Starting To Sell Beats.. What should I invest in first?

[BruceLeeBeatz]

So I just started promoting my beats, I started out with social media marketing you know.. Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud, YouTube. I know it's a long way to go and nothing comes overnight but I also know that nothing is for free and I have to invest in something, I just don't want to invest on the wrong things. I guess starting out with making a website would be the first thing, but then again how would I get traffic on there? I mean you can spend your money literally on ANYTHING on the net, the question for is just what really makes sense to spend money on to get started? How did you get started?

 

[YungFlexGod]

Investing into connections is the most valuable thing, judging from my own experiences.

Having a website or SoundClick might help a bit, giving some more exposure, however it did little for me.

I'd shift your focus to building connections with your customers, can be both online or offline. However, where I live, I get most success with finding customers "offline" - going to hip hop events, performing at hip hop events as a DJ and talk to everybody, getting my name out there. When they know you personally, they're more likely to spend 100$ for a beat, compared to on the internet, where the average price for a lease is now 1$. Also, when they know you personally, its way easier to get your credit for it. Everyone I work with offline, puts my name in the title of the video or track. And usually they post a few tweets saying that my beats are dope.

And most importantly, customers I've built a good connection with, always come back for more beats. Or to have me produce their EP.

I don't know how much Hip Hop is going on in your area, but if there's some events going on in your area, and there are rappers/labels out there, I'd definitely invest your time to connect with those people, instead of investing time and money into SoundClick or a website. (they will probably help a bit, but it was insignificant for me)

Also know that building a website or SoundClick will take some time, time you could also put in making more beats.

 

[Exclusivo]

You're on the right track. You do need a website.

How do you get traffic? You shouldn't prioritise social media as your marketing efforts. Instead, you should look to start a mailing list.

Make sure you install WordPress and blog on your website!

What should you blog about? Something that compliments your product. You're selling beats, who buys beats? Artists. Blog about setting up a home studio, creating a conceptual album, mixing (something you know about already), etc etc.

Also, three companies I recommend you use:

1. DreamHost - the hosting company I use. Absolutely brilliant. The link gives you a $20 discount as well (I do receive a commission for the referral as well by the way). If you look elsewhere, I wouldn't recommend GoDaddy or BlueHost. Been with both and neither are good.

2. WordPress - free blogging platform. A bit of a learning curve, but when you get in to it you won't look back.

3. YMLP - mailing list provider. Free up to 1,000 subscribers. You will be put on a trial account on sign up. Check the trial account out, but you can switch to free straight away to see what you're really getting in to.

If you need any help with anything, feel free to PM me.

I have a music marketing blog as well if you wish to check that out. (Internal Affairs) I test and discuss marketing strategies on it. There's a newsletter you can sign up to as well!

Hope I've helped,
Jordan

 

[BruceLeeBeatz]

@YungFlexGod yes you're right, offline connections are very important! I had kind of good experience with this as well, I had a couple of friends rapping over my beats (for free of course), and soon after that friends of them were interested in my beats as well, it was just that they thought I would give them the beats for free as well, and as soon as I mentioned money, they turned away..

Going to hip hop events is a good idea though, I don't know if I could be deejaying really, but like going to freestyle battles and handing out flyers and so on, that would be a great idea, I think I should do that!
But you know by marketing beats online you can spread your product more widely!

@Exclusivo great website! Looking forward to read more!

Yes I read about mailing lists as well, just never really thought they would be that important! I could easily get 200 email addresses in one day by rappers that are interested in beats through twitter, Google and Facebook. My only concern is that it may come across as spammy, sending them newsletters or something even though they haven't even signed up for anything! So how would I get people to sign up for the email list, without having any traffic to my site?

Yes WordPress is very interesting as well, I'm building my site right now actually.. But I've just stumbled across another site which really caught my attention,

it's called soundgine and they got a very great website + beatstore as well! No option for blogging though.


Thanks a lot for your input guys!

 

[YungFlexGod]

@YungFlexGod yes you're right, offline connections are very important! I had kind of good experience with this as well, I had a couple of friends rapping over my beats (for free of course), and soon after that friends of them were interested in my beats as well, it was just that they thought I would give them the beats for free as well, and as soon as I mentioned money, they turned away..

Going to hip hop events is a good idea though, I don't know if I could be deejaying really, but like going to freestyle battles and handing out flyers and so on, that would be a great idea, I think I should do that!
But you know by marketing beats online you can spread your product more widely!

Haha yeah, same thing happened to me in the beginning. Now I never give away free beats anymore - only to very close rapper-friends.

