(Our latest feature: Beat tracking<\/a>, where you can see who clicks on a beat link in your email and listens \u2014 and how long they listen for.)<\/p>\n We\u2019ve also developed an expertise on the art of selling beats online<\/b> \u2014 which is what we\u2019re sharing today.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s our complete guide to selling beats online<\/b>, featuring the 10 best proven strategies and steps you need to take to launch and\/or grow your beat making business and career.<\/p>\n Before you make moves to sell your beats online, you need to make sure your beats are ready for the world.<\/p>\n Through our conversations with beat makers and music artists and our observations of the beat market we\u2019ve identified these 10 important steps to take before you share your beats<\/b> online.<\/p>\n Fortunately, nothing here should be too<\/i> time-consuming or stop your momentum \u2014 but these are all key steps to take before you start selling. And if you already are<\/i> selling but want better results, pay attention to these fundamentals \u2014 they can make a big difference.<\/p>\n Someone needs to be able to buy your beat and turn it into an international hit immediately. So make sure your beats sound good enough to be part of a track that blows up.<\/p>\n That means:<\/p>\n You need to give each of your beats a title \u2014 and that title makes a major<\/i> difference on whether or not a potential customer clicks on your beat to listen.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you should aim for with each title:<\/p>\n One very popular move is to include the name of an artist in your beat title<\/b>; that\u2019s a fast shortcut to helping a potential customer predict what the beat will sound like before they click. (And inspiring them to click.)<\/p>\n Here are some examples of beats with names that check all of the important criteria.<\/p>\n With each of these, I knew exactly what to expect before I clicked. And when there are more beats out there than anyone could ever possibly listen to, descriptive titles are a great way to help interested customers find you.<\/p>\n While you could get started with just one or two beats, it\u2019s best to have a bare minimum of 10 or so beats<\/b> before you start selling \u2014 and preferably more like 40+.<\/p>\n It\u2019s even better if those beats span different genres<\/b>. Don\u2019t stray too far from what you\u2019re good at or your niche, but the wider variety you can offer, the better.<\/p>\n Also aim for beats with different tempos, different vibes, different instrumentation, and different sounds<\/b>.<\/p>\n When a potential customer likes one of your beats enough to check out your catalog, you want to make sure they have the chance to find something<\/i> they like.<\/p>\n If you go through all of this promotional effort just to try to sell one beat, that seems pretty inefficient.<\/p>\n But\u2026 don\u2019t pad your library<\/b> with the mediocre beats you made back when you were just learning. You want to make sure every beat in your library meets your quality standards \u2014 because you never know which beat someone will listen to first.<\/p>\n So once you have at least 10 beats you\u2019re proud to showcase, you\u2019re ready to go.<\/p>\n And if you are already selling beats and have a huge catalog, think about cutting some of your least favorite tracks.<\/p>\n One good way to get started selling beats is to pick a narrower niche \u2014 try to be a \u201cbig fish small pond\u201d producer<\/b>.<\/p>\n Yes, you\u2019ll deal with a smaller potential customer base \u2014 but if you can become that big fish in a small pond, it will make it easier to move to larger and larger ponds in the future.<\/p>\n Take a lesson from Amazon: Way before it became the world\u2019s biggest eCommerce website, it just sold books. Once it dominated the book niche, it expanded to CD and DVD sales. Once it dominated those, it added other products. At every step, it acquired loyal customers, more fans, and bigger name recognition. That way, every time it moved up into a larger niche, it had a built-in sales base and a better reputation. You can follow that same model for your beat making career.<\/p>\n Producer tags (aka audio tags) are the self shout-outs beat makers put on their beats<\/b> like \u201cMike Will Made It\u201d or \u201cMustard on the beat.\u201d<\/p>\n Producer tags are like a photographer adding a watermark to a picture to prevent people from grabbing it off the internet to use it without permission; by adding your producer tag to your track, no one can use your beat without your audio \u201cwatermark\u201d showing up.<\/p>\n But unlike watermarks on photos, sometimes producer tags will make it through to the final version of a song \u2014 with big name producers, the tags are like instant symbols of quality<\/b> for the track.