Breaking into the beat making business isn’t easy. In this post, we will reveal some of the most important tips and tricks that will allow you to stand out from the rest of the competition and improve your chances of becoming successful in the music production industry.

Make Investments

As the old saying goes you have to spend money to make money. This is especially true when it comes to music production. If you want to build a career that will allow you to earn a living, then you will have to invest as much time and money as you can into working on your business. Invest in a decent studio space where you can comfortably carry out your creative work on a regular basis. If you don’t have a huge budget, focus on getting the most important gear first (e.g. Computer, production software, instruments). It’s a good idea to purchase a website where you can post all of your material in one professional and easy to find place.  You will also want to have a budget reserved for marketing and advertising in order to do things like running ad campaigns and promotions on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

However, do not forget that the most important investment is your time and effort. A lot of people treat their music career as a side hustle, but if you do that chances are that’s all it will ever amount to. If you really want to make it in this industry, you have to treat music production as a full-time job. That means setting goals and coming up with a work schedule that you will commit to. Invest also in your self-improvement—take music lessons or sign up for business development workshops to further expand your knowledge and skills. The harder you work, the more likely it is to pay off.

Develop Your Brand

It will be difficult to gain exposure if the only thing you do is post beats online. You have to build a persona that people find interesting and want to know more about. Establish a variety of social media pages that will give potential fans and clients a glimpse of who you are and the things you’ve accomplished. Keep your audience up to date by posting content on a weekly basis. Provide reviews and tutorials on hot topics in the industry. Post footage of yourself in the midst your craft carrying out various tasks—especially footage of you making music. Building up an attractive brand will get more people interested in following your career and collaborating with you.

No “No Free Beats”

No doubt, producers work hard and deserve to get paid for their efforts. However, for beatmakers who have yet to build a solid resume and network, this is a bad mantra to follow.  You will probably have a difficult time finding people who are willing to pay to collaborate with you if you have no resume and no formal experience working with other artists. Thus, investing your free time is just another expense that you will inevitably incur in the early stages of your career. A wise strategy for building your resume and experience is to approach artists that you think are talented and offer to do some pro bono work for them. You can use this material, in turn, to show off your abilities to the public and shop your sound around. Once you have a collection of work that people are impressed with the clients are sure to follow.There’s a good chance that the people you’ve done free work for will become a good customer of yours in the future.

There is much more to be said on the pitfalls of the no free beats movement—read more about it in our post 4 Reasons The “No Free Beats” Movement Is A Bad Look For Independent Music Producers

Price Properly

A lot of producers make the mistake of overpricing their product. The truth of the matter is unless you have a well-established name, very few of your potential client base will either be willing or able to afford instrumentals that hit the $100+ range. To start, it’s better to price your beats below this number—you will have greater chances of making sales this way. That is not to say that you should never sell anything at a higher price, but don’t make the mistake of not having a selection of more affordable content available for the average consumer.

Be Versatile

Often, when you’re deciding which department store you’d like to visit, you will select the one that offers the widest variety of different products and price ranges to choose from. So is the same when one is shopping for a producer. People want a beat producer that offers different instrumentals in a variety of genres and price ranges. It is also a good idea to expand your range of products and services by making stuff you can sell to other producers such as sample packs and presets, or even stickers and skins that they can put on their gear. The more goods and services that you have to sell, the better.