6-Step Income Engine for Producers: How to make money from beats (without artists)

I still remember that pain like it was yesterday.

I’d spent the day DM’ing artist - at least 500 of them.

All cold outreach, in an attempt to sell some beats.

I was really motivated and had some legit hustle behind my effort.

However... at the end of the day, only 3 of them replied.

But, they all said they’d cop the beats in the evening - so I was excited.

Unfortunately, 2 of them ended up ghosting me.

And the last guy had a lot of fun giving me the run around before ghosting me too.

I almost quit making beats that day, I kid you not.

But I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong…

If you're tired of the endless DM grind, hoping an artist will finally lease a beat or give you a placement, this is for you.

I recently shared a post on threads that got 45k views because it hit a nerve: producers are exhausted from relying solely on artists for their income.

The common advice is to "just keep grinding," but that leads to burnout. The better way is to build a system.

This isn't about working harder. It's about working smarter by turning a single batch of work into a multi-stream income asset. Let me show you the framework.

The enemy is the "Artist-First" dependency model.

It's a paradigm that traps you in a cycle of hope and frustration.

This is what that looks like:

• The Hopeful DM: Spending hours crafting the perfect message to an artist who may never open it.
• The Empty Inbox: Wondering why your notifications are silent, leading you to question your talent.
• The Inconsistent Paycheck: One good month followed by three dry ones, making it impossible to plan or scale.
• The Wasted Work: Beats that just sit on your hard drive after the "moment" has passed, generating $0.

I built my entire early career on this model. I felt like a servant to the algorithm and to artists' whims. My income was a rollercoaster, and my creative energy was drained by the constant chase. It was exhausting and utterly unsustainable.

But the problem isn't the beats, it’s the business model.

The winning perspective is to become a Product CEO, not just a Beatmaker.

You stop seeing yourself as a service provider for artists and start seeing your beats as valuable products that can be packaged, licensed, and sold in multiple ways.

You win by building a diversified, resilient income portfolio that isn't reliant on any single customer.

This is the exact framework from my Threads post that thousands of producers resonated with. It’s a credible system because it’s built on the principles of productization and licensing that the music industry runs on.

The 6-Step "Passive Income Engine" creates 5 revenue streams from one project:

1. DSP Royalties (Streaming)
2. Sync Licensing Fees (Placements)
3. Premium Tape Licenses (Your Store)
4. Individual Beat Leases (Your Store)
5. Sound Kit Sales (Value Multiplier)

This is how you turn your catalog from a closet of forgotten clothes into a functioning, revenue-generating factory.

Your mission is to build your first true income-generating asset.

Think of it as your first major quest.

🎯 Quest 1: Forge Your First Product (This Week)

• Mission: Stop making random beats. Create a product.
• Action Steps:
  • Choose a theme (e.g., " Noir Jazz," "90s Boom-Bap Vol. 1").
  • Create 5-10 beats that fit that theme.
  • Design simple, compelling artwork.

🎯 Quest 2: Lock Down Your Publishing (1 Hour)

• Mission: Ensure you get paid every time your music is used.
• Action Steps:
  • If you haven't, sign up for a PRO (ASCAP or BMI).
  • Register your compositions with your PRO.
  • Sign up for The MLC and register your works there for mechanical royalties.
  • (This is the most skipped but most important step for long-term wealth).

🎯 Quest 3: Launch Your Multi-Platform Attack (Launch Day)

• Mission: Release your product into the world to start the revenue flow.
• Action Steps:
  • Upload the full tape to a distributor (DistroKid, CDBaby) for DSPs.
  • Upload the tape as a premium product on your TrakTrain store. 
  • Pitch the tape to 5 music licensing libraries or agencies.

🎯 Quest 4: The Value Multiplier (Week After Launch)

• Mission: Double the value of your work.
• Action Steps:
  • Open the project files for your best beats from the tape.
  • Export the stems, one-shots, and MIDI.
  • Package them into a "Tape-Themed Sound Kit."
  • Sell the kit on your store and promote it on social media.

🎯 Quest 5: The Content Engine (Ongoing)

• Mission: Create one piece of content that markets everything at once.
• Action Steps:
  • Film a YouTube Short or TikTok making a beat using your new sound kit.
  • In the caption, mention:
    • The kit is available for sale (you can learn more about how to effectively sell kits here). 
    • The beat tape it came from is on Spotify/your store.
    • You're open to licensing opportunities.

The transformation is clear: from a beatmaker chasing validation to a product CEO building a tangible, scalable asset.

Your first step is to choose a theme for your first tape. Everything else flows from that.

Blessings,

Chu - 141k Total YT Subs, RiSA Multi-Platinum Record Producer (Produced for Yanga Chief, Boity, RikyRick, Khantrast, DizzyEight, Errol Allen, Cam Meekins, Matt Corman, Dee Koala, Bhut Legend, ElgrandeToto, Westside Boogie, Bernard Jabs, Ariaa, Lawra Meschi, Praxi, MTV, CBS, BET, BET Africa).

#dopecontentonly