However, if a rapper is serious about his craft and career, he will pay for beats.

I actually don't "DJ", I perform with the close rapper-friends. Which means pressing play on the DJ set - I only play the beats the rappers rap over. No dj skill required, I just pretend to be pushing buttons. Also I take away the volume during a punchline here and there.

The amazing thing is that venues actually pay me to do this.

 

[SFTRAXX]

Read this and then re-read this:

This probably seems obvious but a lot of people miss the boat on this....

1. Invest your time into perfecting your craft. (Learn how to make good music consistently)

2. Invest in your customers. (They're your biggest fans!- Seriously.)

In the beat selling arena, paying customers are looking for a deal on the best music they can find and a direct connection to the man behind the machine.

Why not give them both?

Here's an example:

I've got a few indie guys who have been rockin with me for like 10+ years. ~ We've never met personally, (they are multiple timezones away) but I've always treated them as old friends because we've been doing business for so long.

Our business relationship started off by them buying an exclusive from me on SC years back. After the sale, I took the initiative to follow up and email them and ask them about the music, the artist, how the project was going, etc - basically showing a genuine interest in them and their movement (which they were happy to share with me). This small investment in turn made me stand out to them and has proven itself over time.

How do I know this made me stand out?

To this day, every few months they come back and buy tracks. They'll hit me up via email for 3-7 exclusives and because of our history I'll give them the price they want for the tracks they want on the strength. (Not just any price but something we are both cool with) No bs. Nice and smooth. Additionally, they let me know when their sh*t drops and ask me to hit them when I drop new sh*t...


I feel the key reasons we have been doing business for years is that I:

1. properly laid the groundwork right out the gate by following thru after that initial sale (<== most cats fail at this)

and

2. continue to add value to their movement by providing a personalized approach


Understanding that the business relationship "starts with the sale" vs. "ends with the sale" has proven time and time again to be one of my biggest assets.

Try it yourself.

 

[fataltone]

@YungFlexGod yes you're right, offline connections are very important! I had kind of good experience with this as well, I had a couple of friends rapping over my beats (for free of course), and soon after that friends of them were interested in my beats as well, it was just that they thought I would give them the beats for free as well, and as soon as I mentioned money, they turned away..

Going to hip hop events is a good idea though, I don't know if I could be deejaying really, but like going to freestyle battles and handing out flyers and so on, that would be a great idea, I think I should do that!
But you know by marketing beats online you can spread your product more widely!

@Exclusivo great website! Looking forward to read more!

Yes I read about mailing lists as well, just never really thought they would be that important! I could easily get 200 email addresses in one day by rappers that are interested in beats through twitter, Google and Facebook. My only concern is that it may come across as spammy, sending them newsletters or something even though they haven't even signed up for anything! So how would I get people to sign up for the email list, without having any traffic to my site?

Yes WordPress is very interesting as well, I'm building my site right now actually.. But I've just stumbled across another site which really caught my attention,

it's called soundgine and they got a very great website + beatstore as well! No option for blogging though.


Thanks a lot for your input guys!

soundgine allows you to post your beatstore on any website from great,great features ..when you setup your wordpress site you just add it
read more about the features
I have to agree on building personal touch
I always do a lot of direct messaging on social media and made my sales that way
I only offer exclusives beats through direct messaging
I never sell exclusive off my beatstore
because I believe a exclusive should be a exclusive for that artists ears only
when I offer a exclusive only 2 artists, 3 artists max get to hear the beat

I also agree having a mailing list is important too
I get ppl to sign up to my newsletter through my blog posts that hit social media and through posts on forums,and even on Reddit

 

[BruceLeeBeatz]

I actually don't "DJ", I perform with the close rapper-friends. Which means pressing play on the DJ set - I only play the beats the rappers rap over. No dj skill required, I just pretend to be pushing buttons. Also I take away the volume during a punchline here and there.

The amazing thing is that venues actually pay me to do this.

Damn now that sounds like a lucrative job! But I guess if you're part of the crew and you'll get paid since you're a part of the show!

I've got a few indie guys who have been rockin with me for like 10+ years. ~ We've never met personally, (they are multiple timezones away) but I've always treated them as old friends because we've been doing business for so long.

Our business relationship started off by them buying an exclusive from me on SC years back. After the sale, I took the initiative to follow up and email them and ask them about the music, the artist, how the project was going, etc - basically showing a genuine interest in them and their movement (which they were happy to share with me). This small investment in turn made me stand out to them and has proven itself over time.

How do I know this made me stand out?

