No Money = No Beats!

SFTRAXX

SFTRAXX

West Coast Rap Producer
Ever felt "short changed" by an artist?

I have.

I had to charge it to the game.

It was def a "not doing that again" experience.

Peep the scenario:

I had an artist (who had previously bought beats off me before) hit me up and ask me to make a specific track for him. ( Normally I wouldn't do this but because he had bought tracks off me before, in my mind, his word was good.) So, I said "alright, it'll be $xxx for the track and give me 48 hours." He agreed and that was that.

Anyways I knocked the track out in about a day (time is money) and hit him up with a 20 sec snippet the following day. *Here comes the curveball* He says "Alright, lemme talk it over with my camp- and then we'll let you know.".......

As soon as I heard that I knew it was a waste of time.

Anyways, I gave him 2 days and then decided to take the initiative and follow up on it. I sent him an email to which he responded: "We decided to go in a different direction"...

Luckily for me my work is valued by others and so I slid the track to a party I knew would be interested, and kept it movin.

To this day, that particular artist hasn't hit me for another "custom" track again and thanks to that experience, I learned a valuable lesson:

When it comes to "custom" beats, always get the money first.



Have you had a similar experience?

Share it.
 
Yes, a lot... because I deleted my soundclick some time ago out of frustration of not having songs (I never should have done that lol).

So ever since (and even before) I have been looking for an artist to "collab" with and was sending beats to people who I thought were talented. But talent is not enough. A few are commited and even when they are, they will take you for granted if you don't charge.

Anyway, that's slightly a different issue I got there but yeah... People will get you track to never record on them or you might hear about a track 2 years later (happened to me too).

Get money first, people don't care about success as much as you do. No free stuff from me anymore.
 
All rappers are my enemy because I treat them good and give them hope......then they get comfortable and expect me to do "everything" for free.......then I leave them alone.......then they make childish ass rap songs about me........then I laugh because I know all the flaws those bastards made in the shit that I tried to guide they paper reading asses on. Word fumbling ass mo fos. See, your beats are next level shit when it's free, charge that same broke ass fumble mouth ****er and it's "the shit ain't worth that amount". Go pick up a book you got damn Cee Yee Yoo ass mutha****er. Get a job mutha****er...be all you can be. And the rest of them, too. Kiss my ass from here to across the street!
 
I would suggest only working with rappers that have at least one or more mixtapes/albums in the public domain(and it would help if the artist/group has a buzz).. Those are the rappers you need to take serious(unless their business isn't serious). No hobbie rappers allowed.. and of course money first....
 
Said it in another thread but if the artist gives you an idea you would have never thought of otherwise just make the beat. If they don't want it just sell it to some else
 
"...ask me to make a specific track for him.."

To be honest, there aint enough info in this scenario to judge.
Did they give you a sample?
If they went in a different direction, what direction(s) did they give you to build a track around?
What was the actual problem with the track you made?

Not to be a devils advocate, BUT if they/he bought beats from you before, obviously money aint the issue. The true issue is You made a beat they didn't like. What RAPPER (the guy that's going to USE your beat) needs a cosign from another person? That means HE didn't like it and didn't know what to do about it. he actually was doing you a favor by getting a second opinion. A normal cat would've said "This aint it, homey" and that would have been that.

You get around this by making the beat with the buyer there (if possible) that way, you know if they are amped to record over it or not. Or, you make whatever changes they need or submit multiple tracks until you hit the mark to make it work.

To this day, that particular artist hasn't hit me for another "custom" track again and thanks to that experience, I learned a valuable lesson.

Gee, I wonder why. They seemed to already know the lesson to NOT to pay you the money upfront in case you make an unusable track. Everywhere on the planet, you pay more for custom work- you pay that 'more' to get something exactly the way you want it.
The lesson you should be learning it to find out more clearly what your customer wants before delivering a Finished Product. You can always get their input as you're fleshing out the song.

