Producer Contracts 101: What You Need to Know Before Sending Beats

This guest post was written by the team at Mesa.

Contracts aren’t just for superstar producers with plaques on the wall, they’re for every producer who takes their craft seriously. If you have even a shred of self-belief in your career, there is zero reason not to use them. You never know which beat will blow up, or which track might get sampled years later. In addition to that, making contracts a standard practice now means you’ll already be moving like a professional when bigger opportunities come. It also signals to everyone in the industry– producers, artists, managers, labels, and publishers, that you take yourself seriously– and they should too.

Contracts turn music into a sustainable living by locking in ownership, clarifying how you get paid, and protecting your name so you receive the credit you deserve.

Protect Your Rights Before Making Contracts

Before sending beats or signing agreements, take steps to safeguard ownership and prove your rights. Use watermarking or producer tags to deter unauthorized use, share beats through secure links or licensed platforms, and keep organized records of who received them and when. These habits create a verifiable trail that protects you if disputes arise.

So let’s break it down—what contracts do producers need?

Splits Contracts (Ownership)

A splits contract/splits sheet - determines who owns what percentage of a song. These contracts are the most important of them all.

Every song has two copyrights attached to it: one for the composition (the underlying music and lyrics) and one for the master recording (the actual recorded performance). Think of it like baking: the composition is the recipe (lyrics, melody, chords), while the master is the cookie (the finished recording that people actually consume). These two copyrights have different payouts associated with them.

• Composition: Generates publishing royalties, which flow from sources like performance royalties (radio, live shows), mechanical royalties (streams, downloads), and sync royalties (when the song is licensed for film, TV, ads, etc.). Writers and publishers split these revenues.
• Master: Generates royalties tied to the sound recording itself, including streaming payouts (Spotify, Apple Music), sales, and master-use fees for sync placements. These typically flow to whoever owns the master, often the label or artist, unless a producer negotiates a share.

Beat Licensing

If you’re sharing or selling beats or beat packs, you need to make sure both you and the buyer are on the same page, and that’s exactly what a contract is for. The main considerations in a beat licensing agreement include:

• Exclusive vs. non-exclusive rights: Defining whether only one buyer can use the beat or if multiple artists can license it.
• Royalty splits: Outlining how revenue will be shared when the track generates income.
• Ownership: Clarifying whether you, as the producer, retain control of the publishing (ownership of the underlying composition) and/or the master recording—and if so, exactly what share you keep.
• Distribution and usage limits: Governing where and how the buyer can use the composition, not only on streaming platforms, but also for sync placements (film, TV, ads, etc.).

Producer Agreements

When you collaborate directly with an artist, a producer agreement is essential. This contract sets out how you’ll be paid, what rights you hold, and how the financials work over time. The main considerations in a producer agreement include:

• Upfront fee: A flat payment you receive for your work, regardless of how the song performs.
• Recoupable advance: An advance payment that must be “recouped” (paid back) out of your share of future royalties before you earn additional income. It’s important to specify which royalties count towards the recoup (master, composition or both)
• Royalties: Defining whether you’ll earn from the master recording, the composition, or both—and what percentage of each.
• Ownership: Clarifying whether you, as the producer, retain control of the publishing (ownership of the underlying composition) and/or the master recording—and if so, exactly what share you keep. 

Clearing Samples and Interpolations

When you use part of an existing song in your own track, it usually happens in one of two ways, sampling or interpolation, and the clearance process is different for each.

A sample is when you use the actual audio from another song. It’s like copying and pasting the original recording into your track. To clear a sample, you need approval from two sides: the master owner (usually a label) using a document called “Master use License” and the composition owner (the songwriter or publisher) using a document called “Composition License for sample use”.

An interpolation is when you replay or re-record a part of an existing composition—essentially covering or re-performing it yourself. Since you’re not touching the original master recording, you only need permission from the composition owner (songwriters or publishers).

In both cases, clearance is non-negotiable. Skip it, and you risk takedowns, losing out on royalties, or lawsuits. To actually clear a sample or interpolation, you (or your team) must reach out directly to the rights holders, usually through the publisher for composition rights and the label for master rights, and negotiate a license before releasing the track.

How To Get Your Contracts Done

By now it’s clear: producers need multiple agreements to protect their IP (intellectual property) and ensure they can monetize it. But that raises an important question: how do you actually get these contracts done quickly and affordably?

One option is to hire a lawyer. That’s always a great solution, but it comes with challenges: it takes time to find the right one, and lawyers can be expensive. For standard agreements like splits, producer agreements, or beat licenses, most lawyers have their own templates, so in many cases, you’re paying a high hourly rate for something fairly boilerplate.

Another option is to hunt down free or paid templates online. But this comes with its own headaches: you still have to edit them, figure out how to share them, and make sure everyone actually signs. That usually means bouncing between multiple tools just to get one deal finalized.

That’s why platforms like MESA exist. MESA creates quick and affordable contracts built specifically for music creators and their teams. In just minutes, you can generate a contract that’s free to download. For only $5, MESA will also send it to all your collaborators, track signatures, and make sure the agreement is legally binding. Instead of juggling templates and services, you get one streamlined process designed for the way musicians actually work.

You’ve Protected Your IP, Now How Do You Maximize Revenue?

Protecting your rights is only half the battle, the other half is making sure every dollar your music earns actually makes it back to you. As shown earlier, revenue accrues in different places depending on whether you’re dealing with the composition (publishing) or the master recording.

In regards to the underlying composition, a publisher traditionally collects and manages these royalties for you, but that usually means giving up as much as 50% of your publishing revenue in exchange for their services.

Platforms like Songtrust give you another option. Songtrust registers your songs worldwide and collects royalties on your behalf without requiring a publishing deal. Instead of taking half, they charge a one-time setup fee plus a 15–20% commission depending on which royalties they collect.

Once your ownership is secured with contracts, you need to make sure your publishing revenue is actually being tracked and collected. Tools like Songtrust make that possible without giving away half your income.

In Conclusion

There are several key contracts every producer needs to protect their IP and unlock revenue from their creativity. You can work with a lawyer or use a platform like MESA. Treating contracts as part of your creative process from day one builds habits that safeguard your work and establish you as a professional. If you’re serious about making music, contracts aren’t optional; they’re the foundation for protecting your art and turning it into a career.

Thomas Athey is a co-founder of MESA, a platform that helps music creators and their teams create contracts quickly and affordably. He can be reached at thomas@mesacontracts.com.