BeatStars’ How to Sell Beats Online Seminar by Abe Batshon (Watch all Videos)
https://www.beatstars.com/video/68238
Intro to the Music Industry: Course Readings
Dr. Stan Renard | Fall 2019
BeatStars’ How to Sell Beats Online Seminar by Abe Batshon (Watch all Videos)
https://www.beatstars.com/video/68238
This video seminar informs potential artists on how to sell their music online. The video mentioned that online platforms like Itunes are the future of selling music. These online music streaming services have generated approximately 75% of all music industry revenue in the past year, and they continue to grow with the majority of young adults paying for music streaming. Click the link below to learn more about the rise of online streaming services in the music industry:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2019/01/16/how-music-streaming-won-over-millennials/#5279c55225c7
This four part seminar gives artist the insight information on how to sell their beats/music online. The individual giving this seminar was the CEO of BeatStars Abe Batshon who has created the premier social music marketplace for selling, uploading, distributing, and sharing music worldwide. BeatStars has over 350,000 music producers and artist that generate millions of dollars annually in over 150 countries around the world. He even gives you useful tips how on to have effective advertisements while you attempt to sell or distribute your beat to potential buyers. One of his main points was get straight to the point, making your advertisement clear and simple don’t make it difficult or make the consumer work. Lastly, he also mentions Influencer Marketing which is when a person or brand of influence directly or indirectly endorses you or your company with content, testimonial or investment.
Here is a link that has an article about BeatStars and also has a Q&A with Abe Batshon.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ogdenpayne/2017/01/04/beatstars-the-bootstrapped-startup-making-it-easy-to-purchase-a-no-1-hit/#65fbec86725e
What I liked about this video was that Abe Batshon, the CEO of BeatStars, quit his job for many reasons. Abe had a vision to create a website for music producers. His mindset was to create a market that was able to be an independent individual rather then having an A&R. The conference he holds talks about why BeatStars was created and how the logistics work.
Here is a link that talks about ways to collaborate in the music industry with Abe
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ogdenpayne/2017/01/04/beatstars-the-bootstrapped-startup-making-it-easy-to-purchase-a-no-1-hit/#55bea8f6725e
This gives an artist information on how to sell beats and music online. He describes the difference between music producers and what they do. My favorite is were is says that he hated when he was told that he was just a behind the scenes person. He was tired of that so he stepped him comfort zone and has his own business now. He really shared what he went through and he fixed it. He had a vision and nothing stopped him from achieving that goal.
This article I found gives you tips on how to sell beats.
http://www.trafficforbeats.com/5-tips-sell-beats-online/
This video seminar was given by Abe Batshon who in a highly trained executive in the music industry with over 15 years of experience. He went in depth about the “behind the scenes” roles within the music industry and examined how they are much more than their title. Music producers are the individuals who retrieve licenses in order to producer for a particular artist, film , or TV. Abe explained roadblocks that arise within being a producer as well as an online beak maker, such as being paid low, and royalties not being paid out in enough time. Abe stressed the importance of understanding marketing in order to be successful as a online beat maker. Here’s an article I found with additional information on how to build your popularity online as a beat maker : https://ledgernote.com/columns/careers-marketing/beat-producer-reputation/
The host of the seminar, Abe Batshon, brings a interesting insight to how producers operate and poses the idea of changing your mindset how your you view yourself and your music. Instead of seeing a beat as one piece view it as product and yourself as a brand. He is instilling entrepreneurship in beat makers saying build a client base from the expanding pool of artists from the internet and sell beat licenses in volume. Another concept he brought up is mastering a release schedule to train consumers and build consistent anticipation for your product.
