What is Splice? How does Splice work?

Splice is an online music production marketplace selling everything from sample packs to plugins. Regarding samples, Splice's sound library allows subscribers to browse a wide range of loops, sample packs, and one-shots from some of the most renowned producers and music services in the game. With Splice's subscription model, you will receive a certain amount of credits per month which can be spent on individual samples or expansive sample packs. They also allow you to filter through their library by genre, instrument, BPM, key, and sample type.

Is Splice royalty-free?

Producers will rejoice at the fact that all music sold on Splice is 100% royalty-free. Unlike traditional sampling—where the producer must go through the arduous process of finding the rights holders and negotiating a sample license and royalty splits. This is partly because Splice sells pre-made loops, one-shots, and samples that are designed specifically for royalty-free use.

However, the royalty-free nature of Splice is a double-edged sword. Things got messy in the past with content ID conflicts and licensing issues between producers who used the same one-shots or loops from Splice. Watch the video below for more on that:

Sample quality: Splice

Splice provides premade samples created by well-respected producers in the game. On their easily-navigable sounds library, users can find loops and one-shots from major services like Loopmasters, CAPSUN ProAudio, and Sample Magic as well as exclusive audio by major artists like deadmau5, KSHMR, Medasin, and Lex Luger. The sample library includes more than 700k audio files.

All audio tracks on Sample Focus and Splice are premade as samples, which means all material is royalty-free. So as a user, you are allowed to remix, transform, edit, reproduce, and build upon anything off their site for any purpose—even commercially or for client work. No attribution is required.

However, keep in mind that you don’t own the sounds. Ownership remains the property of the Licensor. That means you cannot license, sublicense, sell, resell, or redistribute the licensed material or a derivative work based on that. Think of offering it as part of a sample pack or sharing the licensed material in a downloadable format. This is not allowed according to Sample Focus' Standard License, for example.

What type of license is required to sample music from Tracklib?

All music on Tracklib is pre-cleared. That means you don’t have to worry about any copyright infringement or clearance issues, as long as you use the service to license the sample(s) you use.

Licensing happens based on three preset price categories and a predefined revenue share. That means there’s no fine print or hidden fees. This way, you are all set to release your music—even commercially: digital and physical are both covered. Most songs on Tracklib are part of Category C, which comes down to a licensing fee of $50.

Plus: all music creators get paid via Tracklib. From the original composers to today’s producers, to master and publishing rights holders. Everyone gets their share. This makes Tracklib royalty-fair, not royalty-free. That’s how a product like Tracklib strives to change the music industry for the better.

Why do you need a master license for sampling?

To simplify the sample clearing game: licensing essentially means getting an agreement and permission to use a piece of music for specific purposes. This relates to sampling as well as for other use such as derivative works, interpolations, mash-ups, and the use of music in television or film.

Usually, clearing samples and a master license are negotiated from scratch; a process that can tend to get complex or confusing. With a Standard License via Sample Focus or the 100K+ pre-cleared, license-ready records on Tracklib, you can create music without a sample clearing headache. On Tracklib, even ownership of a sample license can be easily transferred to record labels or another artist via a novation agreement.