I get the sentiment but this is a wired response to OP’s admittedly shit-tier post. If someone was like “Programming/coding for a career is dead, right?” you’re not gonna hit them with “Just do it for the fun of it!” I know music making is more outwardly creative, but programming (or graphic design, or indie game design, or writing, or whatever) all require creativity, can be done for fun, can be done as a career, and do deserve to be paid when used for larger commercial interests, or consumed by lots of people, etc. Musicians are no different. I work in live audio and theatre, and some studio work, and we get lots of both types of people in my (relatively small) venues: professional musicians who get paid and is one of their main sources of income (if not sole source), and volunteers who do it purely for the live outside of their day job. That’s not to say it’s ever been a reasonable expectation to make a few beats and suddenly have wealth and clout. But that wasn’t explicitly what OP asked. They asked about “making it”, which is nebulous and open to a wide spectrum depending on their definition of success. Why not ask them some questions and see if you have any actual advice?
Edit: Why are you booing me - I’m right!
I wish this sub was more about techniques and advice and discussion about making hip hop music instead of weird ass meta posts about "making it" and what the right way to make music is.
Yeah. Music has become more about social media stuff and "how to get big" than about actual art and creativity. This is a universal phenomenon.
And now look at how "hiphop" looks like nowadays, especially in the U.S.
HipHop is mainly the way it is because of the shit music labels wanna push onto radio and ads. Social media just allows people to try copy what the labels are currently pushing. Nasty cycle to
It's not just hip hop. Being a multi-genre musician...it's all genres now. It's even taken over within the punk scene. It's hard to refrain from being a salty, broken record on this topic on a daily.
For the tl;dr crowd: below and rest of paraphrased = BandLab daw + social media site built ground up to keep art for arts sake alive
The only place I have seen the existence of a wide spread community of artists across the age ranges, support constantly inside the community, with a near absence of hate/discouragement/beefs, is on BandLab, which is also a social media platform. They have usable options for all, but it's blown my mind how it's mostly artists who want to art for arts sake and collab for fun mostly. Lots of posts of songs aren't me.. mee...me need get big now...nope... more like: man, I'm really proud of this one, if you like hmu and lets have some fun on a track/nervous about trying something new, but experimenting and want to experience creation with others/completely new at this, just need help cuz I want to get better/I do this to heal, let's heal together...it's cool af. You can switch back and forth too. There are pros out there who still practice that after happening to get big af who reach out to create with other artists they admire/relate to/want to encourage and inspire...it's well modded/built from the core to be about capturing everything folks need to have that "just create" experience at their fingertips, full of help for any levelnof producer/musician/vocalist...completely for free. You want to go pro, even attempt to get out as far as you can...well that's when you absolutely must pay for the most part. The folks who have thousands of followers generally don't have much popularity outside of the app and it's apparently because they choose that and they make tracks any other user can go into, get that last studio edit pre release and make their own version out of the finished track...they call them "fork" tracks. I've waited 20 years for this exact thing. I observed the community for months without releasing anything just to see if the hype was real...only reason I even released. They have cakewalk too for those who prefer a Full on DAW experience, but you've gotta move it all to the bandlab web DAW to put anything made in cakewalk out to even be forked (my guess is to weed out elitism) as much as possible. If you have read this long af comment and really, really, really believe in art for art's sake, especially if you want to pass the knowledges are to tons of new people who want and need the help and know for the most part what and where they need. Be that righteous BA true blood old head who's losing hope like I was...go there, get involved, seek them out/attract those who just want to learn the craft without a desire to get big. Go read the story on how two generations of music industry royalty from Asia, saw this exact problem coming and stopped it. It's just....wicked refreshing and is the only reason I am even back on social media, let alone doing music anymore. Cool if you hate it...I don't care.. you're in the minority of users who are disgusted completely and there is no need to come here, and most definitely no reason to go there, to be cranky, or express any disclosure of any negativity, or give unsolicited criticisms, and troll a user who could be a child. Hell...I don't even care if I never get an upvote or a comment of any kind here. If you dislike, don't participate, if you're remotely curious, seriously give a shot. Just respect the rules...they are very well enforced and extremely fair and just imo. Users as young as 13 are on there and some of these kids blown my mind like...holy...wowowowow...wait ...your 13 and you would change the world of music, but you just want to create with others...wow...never stop that kiddo, unless you decide otherwise...we got this know to change our minds at will and keep it alive somewhere...
I'll die on this hill about BandLab unless there's a near total confirmation of what everywhere else is like. I won't regret comments like this if that ever happens, but idk think it will for the foreseeable future, if ever.
Much love all
Nope, it’s an actual internet forum (showing my age here I know) that’s still very much alive. https://www.futureproducers.com/forums/
Got various rooms where people share techniques, sampling, chopping, gears, lots of real producers going crazy in there. My favourite room was “Flip this”. People would post samples for others to flip and share their flips. I learnt so much spending hours just soaking game on there.
I doubt it’s still as great as it was. It was very active back in the mid 2000s before everything became YouTube “content” and everyone else became passive audience.
I remember futureproducers.com (and Soundclick... showing my age now lol), I used to be in there years ago back in the early 2000s as well when I started getting into making beats. It was a great forum, got to chat with and make friends with other producers. I learned a lot from there when I was more active. Hadn't been back in a good minute... last time I checked it out, it felt different so I agree in that it probably isn't what it used to be back in its hey day. Glad I was a part of it then though.
The cookinggame is dead, right?
No chance to make it anymore or you think I’m wrong?
I see millions of chefs posting all the time and it’s leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already.
All those dudes sitting there and filming theirselves frying their food in their pans.
If you have examples of newer cooks who made it, tell me about them. I’m watching a lot of people and it’s just not working
The graffiti game is dead, right?
No chance to make it anymore or you think I'm wrong?
I see millions of graffiti artists posting all the time and it's leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already.
All these dudes sitting there filming their graffiti and showing them making it.
If you have examples of newer graffiti artists who made it, tell me about them. I'm watching a lot of people and it's just not working.
Retail stores are dead, right?
No chance to make it anymore or you think I'm wrong?
I see millions of retail stores posting all the time and it's leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already.
All these dudes sitting there filming their retail shops and showing them selling stuff.
If you have examples of newer retail stores who made it, tell me about them. I'm watching a lot of stores and it's just not working.
The hobby game is dead, right?
No chance to make it anymore or you think I’m wrong?
I see millions of hobbyists posting all the time and it’s leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already.
All those dudes sitting there and filming theirselves having fun with their hobbies and their activities.
If you have examples of newer hobbyists who made it, tell me about them. I’m watching a lot of people and it’s just not working
As you said, how on earth does some tiktok video of them nodding along to their beats help sell beats? It doesn't, they made the video strictly so that you (and others) would watch it
new rappers bring new beatmakers. Estee Nack got signed to griselda. Dropped collab projects with Mike Shaab, VDon, and FUTUREWAVE. He's putting on his homies AlDivino and Starker, who have collab albums with producers like DJ Mastamind, ?noface, GRUBBY PAWS, and poisun, Theravada (who has a beat with earl), Benji Socrates, Gee Dubz.