Here is an article on promoting entrepreneurship in the music industry –> https://www.berklee.edu/bt/221/entrepreneurship.html
Abe Ashton gave a great series of educational speeches on how to take advantage of the Music Industry as a beat make rather than being taken advantage of. He is well respected for developing the brand name of Beat Stars and for someone who has been in the industry since the 90’s, I love his distinction between the roles of traditional music producers and current online beat makers. He stresses the importance of licensing your production to more than one artist t operate like a business owner rather than licensing your production to just one artist like the traditional music producer risking the chance to see your product get “shelved.” This still leads me to the question: How does one sell their beats online like a successful entrepreneur? The link below goes further into depth.
https://urbanmasterclass.com/how-to-sell-beats-online/
The video seminar contained informative aspects about producing music, the significance of producers and beat makers, as well as their role within the music industry. Digital music executive, Abe Batshon has over 15 years of experience within the music industry and has worked with several reigning artists, and he is now the CEO of BeatStars. Abe describes the characteristics of online beat makers and their roadblocks, as well as the characteristics that go with producing music. He stresses the importance of marketing and learning how to operate a small business, in order to be successful within the music industry. I appreciated how he explained that a music producer and beat maker are more than just “behind the scenes”, because there’s so many components involved in order to make successful music , and these two play an essential part in an artist’s career, therefore they deserve much more credit and appreciation. Here is an article I found on “beat making 101”, that describes how to make a successful, appealing beat.
https://www.izotope.com/content/izotope/en/learn/beat-making-101-how-to-make-a-beat.html
This is specifically for producer who needed to sell beats on a platform. As for me, I gain some what of an experience with working with producer through beat-stars. Beat-stars is a platform to let producer put their names out there and work with artist individually one on one. This makes a huge changes for music industry because at the old time where artist needed a record label to gain connections with producer. But today artist can go straight to producer and work with them with music production and purchase of instrumental tracks. Abe Batson is the CEO of Beatstars and he created this platform to show that producer isn’t someone who is behind the scene or making beats. They are an important key into a good song. I found an article on how it is explaining on what is the music producer do and what their roles and how important they are to an artist career.
https://www.recordingconnection.com/reference-library/recording-entrepreneurs/what-does-a-music-producer-do/
This video seminar shows a different look into the world of the music industry. Abe Batshon is a well-versed music industry professional, therefore listening to him talk about the music industry is not only informative but interesting as well. The main take-away I gained from watching the video seminar is that marketing is the key to being successful in the music industry. This is because you can create awesome music, but you need to know how to market it to your audience. An interesting article that I found about talks more about the success of Abe and Beat Stars: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/abe-batshon-beatstars-money-doesnt-drive-us-our-community-drives-us/
An interesting aspect I learned about from the video was Google Ads. We all see ads daily; I’ve always been curious on the process of the ads coming about. I looked at the google ads website myself and found it extremely easy to setup an account and navigate through the website. I also enjoyed Abe Batshon’s perspective on making your beats products.
In this seminar, Abe Batshon, CEO of BeatStars, walks us through some key differences between traditional music producers and online beat makers. He points out many great perspectives about selling beats online, one of them being to make a beat available for several artists to lease. Instead of making a beat for only one artist to use, one is able to sell beats to potentially hundreds or thousands of artists. The probability of the beat being used for the next big hit becomes much greater than it would if the license was only sold to one artist. He uses an interesting illustration in his explanation: “Does Amazon.com sell five iPads? Or just one iPad and that’s it, they’ll just remove that product from their platform? No! Your beats are products… you are an online business”. Abe Bashton, through this seminar, really promotes entrepreneurship within the music industry, in an effort to help producers avoid being “behind the scenes guys” that are typically mistreated.
