Talk about the music biz - marketing, promotions, contract law, copyright etc...

By Abdulaziz Wed May 23, 2007 10:39 pm
I'll do it for a burger and some fries.

oh yeah and a ride home

By livebeets Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:20 pm
a lot of this info is dead wrong.

nas ALLEGEDLY payed 2 mil for a neptunes beat. he denied it, and NOBODY would drop that, it's just bad business.

Timbo got $300K at his peak. Nobody is paying that now.

Kanye charges $90K. he said so.

dipset don't pay real money for beats, certainly not to heatmakerz. heatmakerz wouldn't be doing that much work for dipset if they charged a lot. G-unit too. Sha uses unknowns for the same reason. hungry cats will work cheap. if you look at lil flip, great example of a low cost=high profit margin situation, the "game over" beat was done by nick "fury" loftin, after which he said he was charging $15,000 a beat. That was a huge single, i can only imagine how little he got paid before game over blew up.

Also worth mentioning, someone like pharell, who might sing or co-write, can demand a percentage of royalties.
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By allergic2life Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:24 am
as long as theres a dope artist i give beats away, everyone says i should start sellin, even the peeps i give beats to for free.

By livebeets Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:27 am
that's very nice of you, but it's not business strategy. if someone told me to charge, i'd take their money. if they're broke, cut em a break, but you suggest value with your price. free is worth nothing.
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By allergic2life Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:37 am
yea, i was beat making for fun but now its more serious, im working with a lot of artists so now ive gotta figure out a price range... my regulars will still get beats for free since we got some projects goin on but new comers will get charged, most likely.

By livebeets Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:40 am
tell them $500, no less. 400 if you need to. from there you have a precedent, so if it's gotta be 3/$1000, or 2 for 5 or whatever, at least you're getting scrill.
Last edited by livebeets on Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By allergic2life Fri Sep 21, 2007 3:49 am
true true, thats what i was thinkin, once i pump out more tracks and update im gonna see how it goes... ive got alot of catchin up to do, people are waiting on me. :shock:
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By Swift Ikarus Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:14 pm
so how bout producers like Pete Rock, Dj Premier, Kutmasta Kurt, DJ Vadim, etc..... ive always wanted to know what they charge. Premier did beats for so many artists... i would assume under 10k, since he seems to be very humble when it comes to money stuff... he just wants to do music with people i would imagine...

By livebeets Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:38 pm
preem did the first BIG on the cheap. everyone on that album did, that's more or less how they were chosen. If you look at who premo **** with now, how big his name is, there is no question if the house is paid for. he's one of very few who i am convinced can write their own ticket, demand a high price plus publishing and turn down work if they don't want to do it. you can't buy credibility, and preem is heavy. try finding someone who's been doing this since the late 80s and still gets talked about and gets work, it's a short list. dj premier, erick sermon, biz markie. The oldest "current" generation of superproducers are timbaland and the neptunes, as far as earliest published work. (neptunes can be traced back to teddy riley and the song "rump shaker") oh, and dre. he doesn't even beef now if someone talks shit. he said in an interview, something like "i'm rich as shit, i'm healthy". why fuss? cheap is in, why would dip set or g-unit pay more money for name brand beats? shit, some of the absolute hugest tracks and sickest beats i know were done by producers i never heard of. Who can tell me without checking who did ante up for MOP, hard knock life, and come thru, off the violator album? it's 3 dudes not found on magazine covers.

By Quasti Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:13 pm
Dj Green Latern is definitely the highest paid producer ...

Seriously though.. on average beats won't earn you more than 5 to 10K.... I don't buy the stories about beats going for 250grand each, I think it's a myth. Aren't those producers getting royalties?? I mean, yeah for an exclusive beat royalty free might indeed get you 100 grand or something, but not when you also get royalties ... there's just no way. The rappers and so on would go bankrupt just for buying beats. Eminem once said he paid 1 million dollars for 2 albums full of beats with over 20 songs... do the math.

By livebeets Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:38 pm
what does green lantern demand?

neptunes, as an example, were getting six figures. pharell sings hooks, helps write songs, yeah that gets you royalties plus your fee. co-writer,producer, that shit gets you 6 points on the back end. I would take no money if it were a signed artist and i got a percentage on the back, if i felt the artist had potential. $250K? yes. timbo at his peak, and irv gotti. irv gotti didn't charge that for a beat though, that's him "producing" so we're talking about artist placement, other things. but he did claim $250k each for him and ja for one project. irv gotti is a fat slut. as far as 100 grand times every song on an album, no. the general idea is that the artist would get one "brand name" beat and use it as the push single (remember the first TI record nobody bought? neptunes beat on the single) The only exception that i know of was Jay-z's black album, which was all well knowns except 9th wonder, who's not exactly not known either.

By maxey127 Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:26 am
how much do you think REAL hip hop sells for, to REAL (online/unknown) hip hop artists. i mean, all this talk about whose the highest paid producer, timabaland, g unit, dipset... that garbage is gunna sell for more money cuz people are ignorant and they like hearin the same thing over and over again.

are there any dudes in here that knows how much a local/indie lable or just a dude online pay for some sampled dope hip hop music. anyone got some experience in this department?
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By drukqs2369 Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:33 am
that's crazy that cunts get that much since timberland did a whole album with bjork how much would that have cost?
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By electric dragon Wed Oct 24, 2007 5:21 pm
I imagine it's like big Hollywood actors. Sure, they can demand millions to star in a movie, but oftentimes if they are interested in a project they will work for SAG rates (which sure ain't millions!) Because they are already established and successful carreer-wise, they can charge whatever they want, which isn't necessarily always going to be a maximum rate....

But really you'd have to ask Timbaland how much Bjork paid him....
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By klime_one Thu Nov 22, 2007 4:18 am
timbaland even says on a track, something like, "i get a half a mill for a trak you get a couple grand"


i heard hip hop sales are in the shitter rite now. is that so?


i dont plan on selling beats but it sounds nice, id say id give some out for free just to get some creds. or maybe thats commin off like you aint got no game.

it all seems crazy tho

i know APHEX TWIN turns down million dollar offers somtimes. that dude gets paid good, but he surly earns it in that his traks must take lots of time and energy to put down. rather than some guy doing 2 bar loops the whole track

yerm saying?