But that sounds like producer stuff to me.
Maybe it's best to just put the blame on the rappers again.
 
Just sounds like you made something he/they didn't like. Happens all the time. It's never a loss because you can always add it to your other tracks and sell it. What did when I was working with artist is collection a non refundable deposit. This tied them to me until I came up with something that liked but hey...
 
Your mad because he didn't pay for a track he didn't want? I don't get it.

Its like if you go to some build your own burrito joint; you tell the cat behind the counter what you want, and he makes it for you. If he made you a burrito with shit in it you didn't want, would you want to pay for it? NO. Because it wasn't what you were looking for. It seems like the guy is a sensible person.
 
Griffin Avid said:
Maybe it's best to just put the blame on the rappers again...
Click to expand...

Griffin Avid, normally I agree with you but in this situation

The blame is on them and somewhat on myself for not getting the money up front.

Because the track was hot.

Turf politics stood in the way.

Its a hood thang.
 
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Nobody in their right mind would pay you "via internet" beforehand for a custom beat. It's one thing if your M-Phazes, but if your XYZ producer... nah. This is just my opinion but I wouldn't feel comfortable paying for an uncreated product from an unestablished source.

At any rate even if the client is unhappy with the finished product you can still put it on soundclick and somebody might swoop it. This is a lot different then trying to sell a custom jersey with someones name on the back who flaked on the payment.. With beats they can still be resold.
 
Wow. I guess I should have elaborated a lil bit more on the details but being the type of person I am, I don't like to air out too many details online.

My bad...I guess. lol

Anyways, I understand why one would lean towards the "they didn't like the beat" angle, but to clarify, it was an interpolation that was requested, so doin' what I do best, I dialed it in. The track came out on point but certain politics came to light after it was made that rendered the track unusable to the client.

So all I'm saying is if you as a producer are in that type of situation, where your services are being requested, have the client put down a non refundable deposit, just in case they change their mind.

:cheers:
 
Any producer that relies on broke aspiring rappers for income is a fool. Rappers aren't your most practical people when it comes to making money anway. They're different from 9 to 5ers when it comes to cash and paying bills etc...That's why they can work years with no income just living off that dream while family members and loved ones around them pay the bills. If they're truly talented, then you bite the bullet give them the beat for practically nothing. When they blow up, it's up to you to take advantage of the opportunity. The problem lies in the fact that today there aren't that many good rappers so producers are forced to try and make money off broke irresponsible aspiring rappers. Good luck with that one.
 
i wish i read this thread 3 momnths ago, this guy who bought a beat off me before wanted 4 custom beats. I made the first two and he loved them. Then i make the other two and he tells me he'll send me 450 dollars. So i wait a month, no money sent. i email him and he says he'll send it when he gets back in town. Now its been a month, and no money sent
 
Depends on what your policies are. Do you want your money first, and have the artist take the risk of receiving a beat they don't like. Or can you put together a list of beats that the artist can choose from, and pay you later?

Can't be so sure what happened in your situation, but if you can't get a hold of your artist by email, why not call by phone.

Getting contact information is key in any business. That way you can get the answers you want when you need them.
 
Everybody wants to hear the beat... let us check it out.

I agree with benji2's post... I know this from actually trying to work with rappers in situations where the beats were free. I wasn't even asking them to buy beats... they didn't even have money for snacks when we would make a run to the store...

None of them had any gear to record on... the most they had was a pen and some paper. They expected me to have the CD's to burn the songs on, they expected me to supply the beats and recording gear... they just thought they should show up and everything would be cool... some of them expected a ride home or to be dropped off at their girls house...
 
I think he was saying they paid up front for the other tracks ...but sent a snippet of the custom made and they had some one else in the camp try to remake it or loop it
 
yeah i dont know if you can really be mad at this situation, i mean it didnt work out but in the end u were still able move the beat somewhere else...so why trip?
 
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