To this day, every few months they come back and buy tracks. They'll hit me up via email for 3-7 exclusives and because of our history I'll give them the price they want for the tracks they want on the strength. (Not just any price but something we are both cool with) No bs. Nice and smooth. Additionally, they let me know when their sh*t drops and ask me to hit them when I drop new sh*t...

That's exactly the point where I wanna go to! I'm not all about selling 10 leased beats, to random people, I wanna make music with artists, that I can enjoy myself! So how did you start connecting with those indie artists? Did they hit you up over your website? or did you just DM them off twitter? do you also do research on people you wanna work with?

I also agree having a mailing list is important too
I get ppl to sign up to my newsletter through my blog posts that hit social media and through posts on forums,and even on Reddit

Ok so I see where this is going.. blogging is actually a very powerful tool, that I would've never thought of! You can get a lot of traffic through blogging by SEO! that's right! Is that you in that video? Grat video!!


Thanks a lot guys for sharing your expirience! You inspired me to grind harder and inspired me to go new ways

 

[fataltone]

Damn now that sounds like a lucrative job! But I guess if you're part of the crew and you'll get paid since you're a part of the show!









That's exactly the point where I wanna go to! I'm not all about selling 10 leased beats, to random people, I wanna make music with artists, that I can enjoy myself! So how did you start connecting with those indie artists? Did they hit you up over your website? or did you just DM them off twitter? do you also do research on people you wanna work with?





Ok so I see where this is going.. blogging is actually a very powerful tool, that I would've never thought of! You can get a lot of traffic through blogging by SEO! that's right! Is that you in that video? Grat video!!


Thanks a lot guys for sharing your expirience! You inspired me to grind harder and inspired me to go new ways

no that's not me
I pride myself on finding great information and sharing with music artists/producers and media professionals
that's how I mostly help my clients

 

[SFTRAXX]

That's exactly the point where I wanna go to! I'm not all about selling 10 leased beats, to random people, I wanna make music with artists, that I can enjoy myself! So how did you start connecting with those indie artists? Did they hit you up over your website? or did you just DM them off twitter? do you also do research on people you wanna work with?

Whats wrong with leasing 10 beats to random people?

The guys who bought that beat from me were random people......

 

[BruceLeeBeatz]

Whats wrong with leasing 10 beats to random people?

The guys who bought that beat from me were random people......

Ok so maybe I got you wrong then, but you do have a very good strategy to actually build business relationships.

 

[Bloody Glove]

So I just started promoting my beats, I started out with social media marketing you know.. Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud, YouTube. I know it's a long way to go and nothing comes overnight but I also know that nothing is for free and I have to invest in something, I just don't want to invest on the wrong things. I guess starting out with making a website would be the first thing, but then again how would I get traffic on there? I mean you can spend your money literally on ANYTHING on the net, the question for is just what really makes sense to spend money on to get started? How did you get started?

You need to invest MORE of your TIME...not "time" as in "letting time pass"...no...Time as in "I sleep 4 hour's a day and grind on my business-craft the other 20."

You need to spend a great deal of time UNCONVENTIONALLY and ACTIVELY educating yourself via books /video's/courses/consultations/shadowing/interning in the relevant area's of Business Planning, Sales, Sales Copy, Marketing, Branding, Psychology, Youtube business/marketing, Twitter business/marketing, Facebook business/marketing,Referral based marketing, Business Development, Social Media Marketing-Management, Relationship Building, Search Engine Optimization, E-commerce, Graphic Design, Web Design, Videography/Editing and How to increase web traffic.

CREATING CONTENT. Both music and social media/youtube marketing video's.

Yourself. That is what you're investing in, can't lose.

 

[benji2]

So I just started promoting my beats, I started out with social media marketing you know.. Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud, YouTube. I know it's a long way to go and nothing comes overnight but I also know that nothing is for free and I have to invest in something, I just don't want to invest on the wrong things. I guess starting out with making a website would be the first thing, but then again how would I get traffic on there? I mean you can spend your money literally on ANYTHING on the net, the question for is just what really makes sense to spend money on to get started? How did you get started?

Invest in establishing relationships with rappers. It helps when you connect with them before they become known on a national level. Don't rely strictly on internet. People are a whole lot more responsible for their actions when you meet them the traditional way face to face. They'll give you a lot more respect and attach a person with feelings to the actual beat. They're less likely to steal your beat .the internet is cool but mix it up a little and try to connect with rappers in real life situations. Everybody makes beats these days. Many rappers dont have to go online and shop for beats and to be honest the type of rappers who scan the net looking for beats are usually not the ones you want to work with anyway. If they had talent best believe some other aspiring producer would have been supplying them beats.Sending rappers beats via email is way more effective to me though than a website. That takes building a relationship via social media. My buddy has a knack for building relationships with Bay Area rappers on facebook. They've done tracks for him free of charge. He's about 3 songs in with some pretty impressive features.

