An Electronic Press Kit, or EPK, is one of the most important pieces of promotional material you can make for your music. The days of handing mixtapes out on the street, shipping costly vinyl records and merchandise, and fussing with physical mail addresses are long over. An EPK is like a professional resume as it can attract opportunities and display your qualifications - all from the convenience of the world wide web. Learn what an Electronic Press Kit is, what goes into it, and why you need one as a musician.
An Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is a digital press kit that musicians can use to promote themselves and their music to labels, agents, clients, music supervisors, buyers, and the media. The Kit houses essential information that helps others grasp a musician’s story, style, and brand all in one place. An EPK is low cost and acts like a resume that contains links to songs and works, photos, music videos, album art, social media, and a biography. Think of an EPK like you would an elevator pitch. It highlights your best work in a concise and clean manner, and can open the door to a number of potential opportunities.
EPKs have become so popular that they have become an expectation within the music industry. Put simply, if you are a dedicated, high quality act, then you likely have an EPK. If you cross paths with an industry professional, it’s good practice to have an EPK ready.
It’s important to remember that like resumes, EPKs should be short, concise, and well designed to show off your dedicated self in the best possible way. Electronic Press Kits are often altered slightly to cater to specific audiences (i.e. labels, venues, managers, etc). However, we’ll share the absolute essentials and must-haves as you put together or update your EPK. An Electronic Press Kit should consist of the following:
If you’re a BeatStars Pro Page member (or considering the Pro Page Plan), then you’re in luck. The Pro Page is a customizable website that can act as your Electronic Press Kit. Your customized Pro Page supports all of the things you’d need within an Electronic Press Kit, including:
☑ An ‘About’ section
☑ An area for ‘Credits’ or ‘Testimonials’
☑ Your songs, albums, or services you offer
☑ An area to put your social handles and contact information
☑ A section to display your music videos
☑ An area to display photos
☑ A music player (Blaze Player)
☑ Contact Form
You can customize your Pro Page completely from scratch, or invest in a pre-built layout. If you’re looking for a little inspiration, check out a few Pro Page layouts that we’ve deemed ‘Grade A’.
If you aren’t yet a Pro Page member, you can see what you’re missing with code BLOG30 at checkout for a free 30 day trial.
As you’re going about making your EPK, it’s vital that you remember the following:
Keep your EPK simple and to the point
If you aren’t the best writer or designer, consider hiring a professional! There are several BeatStars Members that offer services like design and copywriting that will do the heavy lifting for you.
Ensure your EPK represents you and your music accurately
Make use of your brand’s colors, tone of voice, and style to accurately represent yourself in your press kit
Avoid sending huge files or ZIP files via email
When you’re ready to send out your EPK, link to your website (HELLLOOOO BeatStars Pro Page!) that houses your EPK. Huge files can be flagged and sent to spam folders. Zip files simply won’t get opened.
While you may be riding solo when it comes to managing your music business, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to make your moves alone. Modern technology and brand new tools that have entered the digital realm make it easier than ever to automate and manage your business. The goal is to spend more time making music than managing your music, and to achieve that we’ve presented 10 must use tools that you should be using to accelerate your beat business.
Email Marketing is one of the most effective and inexpensive ways to market to your fans and convert listeners into customers. In fact, there are 4 billion daily email users, and this number is expected to climb to 4.6 billion by 2025. (Statista, 2021) The BeatStars Pro Page Plan comes with a FREE Mailchimp integration, and unlocks the ability for you to automate email workflows to your subscribers and customers. Learn more about Mailchimp and how you can use it to target your audience in our email centric tutorial videos.
You can’t always be around to answer your customer’s questions 24/7, and that’s okay because there’s a tool that can do that FOR you! Chatbots are a must-use customer service tool that are extremely useful in providing a stellar customer experience. Chatbots can help increase your sales, gain insights in customer behavior, and provide answers to customer questions immediately. (Onlim, 2020) ManyChat is a free, no-code chatbot builder that comes with your Pro Page subscription. Learn more about how you can use ManyChat to sell more beats through our Producer Marketing Playbook video!
Note: ManyChat can only be used on your BeatStars Pro Page website.
Selling music merchandise is a great way to bring in additional revenue and promote your music! Printful is a free integration that comes with your Marketplace or Pro Page Plan that lets you seamlessly create physical merchandise for sale like t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, and more. Learn more about how you can create a merch store that converts through our Producer Marketing Playbook video below.
Your music deserves to look as good as it sounds. With Canva, you can create beautifully designed social media graphics, album and track artwork, logos, and more. The BeatStars x Canva integration makes it easier than ever to create artwork for your latest tracks and albums. Learn more about how you can use Canva to level up your music’s artwork through our downloadable guide here.
Let’s be honest - posting on social media is a TIME. SUCK. It’s time that could be used to make music, try out new production styles, or connect with other musicians. Fortunately, there’s a way for you to get that time back. Introducing Buffer, a platform designed to manage social accounts by providing the means for a user to schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Instagram Stories, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, as well as analyze their results and engage with their community.
Getting the publicity your music deserves can be...difficult. Breaking through the noise and connecting with the right industry professionals is hard to achieve on your own. This is where StoryAMP enters the picture. StoryAMP is a music publicity platform that helps artists access media publicity. The platform has helped thousands of artists with the tedious task of music publicity, and works to email relevant journalists to help you and your music gain deserved exposure.
