Why I’m making the CML catalog royalty-free
Hello everyone! This is Matthew “MTK” Crabtree, creator of the Crabtree Music Library. We’re changing our terms. Moving forward:
1. Crabtree Music Library (CML) is now royalty-free. No clearance required. This includes major releases, billboard releases, BeatStars, indie releases, podcasts, social content, live performances, etc. All royalty-free, no clearance process. Your purchase of the sample pack is the clearance process.
2. Prices are being reduced:
- Full packs that used to be $60 are now $20.
- Smaller packs that were $10 are now $5.
- All packs include stems.
- All bundles will reflect these new prices.
3. No co-producer credit needed.
Happy hunting! If you want to understand why I made the change, please keep reading.
CML has changed my life in the last 7 years. I've sold many packs, supported my family, and revived a career I never expected to have. I look back with pride on providing musicians of all levels with access to my ideas to create music for whatever their goals are, and to hear finished songs resonate with listeners. While the first phase of CML has been amazing, you don’t need me to tell you that the sample industry is remarkably different in 2025 compared to 2017.
Hip-hop producers are pulling back from traditional sample packs. Drama around clearance, credits, and “no clearance required” terms are rarely that simple. In the past, this was an occupational hazard most people just had to deal with. You worked with people you trusted more than others and hoped for the best. Many of these perceptions are based on very real experiences, and in a lot of ways, the sample community is to blame for them. It felt like a grift, and in a lot of ways, it was.
Suno changed all of that. The Suno model has been trained with the history of recorded music. It’s not a “someday” thing. It’s an “already happened” thing. There are Grammy nominated albums with Suno music. The best producers in the world are using Suno daily. No drama, no clearance, no problems. If you were a producer receiving a $15K advance per song, along with having to pay off a large co-pub deal, AI is the clear business choice.
With that said, Suno is not perfect. Suno is predictive AI which means your output is only as good as your prompt, and sometimes trying to create the perfect prompt isn’t what you’re trying to do. Sometimes you just want to make a beat.
This is the space I see CML occupying in the future. While Suno is powerful, there will always be a market for drag and drop loops to create with. Splice is proof of this. Drum Broker is proof of this. Not everyone wants to spend their day crafting the perfect genre prompt or learning how to bend Udio to their will. Some people just want to make music. Time is a commodity for musicians of all levels, and most people want to open their DAW, pull something into the session, and go. That’s where I want to exist moving forward. Instant creativity, zero friction.
The CML position moving forward is clear: provide reasonably priced, high-quality, royalty-free sample packs for ALL producers. Doing a song with your friends? Royalty-Free. Doing a song with Drake? Still royalty-free. Background music for a Mr. Beast video? Royalty-free. Zero complexity. Clear terms. No guesswork.
Credit is not required. The people who need to know who I am are producers, and it’s my job to make sure they do.
If you’ve supported my packs in the past, thank you. You’ve changed my life for the better, and I will always be thankful for that. Adapting to the future is a strong suit of mine, and my music career will be no different. I’m excited about this next step.
Sincerely,
Matthew Crabtree