Selling Beats-Flyers and Cards

[tone_aot]

Hey guys. Well, i finally put up a couple of flyers around town and i now have business cards. Now, i need to know where to pass out my business cards. I'm advertising my lowest price, $20, for d4l type beats. After that, they have to go to the website to see the price for other type beats. Alot of rappers in this area use those type of beats so i'm hoping to make a killing. I would atleast like to make 20-40 extra bucks a week. I've also wrote out the contracts. If someone can tell me how to post it up here, i will so yall can see if i did it right. I modified one that beatsbuy posted. What steps should i take from here?

[BeatsBuY]

email it to me and i'll post it for you. info@beatsbuy.com

[tone_aot]

Sent! Thanks for the help in advance!

[REEK BROCK]

I say pass out business cards anywhere you know rappers will show up.Open Mics,talent shows,schools, and maybe get a T shirt printed with something like a logo or just saying I got them beats.I saw a dude that did that and it stuck in my head.Its getting hot so go where people are going to be.

[tone_aot]

Heyyyyyyy. A T-shirt!! Excellent Idea!! I wonder how much it costs to get one made? I could just iron on letters but i don't wanna do that. Hold up. Can't you make iron on designs on the computer? I gotta research this. Thanks reek!

[BeatsBuY]

tone_aot

Here it is. I posted the contract for you...

LINK

You should make a section for the name of the composition and ascap info.

Also, do you want to give exclusive rights for only $20?

[REEK BROCK]

Originally Posted by tone_aot

Heyyyyyyy. A T-shirt!! Excellent Idea!! I wonder how much it costs to get one made? I could just iron on letters but i don't wanna do that. Hold up. Can't you make iron on designs on the computer? I gotta research this. Thanks reek!

You probably could get one made at the mall with whatever you want for about 30-40.

[Fieva]

If you're giving the rights away for $20 then what is the option to purchase there for. Basically, what it sounds like is that you want to lease for $20 and then sell the exclusive rights for $250.

So if someone buys a beat from you for $20 with exclusive rights, that means you only make $20 unless they buy the option to purchase. Most artists would see that and assume they own it and no one else can use it for that $20. Is that what you're trying to do?

Fiev

[BeatsBuY]

Ya, that's how I saw it. You are giving the beat exclusive for $20. You are doing a lot of work to make a beat, and giving exclusive rights for $20 is just giving it away I think...

[tone_aot]

I wasn't really clear on that whole thing so i'm glad yall told me what i was really saying on that contract! That's why i love this site. I already have a potential buyer who talks like he wants to buy a couple of beats. If i were to just skip the lease thing and set a decent exclusive rights price, what do you think is reasonable since i'm just getting my name out there? I'm trying to charge by the difficulty level. On the site i had $20 for d4l/laffy taffy type beats, $50 for average beats, and $150 for bangin beats.

[bknot1]

This is one Im workin on,,,to license out track..

its work in progress to make sure I cover my butt to a certain degree..

[Fieva]

No one can really tell you what to sell anything for. That's on you playa. You have to know your area and what you can charge and people will be willing to pay that. As for me, I can sell tracks ranging from $100 - $300 exclusive here in Oklahoma. The $300 ones are the newer ones I'll put out because my skills did a jump. Some of the older ones I can let go for about $100 and not be too concerned with it since it's going right back to add more parts to the studio. Keep in mind that most of my clientele are underground cats so I know I can charge that. If I was working with more nationally known folks, prices would change, trust that....but then again most cats like that want custom shit no one has heard before....so I chalk that up to custom beat pricing.

[BeatsBuY]

Originally Posted by tone_aot

I wasn't really clear on that whole thing so i'm glad yall told me what i was really saying on that contract! That's why i love this site. I already have a potential buyer who talks like he wants to buy a couple of beats. If i were to just skip the lease thing and set a decent exclusive rights price, what do you think is reasonable since i'm just getting my name out there? I'm trying to charge by the difficulty level. On the site i had $20 for d4l/laffy taffy type beats, $50 for average beats, and $150 for bangin beats.

I'd say if your are going to keep your price down for exclusive rights, sell your beats in package deals. Like 3 beats for $150. One, you sold more then 1 beat and got more money with one sell. And 2, of course people will by the package deal, your hookin them up. But, if you sell each beat for $50 each time. You're doing more work. Do, $150 for 3 beats and say it's $80 for one beat. But, you know they won't go for the 1 beat... Your hooking them up with a beat if you look at it. (That's what you say) And say get it now before you get known...

Also, if you can contact a local well known artist in your area, do a trade out. Say you'll give them a beat to use. That's right a ONE TIME free beat. One, if it's used, that's you name out there.

Also, post a limited time free beat. And state that they have to get credit. And it only can be used for mixtapes. Another way to get your name out there. Cause everyone does mixtapes and needs beats...

[tone_aot]

Thanks for the advice guys. I got 2 potential customers now and i needed that info for one of them. One guy is with a group of local rappers. He told me to come by tommorow to let him here some beats. I'll use that 3 for $150 deal. Great advice. The other customer just wanted one "snap" beat. I know it's going to take me less than 10 minutes to make the beat so i'm only chargin 20 bucks cause that's all he can pay. I need some gas so that bill will come in very handy. Thanks guys!