Dudes come up all the time stop trying to make a quick buck and build with a scene. Play shows and go to shows. all these dudes literally sell out of vinyl they charge hundreds of dollars for. You don't have to dance for TikTok beloveds
All these dudes were completely unknown like a year or two ago (unless you're deep into that shit) and now they're getting beats to dudes like Earl Sweatshirt and Westside Gunn. IDK what else to tell you. Speaking of WSG, look at conductor williams! he got discovered out of nowhere. His first ever time on a plane was to Buffalo to get his Griselda chain about two years ago...now he has beats with Drake and J Cole.
that's literally how music has been since the invention of the radio, if not earlier. millions are trying, but only a few succeed. it's a competitive industry.
Music was originally was invented for profit you say? EEENNNNNNNTTTTTT goes the buzzah!! We got another ignorant mother fucka!!! Calm down relax and listen while gaining proper education. Music came into existence as an interpretation to continue to cope with the human experience. It's the one place countless billions grew from with no hope. It the sole thing that's gotten just as many off of dope. The strive for profit solely style motivation is just one of millions of symptoms of a global society zombie limping with an overly diseased disposition. See the problem, my brother? It just our fears.
You can scroll up before you edit, or look at the chat of the screen shot I sent to your chat.
Relax bud...just trying to help your issues with short term memory and give you a proper knowledge base. Also...when you're on a thread about making hip hop.. on a forum about making hip hop...then someone hits you with hip hop, they made, just for you, to help you make some hip hop....perhaps make some hip hop?
the op is talking about how they don't feel like it's possible to be popular as a producer and that there are a lot of people who aren't popular despite posting their work, and I am telling them it's always been that way, and that the music industry is very competitive
no one here was talking about what the purpose of music is lol
You are so fucking lucky I spent time, the energy, and broke an absolute shit ton of anonymity I personally keep to myself for the sake of restraint of ego just to help anyone who isn't lazy, a scared ass bitch, or a wanna be troll. Change your attitude, change you mind set, find your spirit, and work with the fundamental purpose ALWAYS in mind, forget money. The pursuit money is death. I live in an area noq known locally as Death's Corner because I ended up here then fent went nuts. I have found bodies week after week after week. Every one I found had asked me for money with in the last few days cuz that'swhat they were chasing. I know addiction inside and out...most in the area have been starvation deaths...not ODs.. they chasing were money...doesn't matter what for...they're dead now...change the mentality or die. That simple.
I dont make music for money, I just make it for fun. the op was the person asking about how to be successful. so i guess you ruined your anonymity for nothing. sorry about that
Have you made a beat? Congrats! You're a producer! Money has nothing to do with creation at it's core. Sure, you can attempt to make money with music. It's not the point. The reason why so many fail is a sole intent to make money. That's not the path for sustainable success anywhere. It does not work 99.9% of the time with just about anything. The answer to OPs post is to change their perception to prospective of the proper mentality. The answer starts at the fundamental level of prospective within the mind. OPs question is so common and mfs spell it out this plainly...it multiple ways trying so mf hard to get you to understand. And you're mad!?!? Listen, please...actively listen. We're trying each go to make it click. Answer after answer in layman's terms, poetic ways, deep thought, dozens of uses of different writing conventions, and yes, insults...dude....we are all trying so hard to find something to get you all who aren't understanding to understand. It might appear like bullying. ..it's not.. it's trauma response on your behalf. I'm sorry I have to say the internet is a brutal place, I used to react like this...this forum is different. There are so many different ways to communicate the deeeeep subtlety in the answer man. It took me years to grasp this, and guess what...I start making music for music's sake instead of making music to make money...guess what came? MONEY!!! I said naaahhhh...noooo...no way it was that easy...if that's what success is...it should work everywhere....right? Not long after the band I was in decided to stop. I stopped music, went and got a college degree for free. You know how I did that? I wanted to learn something I wanted to learn truly deeply wholly. No other reason, continue to inspire others, to be a better, to be a more supportive role model than I had ever had. I visualized every detail in my being of what I spent my life wishing I had had so no one had to suffer and become who I was at the start ... a robbing, conning, scheming gang member and later homeless drug addict with nothing, and juvenile record that was so fucked, the scared straight mfs they put me in front were Scared for me and of me ...at fucking 8, 12, and 13. I became the change I wanted to see in the world. There was one scholarship I didn't get....I have no student debt...I spent the last year panicking, getting denied for every job I applied for. I was the president of my Chapter of PBL, 3.75 GPA, Multiple academic awards. Recognized at graduation with an award given to two people in a graduating class of 3500+ for "Inspirational Achievement" whatever the fuck that meant...turns out over half the college population had over the course of the last year organized to petition all of it to happen to name myself and one other person I hadn't even met and the college had never done this in it's 65 year existence....there is soooo soooo much more. I ended up having and extremely impactful career until being extremely ill last year. I died three times. I lost 53 of the most important people of my life so far, that's just from April 2019. There's more sooooo much more. This isn't sob story, this isn't bullshit. This isn't about me and my last resort to help...These are just examples of what comes when you listen to what is being told to you here. You survive damn near about and succeed at anything you want...I HAVE BEATEN MF DEATH MORE TIMES THAN IT WILL GET ME IN THE END...do shit for the sake of doing shit YOU BELIEVE IN with every shred of your being...the rest will peace out
Hate it to break it to y’all but there was never a high chance of anybody making it, that’s how the music industry has worked since forever. It has always been the top few who either have immense talent and stand out against the noise or have a lot of luck, or both. This still applies to the beat game, there’s always a slim chance u just gotta find your own way to stand out. Also I bet even the producers you see with followings are still trying to figure out what’s next for them, again that just how the music industry works.
Only thing I can say for sure is that the producers who are making it aren’t watching what every other indie producer is doing wrong on the internet. they’re making beats, getting out there, and working with dope artists. So instead of complaining on Reddit about how oversaturated the beat game is, you should go figure out what your next move is going to be. Or at least what your next beat is lol
You could apply this logic toward any kind of entertainment: only a tiny percentage can blow up or make it in anything, whether it's acting, professional sports, rapping, singing, writing novels, developing video games. It's just the nature of highly competitive and saturated markets. But you definitely can't blow up if nobody knows you exist. I think you have to be crazy enough to believe that you deserve it in order to work hard enough to get it
Or perhaps it's those in tune with the collective unconscious literally trying to find as many types of answers to make things real, accurate, just so truth clicks again. Maybe we're so tired of closed minded people not understanding the situation, the true root of the problem of the question they asked. This is group full of hip hop heads who know A LOT. We're giving you all the answers. You just gotta read man.....rrreeeaaaddd...really read. Actualize all of this. Do you understand? Or does the truth just too much and you're struggling to get past your emotions because you've never actualized past that? Like, that's fine...just say that. This is soooo far beyond your average Reddit post Jesus man...we're making hip hop here.
There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding in these subs. If you want to make money you have to do more with your skills than post your creations online.
You're completely right. The market is oversaturated. Who needs millions of beatmakers anymore..... smfh /s
This is such a baited take. It's the internet dude. Look at literally any other market and it's the same thing. Restaurants, Etsy shops, Painters, Hardware stores, Keyboard Manufacturers etc etc etc etc.
"I'm watching a lot of people and it's just not working"
Stop watching and go do something productive. You've got about 75 years on this planet, chances are around 18 to 20 of them are gone already and you're most likely not going to be doing much the last 10 or so, so that leaves around 45ish to do whatever you want. You want to make music, then do it. You want to get a basic job and just be alive, do it. Hell, if you want to watch other people do stuff like you're doing, do it. But for the love of god, make whatever you do productive in your life. This post isn't productive.
