what should i charge for beats?

i'm getting requests for beats/collabs more and more these days, may it be on myspace or in the real world. my best friend is an accountant and i have just setup an ABN(oz business numba) so i have a legitimate business, but i need to show some income to have any benefits.. + i got paypal setup.

i'm thinking in the ball park of AU$50-300 depending on how long said beat took to create and considering originality. does this seem ok? $50 p/hour sorta thing?

i don't want to scare anyone off. my mate said i should be charging $500 p/beat, but after saying that to people things don't work out, i think he just wants my beats to himself... so realistically i don't see 50-300 that unreasonable. but i am at the stage not to just be giving beats anymore except for fam! but even then i am going to have to invoice something because that is how a business is run.

i'm going to put some ads out for recording + i might start djing for $$ again too.

once i get some chunks of change and more demand i'll up the price overtime.. but i'm not very business savvy so i need a little guidance here.

check me out below and tell me what you think..
any help would be appreciated.

padlock,
peace!

so no help? just a nod or a head shake will do..

i know alot of stoopid people ask shlt like this, but this is important & circumstantial to me.

it's alright, i'll just keep on keepin on!!

a couple hundred bucks never hurts. You can also have a simple lease deal where you have a pool of beats (like 20) that anyone can use for X amount of dollars.

ok, thanks for the input pound!

Have a set price and go for it, but remember, cd's ain't exactly selling, so trying to get money form local wannabe Rappers will be hard to do. Unless their doing shows, they can't afford to pay for beats, and even the ones doing shows are (most the time) broke. Just think.. 2-3 shows/week @ a couple hundred bux each (minus rent, minor spending) won't exactly mean anyone has $400 to blow on a beat.
Unless your clients are signed (with a decent budget) give the beats away to people that can help you. Right now, we need opportunities more than money. A free beat to (example: Lil Wayne) means exposure to MILLIONS of people which equals more money in your pocket later. A free beat to a local rapper will do nothing for you later, so definitely charge them. If you can get $100 out these cheap muchaphuckaz, then your doing GREAT..if your getting more, then your doing something really right!
Either way, if you give/sell a beat, make it worth your while!

you should charge what you can reasonably make. trial and error. learn from your mistakes, because you will make them. and lastly, have your contracts in order!

Selling beats to a signed artist, and independant artist, and the average "rapper" are going to play a bigger factor than anything else.

If you have a budget, like a signed artist, money isn't a huge issue. That doesn't mean you can charge what you want and they will pay, they will be much more likely to pay you a fair price for your music, sometimes more than what is fair.

An independant artist is paying out of pocket but money isn't a big issue. They need to be more savy though and get the best bang for the buck. They will have some sort of budget they are trying to follow (or should). They usually are going to be professional and understand what things should cost and be fair, but usually on the lower end.

The average joe, turned rapper by the internet is an irrational beast. On one hand, they feel that they are as professional as anyone due to their "skill". On the flip side, they will always try to bargan, beg, plead, cry, etc. They will destroy your whole concept of trying to charge per hour, once you have spent 5 days telling them to **** off and stop lowballing you. They deserve your music more than you do, much less anyone else. These sales are going to be cheap and more challenging. If you arn't flexible, you will get frustrated, especially when you don't initate the sale. Don't forget price matching. They can always get beats for cheaper than you want to sell. However, they never want those beats, only yours, but some how it is only fair if they pay the price of someone else's beat for your work.

Sorry, the last part of this is a bit of a rant. Don't discount the idea of giving free beats out to people who will further you career. I gave one beat out to a decently large artist. I ended up on an album and now things are starting to take flight. I gave another artist a free beat the day after the album came out when he wanted to pay. Now we are negotiating a deal for 10. It got the ball rolling for me and was easier than trying to sell one beat in the first place. I may sell more like 20 in the same time frame as I would sell one or two, we will see.

this thread again.. lol. cheers for the advice guys.

