Thoughts on this.

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tone_aot

tone_aot

Owner of ToneJonez.com
After chillin from sellin beats and learning more about how to do it right, i've decided to get back into it. I'm working hard to make the most bangin beats i can and sell them locally for $250 a piece. Reasons for selling beats is to get more equip(for vocals, never ending spiral :D), raise money to go to tech school to be an x-ray tech, and provide for gas money, etc. I know that i have crazy potential to make a killing with these beats so i came up with an idea, which probably has already been done. Would it be wise to make a demo beat cd showcasing my flexibility then pass it out to folks(rappers, friends, etc)? I know i'd have to copyright the demo cd and i would also talk a little throughout beats or put distinctive sounds in the beats. Think it would also be good to include a business card with the cd. As far as contracts, i'm only going to do exclusive beats because i don't like the idea of leasing. I might lease a beat then someone come along the next day wanting to buy for full price but i gotta wait till the lease is up. Would the cd thing be a good idea?
 
The lease never runs out on a beat. If I lease a beat from a producer, I have the right to record and promote that song on one project (album, ep, etc) and promote it to radio for purposes of promoting said project.

Even if that's 3 years after releasing the project, I can still promote it. Feel me?

That's the downside of leasing for a producer. You can never sell exclusive rights to the beats you lease.
 
you can put a time limit on a lease(6months to 18 months)...i dont like leasing cuase to mit its taking away from the Artist full use of the beat..leasing is for guys on the net who real dont care to see their music go anywhere but to a whole lot of artist so het can make a little bit of money..

I sell the exclusive rights to use my beats..I still retain my rights to the beat..but not the Artist performance, vocals or recordings and usely the term of the use is 3years or the life of the copyright..it depends on what me and the artist workout in the agreement..
 
That's the problem, Knotty... If I copyright a beat I leased, I own the recording until the copyright runs out. There's nothing a contract can do or say about that. So if I were to lease a beat, I own whatever I do with it until that copyright dies.

There's not much you can do about that, unless your contract states I can't copyright the recording.

Which is why I don't lease beats. Nothing like hearing the same beat on someone elses project. :D
 
true..so true..but if he has done what he supposed to do and copywitten the beat before he leased it the its still his..i feel you on the hearing the same beat on someone esles work..I know I have on 1 of my agreements that I will be considered a author on the copyright forms..since the tracks are still mines and i didnt give up all my right to it..

but i quess everyone does things different..:D:)
 
Ya, good idea to make a demo CD. And leasing a beat is tricky. A lot of people don't like the fact of paying for something that someone else can have...

If you do exclusive, don't sell yourself short at all. Charge what you know it's worth it. Not $150 or so for exclusive...

You can also make a non exclusive CD as a whole. Where someone can buy a CD with like 15 tracks or so to use for demos and multimedia projects. I bet you can sell a lot of those and still charge a lot for a CD.

It's nice to give folks options. Some people just want to make a demo first, and will pay good money for an instrumental CD (non-exclusive)...

If you can find ways to target different people (demo, multimedia, major artists), you should do well...

You can also hit up those beat sites to sell your tracks. I sold some and it works. Not as much as you would sell face to face with someone. But, if you hit as many places, sites, and loactions you will make more at the end...
 
Thanks for everyone's input! I figured the cd idea would be okay but i wanted to ask yall because yall have more experience selling beats. That non-exclusive cd idea sounds pretty good. How would i go about making a contract for that? Also would i sell the same cd to different folks since it's non-exlcusive? Only thing i see is folks might get mad if they made a song and then someone else has a song with the same beat. I guess that's why i would fully explain non-exclusive and exclusive with the customer before they buy. Great stuff. Yall are always so helpful.
 
speakin of buyin beats . . . i have been considering "commissioning" a beat - and i wanted to share the copyright with the beat maker - but i guess no one wants to do something like that for less than the goin rate?

does anyone do anything like (reduce the price up front, to get a higher price on the back end?
 
hah well if yall need some beats... myspace.com/markpimentel yall. haha

i need to make rent and i dont usually sell my beats... but ive sold 2 already... exclusive rights and all that good shit.

ive never leased a joint... and ive only sold 2 and ive been makin beats for years.. haha but ive given my shit out to people who i think would shine on it... they create a buzz for me... which then allows me to drive my price up when i do decide to sell...

anyways... like i said.. i got a back to school sale on beats, son! lmao

get at me
 
tone_aot said:
That non-exclusive cd idea sounds pretty good. How would i go about making a contract for that? Also would i sell the same cd to different folks since it's non-exlcusive? Only thing i see is folks might get mad if they made a song and then someone else has a song with the same beat. I guess that's why i would fully explain non-exclusive and exclusive with the customer before they buy. Great stuff. Yall are always so helpful.
Click to expand...

Well, the non exclusive Cd idea is kind of like Big Fish audio and other sample CDs. The RIGHTS to use the beats are sold to the person. Not to own the beat. They own the CD and can not resale it... I've just tried this and it works well. Most of your money will come from those hot exclusive beats. The thing is that some people just might want to do a demo and can't afford eclusive, or just want to know how the demo will turn out. The option of a non-exclusive CD opens the door for those people.

