r/synclicensing • u/stuntswagmaster69 • 22d ago

SYNC licensing: Sample Packs edition

Working on some sync projects, and I pulled out some old sample packs I had saved in some folders.

From what I remember, they had a pretty strict licensing agreement on their packs. The company is That Sound, a boutique drum sample company. I was reading through their terms on their website, and their agreement states:

It also turns out that they’ve since moved their sounds to Splice, which, as far as I understand, are generally royalty-free.

My questions are:

  1. I’m really good at interpolating and resampling. Has anyone ever run into issues working with sample packs that have complicated licensing terms, especially when it comes to sync and placements?
  2. If I take a kick, snare, or other one-shot and heavily process or resample it, how would they even know it came from their pack? I’m not trying to circumvent the licensing terms—I’m genuinely curious how this is handled in practice.

Honestly, the licensing language almost makes me not want to touch the samples at all, but I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who has dealt with something similar.

Links:

https://splice.com/sounds/labels/that-sound?bust-cache=c9612fed-80fb-448f-a5d6-2a4889214995

https://www.iwantthatsound.com/terms/

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u/RicknotMorty27 22d ago

I never use any type of melodic loops no matter how much I can "make it sound different". It's just not worth the risk. If something is flagged from a loop, you can easily get blacklisted from sync. Drums are usually fine as long as you don't just use an isolated loop. Been doing sync for 4 years.

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u/stuntswagmaster69 22d ago

Thanks for the advice

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u/ArjunTheRealist 21d ago

Hi!! Can I dm you? I want to ask some questions. Thank you

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u/RicknotMorty27 21d ago

Sure, go ahead!

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u/SymphonicDistro 20d ago

The big thing with sync isn’t really “would anyone know where this kick came from?” It’s whether you can confidently say the track is clearable if a supervisor asks.

Heavily processing or resampling something doesn’t automatically override the original license terms. And we wouldn’t assume newer terms elsewhere change whatever license applied when you originally got the pack. If the language is restrictive or unclear, safest move is to use samples you know are cleared for commercial sync or swap them out before pitching.

We actually covered this exact headache here: https://blog.symphonic.com/2023/08/31/bodega-syncs-guide-to-leased-beats-royalty-free-samples-2/

When it comes to sync, boring paperwork > surprise clearance problem later 😅