Below is a blog post from the BeatStars website, in which the platform asked some of the more adept beat makers on the site for their advice on getting started with selling beats: https://blog.beatstars.com/joined-beatstars-now/
Abe Batshon, the host of the seminar, provides a marketing-centered perspective on the music industry. His focus on the artist and the emphasis on starting small businesses was intriguing and encouraging. His explanation of entrepreneurship in the industry was an interesting perspective to listen to. I wanted to look more into this viewpoint and research entrepreneurship in the industry a bit more.
https://www.virginstartup.org/how-to/be-entrepreneur-music-industry-how-it-works
Making beats in this day in age is very common. With making beats you have to learn how to sell beats. I loved when he talked about the “roles” of a traditional music producer and how they are ultimately trash. With a traditional music producer the jobs that they do are outdated and they won’t get the artist far. Their audiences are limited and because when your “behind the scenes” there isn’t a lot you can do, let alone reach to get the content out there. When becoming an online producer you are allowed to reach wide ranges of audiences and it simply just becomes easier because it’s online and everything is accessible. With this selling beats is easy because so much stuff is online there is no way you can’t reach a wide range of people.
Here is a link on more info on how to sell your beats online
https://urbanmasterclass.com/how-to-sell-beats-online/
This man was ahead of his time and he risked it all on a leap of faith. He spoke about how he left a good steady job and it took time to get back to where he was but on his terms. He speaks about how shady the music industry is today and how to work the industry for you. He spoke about how your music is a business and you don’t sell your rights to the beats you lease it and milk the money. He spoke of how to start up and make money in a way that felt that anyone can do it. This affected me more in a way than I expected and it made my eyes open up. He spoke of you need to have a passion this isn’t an over night you need to be able to throw yourse3lf at people take risk and spend money to make it. He spoke of also to keep up with the services and focus on your music and your money, basically be a hustler.
This website offer many services such as mixing and beats.
https://www.fiverr.com/categories/music-audio/mixing-mastering?source=category_tree
These set of videos was very interesting, as it provides an in depth look into the online music business through the lens of an experienced producer and business man, Abe Batshon. I liked how detailed he went into marketing yourself and your beats as a producer online, even though he was also self-promoting, which was fine. It does show that, while it may be daunting at first, getting into the online music industry is a much simpler process if you put the effort and money into it. Here’s a long interview at SXSW with Abe and a few others about the online music industry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D62mJVfWI2w
I enjoyed this video because of how honest the guy was about the industry and putting things into a reality. Some things that stood out to me was when he was talking about the person “behind-the-scenes” and how if you wanted to get known for your work you have to come out of the shadows and put yourself out there. Another thing that I found interesting was when he was talking about how he licenses his beats to everyone so that eventually your beat could be the next best hit as well as how much revenue you can make from licensing to anyone. Lastly, how much the industry has evolved. It’s amazing that you don’t have to go through a record label just to make a beat anymore. Everything can be done online which saves all of these youtube and Soundcloud stars so much time and money. In short, becoming your own brand is how to take your small business to the next level.
Heres more information on how to build your own brand.
https://www.shopify.com/blog/how-to-build-a-brand
The music industry is constantly evolving, and throughout this seminar, Abe Batshon explains the shift from a traditional music producer to an online beat maker. He gives several tips on how to be as successful as possible in the beat making industry, including how to price licenses and how to have a successful Youtube strategy. One thing I learned about was the process of Youtube bidding, or paying to have your Youtube video show up before others listed with the same key words. I had no idea that this service existed, but I can see how it could be beneficial for someone trying to market a certain kind of beat.
Here is an article that explains more about having a successful Youtube ad campaign:
https://www.singlegrain.com/video-marketing/youtube-ad-campaign-checklist/
There’s such a big entrepreneurial aspect to selling beats online that a lot of people don’t realize. I love that he says you have to understand that 90% of this is marketing and then 10% is all about the music. The music is important of course, but you cannot be attached too much to what you produce because how else will you sell your product? I follow this online music(beats) company, cymatics, on social media and they offer a lot of wonderful free content to kickstart your online beats business. https://cymatics.fm/pages/free-workshops
I actually have seen these videos back a few years ago when they came out. I’ve known and have collaborated with producers to add bass lines to their beats and projects. They will normally send a ‘batch’ of 10-30 beats to me with notes on each about what they want to hear. I record and add the basslines and send back. They will send back a few they want something different with more notes and I redo them. This has been a decent income stream for me. Below is link to a basic site used to sell beats as an example.
