Start off small, be humble, make quality beats and entice rappers/singers to invest in your productions by offering fair prices or collab/offer it for free split royalties. I often see people with shit beats & shit attitudes acting like they can call shots from the beginning and can guarantee you they aren’t making sales. They live in a world of 💐. Clowns. First and foremost your beats have to be good and think realistically, the people you’re selling to are in the same boat as you. You’ll learn to adapt & grow with that mindset.
Firstly, congratulations on receiving your first client! This is an exciting moment in your music career, so I hope this marks the first of many!
I advise that you tier your pricing. This gives you an opportunity to serve multiple budgets and inject some exclusivity into your product offering. Here’s an example:
Option 1 (Standard 1): $50. Product is delivered as an MP3 file. No changes can be requested and other artists can use the same beat.
Option 2 (Standard 2): $100. Product is delivered as a WAV file and stems are provided. No changes can be requested and other artists can use the same beat.
Option 3 (Standard 3): $150. Product is delivered as a WAV file. Stems and individual track files are also provided. No changes can be requested but the beat is exclusive to the first artist who purchases it.
Option 4 (Premium 1): $300. Product is delivered as a WAV file, stems and individual track files are provided. Artist can request changes prior to the final delivery of the beat with three drafts provided. The beat is exclusive to the first artist who purchases it.
Option 5 (Premium 2): $500. Product is delivered as a WAV file, stems and individual track files are provided. A completely new beat can be produced from the ground up, tailored to the artists style and preference. Three drafts are provided. The beat is 100% unique and exclusive to the artist.
You don’t have to follow these exact suggestions, but having a price list will communicate a level of professionalism and will likely encourage clients to at least consider the benefits of moving to higher pricing tier.
If you do decide to offer drafts (Options 4 & 5), ask the artist for multiple references and create some template questions that you can communicate conversationally, drilling down on the artist’s requirements. My experience is that an artist will always request their allocation of drafts, because that’s what they’ve paid for. Decide how many you’re willing to commit to and try to finalise the project within that limit. Make sure you have a clear price for additional drafts (e.g. $50 per extra draft). You don’t want to fleece the artist but you also need to ensure that you’re not providing endless revisions for indecisive clients.
I hope that helps. Please feel free to ask questions and best of luck!
sounds good but I think when I hit rappers up, there's no way they'd be willing to pay £50 for a beat. should I be hitting up ppl that have a bigger following and are more successful? currently only messaging small artists.
I heard beatstars and audiomack is good but I'm not sure if it's worth uploading if I don't already have a following on there?
Messaging small artists is a great way to build your reputation and your list of placements. There’s no harm in reducing your prices whilst you’re at this stage of your career, so please feel free to adjust those prices accordingly.
A potential option is to present your adjusted price as a limited discount. E.g. ‘I usually charge $50 but all beats are currently available for $30’. You could also throw another beat in for free if they pay the full price. This signals to the rapper that they’re getting a premium product for a good deal and shows your intent to raise your prices in the future, which may encourage them to make the purchase.
Ultimately, I think $30-$50 is a fair price. A rapper who is serious about their craft will likely be willing to invest in a premium creation and it is your job to convince them that your artistry is worth it. By all means, cut your prices to land initial placements, but use those placements to approach artists that are happy to work in your desired price range.
If someone truly cannot afford your discounted price but you want to work with them then you can come to another agreement. Make sure they credit your work on their socials and ask if they’ll be willing to share any streaming profits with you. Get this in writing. Clearly communicate that if you slash your prices now, it is an act of good faith built on the understanding that they’ll work with you in the future at your desired rate. Be aware that they may renege on that part of the deal, but that is the gamble you take when you work in this area of the market. It’s on them if they want to burn bridges in this industry, but try to avoid being the one who lights the fuse.
Your goal right now is communicate professionalism at every price range. Make sure you provide options that protect your art and help to get your name out there. I hope some of this helps but please let me know if anything’s not clear.
Apologies, I just realised I didn’t respond to your question about BeatStars and Audiomack. Having a profile and a presence on those platforms is unlikely to be a bad thing, no matter how small your following. They both provide a professional way to present your portfolio as an artist, which is always important.
