The digital revolution has been kind to some sectors of the music business while horrendously detrimental to others. One highlight in music’s digitization is that DIY music production is more possible now than ever before. Countless beat makers today create professional sounding material in their bedrooms or garages using music production hardware and software available to anyone (Akai MPC 5000, Roland SP-555, Elektron OctaTrack, etc.). Many aspiring and established producers have used these recordings to propel their careers forward. One other product also geared specifically towards beat makers is Beat Kangz’ new mobile music production studio, Beat Thang.

Beat Thang is one of the newest music editing software and hardware combo units to hit the market. Beat Thang is also unprecedentedly easy to use and comes pre-loaded with thousands of professional sounds and loops.  As a bonus, there are videos included with any Beat Thang purchase that feature professional producers training you on how to best use Beat Thang. If that wasn’t enough, also included with the purchase of Beat Thang are sample contracts that will go a long way in protecting your creations if/when you sell them. 

So say you do create the hottest beat ever known to hip hop (or any other genre for that matter) using Beat Thang or any other product and you want to sell it on a beats website or through a music production library. What to do next

One option is to upload your track to popular music production libraries like Killer Tracks or Aircraft in the appropriate category. Unlike beats websites that host only one specific type of track, these music production libraries are filled with hundreds of thousands of tracks of all genres, and are where music supervisors in the film and TV world come when looking for stock music to place in their creations.

As most bourgeoning producers will tell you, more money is made through licensing placements in commercials, TV shows, and film than will ever be made selling them to other aspiring rappers through beats websites.

But say you do want to sell beats to aspiring rappers. Well, there are a number of beats websites for that as well, including Beatswagger.com, Budgetbeats.com, Audio-sounds.com, and Soundclick. If you do choose to sell through these or any other beats websites, it’s best to sell them non-exclusively. That way, you’ll be able to sell them to more than one buyer at a time, thus increasing your exposure and your income. Of course, if someone is willing to pay extra for an exclusive track on a beats website, it’s up to you what the price point should be.

Another idea to take into consideration is leasing your Beat Thang tracks on these very same beats websites instead of selling. Some producers suggest leasing non-exclusive tracks for a 6-month period, allowing the purchasing party to use it and shop it to labels as a demo. If any labels are interested, then you can renegotiate for a certain portion of percentage points (commonly referred to as just points).

Stay tuned for more on selling your material through beats websites in future installments of this series!