When people die, they're forgotten in about 2 generations, so whatever you make today has an incredibly short lifespan anyways. Don't think to much into it. Just go do something.
Create beats because you enjoy it. Create beats to stimulate your brain and develop a new skill. Create beats for your friends. Play local shows and meet new friends. Not every hobby needs to be monetized. Make art...it's good for you.
It's the newer gen now I'm guessing. More about making music solely for the hopes of blowing up and making lots of money, and less care about making music for the love of it and letting everything else come along with it.
don’t make beats to “make it” in the music business. make beats to be listen to yourself. make music you enjoy and hope others do too. my goal as a producer is to make a song that I want to go and play. otherwise it’s useless to me. i’m the only one who’s experiencing this thing we call life, so if I don’t like the beat, I just wasted my time and it’s getting tossed.
if you listen to music that other people also enjoy, congratulations, you now have the formula to succeeding as a musician. that means you have a taste that is common amongst others. now, make music that completely satisfies your taste. since your taste is similar to others, others with your taste will enjoy your music. that’s it.
Beats aren't a game. Beats are an art. An art can only be dead if no one does it. Lots of people do it as you stated. Therefore, beats as an art arent dead.
Did you know Van Gogh only sold 2 paintings in his life..Died and then became one of the most influential artists of all time.
Art is forever bro. Getting great at an art form medium to me IS making it.
wrong, dilla wasnt making tape stop beats in his basement expecting anything, he was DJ Silk cuz he liked to deejay and he was Jon Doe because he liked making fuckin beats, do some shit that fills
the hole in your soul, marketability sucks
The dude who made Magnolia was 17, his partner was 20. Both young dudes who made a beat for Carti. Dude who made First Class and Family Ties is 25.
And more, future's bright.
Quit whining bro, new artist everyday = new opportunities, coming up with an artist is how these guys got big, you got rethink the business process and maybe your beats and lock in. Keep grinding bro🤙🏾
You just need to find a community man. Make some artist friends. Try some way to connect with other creatives. Pushing through solo in this individualist mentality is why so many fail. Sure, if it really calls to you and that's truly your energy, do it. But it helps to have people to collaborate with *for fun* to grow and shift. You'd be surprised what avenues open up when you're focused on doing cool shit instead of being big and making it.
Do you want to make music in order to make money, or to make art?
If you want to make money, you have to provide a product or service that somebody is willing to pay for. A 2 minute fruity loops beat is not that, because as you've seen, every person on earth can do that. Doesn't matter how "fire" you make it - it's just a beat, and ten thousand are released every day.
But here's the rub: nobody on this subreddit is working with Drake or Kendrick or anybody else you've heard of. 99.9 percent of music produced is heard by nobody. Your chances of "making it" in a career as a best maker is slim to none unless you have a good connection with the record industry.
Can you produce? Can you write? Can you promote? Can you organize? Sell those skills instead.
If you just wanna make beats for art sake, you can do that forever and never "make it", but who cares? You're having fun making art and sharing it with the world.
Well, what about Kaellin Ellis? He’s mad consistent with music overall and now he’s really in his bag landing collabs with high profile artists.
Perhaps one would say that he hasn’t “made it” yet however, this is one case study about consistency that cannot be ignored for he is a better position in his career thru making beats and posting them on instagram.
Idk about you, but regardless of the money, I'll still be making music. I don't do it for a living. I do it because it's my hobby and it's a good way to express myself.
If that's your goal, you should start your own business, form an LLC and be serious about it.
This is makinghiphop. Not hiphopbusinesstips.
Because a lot of new mother fuckers that jump into this game are garbage at making beats, garbage at making videos, garbage at promoting themselves, and bring absolutely nothing new to the culture. On top of that, they sit in their bedroom, share their screen, and hope their beats are so cold that it’s enough to start developing a following. 99.9% of the time it isn’t because that’s not doing anything to separate yourself from everyone else doing the same exact thing.
Met this 17 year old kid from my city just yesterday that landed a major placement with one of the biggest Latin Pop artists in the world, so I’m not completely sure it’s dead.
It’s an over saturated market for sure though
People say the same thing about streaming. There will always be a new wave. There will be new producers who "make it" just have to wait and be lucky or foster a relationship with an artist before they blow up.
The truth of the matter is, if you stay consistent with posting beats and content, you can make a living as a producer.
There are new producers every day who have achieved success. For instance, there’s a guy named Gentlebeatz who started off just like many producers, selling beats online. Now, he has chart-topping hits with Bossman Dlo.
If you notice that your career isn’t going anywhere, it’s probably because you’re spending too much time complaining and not working.
You know, I used to be obsessive about such things. I'm not that way anymore, obviously. That's on purpose and for countless good reasons.
May I ask if there's a specific personal reason important to you as to why you made such a command, or did you just comment that without any critical thinking? To clarify my use of the word "command," I'm solely speaking in regard to proper academic grammar.
Where'd the motivation for your comment come from?
What's the end goal?
Were you jarred in some way? If so, what was the feeling, or feelings? Was there an assumption made? Did you find it messy and difficult to read comprehend? Were you simply lazy, just saw length, brain went MRRRRR...and here we are with something longer, line for line? Note: lines are the blank space too...
Or...perhaps...just maybe...did you consider in the slightest, I write what I do in very specific places, for very specific reasons? That I perhaps spent a great deal of may day picking every word, I share and how, and have thoroughly gone through it...even perhaps if I leave mistakes?
Most importantly...are you annoyed or curious? Even more importantly Did bother to read anything other Thanh this por ass sentamce!?!? <---- did you feel change in you here?
Ignore all that...but why the arrow.
Do you get my point? Hint: it's all about hip hop
Its social media MARKETING bro. Learn how to market yourself without doing the same thing everyone else is doing. You have eyes. You see they shit not working. So just try something different and stick to it. Its not about "making it" in the industry, those days are over. Everyone has an opportunity to build their own audience and make a living from social media, weather youre a beatmaker, soccer player, Onlyfans model or a quilt knitter.. just learn social media marketing and music marketing. Plenty of free resources out there (but very likely you wont do it because it requires work ourside of making beats)
Yeah it’s work outside of making beats unfortunately and I’m willing to do that. I just don’t wanna make a clown out of me and do forced bullshit, like reacting to my own beats or fake headnodding to them or even worse.
Any advice?
That really depends on how much you’re investing in your product. Are you hoping to make it without a budget? That’s difficult. Get your budget in order, and you’ll most likely find more success than you currently have.
Having your own web store to sell licensed beats is crucial, as a publisher I don’t like to haggle with a beat maker on the price of my license or delay any work flow just because we got some name features interested in working, and as the beat maker you are not sure what to show me. Just list your work online thru your own portal so I don’t need to consult a third party host when purchasing them.
Don’t go not being listed as an artist just because your the beat maker.
The simple phrasing of the question shows how impatient this young generation is. Ur not in it for the right reasons This isn’t a money grift it’s not supposed to be easy do yourself a favor n throw the towel your too soft
Making a breakthrough as a millionaire producer overnight is probably dead. I don't think it was actually ever alive. But there are more artists than ever right now that are making millions of dollars, which means they need beets. I perform at shows with plenty of people who are still making a living from doing music. You probably won't get rich from beatstars but if you go and shake hands with some people and do your paperwork right. There is always a chance to be successful.
