New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Have you ever wondered if you can capitalize on your musical skills and start earning money from selling your beats online? Thousands of producers make extra income or even work full-time creating music for different artists across the globe. There are many ways to reach your customers, including social media and streaming services, but some platforms are easier to get started on than others. Because these platforms are marketplaces where artists are specifically looking for musical content to use for their self-expression.
So there are several online resources - beat store providers - where you can quickly earn exposure and money: Traktrain, Beatstars, Airbit, - each with its own set of features and conditions. To clarify, we provided a comparison table below so that you can decide what is the best one for you.
Comparing Platforms
| Feature |
Airbit |
Beatstars |
Traktrain |
| Free Subscription |
No, lowest price starting at $8.33/mo |
Yes, 10 track limit |
Yes, 15 track limit |
| Fees |
No free account, 20-40% for paid one |
30% for free account, 0% for paid one |
0% for any account |
| Payment Methods |
PayPal, Credit card |
PayPal, Credit card |
PayPal, Credit card |
| Embeddable Widget |
Infinity Store |
Blaze Player |
Customizable Traktrain Widget |
| Scheduled Releases |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Subscriptions and Fees
Beat stores offer different conditions for their members - producers, beatmakers. Depending on the features enabled, accounts mostly require monthly or annual payments. Sometimes, there are more than one option for different account types. The main parameters are track quantity limit, the commission fee from each purchase, the ability to use features like embedded player, and sell sound kits in addition to beats. In addition, some platforms provide free accounts with low track count; but even with no regular payment you can still sell your work and make money! However, this may result in higher commission. Traktrain is the only beat store provider that doesn't have fees for MP3 lease even when working with free membership.
Payment Methods
The most common payment methods are widely supported: PayPal and Credit card, usually through service called Stripe. Certainly, you may have to do initial setup with these services prior to signing up, if you haven't already.
Additional Features
Your store page can be viewed as your personal website, storing your data and showcasing your music. Most of the time, it allows enough personalization to express your artistic style. Moreover, beat store providers offer widgets with your music or your store to be embedded on external websites. The list of extra icing on the cake goes on and on: scheduled uploads, split payments (for collaborations and features), statistics and SEO integration.
Useful Tips
Licensing
Due to the fact that beats are digital products that have essentially zero copy and distribution costs, buyers do not purchase them per se, they purchase a license. In short, there are two types of licensing: Exclusive and Non-Exclusive. An exclusive license can only be sold to one person, while non-exclusive ones - to many. After selling an exclusive license for a beat, it becomes unavailable for purchase. Therefore, exclusive licenses are far more expensive, and the price is usually negotiated with the artist. Additionally, you can have multiple tiers of non-exclusive licenses for different audio quality and user rights.
In general, user rights mean different limitations on a finished track. That is to say, the number of streams, airplays, copies sold, music video features, etc. allowed for a particular non-exclusive license option. As for sound quality, there are a few more or less standard variations that most people offer. They include MP3 (from 128kbps to 320 kbps) with and without beat tags, single WAV file, and tracked out WAV files (24 bit - 44,1kHz).
Beat tags are like audio signatures on your beats - a simple spoken phrase stating your authorship. They help with recognition of you as the beatmaker and avoiding someone stealing your beat and using it without paying or acknowledging your input. Some platforms, like Traktrain, offer auto-tagging MP3s you are showcasing on your page to prevent piracy.
More Online Services
Certainly, signing up for a beat store provider of your choice to upload your beats for sale will benefit your business. However, in this day and age, you cannot neglect other ways of reaching out to your potential customers. The most obvious thing that will help build a loyal fanbase being active on social media - Instagram, Twitter, YouTube just to name a few. Also, a great place to showcase your work and build your network is Soundcloud, because it is filled with people who have a great interest in music. Having your personal website has become less important nowadays, as social media pages and platform profiles provide you with enough space to host all the relevant media, trivia, and links.
Getting Started
The signup process is usually straightforward. Nevertheless, let's go through one to make sure you understand the steps. We will use Traktrain as an example.
Traktrain proudly claims to be an invitation-only platform, and rightfully so. Everyone can buy a beat on Traktrain, but the ones who sell should be reviewed and approved by the internal team. So here are the necessary steps to apply to the platform as a beatmaker:
- Have some of your beats uploaded to a general access service like YouTube or Soundcloud - you will need a link to your work online for the next action;
- Request your invitation code on this page by filling out a simple form and hitting "Send Request" button;
- You will receive an email with the invitation code within 7 days so you can complete your registration. Make sure to check Junk/Spam folder! If you haven't received your email, that means you didn't pass moderation. But don't be upset! You can try to submit a new request after 2 weeks with some new material;
- Finish you registration by pasting your invitation code and providing some more info about yourself
It's done! You will then have your Traktrain account with a free membership plan so you can sell up to fifteen beats. Even with the free plan, all the sales have a 0% fee from Traktrain - the only fees are from PayPal or Stripe depending on the payment method. If you wish to sell more, review the platforms paid membership plans on this page.
