I’m sure you heard plenty of success stories when it comes to selling beats. Simply post your beat on beatstars or traktrain and whala! Actually, it’s not quite that simple and I would actually stay away from these “Sell Your Beats Here” websites.
If you tried to sell your beats before you might realize how hard it is to actually sell some. It’s not enough to post your beats and share it once in a while to your friends. This process can get quite complicated but with the right strategy, you can seriously make some dough. Let’s go over our tips in this article on how you can sell your 1st beat!
Create an Acquisition Strategy
Every producer should have a strategy on attracting new clients. If you rely on rappers coming to you, that is your first mistake. Many famous producers started out by tracking rappers and physically catching them in public to share a beat tape.
Nowadays, producers have social media that can be used as a powerful tool to communicate with rappers. Although traditional strategies for acquiring new rapper clients still work, many have utilized social media as a way to contact rappers. My advice here is to focus on specific areas in which you can find rappers to talk to.
Searching for rappers online is not hard! Sites like Reddit, Youtube, Instagram, Spotify etc. are perfect for finding upcoming rap talent! Finding upcoming rappers will make it easier for you to sell your beats since they are not yet famous but serious enough to purchase beats.
An acquisition strategy must be set up for each of these sites. The set up is simple: define your area, layout how you will contact the rapper, and have a planned out script for your first message!
For example; on Spotify, you can find upcoming rappers by looking at the “Similar to ___” section. These artists will have less followers than famous artists, but clearly are serious about their craft since they are paying for Spotify services.
Anyways, Step 1: Define your area. In this case it’s the “Spotify’s Similar to ____” section. Step 2: Layout your contact method. In this case we would find what social media this rapper has by visiting their Spotify profile. From here we know where to DM the rapper. Step 3 is to plan out a script! You might be inclined to say “I have beats for sale here!” But I highly recommend avoiding ANY of these words for the first message. Which leads to our next topic, relationships.
Build Quality Relationships
Aggressive sellers never win. There’s thousands of beats out there and rappers are constantly spammed with producers who say “new beats for sale” “cheap beats now!”. You definitely don’t want to be another spammer in the rappers DM.
A great way to start off a relationship with a rapper is to simply be a fan! A message that reads “Your song [Enter Song Name Here] really struck a chord with me bro!” will be much more effective for getting a response. You then continue with questions that stem from their music and so forth. The more responses you get from the rapper the better. This is what building relationships is like.
This process can take weeks or sometimes months, but at one point the relationship between the rapper and producer will become more comfortable in nature. This allows you to get more personal with the artist and eventually you may create something that “specifically” is for them. Make sure to not mention anything about prices or sales.
Since the rapper feels more comfortable and personally tied with you, he might be the first one to mention prices or sales. If not, it might be a better move to simply give it to them for free at first! This is the cost of true business. Sometimes the client must be catered without question before receiving the check.
Apply this to every platform to receive more potential clients and possibly become closer with rappers that’ll lead to continuous sales! And passive income! But eventually we have to talk prices right? Continue on to learn how to price your beats.
How To Structure Your Prices
Do you have a pricing list for your beats? Do you only offer one price to rappers? This can actually be the reason why you don’t sell beats….because your presentation is terrible! No worries though, not many producers have read sales books. Luckily I have!
In the famous book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, the author Robert Cialdini explains an experiment done inside a suit store. The store owner was trying to increase sales but couldn’t find a way to do so without innovating the space or spending lots of money in marketing. So, Robert had a great idea.
Given that the store has plenty of suits that are all priced the same, Robert decided to dedicate one small section to this price. With the remainder of the suits that covered 75% of the store, Robert decided to increase the price five-fold. Now the store has suits that are mostly priced over $500 while having a small section that has suits for $100.
What happened afterwards? All the suits in the small section sold out within two days, making the store owner a very happy man. So how does this relate to selling beats? Well, the lesson learned here is to surround your target product with other products that are much pricer. This would in turn make your target product appear more like a deal/steal!
In other words, give the rapper a selection of beats that are all priced 2-3 times more expensive than the beats you want him to actually buy. Then present him with another selection of beats that are normal price. Since you predict that the rapper will like the cheaper beats better because it fits his style, he will think it’s a great deal since the other beats don’t fit his style and are much more expensive.
One thing to note is that it might not be a great idea to bombard the rapper with lots of beats. I personally recommend showing the rapper 2-3 beats that are much more expensive first, then sending him 1-2 beats that are cheaper second.
Conclusion
Hopefully these ideas make sense to you and you can start applying them today! Becoming a successful producer doesn’t always need to be hard. Finding creative ways to build relationships with rappers can really boost your career as a hip hop producer. Making acquisition strategies will make it easier for you to find serious rappers. And having the right pricing strategy will quickly solidify your sale. Let me know what you think of these tips so I can make more tutorials like this!