As a beatmaker or producer, it’s crucial to collaborate with a steady stream of artists. Not only will this help you to create new music and grow your portfolio continuously, but it will also allow you to build relationships and gain new fans through the artists you work with. So how do you find artists for your beats?

You can find artists for your beats by ensuring your beats are prepared for sale, building your producer website, and using various social media platforms to connect with artists and promote them.

But how do you go about finding artists to work with? Here are some tips to help you get started.

Ensure Your Beats Are Prepared for Sale

Before selling your beats online, you must ensure they are ready for the market. Based on our conversations with beat makers and music artists and our observations of the beat market, we have identified the following steps to take before sharing your beats online.

These steps are manageable and should not impede your progress, but they are essential for success in selling your beats. If you are already selling but want to improve your results, paying attention to these fundamentals can make a significant difference.

Make sure your beats are of professional quality

Your beats should be high-quality, professionally-mixed recordings with no rough spots. Your beats’ music and sound elements should meet your quality standards. Using high quality programs, like GarageBand or even ProTools is essential when it comes to making quality beats.

You should have lower- and higher-quality mp3 and wav files of your beats already exported, and these files should not have any weird encoding issues that prevent them from working on someone’s computer or phone.

Additionally, you should have listened to your beats on good headphones, bad headphones, good speakers, and $5 RadioShack speakers to make sure they sound nice everywhere. Your beats should be thoroughly mixed and should not require any extra work to use.

Give your beats titles that sell

The title of your beats is crucial as it can significantly affect whether or not a potential customer clicks on your beat to listen.

Your beat titles should showcase the vibe/feeling of the beat, make the beat sound intriguing, be memorable, be manageable, and be concise. One popular move is to include an artist’s name in your beat title, as this helps a potential customer predict what the beat will sound like before they click.

Have a good selection of beats, but don’t pad your good beats with bad ones.

It would be best if you aimed to have a bare minimum of 10 beats before selling. Ideally, you should have more than 40 beats ready for review.

Your beats should span different genres and have different tempos, vibes, instrumentation, and sounds. This will ensure that when a potential customer likes one of your beats enough to check out your catalog, they can find something they want. Ensure every beat in your library meets your quality standards.

Finding your niche.

One good way to start selling beats is to pick a narrower niche so that you can be a “big fish, small pond” producer.

This will deal with a smaller potential customer base, but if you can become that big fish in a small pond, it will be easier to move to larger and larger ponds. As you grow a background of success, you’ll be more competitive against larger beatmakers.

Add a producer tag to your beats.

Producer tags, also known as audio tags, are self shout-outs beat makers put on their beats like “Mike Will Made It” or “Mustard on the beat.” You’ll learn about the weirdness shortly.

These tags are like a photographer adding a watermark to a picture to prevent people from using it without permission. By adding your producer tag to your track, no one can use your beat without your audio “watermark” showing up.

Because nobody else would think to use this weird watermark, it makes it easier to find someone stealing your track. After all, nobody wants actual mustard on a beat, but it could be useful in the right circumstances.

Make sure you have the legal rights to sell your beats.

This means ensuring you have the rights to any samples used in your beats and a legally binding agreement with any collaborators. If you don’t own your beats, you can’t sell them and everyone can steal them.

Below, you’ll find out a more famous example of this:

The credited songwriters on the 1997 hit “Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)” by Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz are Walter Becker and Donald Fagan from the band Steely Dan, who received 100% of the publishing royalties from the song. This is because the song sampled Steely Dan’s “Black Cow,” for which they demanded over $100,000 and full royalties for clearance.

Establishing legal control lets you get paid properly for the use of your beats. So, if someone steals them, you could end up making your money back.

In the hip-hop genre, samples and beats have a strong connection and can be costly to legally obtain. To avoid any legal issues, it’s best to ensure that you have the rights to all sounds in a beat before selling it. To acquire samples, consider using sites such as Tracklib for cleared songs or Splice for cleared loops.

Highlight your top tracks to grab attention

When someone visits your website from an email or Instagram link, what should they be greeted with? Your top-performing beats.

If they are impressed with what they hear initially, they will likely keep exploring your other tracks. Identify your best beats and feature them prominently on your website, such as in the audio player or pinned at the top of your Twitter.

You can also include a link to one of them in your email signature. If you still have a MySpace profile, make sure it’s the first track that plays when someone visits your page. By featuring your best beats first, you can capture the listener’s interest and encourage them to explore more of your catalog.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your beats are ready to sell and have the best chance of being successful in the market.

