Trying to figure out where you should start when it comes to your career as a musician can be both exciting and frustrating.
Things like educating yourself on the often very confusing legal matters, keeping up with your customers, and making sure you get paid in this industry can really take a toll on the growth of your business. I mean let’s be honest, you would rather spend more time perfecting your craft than sit at your desk making phone calls and reading everything in fine print, right?
The good news is that we now have platforms that handle these complications for us while allowing us more freedom to create. One of the platforms we will be discussing today is Beatstars and how it can benefit you as a musician.
Check the Plans of Beatstars
What is Beatstars?
Beatstars is an online beat selling and music licensing platform that is tailored specifically for artists, producers, songwriters, sound engineers, record labels, and many more.
This platform was created for talented musicians like yourself to publish and license your work to clients who are more than willing to do their part in creating a masterpiece. Abe Batshon, the founder and CEO of Beatstars, found the inspiration to create this platform due to his love for beat making and over several years has managed to build it up to become one of the most widely used online music licensing platforms.
The opportunities that Beatstars hold for your career seem to be endless as their main goal is to connect talented musicians from all over to provide high-quality music that touches deep while also allowing you to jumpstart your career.
Included Features
Pro Page
Beatstars allows you to create your personalized website to sell your products, start a blog, and also offer freelance work with any other skills that you have within your profession.
Some of the services that are commonly sold within the marketplace are mixing, mastering, and songwriting. The Pro Page is automatically setup up for you to customize the layout, color, and theme with ease. You will not need any coding knowledge to do so. Beatstars also allows you to integrate MailChimp to collect emails and keep your clients up to date with your latest releases. This feature can be pretty helpful when it comes to gathering repeat customers. One of the downsides to this is that there will be no way of customers getting to your website from the marketplace itself. You will need to generate traffic to it through other means.
Beat Licensing
For producers, Beatstars gives you the option to upload your tracks and set your prices.
You will be able to upload them as an mp3, WAV, or stems. If you do happen to collaborate with another producer, you will be able to set up splits accordingly so that you both receive your earnings. Each license that you create will determine how the client will be able to use your product after purchasing it. This feature can allow you to connect with more artists and potentially earn yourself a placement. One thing to note would be that Beatstars recommends that you insert a few tags throughout your track in order to prevent any theft or misuse of your products.
Vocals
Similar to the previous feature, Beatstars also allows artists to upload their vocals to the large marketplace full of producers.
The prices set are completely determined by you. You will also be able to set specific limitations on how these vocals are to be used after they have been purchased. This feature can help connect with other producers who have a similar style to your own. Taking the time to become familiar with this market may also save you a few trips to the studio as well in the long run.
Songs
As a musician, it is important to get your music heard by as many people as possible and Beatstars will be of benefit to do so.
Similar to the previous two features, the purpose of this is that you can upload your songs and albums as mp3’s within the marketplace. These usually sell for $1-$2 as songs while albums can go for $15 or more, but just like before the prices are completely up to you. Utilizing this feature can be pretty helpful when building your fanbase and can also be supplementary to your income.
How Do I Get Started?
To access these features, Beatstars will require you to create an account. You’ll be able to get started by clicking the signup button near the top right corner of the page. From there you will be prompted to fill out the required information.
After you complete this part of the process, they will ask you if you want to listen and buy music, or if you are planning to sell your music. Once you have gone through this, you will have access to most of the features right off the bat as Beatstars will automatically activate your account under their free payment plan.
Why You Should Choose Beatstars
Beatstars Studio App
The Beatstars Studio app allows you to view all of your statistics and edit your tracks straight from your mobile device.
In this app, you can analyze up to 90 days of your past analytics to keep track of how well your page is doing. The information provided is based on your plays, likes, reposts, comments, free downloads, and follows. Right underneath, it will show you who your top fans are and where they came across your products. This can be very beneficial when saving time.
Distribution Service
Just recently Beatstars added the option to distribute your music to over 30 different streaming platforms. These platforms include the most well-known sources such as Spotify, Itunes, YouTube, etc.
When using their built-in streaming service, you will be able to keep 100% of all your earnings from royalties. You won’t have to worry about burning holes in your pockets as Beatstars allows you to upload an unlimited number of songs and albums. This will be very handy when collaborating with other musicians as they will split the earnings based on, however, you decide. The cost of this service is $5 per month.