[bknot1]

Tone- are you keepin any right to your beats at all..or are you selling all your right when they purchase your beats..

[tone_aot]

Turns out that i only sold two beats but they were throwaway beats that would have just got erased anyway. I got 40 bucks and it took me about 10 minutes each on those two beats(and they sucked, weren't even mixed). I basically sold the rights. Pretty dumn move but, everybody does dumn stuff. Anyway, i've stopped selling beats because i'm workin on my album right now and i'm using alot of beats. I just made a track today that i want yall to hear so bad. It's not copyrighted yet(of course) so i can't post it. It is really hot tho!

[50cal]

I cant see how yall sellin beats for that cheap...to each his own.I understand that some of yall workin on credentials..but it aint gonna help sellin beats to knobodys(no disrespect) Id rather give away beats to a signed artist,or put out a indi project..to help get your name circulating.But for what you all are charging damn..its a waste of time...and the rapper is getting over and now has beats....

[bknot1]

you gotta start somewhere..i feel you on the low price on beats..but some folks dont have to local scene to sell at higher prices..or its more little kids thats always lookin for something cheap to impress their friends..but i dont sell anything under 250$(regular price $500+) so i think its a fair price starting out..

[tone_aot]

I'd like to get to that price but there's just not enough serious rappers around here. Everyday somebody asks me for beats but i know they ain't gonna do nothing with them. The reason i gave away the beat for 20 bucks is because dude ain't really got no money, but he and his group just got offered to go on tour with D-roc. That happened a week after i had already sold the beat so there was nothing i could do about it. Imma call him up this weekend and see if i can negotiate another sell.

[tone_aot]

Also, like i said, i'm working on 3 albums right now. My homie C-harm is one of the dopest lyricists i've ever heard and i'm trying to produce him because i know he can make it. I'm also working on an album with this girl from my church. And, i'm working on my groups album. I need my beats right now so i can have more choices before i decided to make a new beat.

[bknot1]

when you have artist that dont have money..but you think they have talent or are trying to do stuff..dont sell your beat outright to them do a Spec deal with them for monies later if things happend..

right now..if he is pushing the song with your beat on it he will be making out..and and the real since you sold all rights to the track he doesnt have to give you credit for the beat..these are things to think about in future ventures..

[Fieva]

See when I find dope artists that I can mold and help improve their game, I offer them an invite to join the crew. I produce their tracks for free but Hammerback Records owns the rights to all material produced and gets credit in the work done so that when they leave and move on, the name stays in the credits and on the tracks that they're using for demos and promos.


Fiev.

[bknot1]

yeah that works also..but a lot of artist dont like joining a crew..cause usely they already in a crew..

what you really are doin is signing them to a production deal to your company..really

[Fieva]

Also, NEVER sell your rights flat out on a beat.
Remember one man's trash is another man's treasure.

You can sell your beats as exclusive, but even then you still make sure you're covered as far as royalties "just in case" the "nobody" you sell the track to actually winds up getting lucky or uses those connections he never told you about when he got that beat for $20 (then that dude just schooled you and made you work and get paid like an illegal immigrant).

Think about that for a minute....

Time's up, now think about this....

Laffy Taffy simplistic shit seems to be in right now. I mean shit that can take us like maybe 10 - 20 minutes to make.

Look all around you man, seems like shit is getting dumbed down. Most of the shit I hear now is a straight loop, not much change in the hook or in the verse. Gotta look with your eyes and your ears playa.

You can still do what you do, but everything you make you should invest in.
When I said earlier in this thread that I can sell a track for $100 - $300 here's my approach on that. You're paying that money to make sure that you're the only one who can use that beat. I still "own" the beat, I just can't sell it to anyone else. The artist can use that beat for whatever he/she wants, BUT they can't resell it, lease it, release it to other people/companies. Also if the artist gets known and uses that beat, they've released it to another company more than likely and I can sue.

In any case, I still get credit for my work and still own the beat, just not the lyrics or the recording for the track.


Fiev.

[Fieva]

Originally Posted by bknot1

yeah that works also..but a lot of artist dont like joining a crew..cause usely they already in a crew..

what you really are doin is signing them to a production deal to your company..really

Some artists I find usually are in a crew that ain't doin' shit. Usually, there's one or two standouts in the crew and the rest are filler. It's easy to hype up an artist to realize his true potential. Some might see this as shady, but the industry as a whole is shady and sometimes you have to play it their way to get what you want. The best way I've learned to get what I want out of artists is to feed their egos and make them feel like the star of the show when they do their project. It's been done with me before so I learned from that and flipped my own script to it.

It's pretty easy to "persuade" an artist(s) to join up if they hear your tracks, like them, and see you making progress (even if minimal) while their "crew" is "trying to come up with that money to put out the next track because they wasted their shit on drugs/alcohol/women/whatever the night before."

But with saying that, you also have to give them benefit to stay with you. Teach them enough of the game to show you know what you're doing. Teach them basic info on how you make a track, just don't show your signature moves...make them learn their own.

Fiev.