Why do YOU produce music/beats?

Beaubeats

Beau Beats
Battle Points: 3
The million dollar question.
With the little time we have here in our short lives, why do you make music/beats?
If we can learn the "why" it's easier to find the "how".

Put it like this. Some time ago I started seeing the world differently then I did as a kid. Lots of poor life choices, wrong paths chosen and hard lessons learned are likely the only reason I have the perspective I do now. Bare with me, shits going to get weird for a minute. I use a reverse engineering approach now which requires me to look at my funeral. Thats right, as a fly on the wall. From a perspective of dying tomorrow up until I am an old man. I picture the people who may or may not be there based on how I may have lived my life. I use this approach to make sure I give my family the love they deserve despite any issues I may have with them along the way. It is a way of forgiveness that benefits my soul, so I don't carry a burden of hate, anger or resentment that will deteriorate me slowly from the inside. It works wonderfully and helps me focus on my actions alone and only what I can control.

What does this have to do with making beats/producing or being a creative?

The same technique can be applied to how we spend our time while we are here. It is very simple. When you are out of time what will you regret? What decisions in your life will you wish you made differently? I have had many things to regret but have given myself forgiveness for all of that nonsense and self hatred years ago. It has freed my mind to be able to access potential I never knew I had, shit, no one knew I had it except for my grade school teachers with the "doesn't use his potential" comments on my report cards my entire school career. I started to put effort into growing instead of thinking about the past.

For me the answer is not simple and I did not find it easily. For my long ass story, read the green. For the shorter version, skip the green. It really isn't required to get the idea of this post.

I always denied caring what other people thought of my art, paintings, my music...or anything else I put effort into. I was lying to myself. I was afraid that I wasn't a good enough artist, my beats weren't worth showing people and just full of self doubt and fear. It ate me alive and killed my creativity for many years in my life.

Then I started to look at it more realistically. I started to pay attention to the way things work and I tried new things. Scary things. Quite a job of twelve years to open a company to compete with a multi million dollar company who was surely going to fight me tooth and nail. I spent six months doing research, planning, setting up and I was already knowledgable about my trade. Everyone doubted me. I doubled down. Everyone projected their fears onto me (especially my wife). We fought about it here and there but she watched me work towards a goal, one brick at a time. I could tell she still didn't believe in me. So I worked harder. When It was time to make the move and quit my job I was terrified. Filled with fear and visions of being a failure. But I did the work. Inside I knew it was the only way I would be happy doing that job anymore.

It worked, for a little while. I was very successful at it my first year. Second year 105% growth, third year 150%. My happiness was fading and how could this be? I had done exactly what I set out to do but I was even more miserable than I was at my old job.

The one real mistake. I did not listen to my heart and just listened to my head. I went for financial success and control over happiness. It started to weigh on me that I was not fulfilling my potential and I was so far from what I want to be. It ate my time and added stress to all aspects of my life. I started to clearly see how that same potential could be used in other areas of my life.

That is when I realized I need to follow my musical heart. I need to create music and art and I want people to enjoy it. I want to work next to artist who have an original voice or style that people have yet to hear. I want to help people who already have a style retain that style and keep working it, growing it and expressing themselves the way people already enjoy from them. My business skills and ability to research and learn with my creativity will unlocked doors that I know I can get to if I apply all the same efforts in this field as I did in my work career. For the first time in all my life I am starting to clearly see my future as a professional and successful music producer. I am on a long road that just started last summer and I am playing the long ball. Overnight success has no value to me. I want it the hard way. I want to learn everything I can before I make big moves. I want to be great at production. All production. All genres. Movies, video games. The sky is the limit and if i live 50 more years I can learn more than I ever thought possible as a boy.


It is very simple.

If YOU produce because you enjoy coming home from work and having a nice relaxing hobby to practice and play with, make what your soul wants to hear.

If YOU produce to cater to a certain sub genre or specific style of music then stay doing you, especially if likeminded people are enjoying it and it is making you a living already.