If you've distributed your music to Spotify or are an active Spotify user, you better not be sleeping on Spotify for Artists! Spotify for Artists allows you to manage your Spoitfy profile, get deeper music and audience data, pitch your new music to playlists, and highlight key songs, concerts and playlists with Artist Pick.
MusicFibre is a free and ever-growing directory of hand-picked music resources intended to help people in the music industry work more efficiently. 35 categories ranging from crowd-funding for music to online collaboration are available to sift through. Whatever your needs are, MusicFibre is there for you.
YouTube is one of the most important platforms a musician can be on. When you post your music to YouTube, you’re accessing millions of potential listeners, and in turn are fostering a community. YouTube for Artists is a one-stop-shop to help artists engage with that community while accessing an advanced suite of analytics.
FanConnect is a text messaging platform that allows you to connect with your fans, build community, and convert your audience into paying customers. Text marketing is highly cost-effective and offers a read rate of 97% within 15 minutes of delivery. (Business.com, 2021) The best part? FanConnect is completely free with your Marketplace or Pro Page Plan. Learn more about how you can use FanConnect to connect with your customers in our video below.
Somehow we’ve finished up another year, and are quickly orbiting into the next. It’s been a great year of accomplishments at BeatStars, from opening BeatStars Publishing to the public, to launching game-changing updates to the BeatStars Marketplace. Our Discord Channel is livelier than ever, and the BeatStars Studio Instagram is constantly dropping business tips and gems for our promising producers.
Success is an ongoing process, and if we’re being real? Your success is our success. We’re ready to see your music career thrive even more in 2022, which is why we’re laying down our five essential ways to set up your music business as we enter into 2022.
Thinking about and writing down your goals is kind of like having your Navigation App open on your phone as you’re driving to your destination. It gives you a clear idea of where you’ll end up, and helps you stay en route. According to a 2015 Harvard Business study:
The study went on to find that the 14% who have goals are 10 times more successful than those without goals. The 3% with written goals are 3 times more successful than the 14% with unwritten goals.
Take some pointers from the professionals through our ‘Set Your 5 Year Music Goals’ blog, and download our official guide to goal planning to kickstart your unrealized success.
Just like it’s important to deep clean your house every now and then, it’s equally as important to clean out your music store and marketplace! Enter the new year with a clean slate by revisiting your pricing, auditing your active coupon codes, testing any hyperlinks that live on your site, and organizing your inbox. The turn of the year is a great time to reset yourself and your music store, so take the month of December to scour every detail of your webpage and music store to check for outdated listings, licenses, and pricing.
Start with the following as you go about your audit:
It’s hard to do the nitty gritty of resetting your music business if you’re lacking the motivation to do so! Kickstart your drive by watching motivational videos or reading inspirational stories. Get your shot of inspiration by watching some of the videos we recommend:
One of the best ways to stay on track of your marketing and business plans is to think ahead. At the beginning of each month, sit down with intent and draft up an idea of what you’d like to focus on and achieve during that month. It can be as simple as:
January:
February:
March:
There’s no better time to upgrade your music business than right. now. The BeatStars Pro Page Plan is a go-to business assistant that provides you with premium data and statistics, 100% of your earned revenue, and must-use marketing integrations. When you unlock the Pro Page plan, you’re unlocking an easy-to-use custom webpage for your beat business!
Unlock the following features and upgrade with code BLOG30 to try the Pro Page Plan for 30 Days free.
Joining BeatStars and uploading your tracks to the Marketplace is just half of the journey to becoming a successful online beat seller. Like any business, marketing your art is the bridge between your track upload and a sale. Unless you’re a professional marketer, it can be difficult to know what you should prioritize and where to even begin when it comes to promoting your music and brand. That’s where we step in - keep the following marketing tips and advice in mind as you go about making (or revising!) your beat selling marketing plan.
Marketing is all about communication, and effective communication comes from knowing who your audience is and what they want. It’s important to know where your audience is from, what their goals and challenges are, and where their pain points lie. As a seller and producer, it’s your job to stay on top of what artists are looking for, and how your beat selling services can better their own creative endeavors.
The question is, how do you reach these people? Whether you’re an established producer with a mass following or a budding producer, try out these tips to get those answers and learn more about who you’re targeting.
As we blast further into the digital age, more and more social channels are popping demanding your time, content, and attention. It’s important to have a presence on as many channels as possible, but if you’re just one person doing all of your music’s marketing, then try narrowing in on a select few. When you select your go-to channels to build your audience and market new music on, it’s important to post consistently (we’re talking everyday or every two days) and keep up with the platform’s ever-changing algorithmic features. If you’re going to pick three, the most important, must-use channels to utilize as a musician are:
Setting metric driven goals is an important part of performance management, giving you a baseline of where you’re doing well and where you need to improve or restructure. Establishing metric driven goals can be as simple as aiming to procure 20 more BeatStars followers, or as large as increasing your earned revenue by 10% month-over-month.
Day 8 of the BeatStars 30 Day Challenge was created with successful goal planning in mind. Turn your goals into a reality with our Official Guide to Goal Planning.
