Do you own the music you make in Tracks? Copyright explained

By Tongkit Leong · September 17, 2026 · 8 min read

Yes — you own the copyright to any original song you make in Tracks, the moment you make it. Tracks is free software and it runs in your browser, but neither fact gives the app any claim on your work: nothing you make is uploaded, and there's no account or terms-of-service agreement that could sign away rights even if you wanted it to.

Copyright attaches automatically, not through a tool you use

Copyright in an original musical work exists the instant it's "fixed" in a tangible form — recorded audio, a saved MIDI file, a written score. You don't file anything, register anything, or click "agree" to anything for that to be true. The moment you bounce a beat out of the drum machine or record a vocal take, you hold copyright in that recording and composition as their author, the same way you would if you'd tracked it on a million-dollar console.

What tool you used to make it is almost never relevant to who owns it. A word processor doesn't own the novel you write in it. A camera doesn't own the photo. A DAW — free, paid, browser-based, or installed — doesn't own the song. Ownership follows the person who created the work, not the software that helped them create it.

Does Tracks being free, or AGPL-licensed, change anything?

No, and it's worth separating two different licenses that people sometimes mix up:

• The software license covers Tracks' own source code. Tracks is licensed under the AGPL, which means the code that runs the studio is open and free to study, use, and modify. That license governs the app, not anything you make with it.
• Your song's copyright covers the original creative work you produce — the notes, the arrangement, the recorded performance. That's yours automatically as the author, under ordinary copyright law, completely separate from what license the software runs under.

Using AGPL-licensed software to make something doesn't put your output under the AGPL. A song isn't source code, and the AGPL's terms apply to distributing and modifying Tracks itself — not to the music that comes out of it. You can sell a track you made in Tracks, keep it fully private, license it however you like, or copyright it under your own name with no obligation back to the project at all.

No account, no upload, no terms of service to worry about

A lot of "do I own what I make in this app" anxiety comes from cloud services whose terms of service grant themselves a broad license to host, display, or even reuse what you upload — usually so they can legally show your work back to you in their app. Tracks sidesteps that question entirely: it's local-only, meaning your project autosaves to your own browser's storage and nothing is ever uploaded to a server unless you personally choose to export a file. There's no account to create and no upload step where a terms-of-service agreement could even apply, because there's no server-side copy of your project for any agreement to cover.

What can still complicate ownership — and it isn't Tracks

Being clear on your rights to the parts you created doesn't automatically clear every sound in the file. A few things are worth checking before you sell or distribute a track, and all of them are about the source material you brought in, not the studio:

Samples you didn't record yourself

If you dropped a sample from an outside pack, a downloaded loop, or someone else's recording into the sampler, that audio carries its own copyright and its own license terms. Some sample packs are sold as fully royalty-free for commercial use; others restrict resale or require a credit. Tracks doesn't ship with a sample library, so any sample you use came from somewhere else — check that source's license before releasing a track built on it.

Stems pulled from someone else's song

Tracks can split an audio file into stems locally, and that's a genuinely useful tool for remixing, studying an arrangement, or practicing along with a part. What it doesn't do is grant you rights to the original recording. If the source track wasn't yours to begin with, extracting its stems doesn't change who owns the underlying song — you'd still need permission, a license, or fair-use grounds to release something built from it.

SoundFonts and instrument sounds

Tracks can load SoundFont (.sf2) files for realistic instrument playback. SoundFonts vary in license — some are public domain, some are freely redistributable, and some restrict commercial use. The synth and drum machine sounds built into Tracks itself are fine to use in anything you release, but an SF2 file you loaded from elsewhere carries whatever license its own creator attached.

A MIDI file you imported

If you imported a MIDI file of an existing song to study its chords or arrangement, remember that a MIDI transcription of someone else's composition is still built on their underlying song, even though MIDI itself contains no audio. Learning from it is fine; releasing a track built directly on someone else's composition without permission isn't, regardless of the file format it started in.

A simple way to think about it

If every sound in your final export is either something you performed, programmed, or recorded yourself using Tracks' own instruments and mixer, the copyright question is settled — it's your work, made with a free tool, and it belongs to you the way anything you create belongs to you. The only place to slow down is anything you imported from outside the studio: an external sample, someone else's stems, a third-party SoundFont, or a MIDI file you didn't write. Those carry their own history, and it's worth a quick check on each one before you distribute or sell a finished track.

Can you sell music you made in Tracks?

Yes. There's no restriction from Tracks on selling, streaming, licensing, or otherwise commercially releasing a track you made in the studio — free software with no account and no upload step has no mechanism to claim a cut or require credit, and it doesn't. Register the copyright, distribute it to streaming platforms, sell it as a beat, use it in a video — all of that is entirely up to you, subject only to the usual check on any outside material you brought in, as above.

Common mistakes

• Confusing the software's open-source license with your song's copyright. The AGPL covers Tracks' code. It has no bearing on who owns music made with it.
• Assuming free means the same as "not really yours." Free and local-only if anything strengthens your claim — there's no server-side copy or terms of service that could complicate it.
• Forgetting to check the license on an imported sample or SoundFont. That's the one place ownership can actually get murky, and it has nothing to do with Tracks itself.
• Treating a stem extraction as a rights grant. Splitting a song into stems is a technical operation, not a license — it doesn't change who owns the original recording.

Frequently asked questions

Does Tracks claim any rights to the music I make with it?

No. Tracks doesn't upload your project, doesn't require an account, and has no terms of service governing your output. You hold full copyright in any original work you create, automatically, the moment you make it.

Does the AGPL license on Tracks' source code affect my songs?

No. The AGPL is a software license that covers Tracks' own code — it governs how the app itself can be used, modified, and redistributed. It says nothing about, and has no effect on, the music you produce using the app.

Can I sell or stream a track I made entirely in Tracks?

Yes, with no restriction from Tracks. As long as any samples, SoundFonts, or imported material you used are properly licensed for that purpose, a track made in Tracks is yours to sell, stream, or license however you choose.

Do I need to credit Tracks if I release a song made with it?

No. There's no requirement to credit or mention Tracks in a released track. It's appreciated if you want to, but it's entirely optional.

What if I used a sample or SoundFont I downloaded from somewhere else?

That's the one part of the process to check yourself — outside audio carries whatever license its own source attached, separate from anything to do with Tracks. Confirm it allows the use you have in mind before releasing a track built on it.

Is a stem extraction of someone else's song safe to release?

Extracting stems locally in Tracks doesn't grant any rights to the original recording. Treat a stem pull the same way you'd treat any other sample of someone else's copyrighted work — fine to use for personal remixing or practice, but you'd need permission to release something built on it commercially.