Building Your Music Producer/Beatmaker Website

Creating a website for your music production business is the best way to reach your potential customers and showcase your work.

Unlike social media platforms or beat marketplaces, you have complete control over your website and can customize it to suit your needs. Additionally, by selling directly on your website, you can avoid paying royalties or subscription fees.

Here are the basic steps for creating your own beat making website:

1. Obtain the necessary components:

• Secure a domain name, such as your producer name with a .com extension
• Purchase web hosting for a low monthly cost
• Find a template you like, such as a free WordPress template or a paid theme specifically designed for beat makers

2. Plan your website content:

• Your homepage should feature an audio player with your beats, a brief summary of your artist identity, and an email signup form
• Consider adding a sales page where customers can purchase beats, a page displaying finished tracks from notable artists, and written content to improve your search engine optimization

3. Set up email list:

• Include multiple options for visitors to sign up for your email list, such as a form on the homepage, in the footer, and on specific landing pages for advertising campaigns
• Consider using exit-intent pop-ups to capture email addresses when someone is about to leave your site

With a little effort and the right tools, you can create a professional website that effectively showcases your beats and promotes your brand as a music producer.

Using Social Media to Promote and Sell Your Beats

Social media can be an excellent tool for promoting and selling your beats, but it’s crucial to approach it strategically. The main benefit is that most of your target customers spend significant time on social media, making it an effective way to reach them.

The main disadvantage is that social media is not primarily a sales platform, making it difficult to get your message across to everyone and convert them into customers. Therefore, we recommend using social media as a promotional tool to drive people to your website or marketplace, where the sale can take place, or drive people to your email list, where you can promote to them more effectively and convert them better.

Social media is also an excellent tool for prospecting and finding potential customers. The following tips will help you with marketing, selling your beats, and networking on the top social media platforms.

Using Instagram to Sell Beats

Instagram is a must-have for music producers and beat makers. It’s where artists will look for you and where you’ll look for them.

• Create a Producer Instagram Account: Your beat making is a business, so it’s separate from your personal life. Therefore, create a new Instagram account for your producing career.

• Post at least a few times a week from your producer IG account, but more importantly, use the account to like and leave comments on other people’s posts every day.

Follow the Right People

There are three important types of people you should find, follow, and engage with from your Instagram account:

1. Rappers (especially ones you want to buy your beats)
2. Other producers at your level (to see what they’re posting and how they’re engaging) as well as top producers
3. Fans

Use Instagram to Find Customers

Here’s how to find rappers on Instagram and eventually turn them into customers. This should be a daily activity – the more rappers you find and follow, the more relationships you’ll build and the more potential customers you’ll have.

1. Find other producers who are one step ahead of you in their career and follow some rappers who they’re following (or who are following them). You can find these producers by going to the marketplaces like BeatStars, searching for the top-selling producers, then looking them up on Instagram.
2. Start engaging with the rappers you find with this technique. Like their posts and leave good comments.
3. A few weeks later, send a DM introducing yourself.
4. Continue to work on building the relationship. After they follow you and start engaging with your posts, you can let them know about a beat you made that’s perfect for them.

• “Link in Bio” is Where You Make the Sale: You’ll build relationships with rappers on Instagram by DMing with them. But you always want to make sure that if someone finds you or decides they’re ready to buy from you, it’s really easy. Set up the link in your bio to go to your website, where someone can make a purchase. A better option is to set up a Linktree where you feature your website and your email signup list/lead magnet.

• Post With the Right Visuals and Hashtags: Instagram is a visual medium, so when you’re posting your beats, make sure you use compelling images or videos. Keep a list of good hashtags in your Notes app. You can figure out the best hashtags by seeing what other producers are using, then clicking through those hashtags to check their popularity.

Using YouTube to Sell Beats

YouTube is one of the top places you’ll want to feature your beats. Outside of the instrumental marketplaces and maybe SoundCloud, it’s where most producers and beat makers will go to showcase their beats and connect with potential customers. Here are a few tips for using YouTube to sell your beats:

1. Use “____ type beats” titles to get your beats in front of the right people. By including a famous rapper in the title of your beat, like “Future-type beat” or “Kodak Black type beat,” it will help your beats surface as rappers are searching and also improve your visibility with the YouTube algorithm.
2. Create remixes and lofi beat videos. Not only will it build your profile and make you a bigger name, but it will also show off your talent. Lofi beat videos have become very popular, so if you have beats that fit that description, create lofi beat videos and use interesting artwork to draw people in. You can also reach out to top lofi beat video makers to see if they want to include one of your beats in their next mix.
3. Follow rappers and leave good comments. Similar to Instagram, find the rappers with whom you want to build relationships and follow them on YouTube. Leave relevant and interesting comments on their videos. Once they get to know your name, you can reach out and start building a relationship.

