Releasing a song on a leased beat

1. Keep your licence

Save the licence you got with the files. If a platform or a distributor ever asks whether you have the right to use the beat, that document is the answer. At TH6 the licence comes in the mail with your files; keep that mail.

Check that the name on the licence is the artist name you release under. If it is not, ask the producer to correct it before the song comes out, not after.

2. Record and mix on the right file

Record on the WAV, not the MP3. If you have the stems, give them to your engineer: a vocal mixed into separate drums, 808 and melody sits better than a vocal mixed on top of a finished beat. The Unlimited Lease at TH6 comes with the stems for that reason.

For streaming, a master around −14 LUFS keeps its punch after Spotify and Apple Music turn the volume down to their standard level. That is why every TH6 beat comes in a Clean master at that level, next to a Loud one.

3. Pick a distributor and upload early

Spotify, Apple Music and the other stores take music through distributors such as DistroKid, TuneCore or CD Baby. The distributor gives your song an ISRC, the code that tracks every stream, and delivers it to the stores.

Upload at least a week before release day. Spotify needs the song at least seven days in advance before you can pitch it to its editors, and a pitch that early also puts the song in your followers’ Release Radar. Three or four weeks gives you room for mistakes.

4. Get the title and credits right

• Title: just the song name. No "type beat", no "prod. by" and no other artist’s name; distributors reject those titles.
• Producer: fill in the producer in the credits fields. For a TH6 beat that is TH6, and the other producer too if there is one.
• Songwriters: you for the lyrics and topline, the producer for the music.
• Featured artists: only people who actually perform on the song.

The credit is part of every TH6 lease: TH6, plus the other producer if the beat was made with one. It also links your song to its producers in the stores and in credits databases. More in how to credit a producer.

5. Set up the master split

Most distributors can split the streaming income automatically. At TH6 the master split is 90% for you and 10% for the producers: TH6, or 5% each when the beat was made with another producer. On DistroKid you open Splits for the release and invite TH6 (info@th6gotit.com) and, if there is one, the other producer for their share; they accept the invitation and DistroKid pays everyone from then on. Your licence and the mail with your files show the exact steps.

Is your distributor missing a split function? Mail info@th6gotit.com and agree how the 10% is paid.

6. Register the composition

Songwriting earns separately from the streaming payout, through collecting societies. Register the song with the writing split: 50% for you as writer of the lyrics and topline, 50% for TH6 as composer of the music. If you are not a member yet, join the society in your country. Membership is how you collect.

• Netherlands: Buma/Stemra. Belgium: Sabam.
• United Kingdom: PRS for Music. Ireland: IMRO.
• Germany: GEMA. Austria: AKM. Switzerland: SUISA.
• France: SACEM.
• United States: ASCAP or BMI. Canada: SOCAN.
• Australia and New Zealand: APRA AMCOS.

Gets your song played on radio or in public? Then the recording itself earns too, through neighbouring rights societies such as SENA in the Netherlands, PPL in the UK and GVL in Germany. Register as the performer and the owner of the recording.

7. Leave YouTube Content ID off

Many distributors offer to put your song in YouTube Content ID, so it earns from every video that uses it. On a leased beat, leave that option off. Other artists lease the same beat, so Content ID would claim their songs, and distributors such as Ditto do not accept leased beats for it anyway.

Your song still goes to YouTube Music through your distributor, and your own videos can still earn through your channel. You just do not police anyone else’s.

8. Watch your stream count

Every lease has a stream limit, counted across all platforms together. Look at Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists and YouTube Studio now and then, and add the numbers up. When you get close, upgrade: at TH6 you pay the difference to the next licence and the song stays online the whole time.

Checklist before release

• Licence saved, on your artist name.
• Recorded and mixed on the WAV (or the stems).
• Uploaded at least seven days before release day.
• Title without "type beat" or other artists’ names.
• Producer credit filled in at the distributor.
• Master split set up (the producers: 10%).
• Composition registered with your collecting society (TH6: 50%).
• YouTube Content ID left off.
• Cover art that you own or have permission to use.

Frequently asked questions

Beats and next steps

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