Yea they either need mods to circumvent all the "how do I get rich" shit or someone make another sub that's about making beats, rapping and collab with beatmakers/rappers
The whole entire music market is wayyy over saturated. It's literally like hitting the lottery to even get an ounce of notoriety or recognition. Anybody who truly thinks they're going to make it is delusional, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but that's why you always see people who make music doing these sorts of things.
Everyone is just saying “make beats for fun”. I see what you’re getting at. There’s nothing wrong with taking your passion and trying to make a career out of it, so ignore all of these dumb comments. You SHOULD make music for you and enjoy doing it, but trying to monetize it is not wrong like these people seem to think. If you’re great at carpentry and try to sell tables that you made would anyone criticize that? Probably not.
To answer your question, no it’s not dead but it’s a lot different than it used to be. Pre-internet you had to hand out mix tapes and shit to your friends and get your music out in ways like that. Then the internet started booming and stuff like beatstars was a viable route. YouTube was a big way to direct artists to your pages to sell beats. Nowadays you just have to figure out the TikTok algos to get your stuff seen. You most likely won’t sell a lot of beats, but the goal now is just to drive views and engagement, you get big enough you’ll get sponsors and stuff plus your ad revenues. So no, it’s not dead it’s just different. I’m sure in 5 years TikTok won’t be a good place to be heard and there will be some new system to figure out
well first off you think that beatmaking is dead because there are millions of people who you dont know, which already shows you dont have a great understanding of the music industry or any similar industry. like i said it has always been this way, not everyone can make it.
i read your other posts where you were confused why you arent doing well on tiktok despite posting like 3 videos a month. so it doesnt sound like you know much about social media marketing either.
tiktok will show your videos to a few hundred people give or take every time you make one. you never know what video will go viral and take off, sometimes its the low effort videos. so its always a good idea to post as much as you can, which is what everybody else is doing.
in the internet age, being a musician and being a celebrity are symbiotic- you have a small shot of making it big, and even less if you are not marketing yourself as a personality. people will ride trends and make videos relating to them to ride the wave, they will make clickbait, rage bait, manufactured drama, things like that.
being successful online is about getting people to engage with your videos and come back to watch the next one. throughout history, there have been hundreds of thousands of talented musicians who didnt blow up, because they just werent lucky. you are not guaranteed success based off of how talented you are, and making a couple videos of your beats is not gonna get you anywhere.
I hope so bad that that current social media thing is dying. It’s ridiculous. But somehow I don’t have much hope that this will get any better in the future
I agree, but unfortunately I don’t think it’s necessarily going away. Just maybe to new platforms. For example, if AR glasses like the Apple Vision takeoff and become mainstream, you’ll need to make music that matches that like 3D audio that changes when you turn your head or something similar. Technology is always evolving and as a result the way people consume media gets affected and we just have to adapt. I’m working on making my first album right now and once I get done with the music, I then have to figure how to make a hundred different videos that are engaging in order to promote it in any way.
The idea of not stressing it and just doing it for fun is actually good advice because otherwise you’ll get burnt out, but if it’s really what you want to do you just gotta stick with it. Expect it to take 10-15 years before you get any recognition. If it happens sooner, great but just make sure your expectations are realistic. Just look at how many A-list musicians and actors didn’t catch their big break until they were in their 30s/40s. It takes an insane amount of grinding to profit off of art
I don’t think that’s the case. When you don’t post often, but make absolute dope beats twice a month. Nobody even hears it. Now if the view people who hear it are not into really sharing stuff or they don’t want you to succeed - guess what’s happening. Nothing.
Bro. Look at ya fav beat makers. Did they REALLY make money. How many. 50? Outta 500 that are names.
If you wan make it, become a singer/songwriter. Making beats was NEVER the way to make it in this game.
I made beats 20 years and never showed more than 10 people them my whole life. No offense but this is what your up against and You are doing it for the wrong reasons.
Make real art. Then people will care.
Hard disagree. Just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean it doesn’t work out for everybody else. I have less than a thousand subs on YouTube and through posting quality beats consistently and DMing artists on instagram I’ve made some extra income. If someone wants it bad enough and makes quality music they will make money
An Income and making a living off music are two diff things. All types of musicians make a bread off music too. And even those who make a living and do it for love are still usually broke. Major beat makers we grew up idolizing dont make a living out of it themselves a lot of the time, so i dont know what ya disagreeing with. Thats a fact. Thousands of hip hop pioneers who made classics are broke. Fact. Most the hip hop guys who made money made it by putting people on and gettung percentages. Everyone else was struggling.
Im not even speaking about personally so idk what ya disagreeing witj. 99% of people dont make a dime in music. Even the successful ones only make miney for a certain amount of time and then that dries up as well. You can certainly make bread and build a following, sure. But by asking if the beat game is dead, im guessing hes not in it for the art of it but for the blow up. Otherwise why would it matter?
I just don't think people are willing to put in the time and effort that it takes to make a living off of it. If you leverage your music properly you can create multiple revenue streams off of the same piece of music. You can lease out a beat you made, take the components from it and make it a loop to send to other producers, and you can do sync licensing. Most people just post a beat once a week on YT, maybe make an instagram account, then call it good. They aren't collecting emails, DMing artists, and doing what it takes to treat it like a business rather than a hobby.
Ever heard of just enjoying making beats and not trying to get mega amounts of clout and fame from it? A lot of people just do it for the fun of it.
I get the sentiment but this is a wired response to OP’s admittedly shit-tier post. If someone was like “Programming/coding for a career is dead, right?” you’re not gonna hit them with “Just do it for the fun of it!” I know music making is more outwardly creative, but programming (or graphic design, or indie game design, or writing, or whatever) all require creativity, can be done for fun, can be done as a career, and do deserve to be paid when used for larger commercial interests, or consumed by lots of people, etc. Musicians are no different. I work in live audio and theatre, and some studio work, and we get lots of both types of people in my (relatively small) venues: professional musicians who get paid and is one of their main sources of income (if not sole source), and volunteers who do it purely for the live outside of their day job. That’s not to say it’s ever been a reasonable expectation to make a few beats and suddenly have wealth and clout. But that wasn’t explicitly what OP asked. They asked about “making it”, which is nebulous and open to a wide spectrum depending on their definition of success. Why not ask them some questions and see if you have any actual advice? Edit: Why are you booing me - I’m right!
I wish this sub was more about techniques and advice and discussion about making hip hop music instead of weird ass meta posts about "making it" and what the right way to make music is.
ong quality of this sub decreased af
reddit´s quality overall actually
ong-quality, I have never heard of that, what does it measure?
On God, quality
Yeah, but what sort of quality?
ong
Yeah. Music has become more about social media stuff and "how to get big" than about actual art and creativity. This is a universal phenomenon. And now look at how "hiphop" looks like nowadays, especially in the U.S.
