You've found the perfect beat. The energy is right, the key fits your voice, and you can already hear the hook. Then you hit the license page and see four tiers staring back at you — Basic, Professional, Unlimited, Exclusive. Which one do you actually need?
Most artists either over-pay out of caution or under-pay and create legal headaches down the road. This guide cuts through the confusion with a plain-English breakdown of every tier and exactly when to upgrade.
The Short Version
If you're just starting out and releasing to SoundCloud or YouTube without monetization: Basic. If you're putting a record on Spotify and monetizing your videos: Professional. If you're doing serious numbers or submitting to radio: Unlimited. If you need the beat all to yourself, permanently: Exclusive.
Basic — $29.99
The Basic lease is built for artists building an audience. You get an MP3 at 320kbps, the right to distribute freely (up to 50,000 total streams across all platforms), non-monetized music videos, and non-commercial radio play.
Use it when: you're releasing to SoundCloud, uploading to YouTube without monetization enabled, making content for your social media, or putting out a free project or mixtape. The stream cap is generous enough for most artists getting started.
Outgrow it when: your video starts getting monetized clicks, you push past 50k streams, or a radio station wants to play the track commercially.
Professional — $59.99
This is the most popular tier for a reason. Professional gives you WAV + MP3 plus tracked-out stems — the individual drum, bass, melody and vocal layers that let your mixing engineer work properly. You're cleared for up to 500,000 streams, monetized music videos, paid distribution on Spotify/Apple Music/TIDAL, commercial radio, and live performances.
Use it when: you're releasing an official single or EP, your content is monetized, you have a mixing engineer who needs stems, or you're playing live shows. This covers the vast majority of releases from independent artists.
Outgrow it when: you're pushing past 500k streams on a single track. At that point you've built something real and the Unlimited upgrade is well worth it.
Unlimited — $99.99
As the name suggests: no stream caps, no distribution limits, commercial radio, sync licensing for TV/film/advertising, and full live performance rights including festivals and tours. You still get WAV + MP3 + stems. The beat remains non-exclusive, but you have unlimited commercial freedom with it.
Use it when: you're an established artist expecting a large rollout, you're pitching music for sync placements, submitting to commercial radio, or you simply want zero ceiling on what the record can do.
Exclusive Rights — From $299.99
Exclusive is a different category entirely. When you go exclusive, the beat comes off the store permanently — no other artist can ever buy it. You receive 100% ownership of the master recording, Content ID registration rights, and every commercial freedom the Unlimited license covers — forever, worldwide, no caps of any kind.
Use it when: the beat is central to your brand or a major project, you're signing to a label that requires full ownership, you're submitting for sync where the buyer needs to know no one else has the track, or you simply can't risk another artist releasing something on the same beat.
Exclusive pricing varies by beat — some tracks command a higher price based on production value, demand and existing lease activity. Get in touch directly to negotiate on a specific track.
The One Thing Most Artists Miss
License tiers cover your commercial rights. They don't change the fact that the producer credit — "Prod. by DC Beats" — must appear in the title and release credits on every tier except Exclusive (where it's still good practice). Leaving off producer credit is the fastest way to have a license disputed or revoked, so make it a habit from day one.
Still not sure? Drop me an email — happy to point you in the right direction based on your specific release.