r/audioengineering • u/broonahtunah • 3d ago
Discussion Content creator used my beat in an advertisement, without crediting, or purchasing.
Title. I won’t say who because im not trying to send hate their way, but essentially they have used my beat (which has been blowing up, relative to what I expected at least) in an ad. I have a beatstars account, and licenses available, starting from $45USD, so the fact it has been used in an advertisement, which they definitely got paid well for, without consulting me, or even crediting me, seems a little insulting? Needless to say that I have messaged them and they have not responded.
I’m just wondering if I should (can?) do anything? I feel a little bit screwed, by not at least being credited. Should I pursue any course of action? I’m very new to this, and I feel in over my head. I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if anyone here has experienced something similar. (I’m sure many of you have been screwed over)
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u/Queasy_Somewhere_324 3d ago
uhm hell yeah pursue it. Ad companies have money to blow. You should be compensated for your work. What kind of question even is this?
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u/ranefisher 2d ago
Or they assume that there was a price on it to gain permission to use it commercially. Most places where you buy samples, the platform licenses the sounds to be royalty-free. If it wasn't for sale, it would be a different story.
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u/Reluctant_Lampy_05 3d ago
How did you discover your content had been used this way?
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u/broonahtunah 3d ago
Completely by happenstance. I follow the creator on my personal account
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u/Reluctant_Lampy_05 3d ago
Right, have you asked Beatstars for any help? If the content is exclusive to their site then I would hope they would take this up as an infringement of their own product and loss of income. If not then there's another issue to consider for the future...
If you have to tackle it yourself then as already mentioned there's the tricky issue of jurisdiction and under what local laws the guilty party is guilty. Maybe contact the end client and explain your content has been used unlawfully and ask how they wish to proceed with a resolution. It might just need a heads up to the right person and the problem is solved.
Also (no offence meant) is the beat 100% your own creation and not part of any sample pack? I had a client getting copyright strikes on YT from a beat that was part of a 20 year old sample pack and I discovered that the party claiming ownership had just renamed the sample pack and fraudulently placed it on their account with a publisher similar to Beatstars who were unaware of the fraud. A couple of emails and links to the original content got this resolved.
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u/ColdwaterTSK Professional 2d ago
Is it possible that someone who licenced your best, for their own artist project placed it? What does the license agreement in beat stars say about sync rights?
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u/reflythis 2d ago
capture all evidence you can including your own original publishing dates and separately the usage of the beat including date of publish that the alleged video was uploaded.
you can reach out to the creator directly, informing them you're aware of the usage of your content and ask to be remunerated appropriately. (Presume ignorance, not malice first)... If they ignore or deny you, talk to a lawyer and escalate by having the lawyer serve a cease & desist letter (this will cost $).
path of least resistance and the win (if they think you're serious) is to remunerate you for the usage, retroactively; if that can't/isn't done, you can sue for damages, so long as you can prove ownership and date of publish that shows clear chronology.
someone also mentioned "claim the video" which is a smart step - you would want to that only after step 1 above and they ignore you or tell you to fuck off. (then claim).
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u/LeonMust 2d ago
If their videos are on youtube, you can make a copyright claim and the video should be taken down until the creator remakes the video without your beats in it.
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u/markhadman 2d ago
Sorry to bring up what is probably a generational misunderstanding, buuuut... When you say 'beat', do you mean a drumbeat or other single element, or a whole piece of music?
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u/HexspaReloaded 1d ago
Beat usually refers to an instrumental that’s intended for a vocalist to lease.
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u/WytKat 2d ago
BeatStars does not directly provide lawyers but offers resources like the Creator Rights Agency (CRA) for deal negotiations and has a partnership with Cosynd for copyright protection, along with educational content and office hours with an entertainment attorney, Kyle C. Brown. BeatStars' Terms of Service explicitly state that the platform does not foster an attorney-client relationship and that users should consult with a licensed attorney for specific legal advice.
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u/Father_Flanigan 19h ago
Everyone is throwing advice out assuming you can connect the dots. Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Here's the dots...