Paid Promotions
When it comes to building your brand, advertising is one of the most important factors in driving traffic to your page. With the “promote” feature, you will be able to schedule your tracks, albums, and profile to be displayed on various locations within the marketplace.
For as low as $5 a day, you will be able to run these advertisements. Statistics for these can be found under the “promote” tab. This feature will be useful when you are getting the ball rolling as a beginner. A minor downside to this feature is that you are unable to target an audience, which will cause some results to vary.
Sony/ATV Collaboration
Beatstars has recently partnered with Sony/ATV to offer producers, songwriters, and artists who are eligible a chance to be invited to their beta program. This partnership will allow you to collect royalties, perform tracking analysis, and register copyrights through Sony/ATV. Keep in mind that this feature is still currently in beta and it is not guaranteed that you will be accepted.
They Occasionally Host Live Conferences
Another major takeaway from this platform is that they enjoy interacting with their community. As you follow up with Beatstars they will occasionally host live streams where they invite many successful musicians and lawyers to speak about important topics to help lead you in the right direction.
During the live streams, you will be able to ask questions in which they will try their best to give you actionable advice. Beatstars also hosts live streams where you will be given the opportunity to have your music played. They often give out shoutouts and may even purchase your product to show their support. This can be beneficial towards allowing you to become more comfortable within the community and learn about new strategies to test out when building your brand.
Payment Plans
Free Plan
When you first sign up to become a member of Beatstars, you will be placed under the free plan if you choose not to enter any payment info. With this plan, you will be able to upload up to 10 tracks as an mp3, WAV, or stems. You will also receive instant payments upon each sale that you make.
Your clients will be able to make their transactions using PayPal or Stripe. If you happen to make a sale with this plan active, Beatstars will take 30% of the earnings, but this can still be beneficial in order to upgrade your plan.
Marketplace Plan
The marketplace plan will be suitable for you if you are just getting started as well and only want access to some of their paid features. The cost of this plan is $9.99 per month. With this, you will be able to upload as much as you want, sell other products such as sound kits and custom services. This plan also gives you up to 20 private messages per month for you to network with other musicians.
Pro Page Plan
The Pro Page plan will be helpful to you if you are ready to build your personalized store, gain access to all features, and scale your business. With this you will be able to keep 100% of all revenue earned from your pro page, send out unlimited private messages, and you will be able to submit two of your tracks under each opportunity. The cost of this plan is $19.99 per month.
Pros
- It’s free to start – If you are low on funds and are unsure about signing up with a paid plan, you will be able to use their free plan for as long as you need while still having the ability to earn profits.
- You are in control – There are no limitations when it comes to how you price your products or services. How you sell to your clients and what they can do with it afterward is completely up to you.
- Collect your royalties – You won’t be needing to invest in a publisher or distributor as Beatstars provides ways in which you can earn all of your royalties upfront.
- Educational resources – Beatstars offers many sources to gain knowledge from some of the top sellers within their website. Some of the things you will be able to learn about are building an email list, making your brand stand out, and much more advice on how to sell your products and services on the marketplace.
Cons
- Competitive market – There are a decent amount of professional musicians within the marketplace which can make it harder to grow as a beginner.
- At risk for unfair usage – If you enable users to be allowed to download your product for free, there is a risk that they will use it for profit without purchasing a license.
- Spammy users – Some users will show up in your inbox asking for you to follow them, buy their product, or potentially try to scam you.
- Clearing Samples – If any of your products so happen to contain any samples, you must be sure to get them cleared. If you end up getting into any issues involving this Beatstars will immediately deactivate your account.
Should I Join Beatstars?
Whether you’re very experienced or just starting out, choosing Beatstars can really take your career to the next level. With the features that Beatstars provides, you will be able to focus mainly on the content that you create and the people that you network with.
They have done all the dirty work involving the legalities so that you don’t have to and most importantly, allow you to earn money from multiple sources within the platform. Beatstars is constantly evolving and making changes for the better and they have made it very clear in the past that they have no problem with helping you to further your career along the way.
If you feel that Beatstars is the right platform for you to build your brand as a musician, be sure to click here and signup.
Check the Plans of Beatstars
