Why Aren't My Beats Selling

Why Aren’t My Beats Selling

How to Sell Beats and Figure Out if Your Beats Are Good Enough.

It’s no secret that selling beats can be tough. Even experienced producers sometimes find it difficult to get their beats in the hands of the right people.

But with a little bit of hard work and some knowledge of the industry, it’s definitely possible to start selling your beats and make a name for yourself as a producer.

Why aren’t my beats selling?

There could be a number of reasons why your beats aren’t selling, It would be impossible for me to be able to answer that without first knowing a lot more information.

But what I can do is give you a few tips to help you get started, which are based on some of the most common reasons why producers find it difficult to sell their beats.

First and foremost, you need to make sure you’re creating high-quality beats. This means using high-quality sounds and samples, as well as taking the time to arrange and mix your beats properly.

And If you don’t know how to do this yet, then you are left with two options.

Either take the time to learn, by leveraging some of the free resources that are available to you (cough cough like this blog).

Your other option is to pay someone to do it for you. Obviously this can be done to different levels of severity, from simply taking inspiration from a loop kit or sample pack to hiring a ghost producer and mixing&mastering engineer.

Both ends of the spectrum have their own pros and cons, and it will be up to you to decide in the end, but one thing I will say is that it is foolish to not use every resource that is available to you.

Partially because, in reality, even with all the help you can get your hands on, making great beats still is not easy

Check Your Target

Another common mistake that I see producers making all the time, is they are targeting the wrong audience.

You need to make sure you’re targeting the right audience and in order to do that, you need to understand your target audience.

Ask yourself things like, “what type of person would like my style of beats?”

Think about what traits this person might have. How old are they? What kind of vocabulary do they use? What are their goals? What are their fears? What problems are they currently having, and how will your beats help to solve that problem

Once you are able to answer all those questions, it will only be a matter of time until your first sale.

Once you understand your target audience, you can’t expect them to come to you, instead, you need to go to them.

Where do they like to hang out, and how and where do they socialize? Is it at the local shopping mall, or maybe there is a local venue where all the local bands rehearse? Great, then you need physical advertising, Get some custom stickers printed with your producer’s name and “hand them out” to people in the same area, and put up flyers with a coupon code for buy one beat get one free for new customers.

Maybe they spend their time on Reddit, ok, go to Reddit, read their conversations, look for any opportunity, like say you notice a lot of conversations about how hard it is to find good boom bap beats these days.

Capitalize on that by running an ad campaign targeting keywords like “Reddit hip hop beats” with a headline that reads “Boom Bap Beats | 50% Off For New Customers”

The key point here though is that this type of tactic will only be successful if you are targeting the right audience. If you’re making dubstep beats, for example, you’ll want to target fans of dubstep music, not fans of country music.

Shameless Self Plug

Finally, make sure you’re promoting your beats properly.

People won’t be able to buy your beats, even if they hear them first if they don’t know your name.

This is where the classic producer voice tag really shines. With a quick google search, you can find high-quality, professional services to get you a voice tag for roughly $20.

It helps protect your beats from pirating and theft gives you credit for your hard work, acts as a way of branding that makes you and your beats harder to forget, and differentiates your sound from the competition.

Make a logo, or pay someone on Fiverr $10 for one then plaster that thing all over your special media, hell even get merch printed. A professional logo can even help new customers trust you and your brand easier because it shows that you are serious about your music.

Use social media, your website, or other online platforms the point is to just start getting the word out about your beats. It might be slow at first, and it might take some hard work but with a little effort, you can start selling more of your beats and making a name for yourself in the music industry.

How to sell beats

Like I’ve already said, In order to sell beats, you need to have a strong understanding of the music industry. You need to know who your target market is, and what type of beats they are looking for. You also need to have a quality product that is worth selling.

But you also need to have a good understanding of how to run a business.

Whether you want to believe it or not, if you’re even just attempting to sell your beats, still haven’t even made your first sale, then you are not only a producer you are now a company.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t filed any paperwork, gotten any licenses, or even decided on a company name, you are still a company, and for now, your legal name is your company name.

This type of business model is the most common probably because it is the easiest to start(requiring virtually no paperwork or fees to get started) and it is called a sole proprietorship.

Ok, so there is one thing I left out. When I said your legal name is your business name, that’s not entirely true. The only requirement is that your legal name (in some states only your last name is required) is somewhere in your company name.

For example, my name is Scott Clayton, so as a sole proprietor I could legally do business under the name “Scott Clayton” or I could do business under something like “Scott Clayton Productions” or, since I live in California I could use “Clayton Pro Audio” or even just “Clayton Beats”

Sound familiar to a certain Youtube creator that is popular for making beats, hint it starts with a K.

It makes a lot more sense now, doesn’t it?

Anyway, my point is that you will now be a business owner which includes ALOT of repercussions that I don’t have time to cover. But knowing this ahead of time means you can do your homework and be prepared.

These are all things that I had to learn the hard way through trial and error(and a lot of money), and it almost cost me my sanity and my career.

Ok so maybe the sanity part is a bit of an exaggeration, but my point is that that is partially why I write these blogs, so that hopefully some of you don’t have to go through it the same way I did and can instead learn from my mistakes

Selling beats can be a profitable business, but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, you can make a successful career as a beat maker.

Are my beats good enough?

It can be tough to know if your beats are good enough, but there are a few things you can do to help you figure it out.

Listen to your beats and compare them back to back with other popular beatmakers on Beatstars or Instagram. You want to listen as objectively as you can.

Try and forget about the fact that you produced it, and ask yourself does it sound similar? Which one is more pleasant to listen to? If you were just listening to music in your car, which would you prefer to listen to and why?

When in doubt first, make sure that your beats are rhythmically consistent. Second, make sure that your beats are in scale and melodically interesting and that at no point while you are listening does it start to get boring or too repetitive.

And third, make sure that your beats are structurally sound, with a clear intro-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-outro (or whatever structure you decided to do, just make sure the different sections transition smoothly, are not too long or too short and are clearly defined).

If you can check all of those boxes, then you’re likely on the right track. But if you’re not sure, it never hurts to ask for feedback from other producers.

And if you feel it is necessary there are certain services where you pay a small fee for a professional producer to listen to your track and provide honest feedback(one similar service that comes to mind is Tunecore fan reviews by the digital distribution platform Tunecore. That is a place to start at least for anyone who is reading this and interested in such a service, but I have to leave it at that because I’m running out of time for this one blog post).

Conclusion

So if you’re wondering why your beats aren’t selling, or if you just want to make sure that your beats are as good as they can be, following the advice in this blog post should help you out.

By understanding what makes a good beat and by learning how to market yourself and your beats, you’ll be well on your way to selling more of your beats and building a successful production career in no time.

If you enjoyed this article or found it helpful then why not share it on your social? And if you want more, all you need to do is visit our blog page where we are constantly posting new guides and resources to help you make better beats. And when you are ready to really step up your game, check out The Drip Kit. It’s a beatmaker’s dream come true and gives you everything you need to create pro-level, radio-ready hits, whether you are a music theory vet or just starting out.