Pricing a beat

[Koey]

Hey all,

Somebody reached out to me the other day asking to buy the exclusive rights to a beat of mine for his mixtape and he asked for a price, but I honestly had no idea where to even start the negotiation lol. I looked up some ranges online and I read somewhere that $200-$500 is a good range, but also read somewhere else that they don't sell their beats exclusively for less than $500. This is the first time I've attempted to sell a beat so I'm honestly not sure where to even start. I hit him back asking for a link to his music page and also for the budget he's working with for his mixtape, but he couldn't give that information.

He dropped some info about how he's worked with Roscoe Wiki who apparently produced for Wiz and Mac Miller during their mixtape days. He also did a track with Uness. Here's a link to his page just in case:
https://soundcloud.com/nilliemusic

He claimed that he usually pays the price that he's given, but some advice on how to price the exclusive rights to my beat would be great.

Thanks y'all

 

[Fade]

From what I've seen, I think the best price is always the price YOU are comfortable selling at. It's good you did your research and figured out what the price should be, so it's good to start with that then figure out if your beat is worth that price. If not, then work your way down a bit but not too much.

Of course it's tempting to want to sell at the highest price but when coming up with your price, you have to be totally honest with yourself. Ask yourself, "is this beat worth $500?" or "if I was an MC, would I pay $500 for this beat?".

The bottom line is that if you're comfortable selling your beats for an average of $500, then do that. If this guy doesn't want to pay $500, then see what his budget is. If he's not willing to tell you his budget then you have to re-think working with him.

With exclusive beats though, my opinion - don't go less than $500 because it's exclusive. But again, price your beats at what you think they're worth.

 

[Koey]

Appreciate it Fade.

 

[thedreampolice]

#1 are you using any samples? If so man you need some clearance.

#2 Do you have a lawyer? If not get one. If you are selling beats there will be contracts. Get someone on your team!

#3 The right answer to how much, is as much as you can! You don't want to price yourself out of the market. Personally anything less that 1k for me is not worth it. It is simply not enough money to give up control. Now if I get publishing rights or something I will grants limited rights for even less. Get creative.

#4 is the artist asking established? Can they give your career juice? If so make the deal happen. EVEN if you do it for free, or splitting ownership.

#5 Ask the artist what they want to pay and find out what they are thinking. I ALWAYS get on offer on the table first. You never know if they are thinking 20k and you say $500. Then suddenly you are in amateur hour in there eyes.

#6 use this deal to get others. Ask the artist if they have a producer for the next album. GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR. I do this all the time and now have plenty of work, to the point that I have to turn people down.

I could do more, but this is a good start

 

[Koey]

Woo, thanks for the crash course haha.

Honestly, this is the first exclusive beat I've sold. Is getting a lawyer, getting sample clearance, etc. all that necessary especially at my level?

 

[RenegadeSociety]

Nice...

 

[thedreampolice]

Woo, thanks for the crash course haha.

Honestly, this is the first exclusive beat I've sold. Is getting a lawyer, getting sample clearance, etc. all that necessary especially at my level?

Depends, is this an established artist or a nobody? If they are established than YES. If the song sells less than 50k units you are probably ok on not getting clearance. If you are signing away rights I would still think about a lawyer.