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to require artists to leave your tag in their final tracks, make sure to spell that out in your rights\/usage agreement.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the worst case: Someone buys your beat and wants it in a specific (but common) file format \u2014 which you don\u2019t have. Now you have to scramble to get it to them, looking unprofessional and unprepared.<\/p>\n Make sure you have all of the important file types ready to go<\/b> before you start selling.<\/p>\n The best place to start is right around the average, which is a non-exclusive license for your beat in mp3 format for roughly $20 to $30.<\/p>\n If you go too low with your price, you risk devaluing your beats. If you go too high\u2026 well, you\u2019d better make sure your beats are worth it.<\/p>\n You can charge several times more than that for exclusives and custom beats<\/b>. And as your reputation as a producer grows, you can charge more for your licenses as well.<\/p>\n Test your prices regularly<\/b> to see if you make more sales with lower (or, believe it or not, even higher) prices. You\u2019ll be able to figure out the right range.<\/p>\n Later in this article, we\u2019ll get into more advanced pricing strategies, like exclusive versus licensing as well as the right ways to bundle and discount.<\/p>\n Do you know who the credited songwriters are on the Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz 1997 hit Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)<\/i>? Walter Becker and Donald Fagan from Steely Dan. And they\u2019re getting 100% of the publishing royalties from Deja Vu<\/i> as a result.<\/p>\n Why? Deja Vu<\/i> sampled the Steely Dan song Black Cow<\/i>. And Steely Dan demanded more than $100,000 up front plus 100% of the royalties to clear that sample. Then the song became a platinum selling hit \u2014 and Steely Dan made pretty much all of that money.<\/p>\n Since the beginning of hip-hop, samples and beats have been deeply linked to one another. Samples are a huge part of beats.<\/p>\n But samples are expensive<\/i> \u2014 likely more expensive to clear than most of us could afford.<\/p>\n Ideally, you\u2019ll have the legal rights to all of the sounds in your beat before you sell it<\/b>. Because if a rapper buys your beat and creates an hit song \u2014 then gets sued because the beat actually creates an unlicensed sample \u2014 you could wind up on the hook. (Plus your career as a producer will be over<\/i>.)<\/p>\n If you want to use samples, check out sites like Tracklib<\/a> for cleared songs or Splice<\/a> for cleared loops.<\/p>\n When someone clicks through to your website from one of your emails or your Instagram, what do you want them to hear? Your best stuff.<\/p>\n If they like what they hear early, they\u2019ll keep digging around to listen to more from your catalog.<\/p>\n Figure out your best beats and put those first in your on-site audio player<\/b>. Pin one of them at the top of your Twitter. Maybe even add a link to one of them in your email signature. If you\u2019re somehow still using MySpace, make it the track that plays when someone lands on your profile.<\/p>\n Lead with your best beats to hook customers and to get them listening to even more.<\/p>\n It would be amazing if you start promoting your beats, Drake finds one, buys it, uses it to make a hit, and you become the next world-famous hip-hop producer. But really, the odds of that are about the same as the odds of winning the lottery.<\/p>\n Selling beats online is the same as any eCommerce business.<\/b> It will take some time to grow. It will take work and effort and marketing. It\u2019s not a way to get rich quick. It\u2019s competitive and it can become frustrating when your high-quality work gets lost in the sea of mediocrity out there.<\/p>\n But with the strategies from this list, some real effort, and the right expectations, you can keep pushing toward (at a minimum) making some good side hustle income from your beats. Beyond that? You never know.<\/p>\n You need a single destination where you\u2019ll funnel potential customers. And while there are lots of options (the beat marketplaces, social media, or just contacting you directly) \u2014 a website is the best option<\/b> for achieving all of your goals.<\/p>\n And even better news? Your website doesn\u2019t have to be super complicated to be effective<\/b>. You don\u2019t need a fancy, custom design or a web design firm. You don\u2019t need to learn to code or learn graphic design.<\/p>\n With a nice template and a little effort you\u2019ll have a great website that showcases your beats and showcases you.<\/p>\n Here are the basics for creating your beat making website.