im selling them for $100 starting point fairly consistantly. i jus made a deal lastweek on 6 (older)beats with a mate for 700~ depending on which beats, the price will go up.. but then my dude jus got locked up for glassing some poor dude, looks like it might be 3+yrs for him and another mc. a real bltch act imo, it was on the news n everything.. but i didnt really want him on my beats coz he was not to par with the standard i have set for myself..

i refuse to give/sell beats to anyone that i dont think has the potential to get somewhere or do something positive with music, the only person i give beats too is my main man who i been workin with for around 7 yrs now untill we drop an lp then things will change somewhat, and some international emcees coz i like what they do..

i just did a show two weeks ago with my team 'rule of thumb' opening for phrase for the 4th time and it was a success, although i didnt have my buzi cards ready, a few ppl hit me up. i was playing drums/djing/made all the beats etc, and now im playing drums for a couple other acts, which is what i like to do more than djing.. a bit less pressure if you will but makes it more liver, then just feature on one track scratching. we got another show on sunday jus at an open mic night to try n get on the bill for some better nights.. and we r trying to pillage another acts manager who are getting really good gigs, so we doing our thing solid!

but i've sed $100 to a few ppl when they ask and been gettin instant nods so i might jack it up a bit after some more work/exposure.. but i am humble about the whole bringing money into it factor, i just want to make good music. but then i do understand i have to put a price on myself or im gonna get taken advantage of very easily coz im just a niice guy i guess.. i just found an amazing female vocalist too which is another plus!! think-> eminem - mm lp - drug ballard styles.


i do need contracts though, so if anyone can help me out or point me in the right direction i would be mad appreciative!?


peace fam!
padlock

Depends on the quality of work. You might have only spent 5mins on a really hot track that everyone wants, why sell it worth only 5mins when you can get more than triple for it? The reversal is also true.

Its about marketing/outreach as well, a beat being sold for $50 to some rapper wanna-be might have potential to retrieve $5000 from a known artist.

I actually like your beats and think you can get much more for em than $10-$300. I would say let $300 be your starting point for your hot tracks. But also have a gangload of shitty beats for $10 and in between.

You know, there is a huge WORLDWIDE market for selling beats of all kinds of genrest this market is made up of MOSTLY rappers who make mixtapes that they give out free or try to sell songs for a buck or so on itunes or their site etc. These rappers are not business minded, most do not bother to even pay the fee to properly copyright their songs and really just listen for beats they like, which many will just try to jack the file and use it if they can avoid paying at all. These rappers will pay if they got to 10 to 25 to 50 us dollars (non exclusive) so it is very much like granting a mechanical license to them to use your beat in a new derivitive work that they can sell/distribute only with vocals added not resell or redistribute your beat as is. The advantage to this route is you are selling mp3's and "permission" to record on the beat. You are not losing any of your ownership and can sell mp3's of the same beat over and over and over again, think like a 10 dollar mp3 sold over and over.
you are selling mp3's for 10 times or more the price that THEY will sell their finished songs for ( added value is the license/ your permission, to use the beat.
like you sell an mp3 for 10 bucks or more, they sell the mp3 of the song they record on it for a dollar.

you can see who wins in this situation, plus being a worldwide market, local economy woes won't really hurt you.

your serving mp3's up to local rappers and ( hobbyists) no tracked out pro tools session expected at this rate
and no sample clearance worries either, just make the beats you wanna make or what they wanna buy sell em like they are your own song mp3's again and again...



now on the flipside, if you have contacts with signed artists, or the more serious artists who plan to press up thousands of cd's attempt to license the songs to tv/film, you can charge much more (negotiate) in that case you are pretty much getting a royalty advance, yet if their record flops or they just give up etc etc, you still keep your money so in that case get as much up front as you can negotiate.

with a major artist, you can get 3500 to 7,000(as an unknown beat maker) It's pretty much based on the artist's clout versus your catalog, and really is not much per unit say on a 100,000 unit initial pressing pennies per cd pressed that your track is on



If you are lucky enough to find local unsigned artists willing toactually pay you the real dough, go for it

but the current online non exclusive market is 10 to 50 but it's mp3's so f!@@!@ it why not

Thanks for the info BG!
So an exclusive beat is when all rights have been handed over and a non-exclusive (lease) means you (the beat maker) can do whatever with the beat after sale.