 

[BruceLeeBeatz]

ok so i can see where this is going, I don't really have to invest money but rather TIME.. thank you ALL for your input!

So after you gave me these tips, I looked around for upcomming fresstyle battles (we have a fairly large hip hop community here) there will be two next month, so I'll go there just to see if I'll be able to connect with someone. I hope that'll work since I'm not that much of a talkative person, but we'll see!

Other than that, since you wrote a lot about writing Blog respectively creating content, I wrote my first Blog post two days ago, I also concentrated on SEO.

I'm planing to launch a Website by next month, to publish those Blogposts. I'm just not sure yet if I'll go with soundgine's vue or if I should get a professional theme for WordPress (advantage: complete proffessional looking website with integrated Blog)

I'll also buy Video camera just to make some Videos on YouTube in order to get more trafic to that Website.

I still think that a professional looking Website is very important, because if you meet people you can always refer them to your Site, where they can listen to all of the beats, instead of sending it to them.

I also stopped to put such a big focus on social media marketing, because judging from you guys wrote, it's not really THAT important to have tons followers!

 

[SFTRAXX]

I also stopped to put such a big focus on social media marketing, because judging from you guys wrote, it's not really THAT important to have tons followers!

IMO its important to have a consistent online presence. [be easy to find]
So definitely do have some activity on those networks because they can provide additional leads and opportunities plus they also give people a way to find you easily.
On that same tip tho don't rely on them to be the "end all be all" in terms of communicating with people.

Utilize all avenues.

 

[Bloody Glove]

ok so i can see where this is going, I don't really have to invest money but rather TIME.. thank you ALL for your input!

So after you gave me these tips, I looked around for upcomming fresstyle battles (we have a fairly large hip hop community here) there will be two next month, so I'll go there just to see if I'll be able to connect with someone. I hope that'll work since I'm not that much of a talkative person, but we'll see!

Other than that, since you wrote a lot about writing Blog respectively creating content, I wrote my first Blog post two days ago, I also concentrated on SEO.

I'm planing to launch a Website by next month, to publish those Blogposts. I'm just not sure yet if I'll go with soundgine's vue or if I should get a professional theme for WordPress (advantage: complete proffessional looking website with integrated Blog)

I'll also buy Video camera just to make some Videos on YouTube in order to get more trafic to that Website.

I still think that a professional looking Website is very important, because if you meet people you can always refer them to your Site, where they can listen to all of the beats, instead of sending it to them.

I also stopped to put such a big focus on social media marketing, because judging from you guys wrote, it's not really THAT important to have tons followers!

-A Website is hella important, which is why you should understand the importance of controlling your own traffic. So that mean's MORE FOCUS on QUALITY social media venue's. Make your YOUTUBE page top of the line, same with twitter, facebook, instagram ect.ect. Treat those pages like a website, that's how you get your practice, build a following and ultimately convert follower's to paying customer's. Your proprietary website conversion pool will be built in if you have a robust social media platform first.

If you start with having a strong foundation rooted in strong communication skill's, conversing with people, persuasion, sales, building relationship's, business/marketing planning, branding yourself, branding your business...a professionally done website will be gravy and SUPPLEMENT your effort's. Do that and you can have both a ...a passive income "beat store" and be a "consultant" who actually get's paid to craft career's in addition to track's.

 

[Exclusivo]

-A Website is hella important, which is why you should understand the importance of controlling your own traffic. So that mean's MORE FOCUS on QUALITY social media venue's. Make your YOUTUBE page top of the line, same with twitter, facebook, instagram ect.ect. Treat those pages like a website, that's how you get your practice, build a following and ultimately convert follower's to paying customer's. Your proprietary website conversion pool will be built in if you have a robust social media platform first.

If you start with having a strong foundation rooted in strong communication skill's, conversing with people, persuasion, sales, building relationship's, business/marketing planning, branding yourself, branding your business...a professionally done website will be gravy and SUPPLEMENT your effort's. Do that and you can have both a ...a passive income "beat store" and be a "consultant" who actually get's paid to craft career's in addition to track's.

I don't think social media should be a priority though. I agree it's of importance, but a newsletter will help attract a targeted audience and retain that audience over time. (That is, as long as the newsletters content is quality - hence it being a priority)... Social media is a lot less efficient.