Stop Giving Away FREE Beats...

  • Thread starter Thread starter K-Felon
  • Start date Start date
I give some away to build the brand. Seems like every rapper is poor on soundcloud.. what a shock.
 
K-Felon said:
I know most of you have come across those artists who asks for FREE beats.

In my opinion it's nothing wrong with giving away a few beats...

...however, there's artists out there who don't take what we do

SERIOUS.

This video is an example of those artists so I encourage you to watch this
to know what to look out for because...

...as producers we take this music shit serious and we don't need people
taking what we do for granted!

Hope y'all enjoy!


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This should be a Mantra, chanted every day from every producer in the world, this video here.
 
I'm an advocate for free beats, but I could relate to what he's saying... Free beats is great when used strategically with marketing.
 
You can't really escape it though, people will always ''steal'' your music.

I posted a beat on soundcloud, did a search on it via google a few days later and it was already being streamed on sites I've never heard of, obviously ripped from soundcloud.

You can put tags all over your music, sure, but they can be really annoying and may detract someone critically listening to the beat closely.
 
K-Felon said:
I know most of you have come across those artists who asks for FREE beats.

In my opinion it's nothing wrong with giving away a few beats...

...however, there's artists out there who don't take what we do

SERIOUS.

This video is an example of those artists so I encourage you to watch this
to know what to look out for because...

...as producers we take this music shit serious and we don't need people
taking what we do for granted!

Hope y'all enjoy!




Facebook Twitter Instagram
Click to expand...


Huge respect from Finland! Nothing but the utmost respect for someone who values their time the way that you do (and that others should).
 
FidelityMusic said:
Coming from someone who always looked for free beats to rap on, I didn't appreciate what producers did one bit, let alone did I care of the work they put in. Do you know how many beats I destroyed, and not in a good way? Now that I've put the time in producing, I realize the hard work it takes. From studying Sound Design, to learning to play the Piano/Keyboard, to learning basic Music Theory, learning your DAW inside-out, to studying the basics of Audio Engineering, to watching countless videos to learn new techniques and then applying them, to learning your Plugins and Synths inside-out. There's no way I'm giving beats away for free, a good majority of us dedicate too much time for some lame rapper to talk about his manufactured struggle, all the females he claims he's hittin', or how he's killing the rap game in his bedroom.

Let these rappers/artists put their money where their mouth is, producers shouldn't be doing $20 leases either, unless it's some basic project/session that you know is gonna sit in a folder.
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Here that loud and clear b
 
I know he touches on this but don't underestimate the power and metaphorical value of the free beat..if you're starting out and need to create a buzz around your brand there is no better way.
 
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I totally understand the frustration coming from producers
(I'm part of an underground Rap duo based in the UK)
I sit there and watch some producers putting the time and effort in to creating beats just to be flocked by a bunch of artists asking for free beats.

My only thing is, it seems nowadays some of you producers just wanna sell your beats, accumulate cash and not really care about who vocals them (That's how it comes off anyway)

It kinda looks like - with the way some producers go RAGE mode - you make beats with the intention JUST to sell (lol guys don't flame, it's just an observation..I'm an Emcee, not a producer, I welcome a challenge) Remember I said some...not ALL.
 
hobbyist(me and a few others) are casuals.

beatmakers(slightly more business oriented crowd who makes money from theirs)are sorta like the FGC sometimes.

musician(can be both a hobbyist and beatmaker but on a higher level than the casuals)

producers(not necessarily beatmakers but businessmen who use anything to get that dollar whether it be shoes or headphones.)
 
RealityMusicUK said:
I totally understand the frustration coming from producers
(I'm part of an underground Rap duo based in the UK)
I sit there and watch some producers putting the time and effort in to creating beats just to be flocked by a bunch of artists asking for free beats.

My only thing is, it seems nowadays some of you producers just wanna sell your beats, accumulate cash and not really care about who vocals them (That's how it comes off anyway)

It kinda looks like - with the way some producers go RAGE mode - you make beats with the intention JUST to sell (lol guys don't flame, it's just an observation..I'm an Emcee, not a producer, I welcome a challenge) Remember I said some...not ALL.
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Na i make beats n i diff kno what u mean....
I think thats where the dollar downloads come from.....
-i understand branding... but no nikes never cost a dollar...

I love my laptop... but thats where a studio comes n handy.....
If i make somthing n get somone to rap on it... i can tell them how i think the verse should go or cadences...

What spend hours to sale a beat for a dollar n a garbage ass nigga hop on it...
just to sit on his hard drive....
-i guess u got a dollar tho...
 
RealityMusicUK said:
I totally understand the frustration coming from producers
(I'm part of an underground Rap duo based in the UK)
I sit there and watch some producers putting the time and effort in to creating beats just to be flocked by a bunch of artists asking for free beats.

