What Are Royalty Free Samples?

The use of loops and samples has become a huge part of production for a number producers (myself included) and it has made the production process a lot less complicated.

Royalty free samples are samples sold on a one-time license fee basis meaning no recurring royalties or recurring license fees have to be further paid for the use of the samples.

The copyright of the royalty free samples still belong to the creator and owner of the composition,

For example,

when you pay for a royalty free sample pack online,

you’re granted the permission to use the sample for as long a period as you desire.

Where can I find royalty free samples?

Theres a vast majority of online sources that you could pick for sample packs, loop kits and various plugin presets,

some of my favourite options are:

Cymatics

Cymatics is a great resource for electronic music, rnb and hiphop sample packs, they have a vast variety of sounds to pick from.

this website is run by Drew and Steven and they invest a great deal of money and resources to curate industry standard sample packs.

This is particularly my favourite source for sounds and presets.

Splice

Splice is one of the leading sources for high quality loops, presets and royalty free samples,

It is used world wide by millions of musicians and creators.

I highly recommend it, especially for producers that are in the hiphop niche.

Loopmasters

Loopmasters distributes samples under the royalty free license agreement,

It is a great website for electronic musicians, producers,

and is also known for offering tutorials and software guides to its users,

so you definitely should check them out.

Producer loops

Producer loops is really the ultimate resource for producers and musicians, aside from the fact they offer royalty free samples,

they go a step further and offer services like DJ tools, mixing and mastering tools.

They have an arsenal of millions of royalty free samples for a variety of genres that are available for purchase.

Looperman

I recommend looperman for people that are looking for FREE royalty free samples.

Looperman is basically a community that allows music creators to join and upload their work that they can make available to the community.

It is one of the sites that is great for collaboration because it is a community.

Here are addition sources where producers get sounds

Are all splice samples royalty free?

All splice samples are royalty free and you can use them in your production work,

so long as you do not violate the license agreements that Splice grants you.

This means you can use any licensed samples from splice without the headache of having to pay royalties to the owner of the copyright of the sounds.

Can I use splice samples for profit?

Splice allows you to use the samples in your works for commercial purposes.

Whilst you may have a license to use the particular sounds, these sounds are not exclusively licensed to you alone.

Furthermore splice doesn’t allow you to redistribute the original works of the samples you purchase,

they also don’t allow you to lend, rent, lease, assign, or transfer the samples to a third party except as incorporated into a derivative music production.

What is a royalty–free beat?

With a royalty free beat, once you purchase a license you are allowed to use the beat without attracting any royalties to pay to the owner of the copyright.

The initial payment is the once off payment that you have to make for the license.

You can use the beat in your work, distribute and sell it and keep the revenue.

But be reminded that this usually depends on the license agreement that you and the copyright owner enter into.

Are loops royalty free?

Depending on where you get the loops from they can either be royalty free or they could be royalty free to a certain extent.

So it really depends on where you get the loops from.

So make sure you do your research.

Are Cymatics samples royalty free?

The sample packs from cymatics are essentially royalty free, how ever the following is prohibited:

Rendering the exact project file contents and releasing them as your own songs.
Repackaging and redistribution of samples that you find in the sample packs.

How do I get permission to use copyrighted music?

When trying to get permission to use copywriter music they are 5 steps that you have to take.

Step 1:

The first step is obviously determining whether or not permission is required to use the music.

Usually this comes with assessing the risk of using the music without getting the required permission,

This can be figured out but establishing whether the music is protected under law or not.

Most of time music will be protected under copyright law and intellectual property law but in some cases you may not need permission to use the music .

Step 2:

Once you determine step 1, your next task is figuring out and locating the owner of the copyright in order for you to get into negotiations about using their work.

Sometimes looking for the owner maybe as simple at looking at the name under the copyright notice,

Other times the owners may be more than one and you may need to locate them all.

Step 3:

The third step is figuring out the permission that you intend to get from the owner(s).

Stating the intended use for the music is very important because it sets you up to control the specific aspect you need and allows you to not pay for more than what you need.

With music all the permissions are exclusive and non exclusive.

A permission is exclusive if you’re the only one with the rights to use the music.

A permission is non exclusive if other people can also use the same work you intend to use and get into agreement for.

The term of use also has to be agreed upon depending on how long you require to use the music,

The rights you will be granted under agreement will probably be limited in duration.

Step 4:

The next step is to typically reach out and contact the owner of the music and begin negotians concerning how and when they would like to receive their payment.

Step 5:

The last step is to obviously have everything that has been agreed upon in writing,

A rookie mistake you would make is to rely on an oral agreement,

Usually oral agreements may result in misunderstandings which could later result in disputes,

And the fact is you’re going to have a hard time proving your case if your entire defense is based on an unwritten agreement.

Unwritten agreements are only enforceable as actual contracts under certain general contractual principles of law

Therefore make sure you get that agreement in writing and don’t rely on oral contracts.

Sources

Samples: What it means to be Royalty-Free – Blog – Splice

What Are Royalty Free Sounds, Loops, Samples Or Beats?

What Are Royalty Free Samples?