http://www.almaribeats.com/
I have seen similar videos where individuals speak about how musicians can sell their music online. However, what I admired about Abe Batshon’s coming up story was how he left his job because he had a higher passion for collaborating with musicians and did not avoid the realities of the music industry. A few years ago I had used a free app available on Apple’s app store that provided a limited, free, instrumental that could be posted on social media ad such. Many famous artists purchases these beats online made by producers. For example, Charlie Puth had mentioned in an interview-like video that he had purchased a specific beat in his new song titled “I Warned Myself” for about $50. For more information on selling beats in an article form, here is a post made by CNBC titled “Selling your original melodic beats online can proffer $100K a year in your pocket”
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/17/music-producers-making-100k-a-year-selling-their-melodic-beats-online.html
I really like this guy’s opinions and views on how producers should be treated. He started Beatstars because he saw that producers were going to be a lot more needed in the coming years and he was right. I didn’t know that there was a lot of popular songs now a days that had their beats bought online either. Below is a link about how Lil Nas X bought the beat for “Old Town Road” for $30 on Beatstars:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/lil-nas-x-bought-the-beat-used-in-old-town-road-for-30-on-beatstars.html
What intrigued me the most about the first part video of the seminar is how Abe Batshon really wants to drill the idea that music producer or beat makers can make their own living in this new entrepreneur ship or economy where beat makers are the ones in high demand and don’t need the outstanding artist to be the headliner of their music; that they can be in control of what they want to be and create instead of being “behind the scenes” all the time and not getting the credit or money they deserve. What was interesting about the second part of the seminar was how he explains how music producers can better their release flow and stay consistent when putting out beats to make a great revenue stream happen for them along with what Beat Stars provides when you subscribe to their company like them making sure what type of wav your beat will be made off of or what royalties are taken care of for you. The third part of the seminar is interesting too, for how a music producer can advertise their content on social media so that their business is better known through the people. What was great about part four of the seminar was how a music producer should take the opportunity in working with an influenced person so that they can better your career in the music industry.
Here is a link of an article regarding more information on Beat Stars.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ogdenpayne/2017/01/04/beatstars-the-bootstrapped-startup-making-it-easy-to-purchase-a-no-1-hit/#48487d07725e
I love this video for the recognition he gives to beat makers!! He was totally spot on when he said music today is “the beat featuring the lyrics”. The real geniuses of current music are those people who are locked away in a lab for hours on end, not just the ones you see jumping on stage shouting one liners in a mic. This video is so informative on the roles of producers and digital media artists, especially on stepping out from “behind the scenes”. Here’s a video on how to get started making your own beats: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjOiL7M1-3kAhURQq0KHfYwAnAQtwIwBnoECAIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D–d1DuEQmGs&usg=AOvVaw1pb7IJUjTidCtYjIPDqr6N
Abe Batshon is well-versed in the music industry and doesn’t mind sharing his knowledge with people who want to make their way into it. He’s aware of the everchanging music market and stays ahead of the curve. BeatStars was created so that artists and producers could both share their work with other music enthusiasts while shopping around for content of their own. Nowadays producers are just as popular as the artists that hire them; something Abe kept in mind when starting BeatStars. It’s all about building your personal brand and standing out from other people. Here’s an article on why how hip hop producers need to build their brand:
https://www.stopthebreaks.com/diy-artists/why-independent-hip-hop-producers-need-to-build-own-brand/
Musicians have powered social media by storm. Musicians put in a lot of work to make sure that lyrics have something to gravitate to and bounce off on. The video mentioned traditional music producers and how music producers are taken for granted in the past and still in the present. Social media has drastically changed the way we share music. Nowadays it’s even harder to gain recognition for your music, with everybody having technology at their fingertips. These videos were very enthused and clearly stated the subject. Abe Batshon was very honest discussing how to sell beats online.