In addition to these tips, you also want to keep in mind that YouTube is a powerful platform for building your brand, so make sure to keep your videos consistent and maintain a consistent aesthetic throughout your channel.

Using SoundCloud to Sell Beats

While SoundCloud may not be as prominent as it once was, it remains a significant platform in the beat-making industry and a great place to connect with potential customers.

You can find potential customers through “produced by” searches. Here are the steps you can use to leverage these searches:

1. Look on BeatStars for the top producers in your genre, who are making the most sales on the platform and make a list of their names.
2. Search for “prod. by [beatmaker]” or “produced by [beatmaker]” for each of the beatmakers you found on SoundCloud. This should bring up a number of tracks from rappers who have used their beats.
3. Listen to a few seconds of each track to see if the beat sounds like something you would produce. If it does, that rapper is a good prospect.
4. Reach out to that artist through a cold message on SoundCloud or by including them in your next cold email outreach sequence.

Make sure your artwork matches the vibe of your beats Artwork is important on SoundCloud so, when you upload your beats, make sure the artwork you use looks good, matches the vibe of the beat and catches people’s attention.

Check out other producers in your niche to see what kind of artwork they are using, and what catches your eye. You can also search for top tracks in your niche to see what kind of art they are using.

Using TikTok to Sell Beats

TikTok can be a powerful tool for promoting your beats and connecting with potential customers, including rappers. Here are some strategies to consider:

• Post high-quality videos featuring your beats and call for duets: To gain visibility and engagement on TikTok, post videos featuring your beats and invite users to create their own videos as a “duet” with your original. Use hashtags relevant to your genre and beat style, and encourage users to share their videos with their followers. This can help you connect with potential collaborators and customers and grow your own following on the platform.

• Monetize your music on TikTok: You can also monetize your music on TikTok by uploading it through a distributor or directly through the platform’s SoundOn feature. Although the revenue may not be significant, it can provide additional income while increasing your beats’ exposure.

Utilizing Twitter to Market Beats

Twitter may not be the most natural platform for selling beats, as users typically don’t go on the site to listen to or search for beats. However, it can be an effective way to network with rappers and direct individuals to your email.

• Creating a Worthwhile Account for Rappers: To attract rappers to follow your account on Twitter, it’s essential to post content that is relevant to them. Research other producers with large followings on Twitter and study the content they post for inspiration. Also, evaluate their engagement levels to determine which strategies are successful.

• Utilizing Twitter Search to Expand Outreach: Twitter search can be used to find rappers to add to your cold email list. Some rappers open to business opportunities may include their email in their bio. Utilize targeted Twitter searches to locate these individuals and add them to your next cold email outreach.

Utilizing Facebook to Market Beats

Facebook may not be the most popular social network for selling beats, with platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, SoundCloud, and TikTok offering better opportunities to connect with rappers. However, there are still ways to use Facebook in your music-producing career.

• Joining and Following Relevant Groups: There are several active Facebook groups within the music production and hip-hop community. Search for these groups, join ones with strong communities, and actively participate in them. The more you contribute to these groups without promoting yourself, the better response you will receive when you do decide to promote yourself.

• Keeping Friends Informed of Progress: Use your personal Facebook page to update friends about your successes as a hip-hop producer. Your friends may know individuals or organizations needing beats for corporate videos or TV shows. If they see you are succeeding as a beatmaker, they will be more likely to recommend you to the right people.

Using social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube is an effective way to promote and sell your beats. By following these tips, you can reach your target customers, build relationships, and drive sales. However, remember that social media should be used with other marketing efforts, such as email marketing and your website, to maximize your success.

Conclusion

Collaborating with a steady stream of artists is crucial for beatmakers and producers to continuously create new music and grow their portfolio.

To find artists for their beats, beatmakers should ensure their beats are prepared for sale by making sure they are of professional quality, giving them titles that sell, having a good selection of beats, finding a niche, adding a producer tag, and obtaining the legal rights to sell their beats.

Additionally, promoting their beats through a music producer’s website and social media platforms can help connect with artists and gain new fans. By following these tips, beatmakers can have the best chance of success in the music market.