Beat Maker Success - The Right Attitude For Making Money As a Hip Hop Beat Maker

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If you are trying to build a career as a hip hop beat maker, there are a few things you should know. The majority of up and coming beat makers that want to make a living with their beats focus on developing skills more than anything else.

Beat Maker Success - The Right Attitude For Making Money As a Hip Hop Beat Maker

As a beat maker, your artistic skills are very important to your hopes of success, but even more important is to develop the attitude of a professional if you are going to make it in the industry. There are a lot of aspiring artists who have incredible skill but will never make it because they don't think of their "business" properly and treat it as such.

Take these tips to heart and they will serve you well as you pursue your career as a beat maker:

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

Networking is a term that describes getting out and meeting people in your industry who can eventually connect you with the right people. If you don't know anyone of significance in the industry of beat making, your chances of becoming known are very slim. It is difficult enough to make it big in an industry with so much competition. Don't cripple your efforts by waiting for your big break...it may never come. You might be the most talented beat maker in your city, but if you don't mix in circles of influence you will be the only one who ever gets to listen to your music.

Go to local concerts and mingle. Take some sample beats that are nicely labeled and spread them around. Try to get your samples in the hands of the performing artists or their crew. Trust me when I tell you that most of them are always looking for fresh material to use. They will listen to your stuff if you keep getting it in front of them.

It is not necessary to brag to them about how good your beats sound. They hear that from a lot of people. Just be courteous and let your beats speak for themselves. If your stuff is good they will get back to you. It is important to also give them a business card and make sure your contact information is also clearly printed on your disc.

LEARN TO THINK LIKE A BUSINESS PERSON

If you are serious about earning a living from your beats, you have to develop the professionalism that sets you apart from your competition. A professional works on a schedule. A professional keeps good business records of money spent and money earned. A professional is reliable and keeps appointments with people and is easy to get hold of.

You are building a business that will support you for the rest of your life if you do it correctly. If you don't know how to run a business, read some books, take a professional out to lunch and ask them questions about how they run their business. Most of your competition just tries to wing it and they never have anyone take them seriously.

SET GOALS FOR YOURSELF

There is a saying that "if you don't know what you are aiming at you will hit it every time"! Decide what you want to accomplish as an artist and then set challenging but reachable goals for yourself. How many beats do you want to create every month? Every week? Every day? Set goals for these and then work toward them. How many of your samples do you want to distribute each month? How many people do you want to get to know every month?

Write down your goals. Keep a ledger and make a note of each goal that you accomplished. If you are consistently missing your goals then make smaller goals until you are consistently successful at reaching them.

The point is that your talent alone is not enough. Learn to live a disciplined lifestyle. Work hard at it. Most other wannabe beat makers will never do these things. If you give yourself time and realize that what you are attempting to do as an artist is hard work, you will be miles ahead of everyone else.

There really is no such thing as an overnight success in the entertainment business. Study the life of any super star and you will find that they were working hard for years before they got their big break. You can do it to with the right attitude.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

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The 6 Rules Of Commercial Music Success

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Over the years I have had many conversations with music artists about commercial music, which usually leads to them disclosing their disdain and hatred of it. Some refer to Pop music ("Pop," as in what's popular now) as commercial music.

The 6 Rules Of Commercial Music Success

Others think of anything that is receiving heavy rotation on radio as commercial music. Whatever their definition, one thing is often overlooked: commercial music is the heart of the music industry which pumps the blood that keeps it alive.

So why then are so many music artists resistant to making commercial music? The answer that I'm often given is because they don't want to "sell-out" their creative integrity by conforming to some industry version of what's popular (i.e. what's selling at the moment). It becomes very obvious to me that the problem is not commercial music, but rather the perception and definition of it.

The misconception is that the music industry created this superficial definition of commercial music to strip away the artistry and true identity of artists for the purpose of making money; forcing artist to create songs that the "masses" will enjoy. That fallacy is often perpetuated by music artists who are usually incapable (not unwilling) of creating commercially viable songs. The truth is the public, not the industry, dictates what is commercial, and for decades they have gravitated towards, embraced, and purchased songs that adhere to a commercial music format.

If commercial music is the rule for success and sales in the music industry, there are inevitably going to be some exceptions to it, but unfortunately, the tendency is for music artists to try and become the exception, instead of observing the rules and why they exist.

Simply put: the rules of commercial music success have not, and will not change. Not in your life time or your children's lifetime. They exist because it's human nature to reject the unfamiliar; in the music industry, similarity is the cornerstone of acceptance. This is why so many popular songs sound similar and contain familiar elements.

It's a rule that is prevalent in every genre, and on every continent. There are those artists who do a masterful job of observing their own artistic values while delicately balancing the demands for commercial music by industry professionals. Artists such as Prince, Sting and Bjork, have pushed the envelope of creativity for years. But artists of their caliber who possess such sublime talent and vision are rare.

For the sake of clarification and argument, I will offer my explanation and industry definition of what commercial music is; based on 25 years of listening to recordings as a music lover, music industry professional, and music critic. They are songs that have the following:

1.) A STRONG HOOK/MEMORABLE CHORUS.

If no one knows what your song is called, they can't request it when they hear it on the radio. More importantly, they can't buy it at retail...or track it down on the Internet to illegally download a copy of it.

2.) GOOD MELODY.

Commercial music is characterized by good melodies (i.e. verses, choruses, and sometimes bridges that get stuck in your head and make you want to sing-along). What can the top selling hip-hop acts of the last 10 years (Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Eminem, and 50 Cent) attribute their success to? Good melodies (not cool beats) that increase the commercial value of their music.

3.) WELL-PRODUCED.

Coming from an R&B background where producers are a pivotal part of commercial music success, I did not realize until I became a consultant that many rock bands don't utilize, nor value producers like R&B music acts. Perhaps they should since the record company often assigns top-notch producers to enhance the quality of songs (through their musical expertise) and enrich the records (through their experience and proficiency in the recording process), ultimately making them more enjoyable to listen to and, you guessed it...more commercial!

4.) APPEALING LYRICS.

The lyrics don't have to be profound; people just have to be able to emotionally connect with and mentally relate to them. If you have a way of saying common things in an uncommon way, your lyrics will have an edge over the songwriter whose song is about the same topic. Write about what's closest to your heart for credibility and sincerity, and others will be able to relate to your songs - especially if it's on a subject matter that they know or have
experienced.

5.) KEEP IT SHORT.

Keep the length of your songs down to a maximum of four minutes. Jazz and World Music are exceptions. A song that is well-written makes people want to hear it again, and again, and again. The longer the song is, the less likely that will happen. Don't believe me? Check the length of your favorite songs.

6.) TALENT/WELL-PERFORMED.

Most outstanding vocalists are often surprised by how low this rule is on the list. The fact is that there are more mediocre songs performed by outstanding vocalists, than there are mediocre vocalists performing outstanding songs. A good song that is well-performed gives it an edge, but if the song is lacking, all of the yelling and vocal acrobatics that singers tend to use to compensate for it will not make it a better song...though it may help the singer to attract better songwriters to work with. If you lack talent and it's a really good song, someone more talented can (and will) sing the song and make it better.

Now that you know the 6 rules of commercial music success, hopefully you will be able to use this information to your advantage and create songs that will increase your chances of success in your professional music endeavors...or you can ignore them and continue to wonder why no one (other than your friends and family - all of which listen to commercial music) like your songs.

Do You Ever Wish YOU Had The Ability To Make REAL Hit Music Like That?

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