Here’s some more information about selling beats online: https://youtu.be/pWvOYZHgHJY
I respect Abe Batshon’s integrity and how he followed his passion and his gut when he first created BeatStars. There were many takeaways I got from this seminar like if you don’t know how to market and execute no one is going to care and no one is going to know about your beats no matter how great they may be. You also have to pee engaged with the audience by setting up email subscriptions as well as investing an advertisements for your music. You need to have the mindset of an entrepreneur in order to be successful. Here is a link to a music blog site that list ways to promote your music successfully: https://www.dittomusic.com/blog/how-to-promote-your-music-independently
In this video seminar, Abe Batshon discusses many very interesting topics including how to sell your music online. This is very beneficial for artists and is very informative about the online music business. I enjoyed how much of an emphasis he put on music marketing because I think it’s a very important part of the industry and is what I’m personally most interested in working in. I also really appreciated the honesty and confidence he showed throughout the seminar.
Here’s an article on how to get your music heard:
https://www.musicindustryhowto.com/music-marketing/
When Abe started discussing how producers and beat makers often sit around and wait for opportunities, it reminded me of people who get paid by commission like car dealers. In order to make sales and in turn, make money to support yourself and your family, you have to work at it, even if it means starting all over again and practicing until you find the tactics or styles that work for you. He also talked about growing thicker skin and hopping into a business-person’s mindset because if you’re constantly subjecting yourself to other’s criticism, then it can be discouraging. Abe Batshon’s main goal through his testimony and experience was to emphasize how imperative it is to be consistent, even if that means taking a giant leap of faith to get to where you want to be. Click the link to learn more about how Abe’s company has helped stars like Lil Was X become even more popular with his online platform.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/23/lil-nas-x-bought-the-beat-used-in-old-town-road-for-30-on-beatstars.html
I think it’s really cool how the purpose of the name Beatstars was to highlight the producers and engineers that are often over looked. This really stood out to me because, we are in a time where the beat is the power of the song, and not necessarily the artist and their talent. Some of the top artist in the world are often associated with their producer such as Drake and Oliver “40”, Megan Thee Stallion & Lil Ju, Future & Metro Boomin, and the list goes on. This article I found tells the stories of the well known producers and Dj’s and how they are the new stars of the music industry.
https://www.stereogum.com/1891681/the-rise-of-the-producer-as-a-lead-artist/franchises/the-week-in-pop/
Abe’s seminar videos are very educational, and provided interesting information and advice to young beat makers who aspire to become part of the industry. Previous to watching these videos, I was not particularly educated about beat making and selling, and I learned quite a lot. When Abe said not t o “fall in love’ with your music I didn’t fully understand that until he said that you are 90% business person and 10% music maker. I learned that you can have little to no talent but generate large amounts of revenue by utilizing good marketing strategies and promoting your music to the right audience. Abe seems very experienced and it seems as he knows what he is saying, from years of experience. Here is a related article I found about selling beats and how to market them.
https://urbanmasterclass.com/how-to-sell-beats-online/
I really enjoyed this video and how it gave insight to those in the music industry. Although the main point was about selling beats and his company beat star I think this video made a great point about being innovative. Innovation in the music industry is very important when trying to find a place to fit in and Abe Batshon’s made his with this site. He made a very interesting point about how musicians are the leaders of social media and that statement said a lot. He has created a site that generates millions of dollars from producers selling and artist purchasing beats. This video was great for anyone in the music industry who needs inspiration as well as for producers/musicians who want to know how to sell beats. Below I attached an article about innovation in the music industry.
