This article applies to:
-
Beat Sellers
- Professional Plan
- Growth Plan
- Starter Plan
Overview
This article answers common questions about Free Downloads on BeatStars, including how to adjust your free download settings, how Commercial Use works for Free Downloads, and why only certain social media platforms are available as download requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How Do I Adjust The Standard (Non-Commercial) Free Download Settings?
You can update your Free Download settings either as part of a bulk update or on an individual track.
If you want to update Free Download settings across multiple tracks at once, please follow the full bulk update guide here: How do I bulk apply free downloads to my tracks?
If you want to adjust the settings for one track only, you can do so from that track’s monetization settings in Studio.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Some tracks may only offer certain Free Download choices depending on the track setup and which third-party accounts you have connected.
To update Free Download settings on an individual track:
- Open an existing or new track in Studio: https://studio.beatstars.com/content/tracks/uploaded
- Scroll to the Monetization section and make sure Enable free download is turned on.
- Click the gear icon next to the Free Download option to open Free Download options.
- Under Downloader gets, choose whether the person downloading receives:
- Beat with voice tag, or
- Untagged beat
- Under Downloader needs to, choose what the downloader must do before receiving the file. The available options are:
- Do nothing (anonymous download)
- Provide a name and email address
- Follow me and/or subscribe on available platforms
- If you choose the follow/subscribe option, select the platform(s) you want to require. Available options may include:
- Follow me on BeatStars
- X (Twitter)
- SoundCloud
- If a platform is not yet connected, click Connect beside it first here: How Can I Add Youtube and Social Media To My BeatStars Account
- Once your settings are correct, click Save. Your track will then use the updated Free Download requirements.
What is Commercial Use For Free Downloads?
If you allow Free Downloads for commercial use, downloaders receive a non-exclusive license to use the track commercially.
This helps protect your rights and secure compensation when your tracks are used, as the downloader must follow the commercial license terms, including any applicable master and publishing royalty splits.
How Do I Enable And Adjust Commercial Use For Free Downloads?
You can enable Commercial Use for your Free Downloads in the following ways:
To automatically apply Commercial Use settings to future uploaded tracks via Track Preferences:
How To Pre-set Your Track Metadata For Future Uploads Using Track Preferences
To adjust Commercial Use settings on new and existing individual tracks:
How Do I Enable And Adjust Commercial Use For Free Downloads?
To update Commercial Use settings across multiple tracks at once:
How do I bulk apply free downloads to my tracks?
How do I amend the free download contract?
For standard non-commercial Free Downloads, you are not able to adjust the contract generated for downloaders and sent by email.
However, if you enable Commercial Use for Free Downloads, you can expand and customize the terms of the non-exclusive commercial use license under View advanced terms.
This can be found within the Free Download settings. Please see the guides above for full instructions.
Does BeatStars automatically track songs released using my Free Download beat?
No. When you enable Commercial Use for Free Downloads, BeatStars generates a commercial license at the time the beat is downloaded.
BeatStars does not automatically track whether a producer or artist later releases a song using your beat.
If you would like help tracking usage of your beats, we recommend using Beat ID or BeatStars Publishing, utilising Suggested Tracks and Credits: How do I use Suggested Tracks and Credits in Publishing?
Can BeatStars Publishing help me find and collect royalties?
Yes. BeatStars Publishing can help identify songs where you may own publishing and help protect and collect royalties at no extra cost to your paid plan.
BeatStars Publishing helps register your compositions with collection societies and collect global compositional royalties through our partnership with Believe Music.
Inside Publishing, Suggested Tracks & Credits can help you get started faster by scanning your Discography and surfacing songs you may own publishing on.
From there, you can review the ownership details, submit relevant songs to Publishing, and discard anything that does not apply.
To learn more, please see:
- What is BeatStars Publishing and What do we do for our Members?
- How to Sign Up for Publishing
- How do I use Suggested Tracks and Credits in Publishing?
Where can I view and download licenses generated from Commercial Use Free Downloads?
You can view who downloaded your beats and access their respective licenses in Studio.
For step-by-step instructions, please see: How To Download Your Commercial Use License(s) In Studio
Does Commercial Use apply retroactively to previous Free Downloads?
No. Commercial Use licenses are not applied retroactively to previous downloads.
This is because the downloader did not agree to the Commercial Use terms or provide the required details needed for the contract to be generated at the time of download.
Why are some social media options not available in exchange for Free Download?
Only certain third-party services currently support this functionality. If a platform does not appear as an available Free Download requirement, it usually means that service is not currently supported for this type of exchange.
If you want to grow your following on third-party platforms that are not offered in exchange for Free Download, such as YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok, we recommend using the email capture option instead.
By collecting email addresses, you can grow your mailing list and use the Marketing Integrations section in BeatStars to connect your email marketing service. From there, you can send newsletters and promotional emails to encourage subscribers to follow you on those external platforms.
This can be a useful alternative when direct follow-for-download functionality is not available for the service you want to promote.
Related Articles:
Where Can I Find the Emails I've Collected from Sales and Free Downloads?
How do I add the free download option to individual tracks?
How do I bulk apply free downloads to my tracks?
What can I do with a Free download?