Clearance is required starting the moment your song reaches 1,000,000 cumulative streams.
No royalties are owed for streams below that threshold.
If your song continues gaining streams beyond 1,000,000 before you clear it, royalties must be back‑calculated from the 1M mark to properly compensate the sample creator.
Example: if a track reaches 10M streams before clearance, royalties are calculated on the 9M streams beyond the threshold, not on the first 1M.