WE NEED TO GET PAID - PART 2

Now let’s look at beatmakers. When you say you sell beats, what exactly are you selling? Do you even know?

I know in Cape Town, beatmakers are just selling beats but they still have their names on the royalty sheet to collect royalties from radio airplay. So what did the artist pay for?

If I sell you a car, then the car is yours. I don’t take your money and then still have my name as the owner and still drive it from time to time. So why is it different for a beat? If I’m selling it to you, why should I still collect royalties?

I recently asked a colleague of mine how it works in Jozi and he says that the artist pays a production fee. So basically that means that the artist is paying for the time the beatmaker spent making that particular composition.

Now that would make sense why as a producer, you would get paid and then still earn royalties from radio airplay and other exploitations of that work.

However, this is not how it works everywhere else in the world. I’ve heard the term “leasing” beats but never really understood the concept.

Again, allow me to use a car analogy. If you just want to rent a car, you would pay a certain amount for usage of that car but at the end of the agreement, you would return the car. You don’t own the car and someone else has the option of hiring it too. If you want ownership, you have to buy it and put it in your name. More expensive but no-one will use it without your permission unless they steal it.

Similarly you can lease a beat exclusively or non-exclusively.

Exclusive means that as the artist, the beatmaker has sold the sole usage of that composition. No other artist is allowed to use it but you will pay a lot more. In some cases, I’ve heard that producers will charge a more established artist less as they know that they will gain a lot more from radio airplay or sales. But for new artists, they will charge more up front as they don’t know if they will make a success from that song.

Non-exclusive means that you’ll pay less for the usage of that composition, however, other artists are allowed to also use it. So the beatmaker can repeatedly lease a beat non-exclusively to many artists. However, in many beat leasing contracts, I’ve seen the clause that if a beat is leased non-exclusively initially but it sells more than a certain amount and becomes really successful, then the artist must change it to an exclusive deal and pay in the difference.

However, you decide to work with your beats, it is up to you but these are just some guidelines you can use and rather get paid for your work than giving away free beats. If you think, you’re doing it for exposure then STOP that mentality now. With Youtube and Soundcloud, you can post your beats online and from there artists can hear whether or not they like your beats and from there if they can make it work then great, if not, at least you got paid.

Part 3 coming soon…