While Beat Leasing can be a lucrative way of monetising your production skills, to truly excel you must also take care of business. This requires careful management of agreements, pricing, promotion, and intellectual property. In this blog we outline common pitfalls encountered in beat leasing and offer practical solutions to help beatmakers avoid these issues.

Over/Underpricing Your Beats

Probably the most crucial aspect of beat leasing is your pricing. More than any other factor this will have the biggest influence on the desion making of a potential artist. Aim to strike the perfect balance between affordability and profitability. Overpricing beats can deter potential customers, particularly those on a limited budget. On the other hand, underpricing may undervalue your work and your status as a beatmaker as well as reducing potential revenue.

The best way to formulate a pricing structure is to conduct extensive research. Setting a price or prices that align with similar beats on popular platforms will help attract buyers without compromising on profitability. When conducting your research try to be realistic. You should aim to compare your beats to those of a similar standard, style and online following. Often beatmakers will use past placements as another form of currency so also factor this into your research.

If you intend to offer exclusive beat licences these must be priced in a way that takes into consideration the time it takes to make, mix and market your beat. Beatmakers who carefully evaluate their pricing strategy are far more likely to experience consistency of sales and maintain a positive market presence.

Keeping the Licence Agreement simple

Getting your Beat Licence on point is a crucial aspect of the beat-selling game. Get it wrong and you could be setting yourself up for complications down the road. Make sure your licence is detailed enough and covers all the essential aspects without making it over-complicated. An artist does’nt want to feel like they need to consult a music lawyer when reading your contract.

A well-defined lease agreement should include elements such as usage rights, exclusivity terms, payment details, and any limitations on the beat’s use. By covering all of the angles you will both know what you are entering into and therefore avoid any future misunderstandings and disputes.

Much like beat pricing, you should conduct extensive research into the types of licence agreements equivalent beat makers are using.

Neglecting Promotion and Marketing

It’s important to not solely rely on the beat selling platform to gain traction. Failing to put in work when it comes to promoting your beats will severely limit your beat selling potential. This is especially the case when you’re starting out and trying to build your name.

The most successful beatmakers will have various marketing and promotional strategies in place. These can include targeted social media posts, experimenting with paid ads, YouTube videos as well as collaborations with other artists. In addition, you should endevour to build a mailing list of email addresses. This will enable you to target potential buyers with promotional mail shots.

A beatmaker who invests in promotion can significantly expand their reach, grow their brand and most importantly enhance their sales.

Ignoring Metadata and Tagging

With so much competition on beat-selling platforms, you must leverage all the tools at your disposal. One of the most effective methods to increase visibility and rank well is through detailed tagging and metadata entry. Beats without proper tags and metadata are far less likely to be found by potential buyers. This will lead to missed opportunities.

Effective tagging involves including relevant keywords that describe the beat’s style, mood, instrumentation, and genre. Make sure you provide accurate tag descriptions as misleading ones will result in poor matches. Make sure you read the FAQs for the platform you are using as tagging and metadata labeling can differ between sites.

Failing to Protect Copyright

Copyright represents the intellectual property of your beats and it’s therefore essential that this is protected. In essence, you should strive to guard against the unauthorized use of beats. Registering copyrights is an often overlooked practice amongst producers. While it does involve a fee to cover admin costs, registering your beats with a copyright office can help protect you against beat theft or misuse. If a copyright dispute ever arises being properly registered will vastly help your case.

Another form of protection is the digital watermark or beat tag as they are often referred to. While these are by no means an infallible defence against misuse they do act as a reminder to any potential infringer that the beat is your creation and requires the correct permissions to be used. It also acts as a form of easy identification. Tracks containing watermarks are often questioned when being uploaded for digital distribution.

Using Oversaturated ‘Type Beat’ Titles

The use of ‘type beats’ i.e Drake type beat or Post Malone type beat as a beat title is a fairly standard practice in beatmaking. And while it’s tempting to opt for a very high profile artist with mass appeal it’s a sure bet that you won’t be alone. As more beatmakers use the same titles to capitalize on the current hot artists, the market becomes flooded with comparable beats. This saturation can make it difficult for your beats to stand out. It can also pigeonhole you to a certain style, in turn diminishing the perceived uniqueness of your work.

Summary

Becoming a successful beatmaker is not just about cooking up those bangers. It involves understanding and avoiding common pitfalls. It’s vital to understand and address issues related to lease agreements, pricing, metadata, promotion, and intellectual property, to protect yourself and enhance your business practices.

So next time you upload a beat or a collection of beats take a minute to go through this checklist. That way your true potential and that of your music can be fully realised.

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