If a customer isn’t doing business with you, then they’re probably doing business with a competitor. There’s no need to be salty though - take some pointers from your competitors (or artists you find inspiring) and apply them to your own business strategies. When browsing your competition’s website or social channels, take notes on what they are doing right, and what they are lacking in. Use what they’re doing right to your own advantage and implement something similar in your own strategies. Take what they’re lacking in and offer those services to not only your own customers, but your competitors as well. Wink wink.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats make up the components of the popular SWOT technique. Many companies and organizations use SWOT Analysis when making important business decisions or developing quarterly goals. SWOT Analysis is a simple tool that can help you to analyze what you’re doing best right now, and to devise a successful strategy for the future. Remember that things constantly change and new challenges can arise, so be sure to reassess your strategy and conduct a new SWOT Analysis every 4 to 6 months.
Sometimes you need to give so you can take, which is why it’s important to devise a budget for ad campaigns, giveaways, and tools like the Pro Page Plan or BeatStars Distribution. Budgeting helps you keep your eyes on the prize, and helps ensure you don’t spend money you don’t have. Start mapping out your budget with our official Budget Planner, found on Day 9 of the BeatStars 30 Day Challenge.
BeatStars has been partnered with Soundcloud for some time now to offer BeatStars’ users the BeatStars & Soundcloud monetization program.
With our SoundCloud Monetization program, users can earn revenue from actual monetized plays generated within their personal SoundCloud account. When you generate actual monetized plays, you are paid-out directly for each payout period once we receive statements from SoundCloud (see general info below).
You can also track your earnings and SoundCloud channel performance inside of your BeatStars MyMedia Dashboard once we receive each statement.
If you don’t have a BeatStars account just yet, but want to start selling your beats, sign up for free today.
1. How can I tell if my tracks are turned on for monetization?
If your track(s) have a blue dollar symbol and say “Monetizable” these tracks are turned on for monetization. If you do not see the blue dollar symbol, unfortunately, your track(s) have not yet been turned on for monetization. Please see this link for instructions How To Submit Tracks for SoundCloud Monetization.
2. How can I earn revenue?
If/when you generate actual monetized plays for a given month, SoundCloud will send us that data/revenue directly, and we will populate that data in the following sections of your BeatStars account.
• https://www.beatstars.com/sales/earnings
• https://www.beatstars.com/sales/payout
NOTE: The actual stats section in your SoundCloud account is not a representation of monetized plays. That section is for plays only, and not a confirmation of actual monetized plays via our program. So please do not use your SoundCloud personal stats as any reference for monetization via our program.
3. When can I expect payments?
Payment dates will always vary depending on when we receive the actual data and revenue from our partners.
If your tracks are generating monetization revenue, it can take SoundCloud 2-6 months or more (from the end of each month) to send us this data and revenue. We appreciate your patience as we await the data and revenue for each payout period. BeatStars has no control over payment timelines. Also, if your content is not generating any actual monetized plays, unfortunately, no revenue can be sent.
IMPORTANT: Please do not contact BeatStars asking for when payments will be sent as we have no control over payment timelines or any delays. Payments are sent once we receive payments from each partner.
4. What is a monetized play?
Monetized plays are those which are turned on for monetization, getting a visitor play of 30 seconds or more, and occurring on SoundCloud’s site specifically. Any plays outside of SoundCloud, or not turned on for monetization and not getting a visitor play of 30 seconds cannot generate revenue.
IMPORTANT: All monetization payments will always be reliant on the data our partners provide and when. If you do not see any revenue yet, this indicates that their statements we received thus far do not show you generated any revenue yet. If/when your content generates revenue for a specific payout period, it will be sent once our partner provides us that data. In some cases, partners can take 2-6 months (or more) to send us the revenue so there could be additional delays at times. BeatStars has no control over timelines, so we appreciate your patience.
From YouTube to Twitter to Instagram, there are a ton of useful social media platforms out there for marketing your music. How many social media platforms should you be using to sell your beats? The answer is simple: as many of them as you can! Cover as much ground as possible and create a social media account on every platform that you have access to. Remember, social media is a free marketing resource, so take advantage of every option out there. The more social media sites you appear on, the more ways artists can discover your music and your BeatStars storefront! Every social media platform offers unique features that can be useful for marketing your music and creating a network.
YouTube is one of the most popular platforms among beat makers, point blank. Some of the industry’s most prominent producers got their start by posting ‘type beats’ on YouTube. But is it still the best platform for selling your beats on? Well, it’s complicated.
For a new producer, it can be challenging to establish a successful YouTube channel by just posting beats. The platform is oversaturated with beats, meaning users will rarely find your beats in the search results. YouTube favors established creators that already have big numbers making it difficult for new creators to gain exposure.
It’s not uncommon for producers to start posting beats on YouTube and get little to no views for the first few months. It doesn’t matter how great your beats are, you're always at the mercy of the YouTube search results Building a following on YouTube is no easy task, but it’s not impossible. To be successful on YouTube you need to learn how to optimize your uploads to achieve the best results.
It all starts with titling your beat on YouTube effectively. A quick search on YouTube will reveal the millions of “type beats” found on the site. Why do so many producers label their beats like this? When artists search for beats, they most likely have an idea of what “type” of beat they want. If they want a beat in the style of a Drake song, they would search for “Drake Type Beat,” it’s that simple.
Attaching your beats to some of the biggest names in the music industry is a useful tactic for attracting more listeners.
Think about who your favorite artists are, and what popular artists you feel would perform well on your beat. Once you have decided, you can plug those artists’ names into the title of your YouTube upload to give listeners an idea of what the beat will sound like before they even click. Feel like Future would be the perfect artist for your beat? Then label your beat as a “Future Type Beat” to help your beat stand out in the search results. Don’t be afraid to add even more artists to the title, the more popular keywords you have in your title, the better. “Future x Drake Type Beat” may sound like a lengthy title, but it can increase your chances of appearing the YouTube search results.