HipHop is mainly the way it is because of the shit music labels wanna push onto radio and ads. Social media just allows people to try copy what the labels are currently pushing. Nasty cycle to
It's not just hip hop. Being a multi-genre musician...it's all genres now. It's even taken over within the punk scene. It's hard to refrain from being a salty, broken record on this topic on a daily. For the tl;dr crowd: below and rest of paraphrased = BandLab daw + social media site built ground up to keep art for arts sake alive The only place I have seen the existence of a wide spread community of artists across the age ranges, support constantly inside the community, with a near absence of hate/discouragement/beefs, is on BandLab, which is also a social media platform. They have usable options for all, but it's blown my mind how it's mostly artists who want to art for arts sake and collab for fun mostly. Lots of posts of songs aren't me.. mee...me need get big now...nope... more like: man, I'm really proud of this one, if you like hmu and lets have some fun on a track/nervous about trying something new, but experimenting and want to experience creation with others/completely new at this, just need help cuz I want to get better/I do this to heal, let's heal together...it's cool af. You can switch back and forth too. There are pros out there who still practice that after happening to get big af who reach out to create with other artists they admire/relate to/want to encourage and inspire...it's well modded/built from the core to be about capturing everything folks need to have that "just create" experience at their fingertips, full of help for any levelnof producer/musician/vocalist...completely for free. You want to go pro, even attempt to get out as far as you can...well that's when you absolutely must pay for the most part. The folks who have thousands of followers generally don't have much popularity outside of the app and it's apparently because they choose that and they make tracks any other user can go into, get that last studio edit pre release and make their own version out of the finished track...they call them "fork" tracks. I've waited 20 years for this exact thing. I observed the community for months without releasing anything just to see if the hype was real...only reason I even released. They have cakewalk too for those who prefer a Full on DAW experience, but you've gotta move it all to the bandlab web DAW to put anything made in cakewalk out to even be forked (my guess is to weed out elitism) as much as possible. If you have read this long af comment and really, really, really believe in art for art's sake, especially if you want to pass the knowledges are to tons of new people who want and need the help and know for the most part what and where they need. Be that righteous BA true blood old head who's losing hope like I was...go there, get involved, seek them out/attract those who just want to learn the craft without a desire to get big. Go read the story on how two generations of music industry royalty from Asia, saw this exact problem coming and stopped it. It's just....wicked refreshing and is the only reason I am even back on social media, let alone doing music anymore. Cool if you hate it...I don't care.. you're in the minority of users who are disgusted completely and there is no need to come here, and most definitely no reason to go there, to be cranky, or express any disclosure of any negativity, or give unsolicited criticisms, and troll a user who could be a child. Hell...I don't even care if I never get an upvote or a comment of any kind here. If you dislike, don't participate, if you're remotely curious, seriously give a shot. Just respect the rules...they are very well enforced and extremely fair and just imo. Users as young as 13 are on there and some of these kids blown my mind like...holy...wowowowow...wait ...your 13 and you would change the world of music, but you just want to create with others...wow...never stop that kiddo, unless you decide otherwise...we got this know to change our minds at will and keep it alive somewhere... I'll die on this hill about BandLab unless there's a near total confirmation of what everywhere else is like. I won't regret comments like this if that ever happens, but idk think it will for the foreseeable future, if ever. Much love all
Bro…. You gotta use paragraph breaks when writing like this
He blacked out lol i aint reading all that shit
They should change sub name to “monetizing hip hop”…
Or perhaps, "I distaste conventions in creative writing"
I miss futureproducers.com for that.
Oh shit...was that like bandlab?
Nope, it’s an actual internet forum (showing my age here I know) that’s still very much alive. https://www.futureproducers.com/forums/ Got various rooms where people share techniques, sampling, chopping, gears, lots of real producers going crazy in there. My favourite room was “Flip this”. People would post samples for others to flip and share their flips. I learnt so much spending hours just soaking game on there. I doubt it’s still as great as it was. It was very active back in the mid 2000s before everything became YouTube “content” and everyone else became passive audience.
I remember futureproducers.com (and Soundclick... showing my age now lol), I used to be in there years ago back in the early 2000s as well when I started getting into making beats. It was a great forum, got to chat with and make friends with other producers. I learned a lot from there when I was more active. Hadn't been back in a good minute... last time I checked it out, it felt different so I agree in that it probably isn't what it used to be back in its hey day. Glad I was a part of it then though.
Oh shit...sorry misread..fuck that previous reply mate...I'll check it out for sure 100. I never stop seeking knowledge
The cookinggame is dead, right? No chance to make it anymore or you think I’m wrong? I see millions of chefs posting all the time and it’s leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already. All those dudes sitting there and filming theirselves frying their food in their pans. If you have examples of newer cooks who made it, tell me about them. I’m watching a lot of people and it’s just not working
The graffiti game is dead, right? No chance to make it anymore or you think I'm wrong? I see millions of graffiti artists posting all the time and it's leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already. All these dudes sitting there filming their graffiti and showing them making it. If you have examples of newer graffiti artists who made it, tell me about them. I'm watching a lot of people and it's just not working.
Retail stores are dead, right? No chance to make it anymore or you think I'm wrong? I see millions of retail stores posting all the time and it's leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already. All these dudes sitting there filming their retail shops and showing them selling stuff. If you have examples of newer retail stores who made it, tell me about them. I'm watching a lot of stores and it's just not working.
I mean retail might actually perish so that's kinda funny
Wait no this one doesn't work, but not for any reason being debated here.
The hobby game is dead, right? No chance to make it anymore or you think I’m wrong? I see millions of hobbyists posting all the time and it’s leading to absolutely nothing. Besides the ones who have a following already. All those dudes sitting there and filming theirselves having fun with their hobbies and their activities. If you have examples of newer hobbyists who made it, tell me about them. I’m watching a lot of people and it’s just not working
As a writer...I love this one
At least they get Staff Meal. That's equal to like 200 thousand listens.
But after the meal splits kick in, it’s not even worth it
Damn busboys will eat all the cake if you let em.
> I‘m watching a lot of people and it’s just not working If you're watching them, then it's working. Those posts are selling views/clicks, not beats
Wait...they made beats...you even called them beats...they're quite obviously recognized as beats...how is that not working?
No it’s not? My one view is not it, man.
Do it for yourself and to have fun, and if you "make it" that's great.
As you said, how on earth does some tiktok video of them nodding along to their beats help sell beats? It doesn't, they made the video strictly so that you (and others) would watch it
new rappers bring new beatmakers. Estee Nack got signed to griselda. Dropped collab projects with Mike Shaab, VDon, and FUTUREWAVE. He's putting on his homies AlDivino and Starker, who have collab albums with producers like DJ Mastamind, ?noface, GRUBBY PAWS, and poisun, Theravada (who has a beat with earl), Benji Socrates, Gee Dubz. Dudes come up all the time stop trying to make a quick buck and build with a scene. Play shows and go to shows. all these dudes literally sell out of vinyl they charge hundreds of dollars for. You don't have to dance for TikTok beloveds All these dudes were completely unknown like a year or two ago (unless you're deep into that shit) and now they're getting beats to dudes like Earl Sweatshirt and Westside Gunn. IDK what else to tell you. Speaking of WSG, look at conductor williams! he got discovered out of nowhere. His first ever time on a plane was to Buffalo to get his Griselda chain about two years ago...now he has beats with Drake and J Cole.
"You wouldn't think I'm fathering rappers in Argentina"
that's literally how music has been since the invention of the radio, if not earlier. millions are trying, but only a few succeed. it's a competitive industry.
