How To Sell Beats Online & Make A Living Off Music

Selling Beats online has become easier than ever. With the host of tools available online, anybody can start getting lucrative with their music careers. But, understandably, it gets incredibly confusing, especially if you don't even know the first steps.

That's why we've built a comprehensive guide to explain the basics of beat-selling that will hopefully make it easier to navigate.

Preparing Your Beats To Sell

It's not as simple as making a quick beat and slapping it on the internet to make money. A lot of prep work is involved to ensure you get the most out of your hard work. Here are a few tips to make sure your beats are ready to sell.

Make Sure You Own All The Legal Rights

Whenever someone sells a product online, they need to ensure they're within their legal rights. In reality, nobody wants a law suite on their hands as it can be detrimental, especially to people who don't necessarily have the funds to fight it.

Before you can even think about listing your beats, you need to make sure that everything lines up with legal conditions. This means you must ensure that if you use any open-source tools to make your beat (i.e., Samples, built-in sounds, etc.), you obtain the rights before selling your creative beats.

Most beat-making software allows the sale and distribution of music made with pre-loaded tools. But, because the creator paid for the software and thus has a certain amount of associated rights, they will be able to sell it.

But if you ignore the legal rights and list them without ensuring it's clean music, you could end up in a fruitless "custody battle" for the royalties. So let's just avoid that altogether.

Build Your Catalogue

You definitely want to put your best foot forward when selling your beats. However, when it comes to creating a beats catalogue, you want to take a few things into consideration:

You should have a variety to appeal to a larger audience. Pick various beats with varying tempos, vibes, and sounds that could work for different genres. Bigger, in this case, is better, but don't push too far out of your niche.

Avoid padding. While you might be trying to build a versatile catalogue, there's no need to slap in some of your mediocre beats senselessly to try to create a cushion. It's pointless and sloppy.

Showcase your best. You don't have to hide it. If you have beats that you want to spotlight, make sure they top your list.

Pick Your Route: Exclusive or Licensed

You may want to decide whether to sell licenses or make exclusive rights sales when selling your beats.

If you sell the license, your beat can appear in an array of music so long as the artist has acquired a license. This means your beat can accumulate multiple revenue streams but runs the risk of being overused.  

Exclusivity means that that beat remains a one-of-a-kind addition to a musician's song. And you can charge more for exclusive rights than simply selling licenses.

Add Producer Tags And Name Your Beats

Adding Producer Tags to your beats acts as a musical watermark. You may recognize Producer Tags popping up in well-known songs. While there's no guarantee they will make it to the final cut, it's always possible and can bode well for your reach.

On top of that, giving your beats a name also helps improve their appeal. Names elude to the vibes and also create something eye-catching and memorable. They act as essential drawing cards.

The Best Places To Sell Your Beats

Get Involved in Beat Marketplaces

There are ample beat marketplaces online that can offer you an exclusive platform to sell your beats. While some involve their own costs, if you invest some time and research, you will find what works best for you. The great thing about Beats Marketplaces is that they can act as a filter and target your audience. And they come with an already-established database of buyers that use them.

Your Personal Website

You can build your own domain and create a personal brand. This way, you can monitor exactly how many organic buyers you attract and adjust your strategies accordingly. As well as create something personalized that truly speaks for what you have on offer. A private domain linked with something like Shopify builds everything you need to sell your beats online.

Social Media

Social Media has become a strong player in online sales and offers a rent-free platform for creators to sell their goods. And with their versatility, they also create a seamless marketplace for Beats. Both in generating sales and acting as the sales platform themselves. Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook can all be used to sell beats.

How To Improve Your Sales

Build Your Database

Building a database is a classic sales strategy used for eons. And developing an elaborate emailing and calling list and using a cold-marketing technique can open up plenty of doors for you and attract a more targeted audience.  

Additionally, a well-curated database can be a marketing strategy in itself. People talk, and if you have an incredible catalogue of beats, your database will expand itself.

Granted, it takes time and research, but the results are worth it.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social Media works wonders for advertising. And as the world continues to focus on online-based strategies, social media has become a powerful tool for marketing. And what's made it easier is that most social media is linked, but weirdly enough, it can attract different crowds.

If you start a marketing campaign on Facebook, you can also line that up with Instagram marketing. This creates an intricate web that draws a thriving market to your products.

Combine this with creating a database of influencers to help you advertise. You may just find that you've developed a thriving advertising scheme that offers endless benefits.

Granted, though, Social Media strategies are not entirely simple to master, and you may consider hiring a marketing firm to help ease the process.

Conclusion

Selling your Beats online requires patience and research but can be lucrative if you know what you're doing. The best part is that the resources are readily available online. GetPlaylisted offers a comprehensive blog that covers a variety of topics to help you learn the tricks of the trade.

‍