There is a lot more you can do to help optimize your beats when titling them. Many artists searching YouTube are looking for free beat downloads to experiment with. If you are offering free beat downloads on your BeatStars account, you can add the word “free” to the title to further increase your chances of showing up in the YouTube search results.
Pro Tip - Adding brackets and capitalizing the word can make sure that it stands out in the title.
There are a ton of other useful keywords you can add to your title to help optimize your upload. Adding terms like “Hip-hop instrumental,” “New 2020,” or “Trap instrumental” can all help your beat to perform better. Experiment with multiple title variations to figure out which works best for your YouTube channel. Once you find a formula that works, stick with it and continue to use that formula for future uploads. Explore the thousands of “type beats” on YouTube to get a better understanding of how creators are optimizing their video titles. If done correctly, your beats can go viral and drive millions of new listeners to your BeatStars storefront.
Pro Tip - Try using tools like Tube Buddy to help you with key word research for YouTube
In addition to title optimization, there is so much more you can do to help your beats succeed on YouTube. Eye-catching visuals are essential for drawing in new listeners. Creating custom artwork for your YouTube thumbnails can have a major impact on the performance of your channel. Remember, artists searching YouTube for beats will SEE your beat before they get to hear it. Give them a reason to choose your beat over the rest of the competition by pairing your beat with a unique visual element.
When an artist falls in love with your beat on YouTube, they are going to want to know how they can lease. Your YouTube description should provide all the essential information the artist will need to proceed with their purchase. Remember to make your BeatStars marketplace or Pro Page link the first thing they see! This will let them know exactly what they need to do to purchase a license from you. You should provide artists with all of your contact information so they can reach you if they have any questions or inquiries regarding your beats. Link your email and all of your other social media accounts to give artists a wide range of options to connect with you.
Recently, Twitter has been becoming an effective marketing tool for artists and producers alike. Unlike YouTube, Twitter can help you connect directly to your target audience. Smart producers have learned how to use Twitter to build relationships with thousands of artists that could be potential customers. These artist relationships are key to the success of any producer trying to sell their beats online. There are millions of users on Twitter! So how do you find the specific audience that will be interested in your beats? It’s easier than you think!
When artists discover you and want to know where to purchase your beats, they need to know how to do so. Edit your bio to provide links to your BeatStars account so they can visit your marketplace with ease. You can even Tweet your BeatStars profile link and pin that Tweet so it will be featured on your Twitter page.
Even if you manage to connect with thousands of new artists on Twitter, the most critical factor in your success is the content. Remember: content is king. Your Twitter content should be unique and interesting. Avoid creating spam posts that beg your followers to buy your beats. There are far too many producers who make posts that simply tweet “buy my newest beat today!” or “lease my beat right here!” This is not effective content and will not get people to engage with your beats. Never direct message another user begging them to listen to your beats; that tactic will more than likely annoy potential customers and result in them blocking your account.
Twitter gives you the power to share anything and everything with your followers. You can post videos, blog pieces, graphics, and much more, so get creative with your content. Don’t bore your followers by just posting an mp3 file of your beat! Make it exciting and give them a reason to come back for more. Finding out what content works on your social media takes experimentation and creativity. Having high-quality and unique content will help you stand out and build a loyal community of fans and followers.
Hashtags are your best friend when using Twitter! The ability to search by hashtag makes finding artists who are looking for new beats simple. A quick search for #sendmebeats or #Ineedbeats can reveal thousands of artists looking to lease their next beat. Once you identify those who would be interested in your beats, it’s time to get social!
Connecting with each artist you come across will slowly help you develop a network and build a customer base. Remember, once you start establishing relationships, maintain them! Comment, like, and repost their content whenever possible to stay connected with those artists. The more you engage with others, the more they will engage with you.
Remember, hashtags work in reverse as well. Meaning, artists that who are looking for new beats to use will search by using hashtags. Twitter posts with hashtags are proven to get TWICE the engagement than posts without. Make sure you are always tweeting your beat-making content with proper hashtags. This will instantly increase traffic to your twitter account.
Instagram is another platform that is popular for marketing beats online. It’s easy to navigate, it’s content-oriented, and is home to millions of musicians looking to collaborate. Similar to Twitter, Instagram allows producers to establish meaningful relationships with the artists on the platform
Like Twitter, Instagram lets you search via hashtags to discover new users on the platform. Searching for relevant hashtags is a productive way to reveal new artists who might be looking for new beats. Searching for hashtags such as #hiphopartist #rapartist, or #newartist are all good places to start. Remember, Instagram is a content-oriented platform, so the best way to establish a connection with these new artists is to like and comment on their content. Actually take the time to check out their content to see if it resonates with you. If you like what you hear, you can direct the message that artist and let them know you enjoy their track. If you enjoy that artist, there is a good chance that the artist might enjoy your content as well.
Let’s talk about your Instagram content approach. Instagram only allows its users to post short videos on the platform. This means that if a producer is trying to post a beat on YouTube, they won’t be able to post it in its entirety. This is actually a good thing. Posting teasers or snippets of your beats that feature the most interesting parts of the track will entice artists to check out the full beat. If they like what they hear from a brief 10-second clip, they will want to hear the entire beat. This is where your BeatStars account comes into play! Remember to link your BeatStars account in the caption section to direct listers who want to hear the full track. This will lead listeners from Instagram to your BeatStars marketplace and turn them into customers.
