The rise of online beat selling, has definitely made a huge splash over the past few years.
We’ve seen so much success from different producers.
This is due to the fact that it has become much easier to sell beats,
with the breakthrough of social media.
With such freedom to get on these platforms and sell your music comes a lot of questions from music producers that are just getting their foot in the door.
One question I get a lot from most producers is:
“Should I master my beats before selling?“
I recommend mixing your beats and only mastering the mp3 file meant for streaming. Don’t master the files that your customers will download because they won’t have any headroom to work with which will in turn make their songs distort and peak.
A well mastered beat will make a better impression than an unmastered one that is why you need only master the file meant for streaming purposes to showcase the beat.
YouTube and Beat Selling
YouTube has become the number one spot for people, (content creators to be exact) to showcase their work.
This is also true for beat makers, you’ll find a lot of beats on YouTube,
from sellers worldwide trying to connect and invite people to check out their work.
I remember when I started making beats,
YouTube wasn’t as popular,
I relied on a platform called Soundclick which is a platform for producers to upload their beats in order for artists to find them and buy them.
Even then we had to come through and show how best our work was, which has continued on.
Therefore, its important for you to have mastered beats that sound ready in order for you to pull in people when they find your work.
Think of it this way,
when you make a beat and upload it, the artist won’t care that its unmastered or mastered, they’ll take what they’ll hear at face value.
Therefore what they hear is your product,
a product you’re trying so hard to sell.
Why would you want to upload an unmastered song that doesn’t sound full enough or loud enough?
that would be self-sabotage.
Have the final product ready for distribution and play, REMEMBER you’re trying to sell something,
therefore present it like you mean business.
That’s just the reality.
I always make sure to upload well mastered beats on my YouTube and selling platforms,
then I also keep the stems to the beat,
one set of stems has the original unmastered beat with no effects, one other set has the mastered stems with effects on them.
This makes it easier for me to do business because I can simply locate any stem types that my client asks for.
in that way I’m able to advertise my work the right way by using a high end product(mastered beat) that can attract the right client,
one that can purchase it with ease because it sounds great right off the bat.
Make sure you upload the right stuff the right way and it will pay off.
I hope this sheds some light and answers some questions you might have had,
keep reading and you’ll find out more that will help you make better decisions.
Competition
This is basically an extension of the previous point,
basically explaining the effects of YouTube on the beat selling world,
I’ll start my point from the top and then continue on.
Competition will never cease to exist, its in every business and every sector.
Which makes it key for every business to assess their competitors and basically have a feel of what’s going in the market place,
In order for them to either adapt or choose not to and lose business.
This is also true for the beat selling business too.
it’s very rare that you’ll find unmastered beats on YouTube, why?
Well because everybody is trying to sound better than the rest and make a great impression in the eyes of their intended clientele.
Therefore this is another reason why you should upload mastered beats,
Your competitors upload mastered beats and they’ll profit from any reservations that you might have about mastering for YouTube or Beatstars or airbit or any other platform.
Everytime you upload a beat you basically have the opportunity to create income with a vast audience that is on the internet almost all day,
the vast amounts users on beat selling platforms, YouTube and other social media channels expect to find great beats available, whenever they search for them.
Therefore it’s great to have mastered versions of your beats on platforms that are meant for you to advertising,
its better to keep unmastered beats in your archives, and access them when a client requests for them.
In most cases your buyer will clarify as to whether they want the unmastered trackouts or the mastered trackouts.
If you’re a newbie producer that hasn’t been around long enough to know how to master beats, then invest some time into knowing how.
Non-Exclusive MP3/WAV
An Excluve License is usually the most expensive license that exists in the beat selling business,
this license means that who ever buys the beat will be the exclusiveowner that will ownership rights,
on the other hand in a non exclusive license deal, the producer Grant’s the artist the right to use and distribute the beat online whilst the producer keeps the copyright.
In most cases non exclusive beats are usually in MP3 or WAV format depending on the producer.
therefore it’s best to have mastered beats because when the artist visits your page they’ll play the beat and if they like it,
they’ll purchase and get the beat as is.
There would be no point to in having unmastered work online when you’re offering up non-exclusive licenses as well.
It would be twice the work having to sell the beat then go back to resend a mastered version.
Unmastered beats are not as appealing to the ear, therefore it’s even harder to market them online where the average user has an attention span of 30 seconds or less.
Opportunities
I’m sure you know that record labels spend an ample amount of time on social media searching for talent,
this search is always happening because record labels know that content creators are their business.
granted not everyone would like to be signed to a label but being recognized by one can be a good thing.
You could build relationships with record execs, which can then lead to more business for you,
this music game is all about knowing people and having the right connections.
Therefore don’t underestimate the power of social media tools,
what might seem like a simple beat, may lead to a number one record that could lead to more number one records.
Therefore have industry standard mastered beats on your YouTube and beat selling platforms is very key.
Related Articles You Should Read
Should I Use BeatStars Or Make My Own Website?
How Can I Protect My Beats From Being Stolen?
Sources
You Shouldn’t Master Your Beats Before Selling – Wealthy Sound
Should I Mix my Beats before Selling? – Market Research
One thought on “Should I Master My Beats Before Selling?”