Having spent almost a decade in the beat game, it still surprises me how many new producers seem to hold the same misconceptions when it comes to selling beats online. Here’s a list of the 3 most common ones that come up again and again and a few useful tips to get you started with your beat selling career:
Having spent almost a decade in the beat game, it still surprises me how many new producers seem to hold the same misconceptions when it comes to selling beats online. Here’s a list of the 3 most common ones that come up again and again and a few useful tips to get you started with your beat selling career:
Myth no. 1: You can only make money selling commercial beats.
False! Though 90% of all beats offered for sale online fall into the category of ‘mainstream’ beats, there is definitely a market for underground and alternative beats. These niches are overlooked by most producers who focus on trends such as Dirty South or Club beats. Though keeping with the times can be an important factor in determining your achievements in the music industry, you should not feel that you have to sacrifice your art in order to be successful – there are a lot of emcees out there who are hungry for vintage boom bap styles for instance! An old business maxim has always been “observe the masses and do the opposite”.
Personally since starting out producing I haven’t strayed far from the underground vibes that defined my earliest beats and today people refer to it as my ‘trademark’ style. Once you know your market and your market knows you, you will have a continuous stream of customers coming to you because they know exactly what they’re getting. I make thousands of dollars selling beats online that most people would classify as “underground” beats and I think the success of Anno Domini Beats up to this point definitely does away with the idea that only commercial producers make money.
Myth no. 2: Focusing on selling beats online won’t get you deals and placements.
False! Nothing will replace face-to-face contact with labels, A&Rs and artists, but the Internet is great way to network and connect with people from all around the world. Not only can you dig for e-mail addresses and upload tracks for contests or placements, but you can also directly contact managers and artists through social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook or Twitter. Having a repertoire of beats for sale online will allow you to link people directly to your work and show off your skills to industry types browsing the net for the next hit producer.
Take Apex for example, a Soundclick producer who’s beats happened to drop in to the hands of G-Unit execs and resulted in “I Get Money” – 50Cent’s first single off the Curtis album. Kane Beatz (Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Nicki Minaj etc.) and even multi-platinum artists such as Soulja Boy were also discovered on Soundclick.com. I would add that the Anno Domini Beats production team also got a lot of its placements such as Rick Ross, Three 6Mafia or underground Hip Hop legend Vinnie Paz through our Soundclick, Facebook and MySpace pages respectively. Build up a strong online presence to maximize your chances of being discovered!
Myth no. 3: In order to be successful you have to dedicate yourself to making beats full-time.
False! In fact, most of the producers I know making money online also have other commitments ranging from school to jobs and other business ventures. As long as you can dedicate an hour a day to keeping up to speed with your emails, updates and orders, and a few hours on the weekend to make new beats, that should be more than enough to build and sustain your beat business. And regardless, if you follow some of my upcoming tips and instructions closely, you might be able to quit your job and sell beats online full-time sooner than you think!
For now, time management and organization will be key, make sure you follow the golden rule of 90% business, 10% beats – meaning you should dedicate 90% of your time to promoting yourself, keeping up with fans, listeners and customers, fulfilling orders and updating your websites and only 10% of your time making beats. Of course you will first need an adequate library of high quality beats to start making money from them, but once the foundation is laid, it’s all about promotion and spreading the word. This is probably the biggest mistake I see new producers make: they spend all day making amazing beats but forget to build an email list, Twitter followers, Facebook fans or SoundClick listeners to share them with the world!
So there you have it, 3 myths about selling beats online. I hope this was useful to you and I cleared up a few common misconceptions. I’ll be following up with some more articles concerning selling beats online soon, so check www.annodominibeats.com often!
Author: Anno Domini
Source: http://annodominination.com/