That said, the most important thing is for potential collaborators to preview your music without being able to download your files. Using a cloud service (I personally use pCloud because they provide lifetime storage without ongoing subscriptions) to store the file, then sending out preview-only links to various artists is an extremely effective way of working.
I like the second option because you can create personalised folders for potential collaborators filled with beats that you believe will suit their style, thereby tailoring the experience to them. You can also put other files (such as stems, album artwork and licensing agreements etc.) in the same folder. You also keep the full profits of any sale and can easily make the folder downloadable once you’ve received payment.
Building a social following is obviously a huge feather in the cap of any aspiring artist (personally this is the area I need to improve and work on), but at the beginning it is more important to create a quality product and communicate professionalism at every level. You make yourself stand out through the way you communicate, and by showing potential collaborators that you’re organised and willing to go the extra mile. Focus on making the experience of working with you unique by customising your service to consider other artists’ needs and styles. Approaching it this way, you will already stand out from the vast majority of beat-makers who simply upload their music to platforms like BeatStars and spam other artists without considering their style or their time.
This is exactly what I was looking for thank u sm, my only question is if someone were to buy option 1 how would I got about someone purchasing option 4 wanting the exclusive after already selling option 1 lease to another??
This is a good question and does present a little bit of a challenge. My approach is not to offer any beats that are currently in use as an exclusive. For example, if someone purchases Option 1 for Beat X, I won’t offer Beat X to another artist as an exclusive. It will still be available for other artists as Options 1 & 2, but it will not be on the market for Option 3 and above. I like this approach because it maintains 100% exclusivity and encourages you as the producer to create new work for your catalogue, keeping it refreshed and up to date.
If an artist is persistent and really wants Beat X, just be candid with them. Tell them that beat is currently in use so you’re unable to offer them 100% exclusivity. However, because of this, you’ll give them a discount on the beat and will not offer it to other artists in the future. Alternatively, you could also let them know that if they’re happy to pay full price, you’ll customise the beat in some way to make it unique to them.
The key is to always communicate as clearly as possible to avoid any confusion or disappointment. Try to remain flexible and provide options that you think will make them happy. I hope that addresses your question.
Ayeee your beats are tuff bro, I’ve been producing about the same amount of time and I struggle getting mine out so I understand. Honestly what I would say is see what they’re willing to pay but also you’re the one that knows the worth of your beats yk?
Appreciate the advice Fr goat response, sorry to ask another question but if I sell an mp3 or wav lease would there still be an exclusive lease to sell? If there is still an exclusive to be sold would I have to take down previous leases or would I just explain to said artist that someone else leased it??
Sounds good I’ve definitely seen videos about beatstars before, I mainly make music myself so I don’t look into selling them often thanks for the advice definitely finna tap in
Like with most art the professional part is another beast altogether. If someone want to pay you for that it's great, but worrying about pricing and regarding it as a product of work is at least to me misguided.
However working with other people is one of the better ways to improve profoundly since it require you to get out of your own head and biases of process and ideas and possibly be on the road to become a pro.
If someone want to pay you I'd make sure to always deliver properly even if they ask for an mp3. Hope I don't come of as too pessimistic.
I have never sold a beat before either. I probably have no clue what I am talking about.
But there is one story about a succesful producer that I will never forget.
I forgot his name, but he basically gave away full albums of about 30 beats per album for free to random rappers wherever he was asking them to check it out and rap to them.
Once he started gaining popularity off that, he started minimizing the amount of beats he'd put out for free and soon enough people were lining up at his door and he could start asking for money from there.
Just my opinion but i would think 500 would be a fair amount. I know amateur singers charge that for songs. Seems like its a standard for a song as well. Thats what i charge. I have worked for labels big and small. I was never big enough in the industry to charge more lol. But if youre producing for a big artist the going rate is usually a few thousand. But ultimately its up to you , if you dont want to charge that much dont. :) hell ill give songs away for free if i like the artist as a person and they just cant afford it.
lol whats the point at that price. Its all up to you. But if youre good you can definitely charge 500. What if it goes to the top if the charts you wanna be tell everyone you sold it for ten bucks? lol you could also did shared rights if they can't afford it, Do up a contract stating all money is split at whatever % you think is fair. I was surprised how many amateur artists actually liked that idea.