If YOU produce to be original, experimental and explore the unknown, stay weird.... lots of the best things come from their eventually.

if YOU produce because you want to be the next biggest producer, stay learning and practice. Stay studying what the greats have done (in their time) and watch what the charts do. Look for trends and try to recognize what is working and what is not in todays market. Watch tutorials in your free time. Study the legal side of music as that can be the very factor that determines how successful you can become. Know whats yours and what is not. Take constructive criticism every chance you get but make sure you filter it first. Always be careful of the source of it as that will greatly impact how they judge the work. Over all else, don't get romantic about anything. When people honestly gauge your work take what they say into consideration and try to improve. Start studying how you can get better. Keep it business when it needs to be and set small achievable goals so you can always see the progression. There is no shame in changing with the times. The term sellout or the like is usually only spoken by people who are not capable of such a drastic and controlled process of direction and dedication. Make what you need to to get noticed. Gain momentum.

Above all else, keep an open mind and respect other peoples opinions and where they come from. Mutual respect goes a long way in todays world because of how many lack it, especially on the internet.
 
I make music because I was heavily into hip hop in the late 80's early 90's up until around the mid 00's. Started out djing, and when my best mate toured the world as a dancer for 2Unlimited, I thought fuck it, I can do this. Over the years my appreciation for music of all genres has really grown, Im currently a studio engineer at my mates studio, making dancehall/bashment and reggae. That really took me out of my comfort zone, but Im getting there with that one. The more I learned about the industry, it really jaded my ambitions. But I think things have evolved to the point that to have a decent career in music, you dont need to go mainstream anymore. I think going the independent route is the way to go now. I was a huge fan of Diamond D as a producer and he was a huge influence on me. I used to get most of my website traffic from the bronx back in the days, I was really proud of that. I have always made music for the love of the music and seen making a career out of it as a bonus. Ive had very long breaks from production as I lost the spark of enthusiasm, but I think I have it back. So here I am.
 

Beaubeats

Beau Beats
Battle Points: 3
@2GooD Productions thats awesome! Sounds like you have a clear vision of what your intentions are. Lots of the same creative dead spots it sounds like for you. 90’s hip hop is the same reason I started in 99. By 2008 or so I really wasn’t listening to any new hip hop. It changed too much and I hated it. Didn’t have a desire to make it anymore. If I was listening to hip hop it was old stuff. Started spending time with my 18 year old nephew who wanted to get into production so I thought it would be a good way to keep him out of trouble. Put my feelings aside about his taste in rap and started to enjoy how the new style sounded (despite the shit topics and mediocre rappers). The Sonics were good. Production value, crazy effects on the beats that I had no idea how to do. It really triggered something in a need to learn for me. Stepped out of my comfort zone big time. Maybe it was the long break that allowed me to approach it different but my passion for making beats came back way stronger and with more direction.
 
@Beaubeats I used to shit on trap for days, and moan about the good old days like a trooper. Yes, to me, as entertainment I find it mostly shit, all sounding the same, lack of creativity. But I too can appreciate the production quality of modern music, I love the challenge of learning how to make it. Sort of adding bullets to my arsenal. Ive learned, begrudgingly, that times change, and if you would like to remain relevant then you must change with them. We can all try to run from reality, but reality will always come around to slap its dick in your face when you least expect it.
 

OGBama

Big Clit Energy
I don't produce but I want to make music because I don't want to die w/my thoughts inside me but I don't care to be a Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none.

I'm not a trained musician in any sense so I stay within writing lyrics and rapping them and I can't and don't say I miss when rappers had to cop vinyl to get instrumentals to spit over as that's not my personal experience. Away from Trap I think the best and worst thing is producers making beats of all styles available on YT free and for profit, free and non profit, etc.

I want to one day eventually learn sample-free producing just to have a secondary skill.
 
Away from Trap I think the best and worst thing is producers making beats of all styles available on YT free and for profit, free and non profit, etc.
I think the more you take the money out of the art, the purer the art becomes. Because its being done from the heart and soul, not for a paycheck.
 

Beaubeats

Beau Beats
Battle Points: 3
I don't produce but I want to make music because I don't want to die w/my thoughts inside me but I don't care to be a Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none.

