What is the difference between free for profit and free beats?

Free beats can be defective, lets turn you into a detective 🔍

Lots of our RouteNote artists use backing tracks and beats in their releases – there’s no problem in doing this!

However, there’s a big difference between free for profit beats and free beats. We know they look similar, but this difference could result in your release being disapproved.

A free beat may be free to use for fun, or for your at-home projects, however, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re free to be used commercially. You’ll need to ensure that the beat is not only free, but also free to use to gain profit or earnings.

A lot of ‘free’ beats, especially those listed on YouTube, are often free for non-profit use only. They won’t say this in the title; usually it’s in the Show More section underneath the video. Please see our Support Hub article for further information on free to use backing tracks by clicking here.

Free for profit means that the backing track is free to be used both for fun and commercially, so these will be accepted by RouteNote.

Ensure you read the information that comes with the beat carefully. Check that you don’t need to buy a licence before you start work on your track!

If the beat you’ve used is free for commercial use and we ask you about it, send in a link to moderation@routenote.com stating where you got it from originally/where it says it’s free for commercial use, along with your username and UPC so the team can check this over and approve your release.

If you have any further queries, feel free to get in touch with us!

See also:
Can I use a backing track in my release?
Can I use a backing track for my release if I have an agreement with the producer?
Can I use a purchased backing track in my release?

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