Riley WellerComparisons of Selling Beats to Real Estate,
Here are some areas where selling beats and real estate have more than similar comparisons:
- Tons of realtors, tons of beatmakers
- So many homes to buy, so many beats to buy
- Both homes, and beats, sell for different prices (Selling beats is a bit different here, cause you are actually selling a product, not being a middle man in the transaction. Plus, depending on the status of your beatmaking name, the price of a beat can be extremely more).
- It’s hard to stand out, all marketing is very similar from company to company
- There’s always a few in each trade that are leaders.
It is now easier than ever to get your hands on beatmaking gear, and hopefully capture some sales online with your productions!
Grab FL Studio for about $300, purchase a sound pack or two, get a high quality VST such as Nexus 2, or Sylenth1, and you are set for high quality productions at under $1,000, for one truly interested in the trade.
With beatmaking software so easy to obtain, everyone can make beats. It now comes down to your marketing skills, social skills, and of course, the quality of your product; your beats.
This online game has quickly grown into “whoever can be more creative and original, holds a top spot” kind of game. But with so many producers nowadays, is there possibility for profit still in producing?
Saturated Beatmakers, Saturated Realtors,
The other day, I looked through the newspaper to check out prices on homes. I live in Canada, Kelowna B.C., where pricing for homes is outrageous. It’s definitely common talk around here.
While browsing the real estate listings, I noticed how crammed their catalogs were, which left me very overwhelmed. What realtor should I go with? Are they going to provide genuine service, or just trying to make a buck off me? Because of so much selection, instead of standing out, it was a confusing search which more than blended in. This kind of marketing reminded me of one place, SoundClick. Everyone is trying so hard to stand out, but since there are so many producers trying to sell beats, and with lack of creativity, they all blend in.
With the thought of selling beats and real estate, Greg Savage’s rant on $20 beats popped in my head. He’s right, there’s way more opportunity than just $20 beats! The reason for $20 beats is because of the new producers starting to get better at their productions, and realizing, they aren’t going to make what the professional are getting, so why not under cut them? And there you have $20 beats ;).
If you look in your local newspaper listings, you will see how many realtors there are within your community. It’s a hugely over-saturated market, yet, there is still a market to make an income, as everyone needs a place to live. And in this online production world, you do have an advantage; you’re not just limited to selling beats!
Different Revenue Streams, Plus Sell Beats TOO!
There is that saying,
“Don’t put your eggs all in one basket”
I feel this relates strongly to this rapidly growing phenomena, or as Graham Cochrane’s website says, TheRecordingRevolution, and in our case, the growth of making affordable beats at home.
If selling beats is providing you that sustainable income, that’s great! However, with the rise of new producers, which feels like a new one everyday, this creates more and more competition. Not to put fear into anyone’s career, but while making sustainable income off your beats, there are other ways for you to dip into some more income through sound-design such as VST preset packs, or one-hit sample packs. (And with some creativity, I’m sure you can think of other products to sell! — EBooks, VSTs, stickers, mixing/producing templates for your DAW?).
Creating these packs really doesn’t take too much extra work, if you’re always making beats. If you make a cool sound, save it and put it into a folder! Once you stock up enough sounds, either release it free for the sake of free promotion to your name, make people have to sign up to a newsletter in order to get the free sounds, or obviously, sell the sounds if you’ve 100% created them yourself. (I say free, because if you’re tweaking sounds and selling them.. you will want to be careful copyright wise. If you create sounds from scratch through microphones and off oscillators etc, go ahead and sell the sounds/presets!).
In this business, your placements, and the equity to your name have a huge role to play. If you crafted your own sound kit and slap your name on it, this could be an extra couple hundred bucks a month!
Great for the Beatmaker Who Actually Sells!
These services such as Soundclick, MusicCentro, and MyFlashStore.net are invaluable for the producer’s who actually sell beats! The ranking system allows your beat to hit #1, and that’s free advertising in itself!
But what about the person who doesn’t sell? Is there still an opportunity to reach #1, even with all these other popular producers who have worked hard to get their name to where they are?
My answer is not yes to reaching #1, however, you can still create an income online with audio production, but you have to set your goals, and realize, it is going to take a lot of work to bring in even a bit of income online. Just putting out hot beats usually isn’t enough in this industry anymore, because of the saturation. You have to have placements, hot beats, provide helpful information, make things easy to find for your customers/fans (which isn’t easy), be creative, and nowadays.. getting into the sound design trade only helps one’s growth (and income).
Marketing Through the Saturation,
Even with such a saturated market, these realtors, and producers still maintain a spot in their industry. It just goes to show that to make it to the top, it all comes down to your hard work, how you present yourself, market yourself, and seal that transaction!
This post isn’t to say that you can’t make it, it’s to make one aware that this market, as of the past 5 years, has grown drastically. There are now more online producers than ever, but the person who is successful in this industry doesn’t look at the fence stopping them, they hop over it.
One can definitely make it in this industry, but keep in mind, because of the saturation, it sure does make it harder to foundation.
Learning other trades within this industry, like sound design, and mixing/mastering, will only push you forward. And in the end of it all, learning these skills will make you a wiser entrepreneur, make your productions sound better, and help you to grow in other areas because of the skills you’ve obtained while trying to reach that sustainable income through something you thoroughly enjoy. Making music!
Take time out to plan some goals. Write them down, and take it one day at a time! (If you look at the market, you’ll be overwhelmed. However, if you think about what you want to achieve, stay away from competition’s websites, and social media, this helps dramatically from not getting intimidated and side-tracked).