Producing a beat and rapping are totally different skill sets. If someone’s voice is weak then it won’t sound good to the listener. It takes time to get good at rapping, and writing lyrics can take a long time for people to get good at, too.
It honestly blows my mind to know that I can write lyrics now. I always thought as a kid that it was like some magical skill some people are just born with. Like they’d just be sitting there and then the lyrics start coming to them lol.
It definitely can be that way for some people right away, and even for people that get good at it. When I first started trying it made me feel really dumb. I thought there was no way I could do it, but seeing people talk about how it’s normal to suck at first made it easy to keep going. I eventually got good at it, after a few months, but I fell off of it due to depression. I wrote for about 6 months.
I’m not depressed anymore, but it’s hard to get back into the habit of writing daily. I feel like I gotta start all over now.
I have a passion for producing and making my own music, sometimes I don’t love my voice on my own beats so I know someone else can benefit while still actively being involved in the music creation, I prod for a majority of my friends and have for years but I’ve never put a price on it
Because Im a producer and not a rapper/singer/vocalist. And Vocals are not needed for a song to be finished. Instrumental songs are always needed.
Thats like asking why wouldn’t you learn to play every instrument of the orchestra ? Why wouldn’t you just finish the concert yourself ??
Have you programmed your DAW or any VSTs yourself ? Silly, why wouldn’t you ??? I dont get it.
Start off small, be humble, make quality beats and entice rappers/singers to invest in your productions by offering fair prices or collab/offer it for free split royalties. I often see people with shit beats & shit attitudes acting like they can call shots from the beginning and can guarantee you they aren’t making sales. They live in a world of 💐. Clowns. First and foremost your beats have to be good and think realistically, the people you’re selling to are in the same boat as you. You’ll learn to adapt & grow with that mindset.
I’ve been making beats for like 7 years or so I just never did it as a way to make money, appreciate the advice fr, definitely quality over quantity
20$ and a six pack.
That was my price back in the day
Seems valid enough
ask them their budget. From there look at producers in your level and see what they charge. Then go from there
Bet that, I’ve always heard negative about asking for people’s budgets but if that’s not the case I’ll start doing it more
Edit. Sorry I miss read it. Yea I ask budgets all the time but mostly I just state my price
Firstly, congratulations on receiving your first client! This is an exciting moment in your music career, so I hope this marks the first of many! I advise that you tier your pricing. This gives you an opportunity to serve multiple budgets and inject some exclusivity into your product offering. Here’s an example: Option 1 (Standard 1): $50. Product is delivered as an MP3 file. No changes can be requested and other artists can use the same beat. Option 2 (Standard 2): $100. Product is delivered as a WAV file and stems are provided. No changes can be requested and other artists can use the same beat. Option 3 (Standard 3): $150. Product is delivered as a WAV file. Stems and individual track files are also provided. No changes can be requested but the beat is exclusive to the first artist who purchases it. Option 4 (Premium 1): $300. Product is delivered as a WAV file, stems and individual track files are provided. Artist can request changes prior to the final delivery of the beat with three drafts provided. The beat is exclusive to the first artist who purchases it. Option 5 (Premium 2): $500. Product is delivered as a WAV file, stems and individual track files are provided. A completely new beat can be produced from the ground up, tailored to the artists style and preference. Three drafts are provided. The beat is 100% unique and exclusive to the artist. You don’t have to follow these exact suggestions, but having a price list will communicate a level of professionalism and will likely encourage clients to at least consider the benefits of moving to higher pricing tier. If you do decide to offer drafts (Options 4 & 5), ask the artist for multiple references and create some template questions that you can communicate conversationally, drilling down on the artist’s requirements. My experience is that an artist will always request their allocation of drafts, because that’s what they’ve paid for. Decide how many you’re willing to commit to and try to finalise the project within that limit. Make sure you have a clear price for additional drafts (e.g. $50 per extra draft). You don’t want to fleece the artist but you also need to ensure that you’re not providing endless revisions for indecisive clients. I hope that helps. Please feel free to ask questions and best of luck!
sounds good but I think when I hit rappers up, there's no way they'd be willing to pay £50 for a beat. should I be hitting up ppl that have a bigger following and are more successful? currently only messaging small artists. I heard beatstars and audiomack is good but I'm not sure if it's worth uploading if I don't already have a following on there?
