Rights to a rap beat are the subject of a lawuit filed last week against rapper Lil Wayne and Drummer Boyz. Another rapper, Rich Rick, says that he bought the rights to the rap beat back in 2006 from the Drummer Boyz, but that the group re-sold the beat to Lil Wayne in exchange for a 35% royalty fee. According to the lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles last week, Rich Rick seeks all proceeds from the song plus a 10% interest penalty.

Unlicensed Rap Beats May Cost Lil Wayne Some Cash

Unlicensed rap beats can be the source of a lot of aggravation for artists in the business. Sampling is a key element to the best of today’s rap beats, but sampling often involves paying licensing fees or royalties. For a musician starting out, the licensing fees can be extreme.

If this is you, there’s another option you should consider: Sonic Producer. Sonic Producer comes with a full library of royalty-free rap beats that you can use in any creation. The beats are yours, so even if you end up selling the music, the money you make is yours to keep with no additional licensing fees or royalties due.

You get the entire Sonic Producer sample library when you purchase the Sonic Producer product. Make your own beats or mix in samples from our library to create a sound that’s uniquely yours. Choose from among thousands of samples, too!

The sample library isn’t the only benefit of using Sonic Producer. You also get a full library of video tutorials that tell you how to use Sonic Producer, and put music together that people want to hear.

Once you’re mixing as many as 16 tracks, export your music to MP3 and you’re good to go! Share your music with your friends, use it to accompany you at live performances, sell your music or give it away while you’re trying to break into the business.

Sonic Producer has it all, and it’s available for both the Macintosh and PC platforms. That means you don’t have to buy any additional computer equipment – you can use what you have! Sonic Producer is a great tool to use when you’re breaking into the business. It’s like having your own professional recording studio available to you around the clock. Whether you’re just messing around or getting serious about your rap music, Sonic Producer is the one tool you definitely want in your kit.!

Photo Credit: Phil Roeder, via Flickr

Beat Maker artists The Black Eyed Peas are being sued by two different songwriters who separately claim that their work was stolen by the group. In the first case, Bryan Pringle alleges that will.i.am lifted Pringle’s demo song, “Take A Dive” which Pringle says that he sent to three different music production companies, including Interscope, over a period of a several years. Pringle claims that will.i.am’s song “I Gotta Feeling” is substantially similar to Pringle’s demonstration piece.

Troubles Don’t Stop There For Peas

In a separate suit, rap music artist Phoenix Phenom says the Peas illegally copied her song “Boom Dynamite” and turned it into the hit “Boom Boom Pow.” Phoenix Phenom says that they were approached by Interscope and provided the company with a copy of Boom Dynamite. Phoenix Phenom claims that the song was remade by the Black Eyed Peas.

Once again, the inherent danger of the music business rises! For new artists, one big danger – especially in rap music – is the use of samples. In these cases, the artists are not claiming that their finished work was illegally sampled, but instead that their work was substantially reproduced by another artist.

Regardless of the mechanism, the outcome is often the same: a lengthy legal battle. To avoid being caught in this trap, it’s important to use royalty-free samples, or to get the written permission of the original artist or right-holder before using music. Today, this is normally accomplished with a “split” agreement, where an artist agrees to share song royalties with the original artists.

On one hand, splits accomplish the goal of music licensing, and in the end probably prove to be more cost effective than paying for a legal defense, but the royalty return for artists on their music is usually pretty low in the first place. It’s always best to avoid splits. Using royalty-free samples is one way to do this.

Sonic Producer comes complete with thousands of royalty-free samples as part of the initial installation. You get access to samples that can help you create a unique sound without having to worry about future splits or releasing unlicensed music. In addition, Sonic Producer allows you to create professional-sounding recordings that you can sell, distribute or use in your own musical production. It’s the ideal solution for avoiding copyright infringement lawsuits once a song has already been released.

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Busta Rhymes and the other members of the now-defunct Leaders of the New School have been slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit that claims the rap music group illegally sampled Dyke and The Blazers’ tune “Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man” in a 1991 song called “Case of the P.T.A.” Leaders of the New School broke up in 1993. Elektra Records is also named in the suit.

Drive-In Music Company, which owns the rights to Let A Woman Be A Woman, Let A Man Be A Man, says it didn’t notice the infringement until recently, but filed the suit almost immediately after the infringement came to their attention. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, a permanent injunction to prevent future sales of the Leaders of the New School album “A Future Without A Past” on which the disputed song appears, and to have any remaining CDs removed from store shelves. The track in question is still available as a download.

Sampling is an integral part of rap music, but it tends to cut down on the artist’s profits because typically, samples are used with permission in an arrangement called a “split.” A split is a negotiated share of a song’s earnings that go to the sampled artist.

For new music producers, including samples can be particularly dangerous. In this case, the alleged infringement happened nearly 20 years ago and the current and future commercial value of both songs in question is small. Using royalty-free samples is one way to avoid this kind of problem, even into the future.

Music production software like Sonic Producer features thousands of royalty-free samples that can be used on any music track created with the software. There will be no future royalty payments on any work using a Sonic Producer sample. This makes Sonic Producer the ideal tool for both beginning and experienced rap music artists who want to self-produce their music.

Sonic Producer works on both the PC and Mac platforms and requires no additional equipment or software to work. You can add your own music, samples and lyrics and create professional-sounding tracks that you can export and share. Sonic Producer is a great way to break into the music business. Learn how to create your own music, mix your own sounds and get your music out to the world. Download your copy of Sonic Producer today!

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