I'm not a trained musician in any sense so I stay within writing lyrics and rapping them and I can't and don't say I miss when rappers had to cop vinyl to get instrumentals to spit over as that's not my personal experience. Away from Trap I think the best and worst thing is producers making beats of all styles available on YT free and for profit, free and non profit, etc.

I want to one day eventually learn sample-free producing just to have a secondary skill.
I hate the over-saturation of free beats out there. Most are only free for non commercial use but it still bothers me because most people who download it and use it don’t even know what that means.
I also had the music playing in my head all day and had no way of making it until I learned theory. That with mixed with a decent ear for sounds made it easy to not sample. I honestly hate sampling things now. Making original melodies is to easy for me now not to do it. Then if a beat blows up and lots of people use it or buy it I own my rights 100% and nobody can take a percentage away from me. Not a record company or anyone else unless I agree to the terms. That’s why I don’t sample anymore.
I hope you find a way to get the sounds out of your head into a song. If you learn a little about production you can actually hum your melodies then turn it into midi that you can change the instrument on. Helps me all the time. I can turn a voice memo into a beat now. Because of technology I can access so much creativity that was just waisting away in my brain.
 
I hate the over-saturation of free beats out there. Most are only free for non commercial use but it still bothers me because most people who download it and use it don’t even know what that means.
I also had the music playing in my head all day and had no way of making it until I learned theory. That with mixed with a decent ear for sounds made it easy to not sample. I honestly hate sampling things now. Making original melodies is to easy for me now not to do it. Then if a beat blows up and lots of people use it or buy it I own my rights 100% and nobody can take a percentage away from me. Not a record company or anyone else unless I agree to the terms. That’s why I don’t sample anymore.
I hope you find a way to get the sounds out of your head into a song. If you learn a little about production you can actually hum your melodies then turn it into midi that you can change the instrument on. Helps me all the time. I can turn a voice memo into a beat now. Because of technology I can access so much creativity that was just waisting away in my brain.
Composition sort of became a necessity, when the labels got greedy and started charging extortionate amounts of money for sample clearance. I hardly ever sample now, and if I do its from people like you guys who I have their blessing to do so, or people I find on youtube. I will always reach out if I come up with something decent, to know if I can even consider using it commercially, or keep it for underground type stuff. Or for something Im willing to lose all profit on if I do get sued, which really isnt much. In the 80's and 90's the label didnt realise how lucrative licensing samples would become, when they did it went fucking stupid.
 

Beaubeats

Beau Beats
Battle Points: 3
I think the more you take the money out of the art, the purer the art becomes. Because its being done from the heart and soul, not for a paycheck.

I agree 100%. I have a job for money. My wife works hard too. I would love to make a living to produce eventually but today’s market is crowded. With streaming services and free beats I don’t expect to get rich of beat leases and exclusives.
My recent style changes conforming to the ears of the new listeners is simply to gain momentum and make popular music, which will eventually open doors for other opportunities. One solid placement can change your life as a producer if you work it well enough. For the time being I will make session beats for people for next to nothing just for the experience and practice, same with the trap type beats I make.
 

Beaubeats

Beau Beats
Battle Points: 3
Composition sort of became a necessity, when the labels got greedy and started charging extortionate amounts of money for sample clearance. I hardly ever sample now, and if I do its from people like you guys who I have their blessing to do so, or people I find on youtube. I will always reach out if I come up with something decent, to know if I can even consider using it commercially, or keep it for underground type stuff. Or for something Im willing to lose all profit on if I do get sued, which really isnt much. In the 80's and 90's the label didnt realise how lucrative licensing samples would become, when they did it went fucking stupid.
Composition is really the way to go today. Production has become more of a musicians game. Sure there are ways to cheat and make a cohesive beat using technology but when your in a big studio and someone wants something a certain way or the chord progression to change up you need to know how to do it. That’s when the pressure is on and you will need skills or else you will just be another kid who makes beats and nothing more. Anyone with a computer can make Boombap or trap drums. They can find popular sounds and make it seem like they are good but always using the same stuff but when the style changes or someone wants something tweaked they will be hard pressed to make it happen without someone else helping.
 