<\/p>\n While we won\u2019t get into a step-by-step guide to starting a website here (if you want that, check out the 13 billion other tutorials on the internet). Just know you\u2019ll need to secure a few things for your website:<\/p>\n Your homepage should showcase three things:<\/p>\n As we\u2019ll cover under building your email list, you need to offer an incentive to entice people to sign up for your email list. Make that clear on your homepage as well.<\/p>\n As for the content on the rest of your site, here are some options:<\/p>\n As we\u2019ll cover quite a bit in this article, it\u2019s crucial to get website visitors to sign up for your email list so you can keep in touch with them and continue promoting beats to them.<\/p>\n Your website should have multiple places where people can sign up for your email list<\/b>:<\/p>\n In this article, we\u2019re going to cover the two different types of emails you can send to market and sell your beats: Cold emails<\/a> and marketing emails.<\/p>\n Cold emails are outreach emails you\u2019ll send to targeted potential customers<\/b> (rappers, music execs, TV producers, and more). Marketing emails are the promotional emails you\u2019ll send to people who\u2019ve signed up for your list from your website, social media, or after a purchase.<\/p>\n Cold emails should be an important part of your sales strategy at every stage of your producer career<\/b> (at least until you become Timbaland level and people start cold emailing you<\/i> for beats).<\/p>\n With cold emails you\u2019ll be able to get yourself and your beats in front of targeted potential customers for a fraction of the cost of running ads<\/b>.<\/p>\n You can find new customers, make sales, and grow your network<\/b> \u2014 all with some research and the right tools.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need to find potential customers to build up your first cold email list. Search for interested rappers and other people in the music industry and compile their email addresses (along with other relevant info, like their name, genre, and their tracks you like) in a Google Sheet.<\/p>\n You can hunt for email addresses in lots of different places<\/b>, for example:<\/p>\n As with any cold email for any business, make sure the people on your list would have a legitimate interest in your beats. In order for cold email to work, the first step is a highly targeted list<\/b> \u2014 not just a big list of people who might or might not have any interest in buying your beats.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s our guide to sending your first cold email in a half hour. (Although it will really take five minutes or less to send your first cold email; the first 25 minutes are going to go toward list building.)<\/p>\n Create a Google Sheet where you\u2019ll build your list of rappers. Create columns for:<\/p>\n Head to your Twitter or Instagram, go through the rappers you follow, see who has an email address in their profile, and add their info to the Google Sheet.<\/p>\n You can also search for rappers with an email address in their bio. A few sample searches:<\/p>\n For now, aim for around 20 to 25 rappers. That way you\u2019ll have time to listen to a few seconds of a track for each (which you\u2019ll mention in your email).<\/p>\n Cut yourself off after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n GMass has become the most popular tool for beat makers to send cold emails (and other emails) promoting and selling beats. Why? We\u2019d like to think it\u2019s because GMass easy but powerful and works right there inside of Gmail. So yeah, let\u2019s go with that until we hear something better.<\/p>\n You can use GMass to send a mail merge in Gmail<\/a> \u2014 you\u2019ll be able to send a personalized email to everyone on your list in one shot<\/b>. Plus we\u2019ll use GMass for auto follow-ups and tracking too.<\/p>\n Open a new Gmail compose window.<\/p>\n Click inside the \u201cTo\u201d area, then click the little GMass icon.<\/p>\n Connect your mail merge Google Sheet<\/a> of rappers.<\/p>\n Now write the email. We\u2019ll stick to something very straightforward here \u2014 and really utilize the mail merge to make this email feel personalized<\/b>. Put this in your own words, but stick to this basic outline of icebreaker – unique value – social proof – call-to-action.<\/p>\n Subject line:<\/strong> Message:<\/strong><\/p>\n Yo {ArtistName},<\/p>\n Been listening to {SongTitle} on repeat today so finally I had to reach out.<\/p>\n Need a unique new beat for your next {Song Title}? My beats are [what makes your beats special]. I\u2019ve worked with [people you worked with or the number of people who\u2019ve bought your beats].<\/p>\n Check out this beat: https:\/\/linktoyourbeat<\/p>\n Or head to my website, https:\/\/websitename, to listen to more.