Instagram is a visual platform so your content should be paired with some awesome visuals. Like we discussed earlier with YouTube, you want to capture your listeners before they even hear your music. You can do this by creating some unique art that makes your Instagram page stand out. Make sure that the art is properly optimized for the Instagram format so it looks clean and professional.
Users check Instagram every day! This means you should be posting frequently to see the best results. Posting just one piece of content a week just isn’t enough to build a successful Instagram page. Create a content schedule and stick to it. Consistency is key to becoming successful on any social media platform, so get in the habit of posting wherever you can. When you post that content, remember to use hashtags on Instagram to optimize your post. On Instagram, the more hashtags you include, the better! So don’t be afraid to add 20 plus hashtags to your beat to help it attract more listeners.
Get out there and start creating your social media marketing strategy! Remember, every platform is useful, so use as many of them as you can. YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok, they are all fair game! No platform will instantly start helping you sell more beats. However, by creating high-quality content and engaging with your users, you can soon build a thriving social media community.
Ready to start marketing your music business? Utilize our FREE social media kits to help kickstart and optimize your social channels.
Download a FREE YouTube description template for your beats! Just copy and paste when uploading your next beat to create a description to help drive traffic to your Marketplace.
Need help creating fire beat artwork? We’ve got you covered! Download our FREE thumbnail template for your beat to create professional-looking thumbnails for your beats.
We’ve made a list of 20 hashtags you can try on your next social posts to help increase your reach. Use these on your next upload and watch your content’s visibility and engagement grow!
Whether you’re an addicted TikTok scroller or a TikTok newbie, one thing is for certain - TikTok is an absolute game changer for musicians and creatives. The social video app that’s home to over one billion active monthly users is changing the way music is discovered, and has become an essential promotional tool for independent musicians. If you find yourself sleeping on TikTok, don’t worry - it’s not too late to wake up and get into the game.
The best way to describe TikTok is the love child of Vine (rest in peace), Instagram, and Snapchat. It’s a short form, video-sharing app that allows creators to record and share up to 3 minutes of footage. It’s one of the fastest growing apps in the world, and as of 2021 is the 7th largest social media platform. Similar to most social media apps, users can follow other accounts and build a feed of content from creators they enjoy. TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed is the real game-changer, showing a random assortment of content based on your algorithmic driven preferences and activity. This feed offers an endless pool of new things to watch, contributing to the highly addictive nature of the app.
Attention spans have shortened, and in turn micro-entertainment and short bursts of content have become the go-to. TikTok is a breeding ground for new trends, and smaller creators have the power to hop on or even kick-start these viral movements. Artist Aqyila was busy twisting her hair the night her TikTok went viral, triggered by award-winning artist Lizzo singing along to a version of her song called ‘Bob For Me’. Since that night, Aqyila has hit over six million streams on Spotify, translating to roughly $26,000 in earnings. Just like Aqyila’s viral TikTok, one of your own videos is bound to wind up on anybody’s ‘For You’ feed - including prominent celebrities, musicians, and industry professionals.
Just like any other social media platform, success on TikTok is attainable through familiarizing with its specific algorithm and keeping up with its constantly evolving features. Learn more about how you can hack the TikTok algorithm and increase your exposure with our TikTok Strategy Checklist, an official list that dives into exposure boosters such as:
Download our FREE strategy checklist below and stop sleeping on independent music's top marketing tool.
You may be wondering how giving away beats for free or offering beats at a discount can help you make more sales. It’s simple - people like free stuff! Being an artist is an expensive endeavor. There are an infinite amount of expenses an artist needs to worry about, ranging from studio time, promotion, and audio equipment. When the time comes for an artist to buy a beat, they want to get the most out of their purchase as possible. That’s where offering discounts on BeatStars comes into play!
If you can offer an artist two beats for the price one, an artist will feel more inclined to purchase one of your beats. This helps you stand out from the other producers on the platform and attract more buyers to your BeatStars marketplace.
Why stop at BOGOs? You can customize bulk discounts to offer as many free beats as you want. Want to offer your customers five free beats for the price of one? By all means, go for it. You have the ability to offer your customers more value for their purchase. The more value you can offer, the more likely you are to make a sale.
To maximize your discount’s success, try experimenting with bulk discounts and coupon codes that are only available for a limited time. This will create a sense of urgency in your customers and result in them making purchases sooner rather than later.
This is an excellent strategy if you’re looking to see instant results once implementing a discount. Make sure that you get the word out about your limited time discount so your customers don’t miss out on the deal!
Once you create a bulk discount or coupon code, it’s essential to let your fans and customers know you just implemented a new discount. Let your customers know by simply inserting the information into the title of the track. This is a popular tactic that is used by some of the most successful producers on the platform. By adding '“Buy One Get One Free” following the title of your beat, you can let potential customers know that they’re entitled to a free beat if they decide to purchase from you. You can even put the discount information in your BeatStars Bio to make it easier for customers to find more information regarding your discounts.
Don’t limit yourself to just using BeatStars! Spread the word on all your social media platforms that you’re running a discount. If you're selling beats on YouTube, you can provide the discount information in the video description. This will give artists more reason to visit your Marketplace. The same goes for using other social platforms like Instagram and Twitter. If you’re offering a new discount on your BeatStars Marketplace, create quality posts that highlight the discount opportunity. Whether it’s an awesome graphic or a promotional video highlighting the details of the discount, make the content engaging so your followers will notice.
