How successful are you on Beatstars?

[Dusty B]

How successful are you on Beatstars or Airbit? I've been contemplating creating an account, mostly because I don't want to grind and grind but want to focus on having fun making beats (hence why I only have a YT right now). But obviously if I could make a little bit of money to cover the cost of gear and plugins at least, that would be great. And ideally I'd meet artists to work with regularly so I can actually make songs instead of just beats.

But curious to hear of success stories and what it took. Or is it better just sticking with YT? Appreciate the discussion.

 

[K-waz]

How successful are you on Beatstars or Airbit? I've been contemplating creating an account, mostly because I don't want to grind and grind but want to focus on having fun making beats (hence why I only have a YT right now). But obviously if I could make a little bit of money to cover the cost of gear and plugins at least, that would be great. And ideally I'd meet artists to work with regularly so I can actually make songs instead of just beats.

But curious to hear of success stories and what it took. Or is it better just sticking with YT? Appreciate the discussion.

I'll say use any outlet to expand your reach to any artist or listener. Beatstar is great if you invest in it and graduate from the free side of it. I haven't graduate from the free side of it and I only sold 5 beats and I had my account maybe 6 years so that's pretty bad. I know a lot of people use airbit but you'll be successful with that if you advertise that page. Youtube is the one spot but people can get your beat for free if unsigned artist really want it. So its just a 50/50 chance with YT. Most of my beat I sold the most was sending people to my soundcloud, networking in person with artists or word of mouth about my production

 

[Dusty B]

I'll say use any outlet to expand your reach to any artist or listener. Beatstar is great if you invest in it and graduate from the free side of it. I haven't graduate from the free side of it and I only sold 5 beats and I had my account maybe 6 years so that's pretty bad. I know a lot of people use airbit but you'll be successful with that if you advertise that page. Youtube is the one spot but people can get your beat for free if unsigned artist really want it. So its just a 50/50 chance with YT. Most of my beat I sold the most was sending people to my soundcloud, networking in person with artists or word of mouth about my production

Thanks man, appreciate the insight!

 

[Iron Keys]

HOW SUCCESSFUL ARE YOU ON BEATSTARS?​

I'm not.



But I'm not on there. I can't particularly imagine anyone really being 'successful' on there.

 

[Fade]

What I realized with any beat-selling websites is that it's not about those sites in particular, it's ANY site you have your beats on - you have to promote it. Those sites are good for selling but too many guys put their beats up and hope to make sales, when in fact there's a ton of beats on there so you'll get lost in the shuffle.

Youtube is great for promotion but the good thing about them is if you know how to work their system and use the right title, thumbnail, keywords, etc you can get decent views, then drive them TO your Beatstars and Airbit page. Just don't be that guy with a shocked face on every thumbnail lol.

 

[Dusty B]

What I realized with any beat-selling websites is that it's not about those sites in particular, it's ANY site you have your beats on - you have to promote it. Those sites are good for selling but too many guys put their beats up and hope to make sales, when in fact there's a ton of beats on there so you'll get lost in the shuffle.

Youtube is great for promotion but the good thing about them is if you know how to work their system and use the right title, thumbnail, keywords, etc you can get decent views, then drive them TO your Beatstars and Airbit page. Just don't be that guy with a shocked face on every thumbnail lol.

haha. I've actually been thinking about having YT be my primary (since it's YT...) and then maybe creating a gumroad account since I have more control, especially since I sample a lot so any contracts and agreements with folks I work with will have to state that the rate is based on my time as a producer/beatmaker of which copyright material may be used and sample clearance is still the responsibility of the artist. I doubt Beatstars allows that because they want to avoid getting looped into any issues related to artists who complain that they have to give a piece of the pie to someone else (and I noticed Beatstars technically doesn't allow any use of copyright material) so I'm sure they want to stay far away from the sample clearance game.

So the two avenues I've been considering is YT + Beatstars/Airbit or YT + my own site/gumroad. I'm leaning towards option 2 but wasn't sure if that was stupid and I'd lose a lot of reach by not being on BS/AB but this thread so far is suggesting exactly what you said: doesn't matter about the site, it's about promoting/networking.

 

[Fade]

haha. I've actually been thinking about having YT be my primary (since it's YT...) and then maybe creating a gumroad account since I have more control, especially since I sample a lot so any contracts and agreements with folks I work with will have to state that the rate is based on my time as a producer/beatmaker of which copyright material may be used and sample clearance is still the responsibility of the artist. I doubt Beatstars allows that because they want to avoid getting looped into any issues related to artists who complain that they have to give a piece of the pie to someone else (and I noticed Beatstars technically doesn't allow any use of copyright material) so I'm sure they want to stay far away from the sample clearance game.

So the two avenues I've been considering is YT + Beatstars/Airbit or YT + my own site/gumroad. I'm leaning towards option 2 but wasn't sure if that was stupid and I'd lose a lot of reach by not being on BS/AB but this thread so far is suggesting exactly what you said: doesn't matter about the site, it's about promoting/networking.

I used to write for Airbit so I was able to ask some questions to the owner a few years ago. With sampling he was just "meh". I'm sure it's the same on Beatstars that they know beats will have samples but they just have to put a warning up, because really, how are they supposed to police that? Not all sites have content ID systems like YT. Who knows.

Gumroad would be a good idea, nothing wrong with trying that. YT has some nice features as well because they're trying to incorporate as much as possible for creators like the storefront they now have plus memberships and all that.