Producer guides & sample-clearance blog
Free, evidence-based guides for producers and composers. Learn about sample clearance, public domain music, AI stem separation, mastering, and sourcing music you can release with confidence.
LUFS Targets for Spotify, Apple Music & YouTube (2026)
The LUFS loudness targets for Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube — what −14 LUFS means, why louder is not better, and the −1 dBTP true-peak ceiling to keep....
How to Master a Song for Free Online (No Signup, No Upload)
Master a song free in your browser — no signup, no upload, no watermark. How online mastering works, the LUFS to target for Spotify, and a finished WAV....
What Are Cleared Samples? A Guide to Royalty-Free Sampling
Cleared samples are recordings free of copyright restrictions — safe in commercial beats with no royalties. How clearance works and where to find them....
Free Drum Breaks for Hip Hop: Cleared Breaks for Sampling
Free, cleared drum breaks for hip hop — CC0 and public-domain drum stems, loops, and one-shots, AI-separated and ready to chop. Commercial-use safe, no royaltie...
Public Domain Music Explained: What It Is & Where to Find It
Public domain music is audio no longer under copyright — free to sample and sell commercially. In the US, all recordings before 1926 are public domain....
Music Sample Provenance: 14 Real Copyright Cases Explained
14 real music copyright cases — and how a signed, time-stamped, re-verifiable audit chain would have changed the timeline and burden of proof in each one....
Splice Sample Got a Copyright Strike? Why It Happens
A royalty-free Splice sample can still trigger a Content ID claim. Why it happens, claim vs. strike, and how to resolve it faster with real evidence....
Why I Stopped Using Splice for Sync-Eligible Music
Splice samples are sync-cleared, but the stem-isolation clause kills most sync deliveries. A founder on the friction he hit — and what he switched to....
Best Splice Alternatives in 2026: 4 Options Compared
Splice's Creator plan hit $19.99/mo in 2026, up 2.5x since 2023. An honest comparison of four alternatives: Splice, Loopcloud, Tracklib, and Selekt....
Screen Any Audio File for a Public Signed Audit Log
Screen any audio against ACR Cloud and get a tamper-proof, Ed25519-signed audit log at a public URL anyone can verify in-browser. When it matters and how....