1. They might not want to make a demo with a mixtape or well known mainstream beat.

2. Your non-exclusive CD isn't max produced and has fresh new beats.

3. The demo will sound new to others...

4. You are doing them a favor...

I would say don't put your hottest beats for non-exclusive...

So, you have beats for every kind of person...
- demo first time
- artists serious about making a CD
- pro exclusive artists

And the person shouldn't be mad about non-exclusive. If the person wants an original beat, then he has to buy exclusive. It's marketing... You get what you pay for... And you explain that to the person. Let him make the choice...
 
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gullyjewelz said:
speakin of buyin beats . . . i have been considering "commissioning" a beat - and i wanted to share the copyright with the beat maker - but i guess no one wants to do something like that for less than the goin rate?

does anyone do anything like (reduce the price up front, to get a higher price on the back end?
Click to expand...

So, did the both of you make the beat? That would be 50% - 50% copyright and publishing...

But, if you are buying the beat and didn't help or give input, I don't really see the beat maker giving credit...

On "commissioning", do you mean you forwarded a sell of the beat and gave business to the beat maker? That's different. Copyright really wouldn't play a part in it. You can get your payment for commission... ;) So lets say I'm the beat maker and you sent me an artist and he bought a beat. I would give you 15% - 20% of my total sell for the forward of the artist... That's not bad...
 
Im just watin in da wings soakin all this up till I get hot...keep it comin. And shall the rap gods forgive me but whats leasing and exclusive rights and other terms of that nature? Help ya young boy out
 
when it comes to selling beats...

what ive heard is that when youre first starting out... you shouldnt go the route of selling your beats... like you wanna get your shit out there to folks who would shine on your stuff... and just kick down some beats to em... build up your reputation and people will start to notice and thats when people will be more interested in buying your stuff...

or so thats what ive been told after chatting with some folks that are making power moves.
 
Noddy301 said:
Im just watin in da wings soakin all this up till I get hot...keep it comin. And shall the rap gods forgive me but whats leasing and exclusive rights and other terms of that nature? Help ya young boy out
Click to expand...

i can use this to seein as im in the same situation as you
 
Heh GJ I've done that in the past. It usually works pretty well if the guy bringing you artists is bringing you serious artists.

See what I'll eventually do is bring together other beat makers and have them work for Headturnaz. That way you have a whole gang of people puttin' out work so you get all kinds of versatility....not to mention you have different people from different areas hustlin' beats. True they're gonna hustle their own more than everyone elses, but if it's getting traffic to your site, chances are they'll be listening to it all and picking what they like and can afford.
 
Whasup Homies! I just picked up a record player and 4 records at the flea market for $35!! Works Great!! They got a sleww of records. Today i got some Stevie Wonder, George Benson, and Tom Browne. Tommorow, i'm goin back to rack up!! I'm going bck to look for no name artists that nobody has sampled. Feels good to be able to scratch foreal and leave fruity scratcher alone!
 
thats whats up man.... i never thought of hittin up the flea market for records and a record player.... we got a good one around where im from i might have to try that...... question tho I know how you could record from a record player to like an MPC or something but is it possible to go str8 to computer?
 
Thing about old turntables, you gotta go thru a phono preamp. Good thing, i had some old stereo recievers(that i scored from yardsales :D) and most older stereo recievers have phono inputs. So, i'm runnin the turntable thru the reciever, then runnin the headphone out(only out besides speaker terminals) to the input on my m-audio 2496 soundcard. Sounds great! Be lookin out for a sample beat!
 
man just go from one of your outs on your mixer into your soundcard of your pc... use an rca to 1/8" adapter to record straight to your pc on audition or whatever.

as far as the fleamarket shit... theres an upside and downside about coppin records... they are either collectors that are selling their collections or people who dont know what the price of any record would be... so its give and take as far as finding deals.

but stevie, tom browne, and all that.... those are all easy .50 cent bin finds out here.
 
Noddy301 said:
Im just watin in da wings soakin all this up till I get hot...keep it comin. And shall the rap gods forgive me but whats leasing and exclusive rights and other terms of that nature? Help ya young boy out
Click to expand...

From my knowledge (I could be a bit misguided myself though, I don't usually sell too many beats):

When you lease a beat you retain all rights to the beat. You can lease a beat as many times as you want, which kinda sux for the artist. Say you have "Beat 1" for sale or lease, lease is $200 and exclusive is $1500. Now say a cat doesn't have the money to buy exclusive rights and he wants to lease it, yall will make up the contract sign it and he'll give you $200 and you'll give him the beat. Now you can stipulate this beat will be leased X amount of times. So you can lease the same beat X more times for however much you want.

With exclusive, the beat is sold once and can not be resold or leased to another artist. So if the artist gives you that $1500 for exclusive rights your beat is off the market after the deal is done.

That's just my understanding of how it works, there also can be numerous stipulations like album points etc...

Don't hold me to this though noddy, I could be flat out wrong. I usually just give beats to people I know and they'll buy the beer :D
 
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