How To Sell Beats Future Producers

ProducerJC

IndieHost
Almost every producer wants to sell beats to hip hop artists who can take them to the next level. On that same note, tons of hip hop artists look to producers for the same thing. Music professionals need to sell music in order to survive the music business.

How do you sell beats?

This question seems to come up frequently enough to receive an updated response. I'll do my best Give you a simple answer. First of all, you need to understand that the selling is based on the number of people you talk to about your beats and mixtapes.

Every sale begins with a person saying something to another and, as beat sellers, that person should be you. I shake my head at producers who make beats but never tell anyone about them. And I laugh at producers who want to make money with their beats, but give them away for free. The music industry doesn't bring success to antisocial people, and giving away beats for nothing in return is comedic. After all, how can a producer sell a product once it's be given away?

Selling beats is simple.


Ask 200 artists, per day, if they're working on anything new. Do this 5 days out of the week, as if it where your job to sell beats. Most people will say, "Yes" which at that time you should try to gather more information about the music they like. The ones that say no should be passed up, without hesitation, because they're not doing anything. The whole point is to sell to active musicians, not the inactive ones. Once you know more about the music they like, and why they like it, you can pick a track(s) from your beat library and link it to them. After you send a link to the artists, ask for feedback.The ones that like your beat(s) will purchase them from you.

Talking to 200 artists 5 days per week means that you're asking 4000 people per month to consider writing to your beats. Ask yourself this...

How many beats would you sell if 1000 active artist heard them?
 
The problem is figuring out which artists have budgets and which don't. Plenty of "rappers" & bedroom labels will lead you to believe they are working with a budget when infact they will ask for free beats because of "blah blah blah blah... fill in the blank". I don't think playing the #'s game is that solid of a plan to sell beats for too many reasons to list.

Clearly there is a market to buy beats. Its completely saturated and competitive and nearly everyone is employing the same strategy to try and sell their beats. Why not approach the problem differently? Now is a really good time to chill and rework your strategy for making money producing music. Put out a beat tape or album, shoot some videos, pay for some features and stack your "credits" so when you demand money for your music your beats you have awesome reference material, etc, etc. the possibilities are endless

The artists and labels who are putting out solid projects have a solid production and marketing plan. They most likely already have their production lined up and it doens't include the 1,500 people emailing them to buy beats. I think folks resources are better spent "getting on the radar" so that artists and labels seek you out vs. appearing hungry and desperate to sell some beats.

Your strategy will work, it just won't work that well and will consume a ridiculous amount of time that can be allocated elsewhere... i.e. creating.

Again, if you have enough time to to blast 4000 people per month to buy your beats more power to you. I think most "producers" and content creators energy is better spent making music.
 
The problem is figuring out which artists have budgets and which don't. Plenty of "rappers" & bedroom labels will lead you to believe they are working with a budget when infact they will ask for free beats because of "blah blah blah blah... fill in the blank". I don't think playing the #'s game is that solid of a plan to sell beats for too many reasons to list.

It sounds like you're spending to much time trying to guess if they have the money. It's easy to determine people who have a budget and those who don't be watching their activities in the music communities, online and off. You obviously don't understand the purpose behind the numbers. At the end of the day it's all about the number of beats you sell.

Find your number...

Clearly there is a market to buy beats. Its completely saturated and competitive and nearly everyone is employing the same strategy to try and sell their beats. Why not approach the problem differently? Now is a really good time to chill and rework your strategy for making money producing music. Put out a beat tape or album, shoot some videos, pay for some features and stack your "credits" so when you demand money for your music your beats you have awesome reference material, etc, etc. the possibilities are endless

I'm already implementing these methods, and then some. Approximately 10% of my web visitors become customers. Truth be told, beat sales count for less than 10% of my overall income. However 80% is made in the music business. Knowing these numbers show me where my marketing dollars have the most impact.

Come on dude, I'm a pro...

The artists and labels who are putting out solid projects have a solid production and marketing plan. They most likely already have their production lined up and it doens't include the 1,500 people emailing them to buy beats. I think folks resources are better spent "getting on the radar" so that artists and labels seek you out vs. appearing hungry and desperate to sell some beats.

Your strategy will work, it just won't work that well and will consume a ridiculous amount of time that can be allocated elsewhere... i.e. creating.

You need to generate a buzz to get on people's radar, and the best way to do that is with your own fan base. I've been in the business of making sales for over 15 years; and by the way, it only takes 30 minutes per day to reach out to 200+ people. I maxed out at 1200 people one Sunday when I felt like applying myself.

Again, if you have enough time to to blast 4000 people per month to buy your beats more power to you. I think most "producers" and content creators energy is better spent making music.

If you don't have the time, pay some one who does. Every successful musician has a team; and, every one has a price for the services they provide. Unless you know someone who's achieved success working for free, my methods are solid. They must be because my bills demand it.
 
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It's all about building a relationship with potential costumers. People won't buy from people they don't know or trust so stack up on your social proof. This could be anything from testimonials on your site, production credits, facebook page likes ect. This just shows people that your real and that other people have shopped with you without a problem. But at the end of the day theres no right or wrong way to sell anything, if your selling then keep doing what your doing, if your not selling then maybe you should try to develop a new strategy. And as corny as it sounds, never give up and keep moving forward.
 
I think folks resources are better spent "getting on the radar" so that artists and labels seek you out vs. appearing hungry and desperate to sell some beats...

This is true.

By getting on the radar you gain fans of your work.

And some of those fans who see value in your work come in the form of artists with budgets.
 
If your beats are non-traditional this idea simply wont work. Most artrist these days want trap beats. Those who don't make them have a harder time selling beats.
 
Alkatoa makes some good points and I agree with a lot of what you say, apart from one thing, you say producers and content creators are better off focusing their time making music??

Ok, but what happens when you have focused all of your time on making music and perfecting it, but then you have these Number One Hits But no idea how to launch it into not only a business, but also expand out into other areas in both business and personal life?

I might be making a big deal of a small sentence because you do make some very good points, that is why I am asking, do you truly believe that the majority of producers time should be spent making music?

As for original question,

I mean anyone could put some numbers together, watch this:

100 people x 5 = 500 People

What I am saying is, you are much better off looking for 5 people that are actually buying beats,
then running around crazy trying to chase 4000 people that may not be interested.

That does not mean it is not possible though man, and I assume enough time has passed for you to find out a lot more about it, anyway,

Peace!
 
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