BeatStars Splits Guide: Using the Collaborators Feature

"I made the melody, my friend made the drums" — when a collaborative beat like that sells, who receives the money, and how? Sending payments manually every time is a hassle, and a split based only on a verbal promise becomes a source of trouble precisely when a beat sells big.

BeatStars solves this with a system: the Collaborators feature — often called "Splits" — which lets you set the revenue split per track. This article first lays out the basic thinking behind splitting rights, then covers the current specs and setup steps confirmed in the BeatStars Help Center, and finally a set of terms to agree on to avoid disputes (feature specs confirmed in the official Help Center as of July 7, 2026).

▶ Official video: Split Music Sales With Collaborators On BeatStars (BeatStars)

1. The basics: "splitting revenue" and "songwriting share" are different things

A common source of confusion in collaboration deals is mixing up two different kinds of "share" that have different natures.

• Profit (revenue) split: a business arrangement about what percentage each person receives when a beat license sells
• Songwriting share (publishing): a rights arrangement about who is a co-writer and for what percentage of the song's copyright. This affects things like royalty splits if the finished song becomes a hit

In the wider music industry, it's common practice to sign a split sheet — a document listing each co-writer's name, role and ownership percentage — at the time of creation. BeatStars' Collaborators feature is designed to enter these two separately, as Profit Share and Publishing. Agreeing on "the money split" and "the rights share" separately is the starting point of splitting collaboration revenue.

2. What the BeatStars Collaborators feature can do

According to the Help Center article "How Do I Add Collaborators To A Track?", the Collaborators feature lets you configure the following (as of July 7, 2026).

• Add a collaborator to a track and set their Role, Profit Share and Publishing Share
• Profit Share is the setting for dividing BeatStars sales according to the split percentages
• Not only tracks: you can set collaborators and split percentages when listing a Sound Kit too. The Studio has separate collaboration management screens (Collabs) for tracks, collections and Sound Kits

Unlike manual payments, the split percentages are recorded on the platform, so its biggest benefit is avoiding "he said, she said" disputes.

3. Requirements (Help Center, as of July 7, 2026)

The Collaborators feature has the following requirements. If a collaborator doesn't show up in search or can't be added, check here first.

• Only the track's Primary Contributor can add collaborators
• A collaborator must be a registered BeatStars member subscribed to a seller subscription plan
• A collaborator must have a PayPal account correctly connected for selling beats on BeatStars
• You can add up to five collaborators per track

In other words, the other person also needs a paid seller plan plus a connected PayPal account, and you can't split with someone who doesn't have a BeatStars account through this feature. In that case, you'll handle it with the written agreement (discussed below) plus manual splitting. The PayPal connection steps are covered in the payment-setup section of our getting-started guide.

4. Setup steps (the inviter)

Following the Help Center, the steps are:

1. Log in to BeatStars Studio and open My Content → Tracks
2. From the "…" (three-dot menu) to the right of the target track, select Edit
3. Open the Collaborators section at the top
4. Click the Add collaborator button
5. In the popup, search for the person by username or email address and select the right user
6. Enter the Role, Profit Share and Publishing Share based on your agreed terms
7. Confirm with Publish track at the bottom right

5. Steps for the person receiving the invite

The person added as a collaborator has to accept the invite. The Help Center article "How to Accept a Collaboration Invite" describes it as follows.

1. Check the notification icon at the top right of the Studio dashboard and click the collaboration-invite notification
2. If you can't find the notification, open the Studio's Collabs section (Track Collabs / Collection Collabs / Sound kit Collabs) and set the Status filter to "Invited"
3. Review the collaboration details (split percentages, etc.) and click Accept Collaboration (if PayPal isn't connected, you'll be prompted to connect it)

Note that the Help Center explicitly states that accepting an invite requires a paid Starter, Growth or Professional plan. Before accepting, always confirm that the split percentages match what you agreed in advance.

6. Avoiding disputes: 7 things to agree on before you start

The Collaborators feature is a "mechanism to execute the split you decided," not something that decides "what to split and how." We recommend agreeing on at least the following seven items in a form you can look back on later — messages or a written document — before you start creating.

1. Split percentages: what percentage each person gets for Profit Share and Publishing (differentiate by contribution, or split evenly)
2. Who uploads: who is the Primary Contributor. Management authority over the track effectively concentrates in this person
3. Pricing and license structure: whose decision governs pricing and price changes
4. Handling an Exclusive sale: when a high-value Exclusive offer comes in, above what amount will you accept, and who has veto power (see the license differences here)
5. Whether free downloads are allowed: whether to use free distribution for promotion
6. Credit notation: rules like "Prod. A × B" and how to note them on social media and YouTube
7. Handling a breakup: if one of you stops, whether to take the track down or keep selling it

Exclusive sales and collaboration breakups in particular are classic flashpoints once the money gets big. Keeping a split sheet (a document listing co-writer names, roles and ownership %) also helps when releasing on distribution outside BeatStars or handling royalties.

Frequently asked questions

Q. How many collaborators can I add?

A. According to the BeatStars Help Center, you can add up to five collaborators per track (as of July 7, 2026). Only the track's Primary Contributor can add collaborators.

Q. Can I split revenue with someone on a free account?

A. No. The Help Center states that a collaborator must be a registered BeatStars member and subscribed to a seller subscription plan. It also states that accepting a collaboration invite requires a paid Starter, Growth or Professional plan (as of July 7, 2026).

Q. Can I use Stripe to receive split payments?

A. As far as we could confirm, the collaborator requirement the Help Center lists is a connected PayPal account (as of July 7, 2026). We could not find a statement allowing Stripe for receiving collaboration splits. Check the Help Center for the latest support status.

Q. Can I split revenue on Sound Kits and collections too?

A. Yes. According to the Help Center, the Sound Kit listing flow also includes a step to add collaborators, and the Studio provides separate collaboration management sections (Collabs) for tracks, collections and Sound Kits.

Summary

Here are the key points of splitting collaboration revenue.

• The revenue split (Profit Share) and the songwriting share (Publishing) are different things. Agree on both before you create
• The BeatStars Collaborators feature lets you set split percentages per track and per Sound Kit
• The requirements are "the other person also subscribes to a seller plan + connected PayPal," "up to five," and "only the Primary Contributor can add" (Help Center, as of July 7, 2026)
• The feature is only the execution device. Keep terms like Exclusive sales and breakups in writing

Before publishing a collaborative track, the Beat Lab Producer Tag tool lets you add a preview tag, and the Beat Lab Type Beat Title & Tag generator helps you tidy up the metadata so publishing goes smoothly. For what to do after your first sale, see your first BeatStars sale: payouts, buyer follow-up and taxes.