Don’t Blow It – Get Your Music Heard
Here’s an example:
“ Yo! I got hot beats! Check them out at myspace.com/anonymous-producer “
I understand that everybody starts somewhere so I’m not knocking anybodies hustle – but is that really even hustle.
Let’s look at this from the other side of the conversation. Let’s say I’m a label head (which I am) and I’m looking for hot beats (who isn’t?) What about that comment makes me want to click that link?
The answer is nothing. That producer hasn’t given me ANY reason to think he has anything special or even worth my time. Industry cats get that “pitch” every day. In the beginning, before you have any contacts or connections, you actually click some of those links looking for gold. 999 times out of 1000 you just get dirt.
Before long you learn to get stingy with your time. You start to do what everyone else does and filter out the noise. That “yo check out my beats” comment is noise.
Here’s what you need to do instead. Think of what you’re up against. Every producer with a couple of beats in his catalogue thinks his beats are hot. You need to give people a reason to check you out and stop looking for handouts. There are no handouts in this business.
If you want in, you have to prove that you have something I want, something that will make my life easier or move me closer to my goals. Notice how everything I’m looking for is about me. That’s what everybody cares about, and that’s what everybody is looking for – what THEY need.
People in this industry are not surfing the Internet, going to conferences, and answering emails and phones calls to find out what they can do for you. They want to know what you can do for them.
Here’s the bottom line. If you don’t change your thinking and start to position yourself as a solution to peoples problems, you won’t change your position from aspiring to working. You need to build yourself up and have something to say that places you above the noise.
Don’t blow it when you have a real shot. Tell the person you’re trying to connect with why they should consider your music. What can you do for them.
Here’s an example:
“Yo – I make beats in the style of RZA and DOOM. I’ve placed beats on 6 mixtapes this year and local artists are paying $75 a beat for my production. I’d like to connect with artists like xyz and saw that you worked with him on his last album. Do y’all need tracks? I have examples online at (URL).”
That shows that you’ve got their interest in mind and you’re not just sitting at home making beats. You’re actually doing work to build yourself up which shows that you might be worth working with as a partner in some type of deal. On top of all that, THEN you also have to have hot beats and be persistent.
In other words, put some effort into helping the people you want to work with. In a best case scenario, you know what they need and can offer it to them. If you have no idea what that person wants, you shoul ask. Just trying to help them instead of asking for help will put you above the noisy 90% who are looking for handouts.
Don’t take a half-ass approach to this business and expect people to give you handouts. Do the work to build relationships and eventually partnerships.
Where to sell beats? How to Sell Beats? Read on…
A lot of people find this site searching for a place to sell beats or information on how to sell beats. Here is a list of sites that we recommend. Feel free to comment with any we haven’t listed IF THEY’VE PROVEN they can get beats to the pros
These sites top our personal list and meet the criteria of pitching beats to the industry. The amateur sites will get touched on later.
Broadjam is the real deal. Every week they post opportunities for you to submit beats to labels, TV, and film productions. You can see the opportunities for free so there’s no doubt what they offer. If you don’t know, TV and film offer some of the easiest ways to make money from your music and the exposure is unmatched by anything other than commercial radio. You can also sell beats directly from your Broadjam profile without them taking half your profits. If you don’t have a site set up to sell directly to rappers, singers, or just fans, this is one of the least expensive and easiest ways to do it without the hassle of learning to build a whole e-commerce website or splitting your profits in half. Broadjam is the only beatsite I had for years until built my own custom site. I still keep the Broadjam site just to submit to the opportunities.
Taxi << Don’t sleep or be deceived, they deliver on their promise if you deliver what they want to hear. I’ve met the founder, been to the conference, and gotten deals myself through Taxi so this referral is from experience. Rather than me repeating their sales pitch, just go to taxi.com. You can submit beats to every kind of opportunity you can think of except amateurs. That’s what myspace is for.
Musicplacements (hip hop focus) << A newer player with some good hooks into the industry. Basically you’ve got real industry cats who started a publishing company. For a fee (and if they think your beat is hot) they’ll pitch it to their contacts. READ THE AGREEMENT before uploading your tracks to this or any other site for that matter. At one point they had wording about exclusives in there – know what your agreeing to when you sign up.
Sell Beats Direct To Artists – This method is just what it says. Using this method you find artists who are looking for beats and sell them directly to them without having to get past any industry gatekeepers or pay any access fees. This is the most profitable channel for selling beats consistently until you get some major placements and a name for yourself.
Okay – those are the 4 major players that have proven connections inside the biz that I can personally vouch. Plus I know they all deal with urban music so you won’t be the only beatmaker in the mix.
There are MANY sites out there that offer ways into the business and we’ll be more over time so sign up for our feed and keep coming back as we review more sites.
If you’re after proven ways of pitching beats directly without going through the web, stay tuned. We’ve got interviews lined up with producers who’ve done it.
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