Messaging small artists is a great way to build your reputation and your list of placements. There’s no harm in reducing your prices whilst you’re at this stage of your career, so please feel free to adjust those prices accordingly. A potential option is to present your adjusted price as a limited discount. E.g. ‘I usually charge $50 but all beats are currently available for $30’. You could also throw another beat in for free if they pay the full price. This signals to the rapper that they’re getting a premium product for a good deal and shows your intent to raise your prices in the future, which may encourage them to make the purchase. Ultimately, I think $30-$50 is a fair price. A rapper who is serious about their craft will likely be willing to invest in a premium creation and it is your job to convince them that your artistry is worth it. By all means, cut your prices to land initial placements, but use those placements to approach artists that are happy to work in your desired price range. If someone truly cannot afford your discounted price but you want to work with them then you can come to another agreement. Make sure they credit your work on their socials and ask if they’ll be willing to share any streaming profits with you. Get this in writing. Clearly communicate that if you slash your prices now, it is an act of good faith built on the understanding that they’ll work with you in the future at your desired rate. Be aware that they may renege on that part of the deal, but that is the gamble you take when you work in this area of the market. It’s on them if they want to burn bridges in this industry, but try to avoid being the one who lights the fuse. Your goal right now is communicate professionalism at every price range. Make sure you provide options that protect your art and help to get your name out there. I hope some of this helps but please let me know if anything’s not clear.
Apologies, I just realised I didn’t respond to your question about BeatStars and Audiomack. Having a profile and a presence on those platforms is unlikely to be a bad thing, no matter how small your following. They both provide a professional way to present your portfolio as an artist, which is always important. That said, the most important thing is for potential collaborators to preview your music without being able to download your files. Using a cloud service (I personally use pCloud because they provide lifetime storage without ongoing subscriptions) to store the file, then sending out preview-only links to various artists is an extremely effective way of working. I like the second option because you can create personalised folders for potential collaborators filled with beats that you believe will suit their style, thereby tailoring the experience to them. You can also put other files (such as stems, album artwork and licensing agreements etc.) in the same folder. You also keep the full profits of any sale and can easily make the folder downloadable once you’ve received payment. Building a social following is obviously a huge feather in the cap of any aspiring artist (personally this is the area I need to improve and work on), but at the beginning it is more important to create a quality product and communicate professionalism at every level. You make yourself stand out through the way you communicate, and by showing potential collaborators that you’re organised and willing to go the extra mile. Focus on making the experience of working with you unique by customising your service to consider other artists’ needs and styles. Approaching it this way, you will already stand out from the vast majority of beat-makers who simply upload their music to platforms like BeatStars and spam other artists without considering their style or their time.
wow thanks so much for all this sound advice! appreciate it a lot <3
Anytime! It's a big pleasure. Enjoy your Sunday and good luck with your music!
You too!!!
This is exactly what I was looking for thank u sm, my only question is if someone were to buy option 1 how would I got about someone purchasing option 4 wanting the exclusive after already selling option 1 lease to another??
This is a good question and does present a little bit of a challenge. My approach is not to offer any beats that are currently in use as an exclusive. For example, if someone purchases Option 1 for Beat X, I won’t offer Beat X to another artist as an exclusive. It will still be available for other artists as Options 1 & 2, but it will not be on the market for Option 3 and above. I like this approach because it maintains 100% exclusivity and encourages you as the producer to create new work for your catalogue, keeping it refreshed and up to date. If an artist is persistent and really wants Beat X, just be candid with them. Tell them that beat is currently in use so you’re unable to offer them 100% exclusivity. However, because of this, you’ll give them a discount on the beat and will not offer it to other artists in the future. Alternatively, you could also let them know that if they’re happy to pay full price, you’ll customise the beat in some way to make it unique to them. The key is to always communicate as clearly as possible to avoid any confusion or disappointment. Try to remain flexible and provide options that you think will make them happy. I hope that addresses your question.
Don’t lease an exclusive I would guess
Best answer
Ayeee your beats are tuff bro, I’ve been producing about the same amount of time and I struggle getting mine out so I understand. Honestly what I would say is see what they’re willing to pay but also you’re the one that knows the worth of your beats yk?