<\/p>\n I never normally do this, but since I love your work, I\u2019ll give you an exclusive on anything from my new set of beats. Just reply to let me know if you\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n [Your name]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n GMass has a special feature for beat makers: Track who’s listening to your beats<\/a> and how long they’re listening.<\/p>\n To use beat tracking, just attach your beat as an mp3 file to your email. GMass will automatically detect that it’s a music file and ask if you want tracking.<\/p>\n GMass will convert the mp3 into a link you can put in your email. And now, whenever someone clicks on that link, you’ll get stats on who clicked and how long they listened for.<\/p>\n Not everyone will open, click through, or reply to your first email. We\u2019ve found a series of four or more cold emails is more likely to get a response<\/b>.<\/p>\n You can set up easy, automated plain text responses in the GMass settings. And those responses will go out as replies to your first email<\/a>, which mimics how you\u2019d send emails one-on-one.<\/p>\n For this series, we\u2019ll space out three automated follow-ups<\/a> over the course of the week. The rappers will receive these emails until they reply to you; then the series will stop.<\/p>\n The first follow-up, two days later:<\/p>\n Hey {ArtistName}, just wanted to follow up and see if you were interested in working with me on a beat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The second follow-up, two days after that:<\/p>\n Just sold two more beats this week. Wanted to make sure you can grab one of my new beats if you want \u2018em. Let me know.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And the third follow-up, four days after that:<\/p>\n Last email, just checking one more time if you\u2019re interested in getting an exclusive on one of my beats. Hit me up if you are.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Once the emails are done, send a test email to yourself. And if it looks good, you can hit the GMass button to send your first email to your list right away.<\/p>\n As a beat maker selling your beats online, no tool will be more valuable than your email list. Social media is great for promotion, but when it comes to sales, email is the key.<\/b><\/p>\n Around 24 out of 25 people who come to your website won\u2019t be ready to buy<\/a>\u2026 yet. You need to stay in their minds, and email is the best way.<\/p>\n People are less likely to see your social media posts than your emails (thanks to the dreaded social media algorithms). Email reaches an average of 80% to 90% of recipients or more<\/a> and has three times<\/a> the conversion rate of social media.<\/p>\n Also, with email, you own your list no matter what happens<\/b>. With social media, you can lose your account. Or you might decide to switch networks \u2014 you\u2019ll need everyone from your old account to follow you on your new one.<\/p>\n Email is a great way to promote new beats, announce sales and deals, and keep people up-to-date on your work.<\/b><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the right way to build your email list.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, most people won\u2019t sign up for your promotional email list just because they get a great first impression of you. Most won\u2019t sign up even if you have great beats on your site.<\/p>\n They need an extra incentive to sign up for your email list<\/b>.<\/p>\n So you can offer something called a lead magnet to encourage them to sign up \u2014 it\u2019s something valuable you give away for free in exchange for someone subscribing to your email list.<\/p>\n Some popular lead magnets for beat makers are:<\/p>\n It\u2019s tough to give away stuff for free in exchange for just an email address \u2014 but it\u2019s a smart long-term play<\/b>.<\/p>\n Over time, a large email list of people who want your beats will pay off. Because when the people on your list are<\/i> ready to buy, you\u2019ll be top-of-mind \u2014 if they hadn\u2019t signed up for your list and just visited your website six months earlier, there\u2019s virtually no chance they\u2019d remember to go back.<\/p>\n As we discussed earlier, email is a more reliable way to reach customers and a more effective way to sell to customers than social media.<\/p>\n So\u2026 it makes sense to try to get your social media followers to subscribe to your email list<\/b>.<\/p>\n (Also, since social media is<\/i> a really good promotional tool, especially in the hip-hop world where social media is extremely popular, it\u2019s good to try to get your email subscribers to follow you on social media. Basically, you want everyone to see you everywhere.)