You can literally find beats and instrumentals all over the internet nowadays. There are thousands upon thousands of producers online with beats for sale, but the question most beat makers and producers STILL ask is “How can I make significant money selling beats online?”
There are many factors that play into increasing beat sales ranging from marketing strategies to branding to social media prescene, etc. However, there is one main factor to consider if you have beats for sale on the Internet. The most important thing to know when it comes to increasing your beats sales is:
YOU HAVE TO MAKE WHAT ARTISTS WANT TO BUY!
As simple as this may sound, many producers miss the mark. If an artist wants to buy beats then THEY WANT BEATS THAT THEY LIKE. If you want to make serious money producing online then you must cater to your customers. If your customers want pop beats, then you should be creating pop beats for sale. If your customers want hip hop instrumentals, then you should create hip hop beats for sale. If artists are always approaching you for R&B instrumentals, then you should be creating R&B instrumentals to sell online. Get the picture?
All joking aside, if you’re selling instrumentals on the internet you must realize
YOU ARE RUNNING A BUSINESS AND IF A BUSINESS DOESN’T SELL WHAT THE CUSTOMERS WANT, THEN IT WILL SOON BE OUT OF BUSINESS.
Although you may have initially gotten involved in music production for the joys of creating music for yourself, you must create for your customers in order to start making more money.
WANT TO SEE COMMAS IN YOUR PAYPAL BALANCE?
START LISTENING TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.
Often times independent artists want to have beats that “sound like” a certain artist’s style. Right now artists like Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Meek Mill, Wale, and Mac Miller, are considered “hot” in mainstream hip hop music. In mainstream pop music, artists like Lady Gaga, David Guetta, Pitbull, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Adele, and Britney Spears are considered “hot”. No matter what type of music you produce, you probably want to create instrumentals like the ones major artists use to increase your opportunities to sell more beats.
Take a look at Soundclick Charts in the instrumentals and beats section and pay close attention to the producers that are in the top 25. You will likely notice that they create beats and instrumentals that are currently “hot”. These producers often create “radio friendly” or “commercial” sounding music. Why? Because THAT IS WHAT IS SELLING RIGHT NOW.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a market for non-mainstream, underground music. This is what would be termed a niche market. In other words, there are a special set of people who will buy these types of beats. If you choose to attack this market that is not a problem at all. There are plenty of artists looking for these types of instrumentals, but if you want to have mass appeal and open yourself up to a larger market of paying customers you would want to create what’s “hot” now.
Some people may criticize and say that this method of creating music is un-original, or non-authentic, but the producers and beat makers who create music that is “hot” now are laughing as they watch the commas roll into their PayPal accounts.
Honestly, some of the beats that are “hot” and “selling” are often very simple and sometimes not very good. However, if your goal is to sell more beats online, then that’s what you will need to create to increase your sales. If artists were looking for complex, intricate beats then you would want to create those styles of instrumentals. Make sense?
All in all, the secret to selling more beats online isn’t in a magic formula or special techniques. Its very simple.
1. KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
2. CREATE/PROVIDE WHAT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WANTS
3. MARKET YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Thats it!