When you make a piece of music, it is instantly copyrighted. Once you upload it for streams, the platform doesn't own it but by uploading you may enter into some sort of usage license with them, i.e. they can use clips of it to advertise within their site. Most times it doesn't go further than that. Idk specifically what beatstars licensing looks like, if any, but you said you had put a price on the beat. So I would assume, you have it out there i. hopes a rapper will want to use it, record vocals over it, then release the song, right? And you're right expecting royalties? from the rapper for playing your beat out?
Sure, you can do that as long as there was no license involved and the beat was being sold as a standard consumer product(this blanket license usually means they can listen and stream it as much as they want, but may not share it or reproduce it esp for the purposes of monetary gain. Remember those disclaimers ahead of movies/dvds? "piracy is not a victimless crime" bullshit? That pretty much applies to music too.
So if that's the way it is at beatstars, you should be pursuing this. Start by issuing claims and/or strikes against the offending video/account. Then email them directly with a cease and desist and/or an invoice to intercept any potential royalties. If you're doing things the right way, you should have registered the beat with your PRO already, maybe SESAC??? not really sure for Nz, but they're performing Rights Organizations and they actually monitor broadcast and the. if your music that's you registered with them is played on air, they automatically collect royalties for you. ow it's possible thieves of music will change names and since the PROs only take artist and title, an attempt to circumvent the system could get by at least a little while.
On the flip side, if beatstars has a default license saying the rappers may use the beat and just need to contact you for pore allison/royalty splits, then they bought it fair and square and if they registered it already with their name, they're gonna get the harvest. Now they're supposed to negotiate a split with you, but you're gonna have to find a way to put them on blast so they know you tryna come thru and even then expect them to dodge you. Unless you sue them outright, they don't have onto disclose how much they're receiving and I would demand a confirmation of the royalty splits, like a screenshot from the PRO showing your name and the rapper and whoever their publisher is. Also, quit fucking around and register your shit properly. Also you need to register with the copyright office IF you ever wanna sue anybody over this.
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u/ranefisher 2d ago
Maybe not post it for anyone to get ahold of it. Nearly impossible these days unless you just never publish it. I do 3d printing and I hear stories all the time about others designs being stolen and products sold when it is the creators fault for making it public accessible and then wonder why someone could possibly buy it and use it
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u/Prestigious-Good-72 1d ago
My answer to this is to his question here is it sounds like he's paying an organization to help him get his music into advertisements and things like that it doesn't sound like copyright law was kept if he owns the copyrights for the materials then he should have the option to call them and challenge them on what he's saying he feels screwed because he didn't get credited you should definitely be credited, that's part of how you get your name out there as an artist, In order to continue to grow Your name and brand as an artist. I also was offered a contract by one of those companies who shop your music for t.v., radio, movies etc.. I turned it down because it wanted to keep 100% of publishing on those songs in (perpetuity) for ever! It all depends on how desperate you are?
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u/keep_trying_username 2d ago
You can get paid the license fee but you won't get credit. Commercials don't roll credits at the end like a movie.
Try this exercise: search for where music, pictures, actors and video that were used in commercials are credited. Post a link to the "credit" site that tells us who produced the music, the name of the redhead, who shot the video, who produced the commercial, the name of the redhead, the script writer, and set decorator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW3DV_v-tV8
Do that with a couple dozen commercials, and then tell me about this mythical "give me credit" idea that people have. The best you'll probably do is, you'll find the website of a contributor where they have resume info and they give themselves credit.
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u/j1llj1ll 3d ago
This probably isn't the right sub, TBH. r/legaladvice is probably the better place.
Contact the other companies involved. Like the company whose goods or services are being advertised. The platforms or broadcasters showing the ad. Ask them about it. They might, at least, pull their sponsorship or stop running the ad. A lot of online services you can make a complaint in pursuit of copyright strikes or takedown notices or at least demonetisation.
If this is being broadcasted on any regulated channels then you may have a media regulator or two whom you can make a complaint to if the companies don't react or respond.
You always have the option of civil action to enforce copyright. However this, of course, will cost a lot more than $45. Lawyers. Court. Unless the rights owed are quite a large sum, then everybody loses (except the lawyers) even if you win.
All this depends on jurisdictions - which you don't mention.
Sadly, copyright is only worth whatever you ability to defend it is. It's not always the fairest system.