I think really, if Im honest, Ive always made beats for me. Like you say, for the experience and the practice, if other people like them, then thats always a bonus because then you know your are doing something right, and learning. Its always been a technical challenge from the beginning, and just releasing emotions through music has got me through some very hard times.
I dunno, I have never been that guy that would always be bothering people to check out my shit, nor wanted to be.
Its a good feeling to know that your music gets people moving, the hardest part is and always will be, getting people to even hear it.
 
Composition is really the way to go today. Production has become more of a musicians game. Sure there are ways to cheat and make a cohesive beat using technology but when your in a big studio and someone wants something a certain way or the chord progression to change up you need to know how to do it. That’s when the pressure is on and you will need skills or else you will just be another kid who makes beats and nothing more. Anyone with a computer can make Boombap or trap drums. They can find popular sounds and make it seem like they are good but always using the same stuff but when the style changes or someone wants something tweaked they will be hard pressed to make it happen without someone else helping.
When I watch the real pros, like Rick Beato, or Warren Huart, Im reminded of how little I know.
 

Beaubeats

Beau Beats
Battle Points: 3
I think really, if Im honest, Ive always made beats for me. Like you say, for the experience and the practice, if other people like them, then thats always a bonus because then you know your are doing something right, and learning. Its always been a technical challenge from the beginning, and just releasing emotions through music has got me through some very hard times.
I dunno, I have never been that guy that would always be bothering people to check out my shit, nor wanted to be.
Its a good feeling to know that your music gets people moving, the hardest part is and always will be, getting people to even hear it.
Submitting to relevant playlists and places like that are a great option to get heard today. They are very picky obviously but that’s half the fun. Working until you get there is where all the growth comes from.
There is a new site that is trying to combat the free Beat era. They offer free beats upfront, but with the promise of splitting royalties 50/50 with the producer. It called slapchart and it is just starting to gain momentum. I sent like 15 beats that all got rejected then finally they accepted one. Sent a few more, didn’t accept them. Then today I got an email about how dope one of my beats were and that they are putting it on the site. My first one went up last week and has been downloaded by 30+ artists but they are all small time people with like 5000 Instagram followers max. Maybe one of them makes something that does well. The new beat going up is crazy though and I think it is going to be downloaded by all the new school kids. Probably the best trap beat I have ever made. Super easy to rap and sing to so maybe someone worth while will do something great with it.
 
royalties are always split 50 music/ 50 words, thats standard. There just isnt enough money in royalties unless a song goes mainstream, and even then it has to go POP. If you want a business, sell musical production equipment, the market is HUGE. Sell the dream of people becoming rich and famous, fame isnt a dream, its a nightmare and a fleeting one. People work years for 5 mins of fame, then the fame is all over, the money is spent and its back to reality again.

Never heard of slapchart, but I dont know much about modern music marketting as Ive been out of the loop for about 7 yrs.

Good luck with it, I hope it works out, at least they have quality control, thats a good sign at least. Being the old cynic I am, I have seen a few schemes over the years and its only fair I warn of them being out there. Soundcloud seems dodgy as fuck these days with scam artists selling fake plays
 
I just took a look, and apart from giving your music away to artists and leaving it up to you and the artist to sort out you getting paid I dont really see how they fulfilll their role of "helping you make a hit"
also this...
"Competition: There are hundreds of thousands of producers out there. Slapchart is only targeting the top 100 producers. Low quality producers will no longer be a distraction. "

Thats a ridiculous claim that has alarm bells ringing. What they are offering seems pretty hollow if you ask me, and could probably be achieved yourself with some targetted networking. You be the talent scout and choose who you work with, not so much the other way around.

@Beaubeats if you are looking for artists to go on your beats, try open mic nights, reach out to people on youtube, become a producer, collaborate in a studio with artists to make a song. Instead of making a beat that someone can rap on. Pay a busker to lay down some riffs for you. There is a whole world of talented people out there that want to be heard, but arent.
 