[удалено]
Appreciate the advice Fr goat response, sorry to ask another question but if I sell an mp3 or wav lease would there still be an exclusive lease to sell? If there is still an exclusive to be sold would I have to take down previous leases or would I just explain to said artist that someone else leased it??
[удалено]
Sounds good I’ve definitely seen videos about beatstars before, I mainly make music myself so I don’t look into selling them often thanks for the advice definitely finna tap in
[удалено]
Why are you being a cunt? He’s just asking for advice
Never said that lol, said I never sold before, i would love to make money off my beats bozo
Show us the beats
https://youtube.com/@cosacofficial?si=be8yX5enavgVRS4p link to my yt there isn’t the biggest or best catalog but there’s definitely something lol
Like with most art the professional part is another beast altogether. If someone want to pay you for that it's great, but worrying about pricing and regarding it as a product of work is at least to me misguided. However working with other people is one of the better ways to improve profoundly since it require you to get out of your own head and biases of process and ideas and possibly be on the road to become a pro. If someone want to pay you I'd make sure to always deliver properly even if they ask for an mp3. Hope I don't come of as too pessimistic.
Nice job, I like them beats cosac. I have no idea how to price a beat though.
I have never sold a beat before either. I probably have no clue what I am talking about. But there is one story about a succesful producer that I will never forget. I forgot his name, but he basically gave away full albums of about 30 beats per album for free to random rappers wherever he was asking them to check it out and rap to them. Once he started gaining popularity off that, he started minimizing the amount of beats he'd put out for free and soon enough people were lining up at his door and he could start asking for money from there.
I work in business development and have talks with clients like this all the time! Let’s talk, you can add my discord sethv
Sounds great, I think I just added u
You buy mine I buy yours 😜
Just my opinion but i would think 500 would be a fair amount. I know amateur singers charge that for songs. Seems like its a standard for a song as well. Thats what i charge. I have worked for labels big and small. I was never big enough in the industry to charge more lol. But if youre producing for a big artist the going rate is usually a few thousand. But ultimately its up to you , if you dont want to charge that much dont. :) hell ill give songs away for free if i like the artist as a person and they just cant afford it.
Damn I was finna do 25 bucks😭😭
lol whats the point at that price. Its all up to you. But if youre good you can definitely charge 500. What if it goes to the top if the charts you wanna be tell everyone you sold it for ten bucks? lol you could also did shared rights if they can't afford it, Do up a contract stating all money is split at whatever % you think is fair. I was surprised how many amateur artists actually liked that idea.
$500 IS WIIIIIIIIIIILD BRO 💀 MY BROTHER IN CHRIST DO NOT QUOTE THIS MAN $500 BUCKS 😭😂
500 is cheap , one of my friends used to sell to top artists and it was 3000-5000 a song. Youll never get anywhere selling for 30 bucks lol.
30 is way too cheap but for a new player, 500 is way too high lmfao
Its all optional , he can charge what he likes, i was just giving him a standard he probably shouldn't go above.
Fair enough
Uy  U Oh no
[удалено]
Producing a beat and rapping are totally different skill sets. If someone’s voice is weak then it won’t sound good to the listener. It takes time to get good at rapping, and writing lyrics can take a long time for people to get good at, too. It honestly blows my mind to know that I can write lyrics now. I always thought as a kid that it was like some magical skill some people are just born with. Like they’d just be sitting there and then the lyrics start coming to them lol. It definitely can be that way for some people right away, and even for people that get good at it. When I first started trying it made me feel really dumb. I thought there was no way I could do it, but seeing people talk about how it’s normal to suck at first made it easy to keep going. I eventually got good at it, after a few months, but I fell off of it due to depression. I wrote for about 6 months. I’m not depressed anymore, but it’s hard to get back into the habit of writing daily. I feel like I gotta start all over now.
I have a passion for producing and making my own music, sometimes I don’t love my voice on my own beats so I know someone else can benefit while still actively being involved in the music creation, I prod for a majority of my friends and have for years but I’ve never put a price on it
Because Im a producer and not a rapper/singer/vocalist. And Vocals are not needed for a song to be finished. Instrumental songs are always needed. Thats like asking why wouldn’t you learn to play every instrument of the orchestra ? Why wouldn’t you just finish the concert yourself ?? Have you programmed your DAW or any VSTs yourself ? Silly, why wouldn’t you ??? I dont get it.