7 Reasons to Not Rely on RocBattles, SoundClick, PMP Worldwide, & Sites Like Them

I’m a fan of sites like RocBattle, Soundclick, PMP Worldwide, and other online beat markets. I have Included links to them in the past as web communities you should participate in. I see the benefits of being a part of those communities. But if you are trying to produce music seriously, depending completely on those sites to get your music heard, and sell beats isn’t in your best interest.

1. It’s Not Professional

If I’m claiming to be a professional in my craft, beat making for example, sending someone to a cheap generic profile that has no personality and is cluttered with useless information is an amateur move. Generic web profiles  make it easy to be ignored in the competitive market of selling beats.

2. Promoting Competition & Losing Sales

One of the biggest things you should be concerned about is that when you promote your profile, you are also promoting RocBattles (or Soundclick ), and the thousands of other music producers on there. When I land on your profile, before I even scroll down to your beats, I see links to check out most popular music producers and the most popular beats, and I already want to leave your profile because I want to check out what is hot right now. There are music producers on there that will have better beats, and better prices, and you are losing sales because you are promoting them.

3. Competitive Pricing

How do you value your hard work? It doesn’t matter. Because when there are beats being sold for $10.00 (on average) you will have to keep your prices competitive to try to snag the sales. And let’s be clear: when I say $10 beats, you may think “Those are some crappy beats.” But no, there are some really professional sounding beats on the market for really cheap. We are in the digital age of FL Studio and Reason, where teenagers living at home can pump out beats all day, and $10 a beat suits them just fine because that add up for shoe money. When your music is surrounded by under-valued beats, you will have to be accommodating to survive.

4. Wrong Audience

A site like RocBattles promotes itself to music producers. So most of the traffic is producers and rappers. So if you are getting a lot audio plays on your profile, and wondering why no sales, it is likely because you are being listened to by other producers.

Let’s think about the type of visitor you want to visit your profile, and the type of visitor you don’t want. I’m sure the people that do buy beats from RocBattles go there for the wide selection, and cheap prices. Do you want to be a part of that wide selection and cheap prices, or do you want to meet a “serious” music artist with a real album budget? They probably aren’t searching those sites because they have tons of producers coming to them directly. To be honest, I don’t know if big name artists are searching on those sites… I suppose it is possible. I just want you to think about the group you are marketing yourself with. Are you in the group that spends 2 hours on a beat and then sells it for $10, valuing your time at $5 an hour, and can you make a living off that?

5. No Connection to Your Customer

You shouldn’t look at selling beats, as just selling a beat. You should look at it as building relationships. Here’s why:

1. When someone buys your beat and makes a crappy song, that doesn’t help you look good. So one-off sales to artist you don’t know is not always good. Most popular music producers won’t just sell their beats to anyone, because the final product will have both the producer and the artist’s name on it. Having your name associated with crappy songs will not help you in this industry.
2. By building a relationship you can sell multiple beats to the same customer. Businesses call this customer retention. The focus is on keeping customers happy so that they keep them coming back and paying for your services. It’s difficult to encourage someone to keep working with you when they buy your beat from a generic website that lacks personality.

6. No Personal Branding. No Voice.

The RocBattle profile pages have a profile picture, and a thumbnail image above it. Other than that, every profile looks the same. The focus isn’t on you. You are secondary to the advertising and other clutter on a page. People would happily pay for a beat by Timbaland before they even heard it, because he has created a personal brand, and established a known track record of making quality music. These profiles don’t allow you to establish your brand or show off your previous work. You need to make people excited to work with you and it takes more than a profile photo for people to connect with you.

Check out Boon Doc’s Website. As soon as you land on his site, you know it is his site. You know right away that he produces music, and the site has a unique look and feel that helps it stand out. This is a serious producer who has invested into his craft.

7. Website Clutter

These sites don’t offer the best user experience. They are cluttered with ads, links to your competitors, and tons of other features that take the visitors eye off you and your music. If you are paying for a service, the focus should be on you and your music to make your shine and stand out.

That’s it!

What do you guys think? Leave a comment and let me know if you think I’m wrong.

Also, if you missed it, the Music Maker WordPress theme is coming out soon. Check out the sneak peek post.