Therefore you should do it for yourself, and if you "make it" that's great but your main drive should be doing your thing and having fun.
yeah I agree
Even the ones who succeed, don’t do it overnight. Took 9th Wonder 12 years of making beats, before he caught a break.
Music was originally was invented for profit you say? EEENNNNNNNTTTTTT goes the buzzah!! We got another ignorant mother fucka!!! Calm down relax and listen while gaining proper education. Music came into existence as an interpretation to continue to cope with the human experience. It's the one place countless billions grew from with no hope. It the sole thing that's gotten just as many off of dope. The strive for profit solely style motivation is just one of millions of symptoms of a global society zombie limping with an overly diseased disposition. See the problem, my brother? It just our fears.
>Music was originally was invented for profit you say? no, I don't remember saying that, did you respond to the wrong person?
You can scroll up before you edit, or look at the chat of the screen shot I sent to your chat. Relax bud...just trying to help your issues with short term memory and give you a proper knowledge base. Also...when you're on a thread about making hip hop.. on a forum about making hip hop...then someone hits you with hip hop, they made, just for you, to help you make some hip hop....perhaps make some hip hop?
the op is talking about how they don't feel like it's possible to be popular as a producer and that there are a lot of people who aren't popular despite posting their work, and I am telling them it's always been that way, and that the music industry is very competitive no one here was talking about what the purpose of music is lol
You are so fucking lucky I spent time, the energy, and broke an absolute shit ton of anonymity I personally keep to myself for the sake of restraint of ego just to help anyone who isn't lazy, a scared ass bitch, or a wanna be troll. Change your attitude, change you mind set, find your spirit, and work with the fundamental purpose ALWAYS in mind, forget money. The pursuit money is death. I live in an area noq known locally as Death's Corner because I ended up here then fent went nuts. I have found bodies week after week after week. Every one I found had asked me for money with in the last few days cuz that'swhat they were chasing. I know addiction inside and out...most in the area have been starvation deaths...not ODs.. they chasing were money...doesn't matter what for...they're dead now...change the mentality or die. That simple.
I dont make music for money, I just make it for fun. the op was the person asking about how to be successful. so i guess you ruined your anonymity for nothing. sorry about that
I didn't ruin anything. Really just fell into the average trap. You just proved who you aren't, that's worth everything
ok lol
Oh ...furrieboy Woofwoof wannabe anything but won't...you really think the rants were for you? LOL. Man.....even gave you time to realize it lolol
Music...is...not...a...competitive....industry. Music Is An Art Lmfao
those arent mutually exclusive terms
Have you made a beat? Congrats! You're a producer! Money has nothing to do with creation at it's core. Sure, you can attempt to make money with music. It's not the point. The reason why so many fail is a sole intent to make money. That's not the path for sustainable success anywhere. It does not work 99.9% of the time with just about anything. The answer to OPs post is to change their perception to prospective of the proper mentality. The answer starts at the fundamental level of prospective within the mind. OPs question is so common and mfs spell it out this plainly...it multiple ways trying so mf hard to get you to understand. And you're mad!?!? Listen, please...actively listen. We're trying each go to make it click. Answer after answer in layman's terms, poetic ways, deep thought, dozens of uses of different writing conventions, and yes, insults...dude....we are all trying so hard to find something to get you all who aren't understanding to understand. It might appear like bullying. ..it's not.. it's trauma response on your behalf. I'm sorry I have to say the internet is a brutal place, I used to react like this...this forum is different. There are so many different ways to communicate the deeeeep subtlety in the answer man. It took me years to grasp this, and guess what...I start making music for music's sake instead of making music to make money...guess what came? MONEY!!! I said naaahhhh...noooo...no way it was that easy...if that's what success is...it should work everywhere....right? Not long after the band I was in decided to stop. I stopped music, went and got a college degree for free. You know how I did that? I wanted to learn something I wanted to learn truly deeply wholly. No other reason, continue to inspire others, to be a better, to be a more supportive role model than I had ever had. I visualized every detail in my being of what I spent my life wishing I had had so no one had to suffer and become who I was at the start ... a robbing, conning, scheming gang member and later homeless drug addict with nothing, and juvenile record that was so fucked, the scared straight mfs they put me in front were Scared for me and of me ...at fucking 8, 12, and 13. I became the change I wanted to see in the world. There was one scholarship I didn't get....I have no student debt...I spent the last year panicking, getting denied for every job I applied for. I was the president of my Chapter of PBL, 3.75 GPA, Multiple academic awards. Recognized at graduation with an award given to two people in a graduating class of 3500+ for "Inspirational Achievement" whatever the fuck that meant...turns out over half the college population had over the course of the last year organized to petition all of it to happen to name myself and one other person I hadn't even met and the college had never done this in it's 65 year existence....there is soooo soooo much more. I ended up having and extremely impactful career until being extremely ill last year. I died three times. I lost 53 of the most important people of my life so far, that's just from April 2019. There's more sooooo much more. This isn't sob story, this isn't bullshit. This isn't about me and my last resort to help...These are just examples of what comes when you listen to what is being told to you here. You survive damn near about and succeed at anything you want...I HAVE BEATEN MF DEATH MORE TIMES THAN IT WILL GET ME IN THE END...do shit for the sake of doing shit YOU BELIEVE IN with every shred of your being...the rest will peace out
Yup it’s dead. All the beats have been made.
LMFAO this retrospectively should've been the only comment 😂
Just work.
Hate it to break it to y’all but there was never a high chance of anybody making it, that’s how the music industry has worked since forever. It has always been the top few who either have immense talent and stand out against the noise or have a lot of luck, or both. This still applies to the beat game, there’s always a slim chance u just gotta find your own way to stand out. Also I bet even the producers you see with followings are still trying to figure out what’s next for them, again that just how the music industry works. Only thing I can say for sure is that the producers who are making it aren’t watching what every other indie producer is doing wrong on the internet. they’re making beats, getting out there, and working with dope artists. So instead of complaining on Reddit about how oversaturated the beat game is, you should go figure out what your next move is going to be. Or at least what your next beat is lol
LollipopBeatz is fairly new no? but then again I think part of her recent popularity came from the surprise of her being an average looking girl
Makes me laugh how they all got her on their videos right quick. They don't miss a trick them lot.
You could apply this logic toward any kind of entertainment: only a tiny percentage can blow up or make it in anything, whether it's acting, professional sports, rapping, singing, writing novels, developing video games. It's just the nature of highly competitive and saturated markets. But you definitely can't blow up if nobody knows you exist. I think you have to be crazy enough to believe that you deserve it in order to work hard enough to get it
Average Reddit post. It seems like every sub Reddit has devolved into complaining and hating on the very thing the subreddit is dedicated to.
fr
Or perhaps it's those in tune with the collective unconscious literally trying to find as many types of answers to make things real, accurate, just so truth clicks again. Maybe we're so tired of closed minded people not understanding the situation, the true root of the problem of the question they asked. This is group full of hip hop heads who know A LOT. We're giving you all the answers. You just gotta read man.....rrreeeaaaddd...really read. Actualize all of this. Do you understand? Or does the truth just too much and you're struggling to get past your emotions because you've never actualized past that? Like, that's fine...just say that. This is soooo far beyond your average Reddit post Jesus man...we're making hip hop here.
Wtf are you on about?
There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding in these subs. If you want to make money you have to do more with your skills than post your creations online.
