In alphabetical order:
Ueberschall

Ueberschall forbids to sell instrumentals containing their samples (even a single drum shot) to others to get their vocals onto it or play an instrument as accompaniment. The licensee is the only one who is allowed to do so.

If you use their content for a band instrumental, every involved band member contributing something to it, has to be a licensee (doesn’t matter if it is a single shot or a loop)

in short:
Selling beats to non licensees: impossible
Working on an instrumental with a non licensee: impossible
Giving away a free instrumental to others (non licensees) to get vocals on it: impossible

what more companies use that policy?

couldn’t find any

 

Last edited: Aug 17, 2022

Can you post a link to this EULA? I only found a "typical" form of license handling..

Spoiler

https://www.ueberschall.com/en/faq#use

E.g. - you can make a "beat" using their sounds (the sounds can NOT be used in isolation, only layered ofc) and sell it as your intellectual property. The intellectual property of sounds themselves remains theirs, otherwise they wouldn't be able to sell them to others (you have a non-exclusive license)

And yes, there are problems with such licenses. Just saying, it's common..

 

A customer asked explicitly this questions and got a mail response to this. I can ask him if I may distribute it but if you want to, you can just write a mail to [email protected] - they will tell you this and even tell you that their EULA reads this, too - what I can’t confirm reading it.

And is not about using their sounds in isolation but exactly as described as in my first post.

Everybody should avoid/boykott this company

 

some warping, cuts here and there, some reverb, chorus, and I doubt they will be able to prove I used something from them.

 

You don’t get the point. Doing it your way will work even if you got their stuff from our sister.

The point is: if you bought it (when there would be zero customers, there would be nothing to feed sister site) - they try to rip you off. It was even the GM of that company who explained their EULA that way.

 

Last edited: Aug 17, 2022

Seems like a standard sort of license agreement, from what I can see. If you're collaborating w/ a singer, you're not selling the beats to them, license doesn't apply. I think it only applies if you're effectively reselling the untreated samples; which applies to everything, everywhere. Quite confusing way of asking a question?

Spoiler

I think there are some "preview" (.mix / .bac) files that you can't use commercially; explained on their site.

 

Ueberschall have ALOT of construction kits and melodic content. The same issue is with Vengeance/refx concerning the melodies and construction kits included with their products. Due to legal details in German law, melodic content needs to be specially addressed. I don’t know the exact legal details but I remember Manuel Schleis from Vengeance explaining this in a forum.

once you remove the melodic content, you can use however you want melodic bits, single shots and all other content, that can’t be anymore identified with a melody, included in a construction kit.

No one is ill-intentioned, they just need to comply with legal requirements. Just write your own melodies (leads, verses, countermelodies and basslines) and you’re free from any form of possible licensing breach

 

I delete any non-original samples I may use during the making of a track. But this is because I do not want to hear about it from anyone later. Not because I have some idea the following sequence of events will happen:

1. I finish a good track.
2. Upload or sell a copy, whatever.
3. Someone from Uberschall or other sample/media company actually listens to it.
4. That person being able to identify a sample that has been processed.

This is a tall order no matter what way you look at it. It causes these agreements to be not much more than scare tactics, and a little bit of marketing thrown in. " If you buy our great grammy-generating samples, surely you will make great tracks everyone will hear, etc!" Yeah, sure. The rest is self-aggrandizement, because they are never going to hear it anyway.

If you use a sample of a melody or a chord from a sample pack, the recording is the copywritten material. You cannot copywrite a chord progression, etc. So you extract the pitches and reassign them to another instrument. (or just re play it if you wish). None of the "melodies" you will end up with will be much different than some random midi files you download or can buy 500K at a time on eBay for 2 bucks. Get out Scaler and figure it out.

 

Last edited: Aug 18, 2022

It's always the question of how you ask.


For example, Omnisphere has a big Eula with a lot of this stuff
I wrote them for an indie game project and interestingly :
"Since you are working on an indie game that sounds like it’s a smaller project, I don’t think the non-traditional license route is appropriate.
...
Keep in mind, you can still use Omnisphere’s Synth Mode to create your own SFX, it is only the sound sources that are off limits.

"
And you'll see they totally cool with this (to a certain degree)

Similar thing with U-he
Preset are a no-go (use them to get inspired and then make your own is here is ok, but simply sampling the presets is forbidden )
to use the presets in a creative way is also ok
but everything you'll make on your own is your stuff


Tone2 are a bit bitching with there eula
https://www.tone2.com/license.html

Good:
"This product can be used for music production, making records, remixes, commercials, jingles, soundtracks for film, theatre, musicals and computer games.
Bad:
The included sounds and this product can NOT be used for making music or sounds that will be licensed or sold as library music, sound clips or other sample based products. You are not allowed to sample or dump sounds or waveforms created by this product without our written permission. Especially not for creating commercial content for other synthesizers, sample packs, romplers or audio devices.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 19, 2022

Native Instruments (Source: www.native-instruments.com/de/company/legal-information/end-user-license-agreement/)

3.7 If a Sound Library is part of the Product you purchased, the following specifics apply in addition to the License Agreement (Sound License Agreement):

The provided samples, instruments and presets may be used for commercial and non-commercial music and audio productions in accordance with the terms of this Agreement without the prior consent of Native Instruments to the particular case.

However, the use of this product (including but not limited to the samples, instruments and presets) for the creation of a sound library or as a sound library for any type of synthesizer, virtual instrument, sample library, sample-based product or other musical instrument is strictly prohibited.

Individual Samples, Sound Sets or Audio Loops may not be distributed separately (commercially or otherwise). In addition, these samples, sound sets or audio content may not be repackaged in whole or in part as audio samples, sound libraries or sound effects.

 

As a musician who not only creates wholly original works, unaffected by clearance issues, but enjoys the challenge of making beats with lifted samples, making them everything but untraceable, I'm on the extreme, outlying sides of the topic. This is just platonic voyeurism.