<\/p>\n Include your email signup (and lead magnet) in the link in your bio on Instagram, Twitter, and everywhere else you\u2019re promoting yourself and your beats. Your goal is to build a solid email list filled with really interested potential and repeat customers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easier (and cheaper) to sell to a repeat customer<\/b> than to find a new one. They know what you\u2019re about, they\u2019ve bought from you before, and they\u2019re more likely to buy from you again. You just have to remind them to.<\/p>\n You almost definitely have an email record of all of your sales. Whether you used Gmail for your transactional emails<\/a> or you get notifications from your eCommerce platform or marketplace whenever you make a sale, you should be able to find all of your past customers with a Gmail search<\/b>.<\/p>\n You can use that search to quickly build a new list<\/a> for retargeting purposes.<\/p>\n (You\u2019ll need GMass installed to do this. We covered that in the cold email section but if you didn\u2019t do it there, you can install it from the Chrome web store<\/a> now.)<\/p>\n Run your search in Gmail. Then click the magnifying glass next to the search box.<\/p>\n GMass will put together a list of everyone from your search, then open up a new compose window. Now you can send an email to all of your past customers.<\/p>\n Make sure your email:<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to stay at the top of your customers\u2019 minds \u2014 but if you send them irrelevant emails, that can backfire<\/b>. They might unsubscribe or, at the very least, start ignoring your emails because they know those messages probably don\u2019t have any value for them.<\/p>\n You should email your previous customers regularly, as long as you have something of value to offer them.<\/p>\n That can include:<\/p>\n Throughout this article we\u2019ve discussed the pros and cons of using social media to sell your beat.<\/p>\n The biggest pro: Odds are your target customers basically *live* on social media<\/b>, so you\u2019re meeting them where they are.<\/p>\n The biggest con: Social media isn\u2019t a sales platform first<\/b>, meaning it can be hard to get your message to everyone and even harder to convert.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we view social media as a promotional tool<\/b> to drive people to your website or a marketplace (where you\u2019ll make the sale) \u2014 or as a tool to drive people to your email list<\/b> (where you can promote to them more reliably and convert better).<\/p>\n Social media is also a great tool for prospecting<\/b> and finding an endless supply of potential customers.<\/p>\n These tips are for marketing, selling your beats, and networking on the top social media platforms.<\/p>\n Instagram is more or less a requirement for music producers and beat makers \u2014 it\u2019s where artists will look for you and where you\u2019ll look for them.<\/p>\n Your beat making is a business \u2014 meaning it\u2019s separate from your personal life. So create a new Instagram account for your producing career<\/b>.<\/p>\n You should post at least a few times a week from your producer IG account but, more important, you should use the account to like and leave comments on other people\u2019s posts every day<\/b>.<\/p>\n There are three important types of people you should find, follow, and engage with from your Instagram account:<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how to find rappers on Instagram<\/b> and eventually turn them into customers. This should be a daily activity \u2014 the more rappers you find and follow, the more relationships you\u2019ll build and the more potential customers you\u2019ll have.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll build relationships with rappers on Instagram by DMing with them. But you always want to make sure if someone finds you \u2014 or someone decides they\u2019re ready to buy from you \u2014 it\u2019s really easy.<\/p>\n Set up the link in your bio to go to your website where someone can make a purchase. Better option: Set up a Linktree where you feature your website *and* your email signup list\/lead magnet<\/b>.<\/p>\n Instagram is a visual medium. So when you\u2019re posting your beats, make sure you use compelling images or videos<\/b> (this is true for pretty much every social network; a visual element is even important on SoundCloud).<\/p>\n Keep a list of good hashtags<\/b> in your Notes app. You can figure out the best hashtags by seeing what other producers are using, then clicking through those hashtags to check their popularity.<\/p>\n YouTube is one of the top places you\u2019ll want to feature your beats \u2014 outside of the instrumental marketplaces and maybe SoundCloud, it\u2019s where rappers will go hunting for new beats.