My only thing is, it seems nowadays some of you producers just wanna sell your beats, accumulate cash and not really care about who vocals them (That's how it comes off anyway)

It kinda looks like - with the way some producers go RAGE mode - you make beats with the intention JUST to sell (lol guys don't flame, it's just an observation..I'm an Emcee, not a producer, I welcome a challenge) Remember I said some...not ALL.
Click to expand...

Like with nearly anything, there are people involved in the creation of the art for love and passion..and there are people involved that are just trying to make a buck...so this is a bit of a simplified conclusion really.

The problem you're highlighting here is that the producer is perfectly happy throwing out anything for free until someone offers the producer their first sale - that's when the cash goes straight to the producer's head and he/she expects to make a buck off everything he/she creates.

I don't see anything wrong at all with a producer demanding good numbers for his beats if he's been in the game a long while, is highly knowledgeable and is just looking to claw some of his investment back in all that gear...that's fine.

Like with any business there are plenty of frauds, and it just seems like music attracts a lot more than other disciplines.

Just a thought: if you're a rapper and you feel like you're constantly being overcharged or hustled by a producer it is probably because you're not all that talented, you're not promoting your work in any serious or ambitious way or as in the video in the thread you do it "for fun". The producer is overcharging you because he doesn't see ANY value in giving you the instrumental at a discounted rate, or better yet, for free. Just a thought.

But yeah if you don't have $20 to spare for a lease for an instrumental for your project (when realistically all that makes a great commercial hip hop song these days is a catchy beat and a vocalist who doesn't destory the beat) then you're in the wrong profession and you need a huge reality check (or maybe an actual check if you're that broke!)
 
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zoo said:
Like with nearly anything, there are people involved in the creation of the art for love and passion..and there are people involved that are just trying to make a buck...so this is a bit of a simplified conclusion really.

The problem you're highlighting here is that the producer is perfectly happy throwing out anything for free until someone offers the producer their first sale - that's when the cash goes straight to the producer's head and he/she expects to make a buck off everything he/she creates.

I don't see anything wrong at all with a producer demanding good numbers for his beats if he's been in the game a long while, is highly knowledgeable and is just looking to claw some of his investment back in all that gear...that's fine.

Like with any business there are plenty of frauds, and it just seems like music attracts a lot more than other disciplines.

Just a thought: if you're a rapper and you feel like you're constantly being overcharged or hustled by a producer it is probably because you're not all that talented, you're not promoting your work in any serious or ambitious way or as in the video in the thread you do it "for fun". The producer is overcharging you because he doesn't see ANY value in giving you the instrumental at a discounted rate, or better yet, for free. Just a thought.

But yeah if you don't have $20 to spare for a lease for an instrumental for your project (when realistically all that makes a great commercial hip hop song these days is a catchy beat and a vocalist who doesn't destory the beat) then you're in the wrong profession and you need a huge reality check (or maybe an actual check if you're that broke!)
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As a producer I love your answer. I used to sell beats and while I still do I'm. It as aggressive with it. I would happily give a free beat to talent, but as you say if the artist sucks I would charge. You have to also understand that in the music industry, higher amounts of money are exchanged for transaction among top talents but there a producers that also live off of their music and that can explain why they charge so much because they invested in their equipment and are also trying to create a living... There's more than one reason why someone would sell beats or give it for free
 
The MCs and Producers deserve equal respect. Its just that some 'rappers' out there feel entitled and forget this principle.

Mc and producers are 2 sides of the same coin.
 
I know of an emcee who also has another artistic career. He moans that no one shows up to the shows he performs at (as a rapper). Everyone expects to hire him for free or at a reduced rate in his other career. He seems to spend most of his days moaning on Facebook about it all... THEN I spoke to a couple of producers he's good friends with and who work with him regularly. Does he pay? No. I do think they probably get paid on a mechanical royalty ratio, but then he moans that none of his music gets bought so that raises eyebrows.

Hypocrisy is rife. Everyone can be hypocritical at times, even I. But you should REGULARLY PRACTICE what you REGULARLY PREACH... That's my rule to it all.
 
Unless the rapper is so sick I want him to showcase the beat other than that, hell no. Time goes into this stuff.
 
Majority of these cats make beats with pirated software if thats you you are wasting your time and give everything for free because the first thing a label ask an artists if they own full rights to the instrumental including the software were the beat was made plus samples if they are cleared so you cant male any money anyways if you go the pirated route
 
audio interfaces come bundled with a daw but unfortunately for me the focusrites free daw is ableton lite and not studio one or reason or atleast fl sheesh.And then you cant give away the free daw for cash so you stuck with the 'demo' version of the daws you actually like using ;/
 
KonKossKang said:
audio interfaces come bundled with a daw but unfortunately for me the focusrites free daw is ableton lite and not studio one or reason or atleast fl sheesh.And then you cant give away the free daw for cash so you stuck with the 'demo' version of the daws you actually like using ;/
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There is allways reaper
 
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