Why Beat Leases Can Wreck Your Publishing

“I bought a $30 beat lease from YouTube, so I own the song completely.”

A standard beat lease usually only gives you the right to distribute the master recording. The producer still owns a large share of the underlying composition, often around 50% of publishing. If you register 100% of the publishing without clearing that split, you are lining up copyright claims and frozen royalties.

Lock the numbers, then register them

Talk to the producer before release day. Get the publishing percentages in writing. Then plug those splits into RightsTune so we can route mechanicals and performance income to every party who actually owns a piece of the song.