Split Sheets, Credits and Content ID on a Leased Beat
You cut the song, it hits, and then the problems start. Your feature says he wrote half the hook. Your distributor asks for a songwriter list you never made. A claim lands on your upload because the beat's other licensees are in the same fingerprint database as you. None of that is a music problem. It's paperwork nobody did in the session.
This guide covers the paperwork that matters for an independent artist on a leased beat: who gets what on paper, where the producer credit goes, what to type into your distributor, and why Content ID has to stay off. It takes about 20 minutes per song. Skipping it costs weeks.
Nothing here is legal advice. It's the standard checklist working artists run, tied to what the SIGIL licenses say.
Two layers: the song and the recording
Every release has two separate pieces, and people mix them up constantly.
- The composition is the song itself: lyrics, melody, topline, structure. Writers split this.
- The master is the finished recording: the actual audio file that goes to Spotify. Whoever paid for and made the recording usually controls it.
A friend who gave you two lines for the hook is a writer. He has a claim on the composition. He has no claim on the master unless you agreed one. A feature who recorded a verse is both: he wrote it, and he's on the recording. These are different conversations with different numbers.
The beat is a third thing, and it isn't yours to split. A lease gives you the right to put the beat under one new song under the license terms. It doesn't make you the owner of the beat, and you can't hand your feature a piece of it. How the producer side works is set in licensing and the Terms of Sale at /terms. Read those instead of guessing.
The split sheet: do it before you leave the session
A split sheet is a one-page document every contributor signs. It's not fancy. Put these on it:
- Song title (the final one, or "working title" plus the date)
- Every contributor's legal name, stage name and contact
- Their role: lyrics, melody, topline, feature, engineer
- Writing split as percentages that total exactly 100
- Master arrangement in one line: who owns the recording, and any fee or share for the feature
- The beat: name, the producer credit, and the license tier you bought
- Date and a signature from everyone
Send a photo of the signed page to everyone in the group chat the same day. Memory fades fast, and the song is only worth arguing over once it's working.
Don't split on feelings. Ask one question per contributor: which lines or which melody did this person actually create? If you wrote every word and a friend hummed a different note on one bar, that's not 25%. Agree it in the room, with the song still playing.
Worked example: one song, three people, a 146 BPM beat
You lease a 146 BPM beat on Premium. You write both verses. Your friend Dre writes the hook melody and two lines of lyric. A feature, Kai, writes and records his own 16 bars on verse 2.
Step 1: Count the creative parts. Verse 1 (16 bars) is yours. Verse 2 (16 bars) is Kai's. The hook (8 bars, repeated) is Dre's melody with one line from you.
Step 2: Propose a writing split. A clean starting point: you 50%, Kai 25%, Dre 25%. Your verse plus part of the hook justifies the larger share. Kai and Dre each own one distinct block. If everybody agrees, write it down. If anyone hesitates, adjust now, not after release.
Step 3: Settle the master. You paid the studio and you're releasing the track, so write: "Master owned by [you]. Kai receives a flat fee of [amount], no share of recording revenue." Or give Kai a recording share instead. Either works. Unwritten does not.
Step 4: Log the beat. "Beat: [name], Prod. SIGIL, Premium lease." Premium covers 1 new song with unlimited streams and up to 10,000 sales, so this one track is the track the lease is for.
Step 5: Sign and send. Three signatures, one photo, one chat message. Done in 10 minutes.
Credits and metadata: where Prod. SIGIL goes
Basic and Premium both require the credit Prod. SIGIL. Put it in every place a credit can live, not just one.
- Distributor producer field: list SIGIL as producer when the form has the field.
- Streaming title or description: if your platform shows credits, make sure the producer line is there.
- YouTube title or description: "Prod. SIGIL" in the first line of the description is the standard placement, and in the title if you like, e.g. Artist - Song (Prod. SIGIL).
- Social captions: tag the producer in the post that announces the song.
Match the spelling exactly. "Prod. SIGIL" is the credit, and variants make it harder to search and easier to miss.
On the rest of the distributor form, write song and artist names the same way every time. A title with "(feat. Kai)" on one platform and "ft. Kai" on another splits your catalog. Pick one format, copy-paste it everywhere, and enter writers by legal name, since that's what the songwriter fields want.
Content ID: keep it off a leased beat
Content ID and similar systems fingerprint audio, then flag or claim uploads that match. Basic and Premium are non-exclusive leases: the same beat can legally be licensed to other artists. That's why neither tier allows registering the song in Content ID or any similar fingerprinting system.
If you register a song on a leased beat, the system can start claiming other licensees' songs on the same beat. That breaks the license and creates problems for people who did everything right.
In practice:
- When your distributor offers a YouTube Content ID, "monetize on YouTube" or similar fingerprinting option, leave it unchecked for this song.
- If a claim does hit your upload, don't ignore it. Dispute it through the platform, with your license in hand.
- Keep the receipt or license file where you can find it in 30 seconds.
What changes with Exclusive
Exclusive transfers whatever rights the producer holds in the beat and takes it off sale. Earlier leases stay valid. Two things people get wrong: it doesn't guarantee copyright or Content ID eligibility, and it doesn't guarantee a one-of-a-kind beat. If you register an Exclusive in Content ID, that's at your own risk, and you can't claim earlier licensees' uses of the beat. Read the Terms of Sale at /terms before you rely on it.
Common mistakes
"We'll sort the split later." Later becomes after the song works, which is the worst time to negotiate. Fix: sign the sheet the same day, even if the percentages are rough, and amend by signature if you change them.
Giving the feature a writer share and a recording share without saying so. He thinks he owns half of everything. Fix: write the writing split and the master arrangement as two separate lines.
Splitting by who worked hardest. Effort isn't authorship. Fix: split by who wrote what, line by line.
Leaving Content ID on in the distributor. It's often a default or a tempting checkbox. Fix: check the form before you submit and again before release day.
Forgetting the credit on one platform. Basic and Premium need Prod. SIGIL. Fix: keep a note file with the exact credit line and paste it every time.
Uploading a song with a different license than the one you bought. Basic is capped at 100,000 streams and 2,500 sales, with no radio or live shows. Fix: if the song's growing, upgrade the license before you pass those limits. See licensing.
Quick checklist
- Write down who wrote what, line by line, before you leave the session.
- Fill a split sheet with names, roles, percentages totaling 100 and signatures.
- Keep writing split and master arrangement as separate lines.
- Log the beat name, tier and credit on the sheet.
- Enter Prod. SIGIL in the producer field, description and caption, spelled the same way.
- Keep Content ID and fingerprint monetization off for any song on a Basic or Premium lease.
- Save the license file and signed sheet in one folder.
- Check your tier's limits before the song grows past them.
Before your next session, pick the beat, check the tier against your plan in licensing, and print one blank split sheet. Browse beats when you're ready.
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