attach a list of the names of the beats to the form. It goes to the spot up in DC and takes around 6 months to get a response from them.
Make sure that all the beats on the cd you send in are just you, if you have say a bass player on 3 out of ten songs you are sending in and you want to say something like " all songs done by me except songs 3,5,9 on the list in which it was me and bassplayer X" they are gonna reject that and ask that you send in seperate forms for those songs.

I will go and try and find that lease contract for you but it may be under the part where you have to have a producer page for it, dont know if Fade will let me repost it.


EDIT:
I found it, it is under the producer page section once you sign up for your own page.
PM'd you the info.
Now go buy the page. lol
Click to expand...

good look i thought i hadda pay for each track individually, thats y i havent registered anything yet lmao.
 
yungboss

yungboss

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I have two say two thumbs up to: OnQ, Relic, and 7thangel

Good information!!

Next question i have is how do I go about copywriting sampled beats, for example, I have a a beat that samples the Lost Boys Theme Song. How do I copyright this beat?

In other words what um tryna say is how do i clear beats?

ALSO**
On the ASCAP application it says "Company*" what do i put for that?
 
Kontents

Kontents

I like Gearslutz
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Battle Points: 5
Sample Clearance Services

Similar to companies that obtain mechanical licenses for licensees who wish to use musical compositions to make new sound recordings, sample clearance services obtain licenses to clear the rights involved with using a sample. Clearance services can obtain sample license offers on behalf of independent artists and producers who utilize samples in their "new works," or on behalf of record labels who plan to distribute their "new works." "New work" refers to the new musical composition and sound recording which utilizes a sample from another work. Note that a music sample contains two separate copyrighted works. One is the original sound recording, and the other is the underlying musical composition.

Sample clearance companies can be a very cost effective way to clear samples, because it costs much more to hire an entertainment attorney to perform similar services. However, it is important to know that a sample clearance service is no replacement for a competent entertainment attorney with the additional ability to provide legal advice. Clearance services cannot perform this function unless run by an attorney.

Remember that sample clearance is a very important part of making an album containing samples a legally viable product. "Without proper clearance, the owners of the original work you sampled can sue for large sums of money or prevent distribution of your album."[13] It is important to recognize that "one sample may consist of 2 clearances (ie one master clearance & one publishing clearance)."[14] Often, sample clearance services are run by people with extensive experience in the music publishing industry or business affairs departments at record labels. Their prior experiences allow them to efficiently navigate the system, locate the rights holders and obtain proper sample license offers. However, an entertainment attorney is a must when tackling deeper issues involving legal advice that creators of "new works" may have never anticipated.



If you are selling the beat to be used by an artist then its up to the producer to clear the samples in the CD they are distributing. You are merely providing the beat for them to use. This is why you need contracts.
 
yungboss

yungboss

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So in other words I dont have to clear a sample unless I am distributing the beat for commercial use?
 
Kontents

Kontents

I like Gearslutz
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yungboss said:
So in other words I dont have to clear a sample unless I am distributing the beat for commercial use?
Click to expand...

As in like lets say a rapper wants to use your beat in a CD. You say cool and you give exclusive rights to use your work in his CD and you wont sell it to anyone else. Now he makes his CD and wants to sell it. His manager or producer of the album needs to clear the samples in the CD so they can sell it. Failure to do so can run them into court with fines as well as restrict them from distributing the album. You're not making money from the album your making money for 1 beat.. a one time purchase.
 
yungboss

yungboss

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OOOOOOOOOO so its not my job to clear the sample,,its the person that i sell it to to go ahead and do all the legalities?
 
Relic

Relic

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Battle Points: 83
bthis!
Well...3 things here on this.
1) we are all cheap and dont wanna pay to clear samples
2) You may have to clear a sample if yourgoing bigtime but not really when your nobody
3) 1plus 2 equals we dont around here. lol

Bu places like Harry Fox agency can help clear them for you.

Best thing to do is to chop them so fine that no one can reckonise it or be original and dont sample.
Otherwise just keep in mind that one day you MAY have to clear it.
You cant copyright the sample.
 
Kontents

Kontents

I like Gearslutz
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 5
Relic said:
Well...3 things here on this.
1) we are all cheap and dont wanna pay to clear samples
2) You may have to clear a sample if yourgoing bigtime but not really when your nobody
3) 1plus 2 equals we dont around here. lol

Bu places like Harry Fox agency can help clear them for you.

Best thing to do is to chop them so fine that no one can reckonise it or be original and dont sample.
Otherwise just keep in mind that one day you MAY have to clear it.
You cant copyright the sample.
Click to expand...

WORD! Relic lays down epicness.
 
yungboss

yungboss

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Battle Points: 1
Thanx a lot for the advice guys. Sorry to annoy u with so many questions but umma continue my research. Later on i'll post some of my works for some feedback.

o and one lasst thing: On the ASCAP lisencing form it says "Company*". I dont have a company so does that mean I am illegible for the lisence.
 
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