Tracklib Review: Legally Sample Records, Price & License
You want to build a beat around a sample you chopped from a record you love. But actually selling it, or putting it on streaming, feels risky. If you like sampling, you have probably hit that wall at least once.
The awkward part is that the wall has nothing to do with sound design. It is about rights. As we covered in our intro to sample clearance, using an existing recording means getting permission for both the master and the composition. Tracking down rights holders and negotiating on your own is, frankly, close to impossible.
Sweden's Tracklib turned that entire negotiation into a product. You can download real released records that are already licensed from labels and publishers, and finish the sample clearance you need for release right there on the site. Very few services handle the whole thing end to end like this.
Here we went through Tracklib's site and help center as of July 2026 and pulled together the pricing, how clearance actually works, and the question most people arrive with: can you use it for type beats on BeatStars? For how it compares with royalty-free material, see our companion piece, an intro to sample clearance.
What is Tracklib? A "record store for sampling"
Tracklib is a music subscription built for one thing: sampling. It calls itself "The Home of Sampling," and the catalog splits into three parts.
- Songs: over 100,000 licensed, real original tracks. From soul, jazz and funk to music from around the world — "genuine released records" provided under contracts with labels, some with stems (multitracks) available.
- Sounds: over 500,000 royalty-free loops and one-shots. These need no clearance and are positioned close to typical sample-pack material.
- Desktop / mobile apps: drag-and-drop into your DAW, and digging on the go.
Tracklib highlights users like J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and DJ Khaled, and its stated concept is to make crate digging legal. If you want to work the way people worked in the '90s, this is the most realistic place to do it right now.
There's a short service video, which is the fastest way to see the whole thing.
▶ Watch on YouTube (official TRACKLIB channel)
How it works: credit-based downloads + clearance at release
1. Download with credits
Subscribing gets you a batch of credits each month, and you spend those on downloads. Per the help center, unused credits roll over as long as you stay on a paid plan, and re-downloading the same track (or part of it) costs nothing. But credits stop working once you cancel (they come back if you resubscribe), so use them up before you leave.
2. Do clearance (license registration) before release
If you're going to publish, release or monetize a track that samples something from Songs, register the sample license first. The site describes it as a five-step form under "Your Licenses" that takes a few minutes. Sounds material is royalty-free, so none of this applies.
3. Share revenue after release
This is the one thing to remember about Tracklib. A track that samples Songs shares part of the income it earns — both master and publishing — with the rights holders of the original record. The split comes from a rate card based on the category of the song you sampled and how much of it you used, and you have to report revenue at least every six months. Going through a partner distributor can automate the reporting and payment side for streaming.
So Tracklib isn't a service you buy into once and then forget. It legalizes sampling real records on the condition that rights holders get paid properly.
Pricing plans (as of July 2026)
The short answer: Premium is enough for most beatmakers. Clearance is baked into the monthly fee, so if you actually plan to release what you make, it's the plan where the numbers stay predictable.
There are three tiers. It used to be a model where you paid a clearance fee per song category at release, but now Premium and Max include "unlimited sample clearance," with no per-clearance fee.
| Plan | Monthly (USD) | Main contents |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $8.99 | Access to the Songs catalog. Sounds and clearance are Premium-and-up perks, so at release a per-category license fee is charged separately (per Tracklib's blog, many songs are Category C at $50). |
| Premium | $13.99 | 375 credits per month, Sounds (royalty-free material), unlimited sample clearance, desktop / mobile apps. |
| Max | $19.99 | Increased credits (650 credits as listed at the time of writing), Sounds, unlimited sample clearance. |
*Information confirmed by our editorial team from Tracklib's site and help center as of July 2026. Displayed prices may change depending on billing terms (monthly / annual) and regional taxes. A free trial is also offered, but the number of days and granted credits vary by period, so always check the latest listing before signing up.
One thing that trips people up: "unlimited clearance" covers the cost of the clearance process only. The post-release revenue share applies on every plan.
Can you use Tracklib commercially?
Yes. Commercial use is the whole point of the service. It just isn't the buy-it-and-forget-it model you might be used to, so it's worth being precise about the two halves.
- Sounds loops and one-shots: royalty-free. Commercial use is fine the moment you download them, with no extra steps and no revenue share.
- Songs, the real records: also fine commercially, but you register a license before publishing and share a slice of the revenue afterwards.
Posting to YouTube or social media, distributing to streaming, selling it as a beat — from the Songs side, all of that counts as releasing. Clear it before anyone can hear it and you won't go far wrong.
