13.10.13

What You Need To Know About Buying Beats Online

By Eric L. Mims


Ok...so you're a singer, writer, or rapper and you have all of your songs written or recorded onto mixtape beats, and you want to make a "real album" that you can release on itunes, spotify, or pandora.

It sucks when you have all your lyrics done, but no songs recorded and you don't know any super producers and on top of that you don't have the cashola to pay for sessions, even if you did know a super producer. It's more disheartening when you have recorded your songs to every one else's beats that you have no right to use.

This section is for the writers. If you are a rapper, then things are a little easier. You just need beats that you have the license to use, then you have to find a studio to record your song in, then you need that song mixed and mastered, before you release it. (If it's an album, then multiply that process times about 12) There are many sites online to license music from, and there are two types of licenses to choose from....non-exclusive and exclusive.

Exclusive licenses are considerably more expensive because once you buy this license, no other artist can buy or lease this music, but that doesn't mean that you will be the only person licensed to use that beat because it may have been licensed non-exclusively before the exclusive licensed was purchased. At any rate, once you buy an exclusive license, no one else can buy a license that beat from that point on.

Now, exclusive licenses cost more because once you purchase this beat, no other artist can license or lease this particular music. However, that does not mean that you will be the only artist with that beat because it may have been licensed non-exclusively before the exclusive license was purchased. But still, once you purchase an exclusive license, no one else can license that music.

Non-exclusive licenses can range from 2.99 to 50.00 per beat, and exclusive licenses can be anywhere from 200.00 to 10,000.00 or more. So I'm sure you can purchase something that you like that is within your price range. Plus, producers usually offer package deals when buying more than one lease. www.freshoffabreakup.com is an example of such deals that also has affordable, quality music.

For writers that create R&B songs or pop songs everything above still applies, but you also should to find a singer who can "demo" or "sing" your songs. That is, unless, you can sing them yourself. Finding a demo singer that will do your songs justice can be a difficult task. Professional demo singers can be a little pricey, but it is usually worth it....and what you shouldn't do is rely on someone's word that they can sing, then blindly to pay them, then when you get into the session, they take forever and sound horrible....and you end up with a song that sounds nothing like you wanted.

Whether you find a professional demo singer, or you are singing the song yourself, if it's within your budget, you might want to also find a "vocal producer".

This is the person who is responsible for making sure your vocals are sung correctly, your melodies are plausible, and that the over all recording is sonically viable.

That's it for now, but shortly I'll cover more topics, so until we meet again..




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