<\/p>\n Here are some strategies for your YouTube channel.<\/p>\n The titles you pick for your beats is important, as we discussed earlier. On YouTube, where there\u2019s so<\/i> much content, it\u2019s smart to include a famous rapper in your beat title<\/b> to give people an idea what it will sound like.<\/p>\n So add \u201cFuture-type beat\u201d or \u201cKodak Black type beat\u201d or whoever else is most relevant to your beat.<\/p>\n That will help your beats surface as rappers are searching \u2014 and also helps you with the YouTube algorithm<\/b>. That way, even if a rapper doesn\u2019t click your beat first, YouTube will (hopefully) suggest it to them next.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need more than just videos featuring your beats to get YouTube subscribers.<\/p>\n You can build your profile (and make yourself a bigger name) by creating remixes<\/b>. Plus, if a rapper checks out your profile to see your videos, your remixes are a great way to show off your talent.<\/p>\n Another way to build your YouTube following is with lofi beat videos. It\u2019s become very popular for people to throw on a long lofi beat video while they work.<\/p>\n Create lofi beat videos<\/b> (assuming you have beats that fit that description) and use interesting artwork to draw people in.<\/p>\n You can also reach out to the top lofi beat video makers to see if they want to include one of your beats in their next mix.<\/p>\n Much like with Instagram, find the rappers with whom you want to build relationships and follow them on YouTube<\/b>. Then leave good comments (relevant, interesting ones) on their videos.<\/p>\n Once they get to know your name, you can reach out to start trying to build a relationship.<\/p>\n SoundCloud may not be the mega powerhouse it once was, but it\u2019s still an important spot in the beat making world. It\u2019s also a great place to find rappers\/potential customers.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the technique for using SoundCloud to find potential customers. (Shout out to luke4pres<\/a> for this technique.)<\/p>\n Artwork matters on SoundCloud. So when you upload your beats, make sure the artwork you use looks good, matches the vibe of that beat<\/b>, and gets people interested to click through to listen.<\/p>\n Check out other producers in your niche to see what kind of artwork they\u2019re using and what catches your eye. You can also search for top tracks in your niche to see what kind of art they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n TikTok has potential for spreading your beats and finding rappers \u2014 and you might even make a little money along the way.<\/p>\n Post an interesting video featuring just your beat on TikTok and add a message looking for \u201cduets\u201d or \u201cwho\u2019s got bars?\u201d Also add the right hashtags. Rappers (and others) will make duet videos of themselves using your beat.<\/b><\/p>\n Check out those duets, see if any are good, and you can reach out to those rappers about collaborating outside of TikTok.<\/p>\n Plus, the more people who make duets, the more your TikTok account will grow \u2014 meaning you\u2019ll get more followers and more people hearing your beats. That can drive sales down the road.<\/p>\n You can add your music to the TikTok catalog by uploading it through a distributor (like Distrokid<\/a>) or directly through TikTok\u2019s SoundOn<\/a> platform.<\/p>\n TikTok isn\u2019t up front about how much they\u2019ll pay you<\/b> \u2014 and it probably won\u2019t be much unless one of your beats is part of a viral trend \u2014 but it can be a way to make a few bucks while you simultaneously spread your music.<\/p>\n Twitter isn\u2019t as much of a natural platform for selling beats as a lot of the others \u2014 people aren\u2019t really going on Twitter to listen to or hunt for beats \u2014 but it\u2019s another way you can network with rappers and push people toward email.<\/p>\n If you want rappers to follow you on Twitter, you\u2019ve got to post content that\u2019s relevant to them<\/b>. Search for other producers at your level with big Twitter followings and see what they\u2019re posting to get ideas of what you should post.<\/p>\n Also look at how much engagement they\u2019re getting before you bite their strategy. If someone has 30,000 followers but most of their tweets get one or two likes and no retweets or comments, they\u2019re not killing it on Twitter.<\/p>\n Twitter searches are a good way to find rappers to add to your cold email list. Some rappers who are interested in hearing about business opportunities will put an email in their bio.<\/p>\n You can run targeted Twitter searches<\/b> (we demonstrated one earlier in this article, in our 30 minute cold email guide) to find those rappers who are sharing their email.