You can also utilize email marketing to communicate the discount information to previous customers. It’s important to spread the word about your discount offerings for them to have a positive effect on your BeatStars Marketplace. Let your customers know that when they shop with you, they get more for their money!
You can reach all of your previous customers by utilizing the Mailchimp integration on BeatStars. By using Mailchimp, you can blast out an email to all of your previous customers informing them of any new bulk discounts or promo codes available. Remember, it's always easier to make a sale from a previous customer than it is to convert a new customer. Remember to treat your previous customers like royalty and provide them with exclusive discounts to entice them to return to your BeatStars Marketplace.
To create a bulk discount, just hit the Create Bulk Discount button to get started. From here, you can customize the details of the bulk discount. You can set the minimum number of tracks that need to be purchased and how many the customer will receive for free. For example, if your customer adds two beats to their cart, they will get an option to add an additional beat for free.
You can also set what licenses you want the discount to be applied to. Remember, customers will only be able to get free beats equal to the license of the beat they purchased. So, if a customer buys an mp3 license for $25, that customer will only be able to receive an mp3 license for free. Remember, you can create as many bulk deals as you like, so the possibilities are endless.
To offer your loyal customer’s coupon codes, just hit the Create Coupon Code option. From here, you can customize what the coupon code will be, the percentage of the discount, what products the coupon will work on, and when the coupon will expire.
Just like the bulk discounts, you can set what licenses you want the coupon to work with. Once your coupon code is created, it’s your job to deliver the code to your most loyal customers. You can create as many coupon codes as you’d like for different customers.
Every month, BeatStars teams up with a prominent artist or industry-changing Producer to curate special Challenges for BeatStars users. In the past, BeatStars has worked with big names such as B.o.B, Paul Wall, Mike Shinoda, and MORE to provide artists and producers the chance to win cash prizes, new equipment, and a platform to show off their talent to new listeners and fans. This month, DreamLife has teamed up with BeatStars to bring you an all-new song challenge featuring his song "Strawberry Moon", off his Beat Tape “As the Night Falls”! First, second, and third place winners will win cash prizes, a free year of Pro Page Plan, advertising credit, BeatStars merchandise, promotion on BeatStars social channels, and the list goes on. Put your skills to the test and accept the challenge! Your growth as a creator is most important, and BeatStars Challenges can help with the growing pains.
Your song could be played hundreds of times by new listeners all over the world - all you have to do is submit your song for a chance to get it on an official BeatStars playlist! Our playlists are carefully curated with the best submissions and gems living on BeatStars, and each week you have several opportunities to get your track on one of those playlists. Submit your best work for a chance to be highlighted and cement yourself as one of the leading producers in the game. From Drake to Charlie XCX beats, the options are practically endless when it comes to establishing yourself in your genre of choice.
Artists and creators are going viral on Tik Tok EVERY. DAY. Tik Tok is the common man’s holy grail for showing off unique, ground-breaking content that deserves thousands of eyes. When a sound is used on Tik Tok, there is a large chance that the video associated with the song will go viral, and in turn, hundreds of other creators will also use that song for their own content. Duet Beats is an official BeatStars Tik Tok account and the #1 place to find viral sounds! Submit your beats for a chance to be featured on our official Duet Beats account and be added to the official Duet Beats Playlist. Your shot at going viral is a click away.
Class is officially IN SESSION (every Wednesday at 3pm EST). BeatStars Academy is an informative live show hosted by Jamil and Lee, BeatStars staffers and experts. BeatStars Academy frequently hosts interactive live shows that members can participate in, such as the opportunity to get your Pro Page reviewed, Game Shows that come with prizes, and more. Stop by every Wednesday on the BeatStars Twitch or YouTube Channels and engage with the other audience members in the comments to form connections and potential collaboration opportunities. BeatStars Academy is FREE too. Think of it as a full-ride scholarship.
One of the most efficient, time conscious, and sure ways to increase your BeatStars engagement is through the BeatStars Promote tool. BeatStars Promote is an impression based advertising tool that can boost your tracks, albums, or profile to other users on BeatStars. When releasing a new track or album, it’s essential that you have a promotional plan in place to get a substantial amount of ears and eyes on your new music. Facebook and Instagram advertising can be costly, while BeatStars Promote is an affordable and effective tool that promotes in-house to eager buyers. Once a promotional campaign is launched, you can easily track your campaigns and analyze what works (or what didn’t) to plan for future campaigns. Give your music the attention it deserves with Promote!
Did you know that BeatStars offers creators the opportunity to craft a fully customizable website? Investing in a website that shows off your music’s brand, discography, merchandise, music videos, and albums is a great way to promote your music business on other social channels. Embed your website in your social media ‘About’ sections or plug it in one of the BeatStars Live Show chats as the show audience engages with one another. The viable business person always has a resume or updated LinkedIn page on hand, so why shouldn’t you? While the BeatStars Pro Page is a great beat-selling website tool, it also acts as a handy digital one-sheet for artists that are looking to host their work in a centralized location. The Pro Page makes is easier than ever to incorporate your brand’s colors, logo, style, and portfolio. Don’t sleep on the power of the Pro Page and try out 30 Days of Pro Page for FREE with code 30FREE.
