LicenseTrack resources

The rights questions behind the search

For independent composers

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Find composer guidance on releases, detection reviews, and compensation, or take the reuser path for licence choices, attribution, and using CC music on YouTube.

For composers

Composer resource guides

Start with guidance on society mandates and royalty routes, then review suspected uses and the Creative Commons terms around attribution, NonCommercial permissions, and adaptations.

Choose your path

Guidance for composers and music reusers

Start with the guidance that matches your role: protect and release your own music, or understand the permissions and credit needed to reuse someone else’s.

For composers

Protect and release your music

Choose permissions, check attribution, review possible uses, and follow the money.

  • Compensation

    Understand royalties, revenue, and paid licensing options.

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  • Detection review

    Review a match, preserve evidence, and decide on a proportionate next step.

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  • Composer releases

    Prepare a release and make its rights and permissions clear.

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Browse all published guides

For music reusers

Use music with clear permissions and credit

Learn the licence terms, choose a suitable permission, and credit music correctly on social platforms and YouTube.

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Creative Commons guide

Which CC licences allow commercial use?

Compare all six licence conditions, see where NonCommercial applies, and find the official deeds and legal codes to check the terms on a specific work.

Read the commercial-use guide

Composer worksheet · no account needed

Record a potential music use

Note the source, track, context and evidence in a concise checklist, then print or save a copy for later review.

Open the public checklist

Platform-specific guide

Reviewing suspected music use on SoundCloud

Use practical review prompts and official SoundCloud guidance for remixes, covers, DJ mixes and Creative Commons permissions.

Read the SoundCloud guide

For composers

Review a potential use

Make the split explicit

Build a royalty split everyone can read the same way.

Enter the shares you have agreed with collaborators. The composer receives the exact remainder — no hidden normalization, no guesswork.

Your deal details

Shares can be whole numbers or decimals. A total under 100% becomes the composer’s remainder.

Your agreement, clarified

Complete the four shares to see the composer remainder, a plain-English summary, and a notice you can paste into your licence notes.

Composer FAQ

Make the percentages easier to agree and document.

A few practical notes to discuss before you send a split or license notice.

There is no single standard split. Composer and producer shares depend on the work, contributions, rights being licensed, territory, term, and bargaining context. Agree in writing whether each percentage applies to gross receipts, net receipts after defined costs, or another clearly stated base; the percentage is only meaningful once that basis is defined.

The composer’s remainder is 100% minus the other percentages you enter: composer remainder = 100% − producer share − co-writer share − featured artist share − library fee share. This calculator treats the entered shares as percentages of the same agreed basis and does not normalize them. Confirm the math and the underlying deal terms with every collaborator before using the result.

Include the project or work name, each collaborator’s agreed percentage, the percentage basis, any defined fee or cost treatment, the relevant rights, territory, term, usage, attribution, payment timing, and a note that the parties should sign the full agreement. A paste-ready notice is a practical summary, not a substitute for a negotiated license, a complete contract, or legal advice; have a qualified professional review material or disputed deals.

List each fixed fee as its own line item with the payer, recipient, amount, currency, due date, whether it is refundable or recoupable, and what deliverable or right it covers. Then state the percentage royalty separately, including its calculation base, deductions, reporting, and payment schedule. Do not bury a fixed fee inside a percentage or imply that one replaces the other unless the signed agreement says so.

A claim before the deal

Know what to do when Content ID flags a CC track.

Pick the platform and the kind of match you are seeing. Get a practical next step, then check the exact licence and evidence before you respond.

Describe the claim

This helper is a workflow starting point, not a legal finding.

Recommended for YouTube · full match

Dispute

Use the platform dispute path with the licence and rights evidence when the claim conflicts with an authorized use.

Why this route

Use the platform dispute path with the licence and rights evidence when the claim conflicts with an authorized use. Confirm the exact CC deed, your ownership or authority, the attribution shown, the matched segment, and the platform process first. This is educational workflow guidance, not a legal determination.

Copy-ready response

Hi — I am reviewing a Content ID claim on YouTube for “[track title]”. I am confirming the exact Creative Commons deed, my ownership or authority, the attribution shown, the matched segment, and the platform process before taking action. I will use the platform dispute process and attach the relevant licence and rights evidence. Please share the claim details or rights basis you would like me to review.

Replace the bracketed track title, then add the claim details you have confirmed.

Composer FAQ

Keep the licence and the claim in separate lanes.

Use these answers to check the Creative Commons permission, evidence, and platform process before you decide what a Content ID match means.

No. A Creative Commons licence sets permissions and attribution conditions in its exact deed, while Content ID is a separate matching and platform-policy system. A claim does not remove the credit the licence requires or decide whether the use complies. Review the deed, the rights you control, the attribution record, and the claim details separately; this helper is practical information, not legal advice.

Collect the exact CC deed and version, the track and source URLs, your ownership or permission records, the required attribution, and evidence of how the track was used. Then use the platform’s official dispute process and explain the permission that applies; a Content ID match can be wrong or can overlook the licence context. Review the platform rules and seek qualified legal advice for a contested or high-value matter.

Consider releasing a claim when the use is permitted by the exact CC deed, the required attribution is present or can be corrected, or you do not control the rights needed to enforce the claim. Consider monetizing only when you control the relevant rights, the claim is accurate, and the platform and any registration partner permit that policy for the use. Keep the deed, contracts, ownership evidence, and use context together before choosing; the decision is not legal advice.

They are separate choices. CC BY grants reuse permission subject to attribution and the other terms of the exact deed; registering a recording or composition with a Content ID partner is a separate opt-in to matching and claim policies. Before registering, confirm that you control the relevant recording, composition, samples, and collaborator rights, and make sure the registration and claim policy can honor the CC permission. Check the partner terms and get qualified advice for unusual rights arrangements.

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