https://gture.com/digital-innovation-in-the-music-industry/
All for videos were great to watch! Abe Batshon has put all his time in effort into becoming so much more than just a regular producer. He has made it to where he and others can continuously make money off of their beats compared to a regular producer that sales their beat once. Not only is he a producer but a great business man at that. In fact he even refers to his audience as business men/ women because thats the mind set you have to have to go into selling beats or anything at that. What I was impressed with the most was how he utilized youtube to his advantage and was able to market his tracks in the most easiest way people can get their hands on it. HE showed us how easy it is to get through to the consumer by using the key words and wording titles right. He even showed us how to link the songs and what will draw in more clicks. In todays age, people do not want to do the most to look for something on the internet and it is up to to the business man/ woman to be be able to get the products out into the market and make it as accessible as possible if you want your beats to be heard and sold. here are a couple more ways to be able to get your beats/ music out there: https://www.loudup.com/PromoteYourMusic?source=bing&keyword=music%20marketing&device=c&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=LoudUp%20Promote%20Your%20Music%20Guide%20Campaign&utm_term=music%20marketing&utm_content=Ad%20group%20%231
As a producer myself these videos really opened up my mind on a lot of things. As a producer you can not sit there and wait for your opportunities, you have to go out there and make yourself known. Promoting my music and using well designed market strategies can take me so far even if my beats are not the hottest at the moment. It is all about how you market everything and if you do it right then you will make money. Abe Batshon is making money off beats all the time compared to a single transaction but that is because he is a 90% business man which we all are. A lot of amazing information is given between these seminars and any young producer/beatmaker can take this knowledge and go far with it.
This is another website where you can buy beats: https://airbit.com/
Abe Batshon, the CEO of BeatStars, gives an insight into the beat making business in the music industry. He goes in-depth about his contribution to the industry and how many popular artists have used his company to increase their growth. As he talks more about the industry, I pondered over the actual process and how if there was a general road map or direction, there would be more people skyrocketing their careers in the beat making business. The following link explores the “how-tos” of the beat making business and what to keep in mind while you are building your reputation. https://ledgernote.com/columns/careers-marketing/beat-producer-reputation/
These videos were interesting because they highlight the oft-overlooked, but indispensable, beat makers/sellers, producers and engineers and how Abe was able to revolutionize the industry with the launch of his platform. A really excellent point he made that stuck was not to fall in love with your music, how it is still a product that has to be sold at the end of the day. This was really eye-opening because from very early on in one’s careers, musicians are told to love the music they’re making, without the guidance or insight from one who has to market and sell their skills.
Attached is a link to Forbes from 2016 where there’s another interview with Bashton. It dives into more numbers and offers more insight to his career.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ogdenpayne/2017/01/04/beatstars-the-bootstrapped-startup-making-it-easy-to-purchase-a-no-1-hit/#41c5c8725ee0
In order to be an amazing producer that gets what is earned, you have to go and get it. There are roadblocks that the producer has to tackle. Abe Batshon compares the traditional producer to an online “beat-maker”. He is blunt and says it like it is and that is good in the music industry. There is tons of talent in the producer world, so the question is how you can get your beats out there.
Here is a link over the different kinds of producers in the business: https://www.adorama.com/alc/8-careers-in-music-production-you-should-know-about
In this 4 part video seminar Abe Bashton depicts and goes in depth into the inner workings of the producing and beat making aspects of the industry, and how over 50% of the revenue in the industry was incurred by a streaming service (like itunes). Abe talks about the operations of the music industry in contrast to the product. Bashton makes the observation that although it is the “Music Industry” the music itself is only about 1/10 of the process and what matters more is the operations, and marketing; this is something I’ve thought about often given the overwhelming amount of good music and the few discovered artist that are out there, if you can’t look at the industry as a product (sale) and numbers then I think it’ll make it much harder to get anywhere.