<\/p>\n Then add them to your next cold email outreach.<\/p>\n Facebook isn\u2019t one of the biggest social networks for selling beats \u2014 your chances of finding and connecting with rappers is higher on Instagram, YouTube, SoundCloud, and TikTok.<\/p>\n But there are still a few ways you can use Facebook in your music producing career.<\/p>\n There are lots of Facebook Groups that are still pretty active<\/b> \u2014 including lots in the music production and hip-hop world. Search through those groups, find ones with good communities, and join up.<\/p>\n The more you contribute to those groups (without promoting yourself) the better response you\u2019ll get when the day comes that you do<\/i> want to promote yourself.<\/p>\n Remember how we said your email list isn\u2019t the right place to show off how you just sold your 100th beat? Your personal Facebook page is<\/i>.<\/p>\n Maybe one of your friends wants a beat themselves. Maybe they have a friend of a friend who\u2019s an up-and-coming rapper (you never know who your friends know). Maybe they know people in other worlds who are looking for beats, like people making corporate videos or producing TV shows.<\/p>\n If your friends see you\u2019re succeeding as a hip-hop producer, they\u2019ll be happy to brag to the right people<\/b> that they\u2019re friends with a rising beat maker.<\/p>\n Marketplaces are a big part of selling beats online; tons of artists are hitting up marketplaces every day looking for beats to license or buy.<\/p>\n And you never know what might happen from being on one or more marketplaces. Lil Nas X bought the beat<\/a> to Old Town Road<\/i> for $30 on BeatStars (and the teenager who produced the beat got a record deal out of it). Future, Tekashi 6ix9ine, and others have also bought beats from marketplaces.<\/p>\n But those are the exceptions. The overwhelming majority of artists looking for beats on the marketplaces are not mega famous.<\/p>\n So the marketplaces can be a good opportunity to really get your beats out there, make some nice money, and make connections<\/b>.<\/p>\n From there, it\u2019s still best to funnel people to your own website and onto your email list. When you start working with bigger names, most of the deals will be direct.<\/p>\n Since the marketplaces almost all have a fee (if you want to move beyond very limited free plans), you\u2019ll most likely want to pick just one or two to focus on.<\/p>\n Here are quick reviews of some of the top beat marketplaces.<\/p>\n BeatStars<\/a> is the largest online marketplace for beats and instrumentals<\/b>. They have a 10-track free plan or paid plans with more features (like unlimited tracks, custom sales, no commissions, and private messaging). They also offer Beat ID, which monitors where your beat is being used across all of social media, including YouTube. And because it\u2019s such a large company, they also offer a powerful mobile app, distribution on streaming platforms, a chance to work with Sony Music Publishing, and a lot more.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a good side and a bad side to BeatStars\u2019 popularity. On the good side, it gets the most traffic and most interested buyers<\/b> (plus all of those features I mentioned before).<\/p>\n On the bad side, there\u2019s a lot more competition<\/b> on BeatStars so you\u2019ll really have to work on optimizing your track titles, artwork, tags, and pricing.<\/p>\n BeatStars has a monthly fee of $10\/mo or $20\/mo, depending on the level of membership you want.<\/p>\nSell Beats Online: Table of Contents<\/h2>\n
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1. Make Sure Your Beats Are Ready to Sell<\/h2>\n
Make sure your beats are professional quality<\/h3>\n
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Give your beats titles that sell<\/h3>\n
![\"Examples](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/beattitles-example-tinified-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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Have a good selection of beats \u2014 but don\u2019t pad your good beats with bad ones<\/h3>\n
Finding your niche<\/h3>\n
Add a producer tag to your beats<\/h3>\n
Prepare your file types for sale<\/h3>\n
![\"Prepare](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/beatfiletypes-example-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
How much should I charge for my beats?<\/h3>\n
Make sure you have legal rights to all the sounds in your beat<\/h3>\n
![\"Credited](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/dejavupublishing-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPick your best beats to spotlight<\/h3>\n
Set your expectations right<\/h3>\n
