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.
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?
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.