It’s not uncommon for customers to ask us to use sampled material in beats. A sample is basically a recording of another song which you may or may not have the copyright’s to, which you can then flip into another type of beat or song. Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” for instance, as well as much of his music actually, uses a sample from another popular song to make up the beat.
While we are more than capable of making these types of songs for clients, we want to make sure you understand the differences in production and how to avoid complications.
First of all it’s important to note that a sampled song does not automatically come with the right to sell, but you always have the right to promote it for free. While promoting your free mixtape or single on a sampled beat is certainly an option for you, but you might get held back in certain regards. For instance if you’re promoting your song as a YouTube video, copyright infringement rules may take place and would disable you from putting ads on your videos.
If you use sampled music you can’t sell it or make money from it until the sample is cleared. Sometimes this is a free process, and other times it costs big money. There are multiple sample clearing agencies in the state of California which may be able to help you clear certain samples, but for the most part if you’re trying to make money from your music then you better have a plan in place to clear them.
It’s not the easiest thing in the world to clear a sample, but it might be worth it if you’re truly obsessed with a certain sound or sample and you just don’t want to drop it.
However we do custom beats for clients and almost always we are told to make them original. Original music is when there are no uncleared samples used and you can virtually have a totally custom sound. If you’re looking for custom beats be sure to contact us because we are known for our great custom services! In fact the vast majority of our clientele are repeat customers who pay for custom production.