How to Sell a Beat

If you’re reading this, that means you’ve probably been thinking about how you can use your beat-making tools and talents and turn them into a business model. But which platform are you going to use? And how do you sell your beats to the right artists? In this blog, guest-blogger and full-time producer Daddynervs shares a handful of ins and outs that you can use to propel your beat-brewing career.

How to Sell a Beat

Disclaimer
Motivation and Perseverance
Beat Stores: Pick One
Your Own Website
Mailing List
Social Media
Value
The Quality of Your Work
Exporting and Licencing
Beat Descriptions
Additional Essential Skills
See Also

Disclaimer

While the information laid out in this article can help to make a great start, it’s important to remember that it’s not the be-all and end-all so, develop your own strategy, always keep your brand and business in mind, and commit like crazy.

Motivation and Perseverance

Maybe you’ve seen that there are beats for sale on Youtube. If you’re dreaming of launching your own career in music and you can’t wait to upload your own tracks, I totally get it. The only thing is…it takes hard work. And if you think that selling beats will make you rich right away, forget it. Being a beat-maker is an intense job where you’re responsible for your own income. So, find the motivation you need to see selling music as a real business rather than a hobby: set goals, achieve them, and keep investing in your business. Plus, relax, it’ll probably be a while before the tax man comes knocking anyway.

Beat Stores: Pick One

There are various online marketplaces (also called beat stores) available and I’d advise you to sign up with at least one of them. Beatstars is currently the most popular platform, but there’s also websites like Airbit and Soundee. In most cases, free accounts are limited in terms of uploads and come with commission fees while with paid subscriptions, all of the revenue is yours. In the ‘Pro’ version of Beatstars, one of the perks even includes building your own ‘pro page’ website. Feel free to look up the beat stores I mentioned and see if there’s one that works for you.

How to Sell a Beat
Beatstars

Your Own Website

You might be wondering why you’d need your own website. After all, doesn’t a beat store provide all of the tools needed to peddle beats? Well, it does. But having your own website means you can include more extensive beat descriptions, sales and visitor statistics, licences, and even an embedded HTML player. Have a glance at my website to see what this could look like. While it’s by no means a must when you’re just starting out, a website does help to professionalise your ‘business’. As an added benefit, anyone who visits your website won’t be bumping into any beats uploaded by competitors. You’re basically in control of everything.

Mailing List

There are a few approaches you could take to mailing lists and newsletters. Aggressive marketing is one of them and one that’s best avoided too. Instead, try ‘luring’ artists in via your social media channels. Create a lead magnet (bait) for your website, maybe include free beats, and try to get artists who can potentially turn your beats into hits to sign up for your own mail subscription list. I know this doesn’t sound easy, but it’s how marketing works these days. Selling beats requires marketing skills – it’s all part of the game! By the way, solid mail services include Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign.

How to Sell a Beat Mailchimp

Like I said earlier, your ‘customers’ will be coming in via social media channels, so actively seek them out. Come up with a strategy beforehand and upload your beats to Youtube or even Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, Soundclick, TikTok, etc. Draw up a little plan describing which platforms you want to use, what your target audience is and how you can reach as many people as possible via the platforms you’ve picked. In other words, continue to ask yourself questions such as: “Why and what do people use TikTok for, and how is it that video A collects more views than video B?” Try a more analytical approach at times.

Value

So, to pique the interest of clients, you need to figure out a few things first. Think about it: which producers do you follow on social media and why? Is it because you’ve checked out their tutorials? Or because they have a sense of humor you can level with? These people mean something to you, which is why you enjoy staying in the know. You may have even bought samples from some of them, or a course. This is what you need to sort out for your potential clients: artists. Find out what artists want and provide it for them. They might like a few pointers when picking out beats for their tunes; or advice on how to best use beats when it comes to recording; or informative blog posts. There’s a lot you can do.

The Quality of Your Work

Okay, say you have your beat store subscription, your own website and a clear plan of action. Now it’s important to commit and deliver. I know, you’ll say it’s easier to get put into the virtual spotlight if you upload more, but the time of dropping raggedy beats is over. Make sure it’s all about quality from now on. You need top-tier beats, simply because nobody’s interested in half-baked clap-tracks. If you’ve got the good stuff, artists will keep coming back to you like moths to a flame. In other words: be patient and keep improving.

How to Sell a Beat

Exporting and Licencing

In reality, you’re not selling songs – you’re selling licenses (a kind of contract). Sometimes called a lease, a license dictates any terms and conditions so that it’s clear when and where artists have permission to drop your beats. To get a better idea, have a look at the rates and conditions that other producers offer before you go ahead and slap on your price tags. And remember, MP3s are a no-go – always provide your clients with high-quality files.

Examples

Here are some (freely tweakable) examples:

$20 to $30 Beat Licenses

MP3 + WAV single file
No YouTube monetisation*
No airplay (radio)
No gigs

$50 to $100 Beat Licenses

MP3 + WAV + Tracked Out files**
No YouTube monetisation*
Airplay allowed via 2 radio stations
Paid gigs allowed

$100 to $200 Beat Licenses

MP3 + WAV + Tracked Out files**
YouTube monetisation*
Airplay allowed via 2 radio stations
Paid gigs allowed

* Learn more about how YouTube monetisation works here.
** Tracked Out means providing any individual tracks as separate files rather than a single stereo file.

As you can tell, more expensive licences grant more perks. Think about your target audience here. Say you want to sell your beats to a rap artist who’s already planning to produce a music video along with their song and eventually upload it to YouTube. That means YouTube monetisation is involved so, in this case, they’re forced to purchase your most expensive license. Similarly, if you’ve got clients who gig more than they live-stream, you’d naturally want any “paid gig” conditions as part of your most expensive license. Business is business sometimes, right?

The licensing options on my own website

Beat Descriptions

Before I go any further, here’s the magic word again: quality. Every time you finish a project, you’ll want to take the time to analyse the beat you’ve made. What do you feel when you listen to it? Who or what does it remind you of? Jot down some basic descriptions or words, keeping the genre, the overall vibe and potential artists in mind. Then, find some artwork to match. If you’re going with “Mid-Summer Sunshine” as your title and “Smooth, guitar-type beat” as the description, a photograph of a Siberian landscape isn’t exactly going to work. Here, it’s probably better to go with something like a picture of a white sandy beach. The only thing to remember is that you need to be consistent in your style. Use the same lay-out, the same filters and the same fonts. Also, keep it simple. There’s no need to include extensive information or descriptions; a fitting image featuring the title of your beat can be enough. Just check out a couple of producers to see what they do and you’ll see what I mean by consistency. By the way, free photos and images can be downloaded via Pexels and Unsplash.

How to Sell a Beat
GIMP

Additional Essential Skills

To get to a point where you’re producing bona-fide chart-toppers, you’ll need more skills than beat-weaving alone. Here’s what could help:

Photo editing software: I personally use Adobe Photoshop to create my own artwork and pictures to post to Instagram. GIMP is a solid free alternative, or you can use online editors such as Pixlr or Canva.
Video editing software: I use Premiere Pro for quick edits and neat little effects. Lightworks is an excellent free alternative.
Video effects software (not required, just recommended): I use After Effects to add a moving audio spectrum to my videos before I edit them using Premiere Pro. You can get away using only After Effects but bear in mind that this puts a bigger processing load on your laptop or computer.
Website builder: I built my website in WordPress using Elementor. It’s super easy and beats those website-building applications that hosting providers offer up for free. In case you need them, there are plenty of helpful WordPress tutorials to find on YouTube.

I hope I’ve been able to help you off to a great start. Should you bump into any problems, sell your first beat or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!