Can you use it to sell type beats on BeatStars?
This is the question most people arrive with. In short: there's an FAQ entry titled "Can I sell beats that contain Tracklib samples?" and it says yes, with conditions.
Selling beats in public (BeatStars, social media, your own site, etc.)
- Before making a beat public on a platform like BeatStars or on social media, you need to register a license (clearance) for the beat itself.
- The beat needs an ISRC. If you're not releasing through a distributor, the guidance says you need to obtain one from your country's ISRC issuing body.
- You're obliged to make clear that "it contains Tracklib samples" and that "the buyer needs to obtain a license via Tracklib to release it."
- On the other hand, it's clearly stated that you do not need to report or share the revenue from selling the beat (leasing) itself with Tracklib.
The buyer's (artist's) side of the process
- For the artist who bought the beat to release a track, the buyer themselves must obtain a license from Tracklib. They can pay a license fee on a free account, or if they subscribe to Premium/Max the license cost is included in the subscription.
- The producer can send their registration (which songs were used and how much) to the buyer, and the buyer can carry that information forward to do the clearance.
- Post-release revenue reporting (at least every six months) becomes the buyer's responsibility.
Private exchanges and exclusive sales
If you're only sending a beat privately to a label or a specific artist, no prior license is needed (you still have to say it contains a sample). For an exclusive sale where the beat leaves your hands, you can end your own license by finishing your revenue reporting, pulling the beat from sale and contacting support.
In practice, running type beats with Tracklib means three things together: clear it before publishing, state the sample use in the listing, and hand the registration to the buyer.
Pros and cons
Pros
- You can chop a record you love and actually put it out. Almost nothing else lets you do that.
- Clearance is in the monthly fee on Premium and up, so you can dig without stopping to wonder "can I afford to use this one?"
- Because paying rights holders is built into the system, you're not waiting for an invoice to show up months after release.
- Royalty-free Sounds come with it, so Splice-style work fits inside the same subscription.
Cons / cautions
- If the track earns, you split the money and report twice a year. None of the ease of a one-time purchase.
- Selling beats means ISRCs and disclosures, so there's more standing between you and a listing than with royalty-free material.
- Credits die when you cancel, so hoarding them and then quitting costs you.
- 100,000 tracks still doesn't mean "that track" is in there. What's listed is what they could license.
Who it's for
- Boom Bap / Lo-Fi beatmakers who want to dig through soul and jazz records and chop them.
- Producers who want their sampled tracks to make it all the way to a proper release.
- Anyone who'd rather spend time making beats than negotiating rights.
If you just want to churn out type beats and sell them hands-off, royalty-free libraries like Splice and Loopmasters involve fewer steps. We break down the basics and when to use which in our intro to sample clearance.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Can I sell beats made with Tracklib on BeatStars (type beats)?
A. The FAQ says yes, with conditions. Before a beat goes public you need to register a license for the beat itself and get an ISRC, and you have to tell buyers it contains Tracklib samples. You don't share revenue from the beat sale itself, but the buyer gets their own license when they release.
Q. How much does sample clearance cost?
A. Premium and Max include unlimited sample clearance, so there's no per-clearance fee. After release, though, you split income (master and publishing) with the original rights holders at a rate based on the song's category and how much of the sample you used.
Q. Can I use Tracklib commercially?
A. Yes. Sounds loops and one-shots are royalty-free and commercially usable as downloaded. Songs — the real records — are also fine commercially, but they come with license registration before you publish and a revenue share after release.
Q. Do materials in the Sounds section also need clearance?
A. No. Only sampling and releasing a real song from the Songs section requires clearance; the loops and one-shots in Sounds are royalty-free.
Q. What happens to credits and downloaded files if I cancel?
A. Per the help center, unused credits roll over while you're on a paid plan but stop working once the subscription ends (they come back if you resubscribe). Use them up before you leave.
Summary
If sampling is the thing you want to be known for, Tracklib is a genuinely appealing option.
Yes, the revenue share and license registration mean more work than grabbing a royalty-free loop. But being able to take a record you love, use it legally, and put the result out under your own name is worth something — and the more you care about sampling as a craft, the more that's worth trying.
Three things to take away:
- The catalog runs to 100,000+ real records plus 500,000+ royalty-free files.
- Premium and Max include clearance costs. The post-release revenue share and reporting apply on every plan.
- Selling type beats is allowed with conditions — license registration before publishing, an ISRC, and disclosure of sample use.
How this stacks up against royalty-free material or just playing the part yourself is laid out in our intro to sample clearance. Pick the approach that fits how you actually work.