One of the most controversial aspects of selling beats is whether or not to sell your beats cheap, or to sell them at whatever price you feel is deserved.
I think that beats should be priced on various factors, such as how good they are, your reputation, and what the current market is.
However, by taking a look at some beat-selling websites, it's so common to see beats priced very low.
Some are VERY low.
Is that good? Let's examine:
Why Sell Beats Cheap?
If you're looking to sell beats and you visit a beat-selling website and see most of the beats being sold very cheap, what would you do? Would you sell yours at the same price?
If your answer is yes, then why? Because everyone else's beats are cheap?
What happens with that situation is exactly what's going on right now. The market is flooded with beats that are dirt cheap, so if someone is looking to buy beats, they're automatically going to think that's the going rate.
For the beatmakers that have their beats priced much higher, buyers won't even give them the time of day.
I get it though. If you sell a beat for $10 and 50 people buy it then you just made $500. But that's not ideal.
Why Sell Beats Higher?
I'm a firm believer that you should price your beats at whatever price you feel is good (within reason). For example, if you want to sell your beats for $60 non-exclusive and $800 exclusive, then that's fine, but you have to be able to also justify those prices.
If you're just starting out making beats, then I would recommend you put your price much lower. But if you have lots of experience and you've made a name for yourself, or even marketed your "brand" through social media, then by all means price them higher. You've earned it.
I would much rather sell one beat for $50 to an artist that is going to appreciate it and make good use of it, rather than for $10 to 5 people that don't care about quality.
Ferrari prices their cars high because then can, but also because they're built with quality. And guess what? People buy Ferraris because they know it's going to be a great car.
So What's the Problem?
I've always looked at it like I do when it comes to other products for sale, whether that's shoes, clothing, cars, or for something that hits home with me - web design.
Allow me to go slightly off-topic for a minute.
I used to get paid to make websites. I had a decent amount of clients and I worked freelance. At first I didn't know what to charge so I asked for $200. It wasn't much to create an entire website, but I was just starting out.
Then as I got better at it and had more of a reputation, I was able to put my price up. At one point I was charging $1200 for a small website.
I was ready to go higher with my price but then something happened.
The market turned on me.
What happened was clients were starting to hire other people that were charging much less. Actually, a lot of the clients were hiring people from India, where they would ask for ridiculous prices to build a website - $20.
So, what happened to me? I gave up. There's no way to compete with that. It got to the point where I would bid on a job and put my price at $350 (just to see what they would say), and the client's response? "Too much".
Wow.
Selling Beats Can Not Go That Way
I learned my lesson and I don't want to see that happen again, especially when it comes to selling beats. It's not just for me, but also for anyone selling beats - we should be able to make a decent living from what we love doing.
Just because 90% of the beats for sale are $19.95 doesn't mean that it's the right price.
I'm going to break it down for you like this:
If you walk into an electronics store to buy a new TV and you see a Sony for $999 but next to it is some brand you've never heard of, like Suny, and it's price at $399, which one are you going to buy?
You're going to go with the Sony because it's a name you know (reputation) and you know it's going to be a good product.
So if your beats are priced higher than everyone else's but your beats are dope, people will buy them, that's for sure. The key is to find the right type of buyer.
I think one of the issues is that for a lot of the people selling beats, they just want to make a quick buck.
I get it. If that's working for you then great. But it's not for everyone. Not everyone is going to sell beats for cheap and beats that are in the style of whatever's popular at the moment.
There are plenty of beatmakers that are just making beats that sound dope and want to sell them at a respectable price. For that to happen, it's the buyer that has to change their mindset.
My Message to People Buying Beats
Don't just buy the cheapest beat, or the beat that sounds like a Drake beat. Buy something that is just dope. Something that you can picture yourself spitting over. A beat from someone that you can see yourself buying other beats from and forming a lasting relationship.
If you buy nothing but beats that are priced low, you're going to help water down the whole idea of selling beats until it's at the point where you're buying beats from a factory in India.
Respect the game.
Further Reading Related to Selling Beats
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