Here is a good article on your brand and music promotion
https://newartistmodel.com/promote-your-music/
Abe Bashton, CEO of BeatStars, goes in depth of his experiences in the industry of producing for artists and what he had to do to get to where he is today. One part that really stood out to me was the part where he starts explaining where he took a turn and how he didnt want to be thought of and just somebody who is supposed to be “behind the scenes” only. There were so many things that he went over in his 4 part videos that are helpful for anyone, whether you are just getting started or have been trying to get out there for a long time. As someone who personally makes beats, I saw this video and wondered how it was even free considering all the information he puts out there for everyone to use, including how to get more people to listen to your stuff, what to do before giving your beats to anyone, and all his own personal ideas that have helped him get to where he is now.
here is another article that gives more advice for people who are starting to sell their beats: https://ledgernote.com/columns/beat-production/how-to-sell-beats-online/
As a producer, this was very helpful. It taught me how to sell my beats online.
These videos really remind me of a lot of interviews I’ve seen of big producers who had to sit in a room and knock out 5 beats a day to pay for rent. Kanye West famously rapped “Lock yourself in a room, Doin’ five beats a day for three summers. That’s a different world like Cree summers, I deserve to do these numbers.” Kanye, obviously, got his start producing for large artists lake Jay Z, Nas, Lil’ Kim, Talib Kweli, Beyonce, T.I., DMX, and many more before he started raping.
My link is to an interesting video where Phoenix Beats talks about how his beat to No Role Modelz by J. Cole came about. Spoilers: Cole heard the beat in an early form and reached out to Phoenix Beats, who wasn’t very well known at the time and worked on the beat with him, changing the bass to an 808 and adding bird sound effects, as well as a break for a skit that includes a George W. Bush quote,
These videos really remind me of a lot of interviews I’ve seen of big producers who had to sit in a room and knock out 5 beats a day to pay for rent. Kanye West famously rapped “Lock yourself in a room, Doin’ five beats a day for three summers. That’s a different world like Cree summers, I deserve to do these numbers.” Kanye, obviously, got his start producing for large artists lake Jay Z, Nas, Lil’ Kim, Talib Kweli, Beyonce, T.I., DMX, and many more before he started raping.
My link is to an interesting video where Phoenix Beats talks about how his beat to No Role Modelz by J. Cole came about. Spoilers: Cole heard the beat in an early form and reached out to Phoenix Beats, who wasn’t very well known at the time and worked on the beat with him, changing the bass to an 808 and adding bird sound effects, as well as a break for a skit that includes a George W. Bush quote,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd1wEy1j9No
As I learn more about the music industry this video gives me more insight on the entrepreneurial aspect of the music industry. While many producers/artist struggle to make it big and receive a constant flow of cash brands like Beatstars opens a market for independent producers to make a living outside the “shady industry”. Many of the beats on the site have many leasing/buying options. For example, any user on the site can buy an MP3 and WAV license known as a “Standard License” but is limited to how many streams it can get, stations it can play on, and how many copies it can distribute.
Here is another webiste to help understand beat leasing: https://www.thecorporatethiefbeats.com/buy-hip-hop-beats/what-does-it-mean-to-lease-a-beat/
One things I’ve quickly picked up on while taking this course is the importance of using a WAV file for your music sharing. Abe actually mentioned in part 1 that you need a WAV that’s high quality to be taken seriously by clients. You are 90% business person and 10% beat maker. Selling a product is more important in the online business than it is to sit on a beat after making it. Iv’e attached a link to a WAV conversion website called NCH Software. Side note, here’s Abe’s email: Abe@beatstars.com
https://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html?msclkid=2ffb0ba8822118bf871c5625d8dc651b
This series of seminars lets a person know how to sell their music online. These seminars are given by Abe Batshon who is a digital music executive that helps explain what some responsibilities are, what type of roadblocks you could run in to, what types of licenses are needed, and how royalties are paid out. He gives encouragement and to always keep trying. Very great seminar on how to apply your knowledge to get music published online.
https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/how_to_start_your_own_music_publishing_company