Question:
a) Do you have to have your client sign anything for a lease or exclusive rights?
b) If so, how? seeing as how you might be selling to someone over-seas n whatnot?

MPC4k wrote:Thanks for the info BG!
So an exclusive beat is when all rights have been handed over and a non-exclusive (lease) means you (the beat maker) can do whatever with the beat after sale.

Question:
a) Do you have to have your client sign anything for a lease or exclusive rights?
b) If so, how? seeing as how you might be selling to someone over-seas n whatnot?

for exclusive, most def to b
e sure both parties are crystal clear

the lease beats, you can, but having it printed online or part of a reciept is fine


lease beats non exclusive, when it comes down to it,, your selling a high priced mp3 10 x more than song will sell for (or more) and your selling license or( permission for them to use and resell your beat only with their vocals added)
sell the same beat mp3 to 100 different people for ten bucks a pop and count the money and keep making beats ya wanna make

but yeah contracts for exclusive a must but leases it is just a fancy way of over charging for an instrumental mp3 with a type ofnon exclusive mechanical license implied written or not.

MPC4k wrote:the current online non exclusive market is 10 to 50

any sites you recommend for this type of strategy?

DJ Plan A wrote:

MPC4k wrote:the current online non exclusive market is 10 to 50

any sites you recommend for this type of strategy?

There are many of them, But you will be better served getting your own domain name

and webpage/hosting to put your beats for sale on. Your payments get processed through paypal, no extra middle man to hold up your money for two months (that's how the big third party beats sites do. plus they take a cut usually.

If you want to save even more, register your domain name 10 bucks a year and foward it to a myspace page.. you can get code that hides friends/comments join date
and basically will make a free myspace page into a jst about blank slate for you to post your beats to sell.

myflashstore.net 5 bucks a month (10 beat slots) gives you a beat store that you can link directely to or embed on any website, another option.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

giving away free e books with information useful to artists that may buy beats is good ided too as long as it has a link back to your page (people will pass around sending you more potential clients)

collecting opt in e-mail list subscribers that you can keep informed on any new beat updates, and keep in contact as many times a buyer will visit your beat store several times before making the purchazse so keeping in touch will keep you in their mind.


Remember it is a business of supply and demand so in order to sell beat mp3's to the artists you got to make the beats that THEY want, which is not always going to be YOUR favorite style, but you serve the customer and the profits will give you more opportunity to work on your own projects/beats styles you are passionate about.

Learn to separate the art/music and the business side of things.

The beats that sell the most, are usually the beats that will get dissed by other producers
as not "different" enough or complex etc etc but realize you are serving customers, not serving other producers, the beat buyers tend to want material very similiar to styles popular in radio at the moment so they can record songs and try to "blend in" compete with the successful bigger name artists, many are making music as a hobby and buying your beats to feed this hobby just like a person buys anything else hobby related,

You just got to make what they are looking for and lead them to YOUR store.


Don't look at it like your selling your beat cheap (10 bucks) because really you selling an mp3 copy of your beat and giving permission for them to record on it.
you are still retaining your ownership of your beat.

artists sell song mp3's for a dollar, you sell a beat instrumental mp3 for 10 times that just because of the added value of giving permission to use in a song.


You can find your potential beat buyers on myspace, on twitter, on the many rapper forum communities etc, even printed business cards with only your beat store web url and graphics that will breed curiosity (leave them in places that local rappers hang out)

youtube is good too, make videos that rappers/singers might like to watch and make sure your beat store link and one liner are in the video.

The online worlwide non exclusive beat mp3 market is different market than the harder to break in signed artist/label/placements market, and different strategies apply.

this post is directed toward the online mp3 beat selling strategies.

My own goal is to get 10 10 dollar mp3 beat sales per day, everyday, and pay my bills off beats.. that's the end goal, then you have time to make your own artistic music that is for YOU.


Good luck, stay grindin it out