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Beaubeats

Beau Beats
Battle Points: 3
I just took a look, and apart from giving your music away to artists and leaving it up to you and the artist to sort out you getting paid I dont really see how they fulfilll their role of "helping you make a hit"
also this...
"Competition: There are hundreds of thousands of producers out there. Slapchart is only targeting the top 100 producers. Low quality producers will no longer be a distraction. "
Thats a ridiculous claim that has alarm bells ringing. What they are offering seems pretty hollow if you ask me, and could probably be achieved yourself with some targetted networking. You be the talent scout and choose who you work with, not so much the other way around.

@Beaubeats if you are looking for artists to go on your beats, try open mic nights, reach out to people on youtube, become a producer, collaborate in a studio with artists to make a song. Instead of making a beat that someone can rap on. Pay a busker to lay down some riffs for you. There is a whole world of talented people out there that want to be heard, but arent.
It’s zero risk for me so, even though I was very skeptical at first I have nothing to lose. If people make shitty music with my beats no one will hear it anyway. And people may still hear it and say, awesome beat, horrible song. I still win in that case. Plus I self publish all of my beats prior to uploading anything so no one can act like it is theirs to begin with.
They definitely make some silly claims in the initial read. It is very new which is why I wanted to jump on that ship before/if it ever gets huge. It’s 100% free for me too. So no marketing money has to be spent. For me it’s more about market research. See what rappers today are looking for and getting feedback based on how often people download it.
I will not spend a penny on marketing until I know my formula is spot on.
I do work with local artists in the studio. I will be renting a room again next month. Had to stop due to it being winter and on a tight budget. There are five guys i have worked with so far one on one multiple times and it is a huge learning experience. I create the vibe on the spot and we make the song right there, usually until it’s done. Then a professional engineer mixes and masters it. Two of our songs are being released next week actually.
I stay far away from any pay for plays type scams. Or pay for followers or likes. I also report all my spam comments I get on my Instagram posts. They are ruining those platforms and Instagram almost always deletes their accounts for it.
As for 50/50 splits, that is solely dependent upon how you contract and market your beats. Beatstars is flooded with producers selling unlimited leases to their beats. Meaning artists keep 100% of the royalties for unlimited streams, sales downloads and the like. I do not like that concept. When I have enough content I may make 20 or 30 available for unlimited leases. I will do them only for targeted customers who have little to no people following their art, who aren’t likely to make any money off of it anyways.
 
It’s zero risk for me so, even though I was very skeptical at first I have nothing to lose. If people make shitty music with my beats no one will hear it anyway. And people may still hear it and say, awesome beat, horrible song. I still win in that case. Plus I self publish all of my beats prior to uploading anything so no one can act like it is theirs to begin with.
They definitely make some silly claims in the initial read. It is very new which is why I wanted to jump on that ship before/if it ever gets huge. It’s 100% free for me too. So no marketing money has to be spent. For me it’s more about market research. See what rappers today are looking for and getting feedback based on how often people download it.
I will not spend a penny on marketing until I know my formula is spot on.
I do work with local artists in the studio. I will be renting a room again next month. Had to stop due to it being winter and on a tight budget. There are five guys i have worked with so far one on one multiple times and it is a huge learning experience. I create the vibe on the spot and we make the song right there, usually until it’s done. Then a professional engineer mixes and masters it. Two of our songs are being released next week actually.
I stay far away from any pay for plays type scams. Or pay for followers or likes. I also report all my spam comments I get on my Instagram posts. They are ruining those platforms and Instagram almost always deletes their accounts for it.
As for 50/50 splits, that is solely dependent upon how you contract and market your beats. Beatstars is flooded with producers selling unlimited leases to their beats. Meaning artists keep 100% of the royalties for unlimited streams, sales downloads and the like. I do not like that concept. When I have enough content I may make 20 or 30 available for unlimited leases. I will do them only for targeted customers who have little to no people following their art, who aren’t likely to make any money off of it anyways.
If its free you dont have much to lose
 

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