Your method is broken.

But it’s not your fault.

I used to be the same way.

Everyone said “make an email list”, so I did.

They all said to give away free beats, and I followed their advice.

I posted on YouTube and my beat store daily too.

But I wasn’t getting the PayPal notifications.

No matter what I did, artists didn’t seem interested in copping my beats.

But something changed along the way though…

I started learning more about artists in general.

Then I started getting to know artists on a personal level.

At some point, I completely forgot about selling beats because I was having more fun just actually engaging with the artists (instead of harassing them for sales).

Then it all clicked.

The sales started coming in.

A few a month, then weekly, then daily.

That’s when I realized that all the advice for producers was way wrong.

I learned that it’s far less about your marketing tactics and much more about your understanding of relationships.

Today I want to talk to you about a few important things that will help you sell more beats;

• The right tools (and the right way to use them)
• The wrong way most producers talk to artist (and how you can avoid their mistakes)
• The best process for getting artists interested in your beats.

[btw, I'm doing a deeper lesson on this in DOPE soon, check it out if you're interested]

It’s not about posting beats or building a list.

To be clear though, posting beats is a good strategy (and it’s a valuable part of my process).

Similarly, a list can be very powerful.

But, if you post beats;

• With no method to capture leads,
• Without ensuring quality, and
• Without understanding the platform you’re posting to,

then it’s all pointless.

If you have a list that;

• You don’t engage (or don’t engage properly)
• Doesn’t feel you’re worth their attention, or
• You only send promotions to,

then it was a waste of time to build it.

If you want to make money selling beats, you need to understand what you’re doing and why.

Don’t just post beats because you think it’ll make you money.

Don’t assume a beat selling platform’s marketplace will magically do the work for you.

Don’t build a list just to piss them all off by sending nonstop promotions.

Learn how to leverage social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram to send traffic to your beat store (instead of hoping the marketplace will randomly bless you with the perfect leads).

Use your beat store not only as a store front to sell beats, but also as a lead magnet to get contact information (ex. free beat download for an email address).

Figure out how to engage your email leads so that they’re interested in a deeper connection with you and your art.

How to stand out as a professional producer.

Your professionalism is the thing that’ll attract artsits to you the most.

But, again, it’s not about the marketing tactics you use.

It’s about your understanding of the music business as a whole.

It’s like with your beats.

No artsits is going to ask what VSTs you used; they only care about it sounding good to them.

The same way, they aren’t going to care about all the funnels and marketing workflows you have.

They’re only interested in building their career is a musician.

And this is a very important thing to know, because you can engage them on that to build relationships.

Being a producer is about far more than just selling beats.

We have to empathize with our artists, because it’s our job to actualize the ideas they have in their heads.

We make the beats, but we can also point them in the direction of resources.

I often build deep relationships just by putting my artists in touch with a good video editor, cover artist, or engineer.

I gain nothing from it, but I find that they often start buying more beats from me after I do this. 

They start to enjoy working with me on any level they can because I am of value to their career growth.

I am helping to produce their dream.

Producer… get it?

You can do the same, and that’s where you should be engaging your artists’ attention.

Yes, your messaging should still be about beats.

And sure, you can even send out a promotion every once in a while - that’s fine.

But if you want to build deep relationships with artists who will think about you when it’s time to make their next album or single, you need to find creative ways to keep them interested in dealing with you as a producer.

[And, of course, your beats still have to be bangers - which Centerfold will absolutely guarantee]. 

Warm leads buy beats.

The problem with most producers when it comes to selling beats is that they only use cold strategies.

Literal cold DMs, store front sales with no engagement, spamming under posts on Twitter (X)/Threads, etc.

It’s not that those methods don’t work or that they aren’t good.

But you just aren’t going to build a sustainable beat selling business around cold strategies.

So the thing you want to do is warm up your leads.

When you warm them up, you give them value, get them interested in you, and create a more fertile ground for opportunity for the both of you.

Here’s how you can start warming up your leads today.

1 - Start cold.

You’ll usually start out cold, and that’s fine.

You just need to change the environment quickly so that things can more forward.

If someone is stopping by your YouTube channel or beat store, you need to have a way for them to join your list (I just use free beats as a lead magnet).

Even if you were able to immediately convert the purchase without warming them up, you can still consider the purchase as a lead magnet to deepen the relationship with a confirmed spender (purchasing makes them warm, but the could be even warmer which would lead to return purchases and exclusive sales).

Don’t let it begin and end with them listening to your beats.

Get them on a list.

2 - How to actually use a list.

I used to think the point of a list was to have people to blast promotions to.

I was like, “okay, I just need to build this list and then it’ll be automatic money.”

But that’s not exactly how it works.

An email list can make you money, yes.

But it’s not just about the list itself.

It’s about how you use the list.

So don’t just send promotions.

Try to have the majority of your messaging be about things that are interesting and valuable to your artists.

The more interested they are, the more engaged they become.

And this will lead to them thinking more and more about you when it comes to beats.

3 - Go deeper.

Use your list to ask questions and start conversations that artists will reply to.

They will warm up more and more as the amount of conversations increases.

This will naturally lead to one of 2 things;

1. An opportunity for you to sell a beat (because they’ve presented the need for one during conversation, AND they are warmed up to you), or
2. Their desire to buy beats from you because you’re the producer they’re talking to the most.

It’s more about knowing how to to talk to people than about being a marketing nerd.

Once you figure that out, everything falls into place.