Let’s kick this off by setting the record straight - you don’t need to be a professional journalist or prodigious writer to launch a blog. With the tools of the internet and a variety of writing styles to channel, you don’t need to set aside hours to write a feature-length editorial.
Blogging is an inexpensive and effective way to tell your story and build your brand. Similar to social media and email marketing, blogging is a vital communication channel that you can use to effectively promote your new music and build trust with your audience. Learn how to start crafting engaging blogs for your BeatStars Pro Page with our can-do tips and tricks.
Need more convincing? We get that. Your time is precious. Here’s why we believe blogging is one of the best marketing tools out there.
When you start a blog around a given topic or niche, you’ll inevitably attract other people who share interest in that topic. Sharing your music expertise offers value to other musicians or buyers, and in turn can create frequent site visitors who come back to your blog for more.
If you’re running out of things to share with your followers or email contacts, send them to your blog articles! This is a great way to entice visitors to your site, and allows you to expand on your story outside of a social caption character limit.
Blogging is a great long term solution to help boost your webpage’s ranking on search engines. When you start regularly posting blog content, your site traffic will increase over time and other companies will begin linking your blog articles as a go-to music resource. Google will eventually recognize your site as a legitimate source for music information, which will help your blog rank higher in search results.
This isn’t as serious as school, guys. When you’re blogging, don’t feel pressured to meet a certain character limit. If you force yourself to write longer blogs, this can often lead to rambling and an abundant amount of unnecessary filler words. Keep your blogs concise and to the point.
If you aren’t the best writer, don’t sweat it. Creating bulleted lists, a step-by-step guide, questions and answers, or even posting a photo blog are great ways to stress less about writing and focus more on the points you’re trying to convey.
Micro blogging is defined as very short, quick, and frequent blog posts, often created from some nontraditional publishing tool such as mobile phones. Many micro blogs contain very little writing, and instead have a lot of photos, videos, and links. Tumblr is a great micro blogging channel that allows users to post multimedia and other content to a short-form blog. If you aren’t a writer but create great video or photo content, try displaying these creations through micro blogging.
No one knows your music better than you do, which is why breaking down your tracks or mixtapes provides great original content. Tell the story of what went into your track(s), which equipment you used, and where you drew inspiration from. Giving written music breakdowns not only introduces your audience to all the hard work that went into your creations, but also acts as great email and social media content to accompany your music promotion.
Kick off your blog with some of these topic ideas.
Did you know that you can blog straight from your BeatStars Pro Page? Utilizing BeatStars’ blogging feature is a great way to flesh out the content on your Pro Page, and give your visitors a more complete experience. Learn more about how you can get started in our official tutorial video.
It’s important that you choose your selling approach wisely! Determine what your customers typically respond to and what deals would they really appreciate based on past patterns. Everyone’s customer base is different, so make sure to do your research before deciding.
When researching, try to brainstorm different kinds of deals you can offer your customers. Discounts, bundles, giveaways, limited edition tracks, raffles, sound kits, discounted licenses or exclusive holiday merchandise are a few areas of opportunity that you can expand upon.
Pro Tip - If you’re open to offering multiple deals for the holidays but you’re not sure which your customers will actually want, ask them! An Instagram story poll can go a long way and it gives them a little teaser for the deals to come.
Listen up: this one’s super important. Make sure all your social media assets and graphics are prepared when you’re ready to start announcing your holiday sales, bundles and giveaways. You want to make sure your customers know exactly what is being offered so that they don’t miss out on amazing deals and you don't miss out on sales!
Posting several times to the lead up of your holiday discount drop can help get buyer brains churning (countdown timers are great for spiking anticipation!). This goes without saying, but incase you need a reminder - remember to post daily with appropriate hashtags. Offering discounts in your marketplace but forgetting to properly market your offerings can lead to sell sales.
Pro Tip - Try creating one graphic/theme for every deal you will be announcing, then simply adjust the dimensions for the various platforms you use. This should include what is being offered, how long it lasts, and where to find it! Wondering where and how you can create graphics for your social channels? Look no further.
Do not underestimate the power of email marketing! You can use your data to target specific groups within your customer base and give them special offers. For example, you will probably have more luck selling a sound kit to someone who has previously purchased one. Therefore, you can make one email catered to that group of people.
Pro Tip - If you’re unsure how email marketing works or how you can use BeatStars to set up email lists then give the following videos a watch this video on how to make pop-up forms, or this video on how to offer free downloads
Quickly raise awareness about your upcoming sales through BeatStars Promote. BeatStars Promote is an impression based advertising tool, making it easier than ever to expose your profile and tracks to your ideal audience.
You can also use your data to run specific, targeted ad campaigns through social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Pro Tip - Have no idea where to begin? Get started in five easy steps here.
With a surge in sales comes a surge of new customers you have yet to establish relationships with. These can be your future collaborators, repeat buyers, up-and-coming artists, or potential managers. Reaching out and connecting with everyone can go a long way in your music career! A simple ‘Thank You’ or background information on what your mission is as an artist can help get conversations churning. Try your best to personalize your messages - it shows you care about that particular individual and aren’t simply copy-and-pasting your outreach messages.
When networking and reaching out to potential associates, make sure to always show off your value as an artist and most importantly be yourself! No one wants a leech - make sure to include a discount, an interesting article, or an opportunity when reaching out to people.