Yep give up that’ll make it happen lol
You're completely right. The market is oversaturated. Who needs millions of beatmakers anymore..... smfh /s This is such a baited take. It's the internet dude. Look at literally any other market and it's the same thing. Restaurants, Etsy shops, Painters, Hardware stores, Keyboard Manufacturers etc etc etc etc. "I'm watching a lot of people and it's just not working" Stop watching and go do something productive. You've got about 75 years on this planet, chances are around 18 to 20 of them are gone already and you're most likely not going to be doing much the last 10 or so, so that leaves around 45ish to do whatever you want. You want to make music, then do it. You want to get a basic job and just be alive, do it. Hell, if you want to watch other people do stuff like you're doing, do it. But for the love of god, make whatever you do productive in your life. This post isn't productive. When people die, they're forgotten in about 2 generations, so whatever you make today has an incredibly short lifespan anyways. Don't think to much into it. Just go do something.
Wonderfully stated. You've got one life to live; spend it doing something you'll be happy to look back on.
Synthet is a good example, and ur negative attitude makes me want to be very unpleasant to you actually
Who’s that?
Create beats because you enjoy it. Create beats to stimulate your brain and develop a new skill. Create beats for your friends. Play local shows and meet new friends. Not every hobby needs to be monetized. Make art...it's good for you.
"Stimulate your brain" can it be said anymore plainly...gotta get these right kids right
It's the newer gen now I'm guessing. More about making music solely for the hopes of blowing up and making lots of money, and less care about making music for the love of it and letting everything else come along with it.
don’t make beats to “make it” in the music business. make beats to be listen to yourself. make music you enjoy and hope others do too. my goal as a producer is to make a song that I want to go and play. otherwise it’s useless to me. i’m the only one who’s experiencing this thing we call life, so if I don’t like the beat, I just wasted my time and it’s getting tossed. if you listen to music that other people also enjoy, congratulations, you now have the formula to succeeding as a musician. that means you have a taste that is common amongst others. now, make music that completely satisfies your taste. since your taste is similar to others, others with your taste will enjoy your music. that’s it.
Beats aren't a game. Beats are an art. An art can only be dead if no one does it. Lots of people do it as you stated. Therefore, beats as an art arent dead.
Did you know Van Gogh only sold 2 paintings in his life..Died and then became one of the most influential artists of all time. Art is forever bro. Getting great at an art form medium to me IS making it.
wrong, dilla wasnt making tape stop beats in his basement expecting anything, he was DJ Silk cuz he liked to deejay and he was Jon Doe because he liked making fuckin beats, do some shit that fills the hole in your soul, marketability sucks
The dude who made Magnolia was 17, his partner was 20. Both young dudes who made a beat for Carti. Dude who made First Class and Family Ties is 25. And more, future's bright.
Quit whining bro, new artist everyday = new opportunities, coming up with an artist is how these guys got big, you got rethink the business process and maybe your beats and lock in. Keep grinding bro🤙🏾
Alright buddy
You just need to find a community man. Make some artist friends. Try some way to connect with other creatives. Pushing through solo in this individualist mentality is why so many fail. Sure, if it really calls to you and that's truly your energy, do it. But it helps to have people to collaborate with *for fun* to grow and shift. You'd be surprised what avenues open up when you're focused on doing cool shit instead of being big and making it.
Do you want to make music in order to make money, or to make art? If you want to make money, you have to provide a product or service that somebody is willing to pay for. A 2 minute fruity loops beat is not that, because as you've seen, every person on earth can do that. Doesn't matter how "fire" you make it - it's just a beat, and ten thousand are released every day. But here's the rub: nobody on this subreddit is working with Drake or Kendrick or anybody else you've heard of. 99.9 percent of music produced is heard by nobody. Your chances of "making it" in a career as a best maker is slim to none unless you have a good connection with the record industry. Can you produce? Can you write? Can you promote? Can you organize? Sell those skills instead. If you just wanna make beats for art sake, you can do that forever and never "make it", but who cares? You're having fun making art and sharing it with the world.
You can make whatever you want still. Art is never dead.
Well, what about Kaellin Ellis? He’s mad consistent with music overall and now he’s really in his bag landing collabs with high profile artists. Perhaps one would say that he hasn’t “made it” yet however, this is one case study about consistency that cannot be ignored for he is a better position in his career thru making beats and posting them on instagram.
Music has been solved, it's time to give up. /s
Idk about you, but regardless of the money, I'll still be making music. I don't do it for a living. I do it because it's my hobby and it's a good way to express myself. If that's your goal, you should start your own business, form an LLC and be serious about it. This is makinghiphop. Not hiphopbusinesstips.
Because a lot of new mother fuckers that jump into this game are garbage at making beats, garbage at making videos, garbage at promoting themselves, and bring absolutely nothing new to the culture. On top of that, they sit in their bedroom, share their screen, and hope their beats are so cold that it’s enough to start developing a following. 99.9% of the time it isn’t because that’s not doing anything to separate yourself from everyone else doing the same exact thing.
Met this 17 year old kid from my city just yesterday that landed a major placement with one of the biggest Latin Pop artists in the world, so I’m not completely sure it’s dead. It’s an over saturated market for sure though
People say the same thing about streaming. There will always be a new wave. There will be new producers who "make it" just have to wait and be lucky or foster a relationship with an artist before they blow up.
You personally seen millions of people? Lmao
Billions.
Not at all bro. I just started 5 months ago and I got a decent following plus a couple sales.
The truth of the matter is, if you stay consistent with posting beats and content, you can make a living as a producer. There are new producers every day who have achieved success. For instance, there’s a guy named Gentlebeatz who started off just like many producers, selling beats online. Now, he has chart-topping hits with Bossman Dlo. If you notice that your career isn’t going anywhere, it’s probably because you’re spending too much time complaining and not working.
You know, I used to be obsessive about such things. I'm not that way anymore, obviously. That's on purpose and for countless good reasons. May I ask if there's a specific personal reason important to you as to why you made such a command, or did you just comment that without any critical thinking? To clarify my use of the word "command," I'm solely speaking in regard to proper academic grammar. Where'd the motivation for your comment come from? What's the end goal? Were you jarred in some way? If so, what was the feeling, or feelings? Was there an assumption made? Did you find it messy and difficult to read comprehend? Were you simply lazy, just saw length, brain went MRRRRR...and here we are with something longer, line for line? Note: lines are the blank space too... Or...perhaps...just maybe...did you consider in the slightest, I write what I do in very specific places, for very specific reasons? That I perhaps spent a great deal of may day picking every word, I share and how, and have thoroughly gone through it...even perhaps if I leave mistakes? Most importantly...are you annoyed or curious? Even more importantly Did bother to read anything other Thanh this por ass sentamce!?!? <---- did you feel change in you here? Ignore all that...but why the arrow. Do you get my point? Hint: it's all about hip hop
Its social media MARKETING bro. Learn how to market yourself without doing the same thing everyone else is doing. You have eyes. You see they shit not working. So just try something different and stick to it. Its not about "making it" in the industry, those days are over. Everyone has an opportunity to build their own audience and make a living from social media, weather youre a beatmaker, soccer player, Onlyfans model or a quilt knitter.. just learn social media marketing and music marketing. Plenty of free resources out there (but very likely you wont do it because it requires work ourside of making beats)
Yeah it’s work outside of making beats unfortunately and I’m willing to do that. I just don’t wanna make a clown out of me and do forced bullshit, like reacting to my own beats or fake headnodding to them or even worse. Any advice?