2. Create Your Beatmaker\/Music Producer Website<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/beatwebsite-example-tinified-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Get the basics (domain name, web hosting, template)<\/h3>\n
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Plan your website content<\/h3>\n
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Set up email collection on your site<\/h3>\n
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3. Promote Your Beats with Cold Email<\/h2>\n
Search for cold outreach candidates to promote your beats<\/h3>\n
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\u201c30 minutes or less\u201d to send the first cold emails promoting your beats<\/h3>\n
Step 1: Build a list<\/h4>\n
![\"Cold](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/30cold-spreadsheet-tinified.png\")
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Step 2: Hook up GMass with your Gmail account<\/h4>\n
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Step 3: Connect your Google Sheet to compose your email<\/h4>\n
![\"Connect](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/30cold-connectsheet-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n🔥 beats to make the next {SongTitle}<\/p>\n![\"Email](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/30cold-emailexample-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStep 4: Attach an mp3 to track who listens<\/h4>\n
![\"Tell](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sendemail-getbetterstats-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStep 5: Set up auto follow-ups<\/h4>\n
![\"Auto](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/30cold-autofollowups-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStep 6: Send the cold emails<\/h4>\n
4. Build Your Email Marketing List and Utilize It Right<\/h2>\n
Why an email list is the best way to sell beats<\/h3>\n
Figure out your lead magnet<\/h3>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/leadmagnetexample-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Use social media to drive email signups<\/h3>\n
5. Promote Your Beats to Previous Buyers with Retargeting Lists and Automations<\/h2>\n
Building a list of past customers<\/h3>\n
![\"Building](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/listbuild-gmailsearch-tinified.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Email your previous customers regularly \u2014 but only when you have something new to offer<\/h3>\n
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6. Use Social Media to Sell Your Beats<\/h2>\n
Using Instagram to sell beats<\/h3>\n
![\"Instagram](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/instagram-profile-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCreate your producer Instagram account<\/h4>\n
Follow the right people<\/h4>\n
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Use Instagram to find customers<\/h4>\n
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\u201cLink in bio\u201d is where you make the sale<\/h4>\n
Post with the right visuals and hashtags<\/h4>\n
Using YouTube to sell beats<\/h3>\n
Using \u201c____ type beats\u201d titles to get your beats in front of the right people<\/h4>\n
![\"YouTube](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/youtube-typebeat-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCreate remixes and lofi beat videos<\/h4>\n
Follow rappers and leave good comments<\/h4>\n
Using SoundCloud to sell beats<\/h3>\n
Find a ton of rappers to sell your beats to through \u201cprod. by\u201d searches<\/h4>\n
![\"Prod](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/soundcloud-prodby-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
Make sure your artwork matches the vibe of your beats<\/h4>\n
Using TikTok to sell beats<\/h3>\n
Post high-quality videos featuring your beats for duets<\/h4>\n
![\"Tiktok](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/tiktok-duets-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMonetize your music on TikTok<\/h4>\n
Using Twitter to sell beats<\/h3>\n
Become someone worth following for rappers<\/h4>\n
Use Twitter search to add people to your outreach spreadsheet<\/h4>\n
Using Facebook to sell beats<\/h3>\n
Join and follow the right groups<\/h4>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/facebook-groups-tinified-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nKeep your friends posted (this is your chance to show off)<\/h4>\n
7. Get Set Up on Beat Marketplace(s)<\/h2>\n
BeatStars<\/h3>\n
![\"BeatStars](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/marketplaces-beatstars-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAirbit<\/h3>\n
![\"Airbit](\"https:\/\/www.gmass.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/marketplaces-airbit-tinified.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n