Pro Tip - Most importantly do not spam. The digital age can be tricky, but remember that we’re all human. When drafting a message imagine how you would approach the individual in person.
Social media has revolutionized so much of what we do and how we build connections - including within the music industry. As an independent musician and solopreneur, social media is a vital tool for exposing your craft to the world. Without it, organically reaching new fans would be a daunting and time-consuming task. In the past, artists would go out into the world and give out physical CDs and mixtapes to gain more ears on their music. Live performances were a frequent and necessary part of music promotion to reach interested artists. With the rise of the internet, handheld devices, and social media, the convenience of mass exposure is now only a tap away. As we dive deeper into the world of social media and uncover the algorithmic structure behind some of our favorite platforms, the simple task of clicking ‘Post’ can become an overwhelming task requiring strategic timing, caption writing, and engagement. Fortunately, we’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be as daunting as it seems. Whether you’re an avid Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or Twitter user, we have essential and evergreen tips that you can use to boost your music’s social following across all these major platforms.
There’s a middle ground between posting eight times a day and posting once a month. While you don’t want to be a feed-clogger, it’s important to keep your channel healthy and alive through consistent posting. Here’s a good rule of thumb for how often you should be posting:
Engaging with your audience should be a no-brainer. Many companies have entire teams that are dedicated to engaging daily with their social audience. Social media engagement is more than just accumulating followers and putting your brand out there. It’s also a measurement of how many people are engaging and interacting with your content on a daily and weekly basis. Your social media audience are not just numbers in a follower count...they are living, breathing humans who have a network and interests of their own. Daily engagement has been shown to increase ROI, brand awareness, and customer service across platforms. It’s called ‘Social’ Media for a reason, folks.
Pro Tip: Set aside 10-20 minutes a day to respond back to DMs, comment on posts in your Explore feed, or discover new creators that you can engage with.
Life happens and busy schedules dominate our time and energy. Unless you’re glued to your phone 24/7 (which, if you are, please stop and go outside), you’re going to have days where you forget to post about your latest single drop or upcoming collaboration. Try setting aside a day of the week to schedule your posts out in advance, that way you can spend more time living and less time in the digital realm.
There are a number of social media scheduling tools that offer free plans such as:
Utilizing relevant hashtags is a useful and FREE way to optimize your posts to get found by new people. Similar to keywords on a website, hashtags are used to help your social posts perform better in search results. Studies have shown that proper use of hashtags will increase your post’s engagement, however, it’s important to know how many to use with which platforms, and which platforms should avoid hashtags altogether.
Giveaways are becoming more and more popular on social media. They’re a great way to engage with your audience and incentivize them to help promote your work or channel. If you have fire merchandise, unique mixing services to offer, or are willing to give away a few beats for free, then use those goods in your giveaway!
To run a successful giveaway on Instagram, do the following:
If you’re interested in learning more about how to grow your music’s social following and your business, follow the BeatStars Studio Instagram - a go-to source for music entrepreneurship resources, expert advice, and more.
Imagine you have a crystal ball. This crystal ball sits in your hand and predicts the future of music and where trends are moving towards. It pushes you towards successful business moves, and away from projects that are likely to receive zero traction. Crystal balls are objects of the fantasy world, but what if we told you there’s a tool in existence that acts just like one?
Google Trends is the closest thing to a crystal ball that you’ll get when it comes to unlocking a strategy-driven, successful music business. Take the guesswork out of the game and stay in the know when it comes to top search queries and rising music genres, type-beats, and artists.
What exactly is Google Trends?
Google Trends allows you to see the topics that people are (or aren’t) searching for. This is a game-changing tool for marketers as it takes the guesswork out of your audience’s needs and wants. As a musician AND self-marketer, this tool can be used to anticipate trending genres, type-beat searches, and to see which search results are performing higher than others. If you’re wondering which beats to craft to increase your chances of landing a sale, this can help point you in the right direction.
How does Google Trends work?
The Google Trends homepage shows you an overview of recently trending searches, the latest stories and insights, as well as visual charts. In addition to what’s on the homepage, you are also able to explore and gauge interest in virtually any topic - from Drake Beat to trending musical artists. When you search for any term on Trends, for example, ‘Drake Beat’, you’ll be able to see a graphic showing the search term’s popularity over time. If you scroll down, you’ll also be able to see ‘interest by region’ and ‘related topics.’ In addition, you’re also able to compare two search results, for example, ‘Drake Beat’ and ‘Kanye Beat’. This allows you to see comparisons between the two beat inquiries over time and a comparison breakdown by subregion. If you’re ever stuck when deciding which musical direction you should go towards, Google Trends can help clear things up in a strategic, data-driven manner.
How should I be using Google Trends to boost my music?
Easy! You should use Google Trends when strategizing hashtag usage, researching trending type beats and artists, and when you’re deciding on the perfect release date for your music. We dive deeper into these three ways in our FREE downloadable guide -A Musician’s Guide to Google Trends.
Think back on a time you received stellar customer service. Ill feelings that were once felt can vanish in a matter of seconds. Positive rapport for a company or person can suddenly manifest, building strong feelings of loyalty. When you’re on the receiving end of a customer support interaction, it’s easy to pinpoint your desired outcome and ideal interaction. But how do you address BEING customer support? What exactly should you look out for and implement? How can you keep new customers coming back for more? How do you build authentic relationships with your customers?
In our official Customer Service Checklist and Guide, we address those questions along with:
...and MORE.
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