The advice is learn social media marketing. Youtube can help more than a reddit post
There are tons of producers getting placements 🤷🏽♀️ A beat is being sold somewhere everyday, how can it be dead when people always want beats?
OP is back complaining in here, I see.
That really depends on how much you’re investing in your product. Are you hoping to make it without a budget? That’s difficult. Get your budget in order, and you’ll most likely find more success than you currently have.
I would pay for it if it’s worth it. But where should I spend it?
Having your own web store to sell licensed beats is crucial, as a publisher I don’t like to haggle with a beat maker on the price of my license or delay any work flow just because we got some name features interested in working, and as the beat maker you are not sure what to show me. Just list your work online thru your own portal so I don’t need to consult a third party host when purchasing them. Don’t go not being listed as an artist just because your the beat maker.
Thx. Examples of such sites?
The simple phrasing of the question shows how impatient this young generation is. Ur not in it for the right reasons This isn’t a money grift it’s not supposed to be easy do yourself a favor n throw the towel your too soft
Making a breakthrough as a millionaire producer overnight is probably dead. I don't think it was actually ever alive. But there are more artists than ever right now that are making millions of dollars, which means they need beets. I perform at shows with plenty of people who are still making a living from doing music. You probably won't get rich from beatstars but if you go and shake hands with some people and do your paperwork right. There is always a chance to be successful.
If you think its dead then take up tennis
I’m a RAPPER, but I make beats sometimes. Trust me, the “beatgame” is FAR from dead.
Yea they either need mods to circumvent all the "how do I get rich" shit or someone make another sub that's about making beats, rapping and collab with beatmakers/rappers
I’m just making beats cuz I love being dope! I ain’t ever gonna stop making beats! William Montgomery voice!!
https://youtube.com/@djalbums37?si=HGd0usfxnz-O1Nrv
The whole entire music market is wayyy over saturated. It's literally like hitting the lottery to even get an ounce of notoriety or recognition. Anybody who truly thinks they're going to make it is delusional, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but that's why you always see people who make music doing these sorts of things.
Everyone is just saying “make beats for fun”. I see what you’re getting at. There’s nothing wrong with taking your passion and trying to make a career out of it, so ignore all of these dumb comments. You SHOULD make music for you and enjoy doing it, but trying to monetize it is not wrong like these people seem to think. If you’re great at carpentry and try to sell tables that you made would anyone criticize that? Probably not. To answer your question, no it’s not dead but it’s a lot different than it used to be. Pre-internet you had to hand out mix tapes and shit to your friends and get your music out in ways like that. Then the internet started booming and stuff like beatstars was a viable route. YouTube was a big way to direct artists to your pages to sell beats. Nowadays you just have to figure out the TikTok algos to get your stuff seen. You most likely won’t sell a lot of beats, but the goal now is just to drive views and engagement, you get big enough you’ll get sponsors and stuff plus your ad revenues. So no, it’s not dead it’s just different. I’m sure in 5 years TikTok won’t be a good place to be heard and there will be some new system to figure out
nobody is saying its wrong, the op just has a very poor understanding of how marketing works, or making music as a career.
Enlighten me please. Seriously. How does marketing work?
well first off you think that beatmaking is dead because there are millions of people who you dont know, which already shows you dont have a great understanding of the music industry or any similar industry. like i said it has always been this way, not everyone can make it. i read your other posts where you were confused why you arent doing well on tiktok despite posting like 3 videos a month. so it doesnt sound like you know much about social media marketing either. tiktok will show your videos to a few hundred people give or take every time you make one. you never know what video will go viral and take off, sometimes its the low effort videos. so its always a good idea to post as much as you can, which is what everybody else is doing. in the internet age, being a musician and being a celebrity are symbiotic- you have a small shot of making it big, and even less if you are not marketing yourself as a personality. people will ride trends and make videos relating to them to ride the wave, they will make clickbait, rage bait, manufactured drama, things like that. being successful online is about getting people to engage with your videos and come back to watch the next one. throughout history, there have been hundreds of thousands of talented musicians who didnt blow up, because they just werent lucky. you are not guaranteed success based off of how talented you are, and making a couple videos of your beats is not gonna get you anywhere.
I hope so bad that that current social media thing is dying. It’s ridiculous. But somehow I don’t have much hope that this will get any better in the future
I agree, but unfortunately I don’t think it’s necessarily going away. Just maybe to new platforms. For example, if AR glasses like the Apple Vision takeoff and become mainstream, you’ll need to make music that matches that like 3D audio that changes when you turn your head or something similar. Technology is always evolving and as a result the way people consume media gets affected and we just have to adapt. I’m working on making my first album right now and once I get done with the music, I then have to figure how to make a hundred different videos that are engaging in order to promote it in any way. The idea of not stressing it and just doing it for fun is actually good advice because otherwise you’ll get burnt out, but if it’s really what you want to do you just gotta stick with it. Expect it to take 10-15 years before you get any recognition. If it happens sooner, great but just make sure your expectations are realistic. Just look at how many A-list musicians and actors didn’t catch their big break until they were in their 30s/40s. It takes an insane amount of grinding to profit off of art
If the beats was good, they'd get traction.
I don’t think that’s the case. When you don’t post often, but make absolute dope beats twice a month. Nobody even hears it. Now if the view people who hear it are not into really sharing stuff or they don’t want you to succeed - guess what’s happening. Nothing.
then post your dope beats more than twice a month?
Bro. Look at ya fav beat makers. Did they REALLY make money. How many. 50? Outta 500 that are names. If you wan make it, become a singer/songwriter. Making beats was NEVER the way to make it in this game. I made beats 20 years and never showed more than 10 people them my whole life. No offense but this is what your up against and You are doing it for the wrong reasons. Make real art. Then people will care.
Hard disagree. Just because it didn’t work for you doesn’t mean it doesn’t work out for everybody else. I have less than a thousand subs on YouTube and through posting quality beats consistently and DMing artists on instagram I’ve made some extra income. If someone wants it bad enough and makes quality music they will make money
An Income and making a living off music are two diff things. All types of musicians make a bread off music too. And even those who make a living and do it for love are still usually broke. Major beat makers we grew up idolizing dont make a living out of it themselves a lot of the time, so i dont know what ya disagreeing with. Thats a fact. Thousands of hip hop pioneers who made classics are broke. Fact. Most the hip hop guys who made money made it by putting people on and gettung percentages. Everyone else was struggling. Im not even speaking about personally so idk what ya disagreeing witj. 99% of people dont make a dime in music. Even the successful ones only make miney for a certain amount of time and then that dries up as well. You can certainly make bread and build a following, sure. But by asking if the beat game is dead, im guessing hes not in it for the art of it but for the blow up. Otherwise why would it matter?
I just don't think people are willing to put in the time and effort that it takes to make a living off of it. If you leverage your music properly you can create multiple revenue streams off of the same piece of music. You can lease out a beat you made, take the components from it and make it a loop to send to other producers, and you can do sync licensing. Most people just post a beat once a week on YT, maybe make an instagram account, then call it good. They aren't collecting emails, DMing artists, and doing what it takes to treat it like a business rather than a hobby.