How To Get Rap Beats. Ways

Getting Beats to Rap To

As a rapper, trying to make it in the music business, finding the right beats is one of the most important aspects. Every artist has their own style and their own motivations for doing music and knowing your goals will help you determine the best moves for you to make when it comes to getting beats. There are a lot of choices out there for rappers so below I will tell you the different ways as well as the pros and cons.

Free Beat Downloads Online

This is by far the most popular way rappers get their beats. Many producers make their music available to download on the internet and many rappers take these beats and make songs to them. Free downloads are great for hobby rappers, artists not trying to get big and artists that might not be working with a budget. The problem with free downloads is that the vast majority of them are not completely free. Most of them have tags and you must purchase them to do anything legally with them. Most djs and radio hosts are getting hip to the online business of selling beats and they wont play songs with tags through them. And if they are free dowloads chances are they have been downloaded by hundreds or thousands of other artists.

• Pros: Free - Unlimited quantity - great for practicing rapping skills
• Cons: You are very limited with how you use them - Producer "Tags" used repeatedly throughout the beat - Many other artist have the beat - You could be sued for using them

Buy Rap Beats

Weather you buy rap beats online or buy beats from a local producer this option allows for much more freedom with your music. There are a few ways to buy rap beats, you have leasing rights and exclusive rights. Technically you can even have a "work for hire" contract with a producer just to be certain that you own all of the copyrights. Buying the beats are great because you can use them to make money, you can put your music on the radio, play them in the clubs, perform them, even get them on tv. The only draw back is that it costs money and if you lease them they come with a few limitations compared to owning them which has no limitations.

• Pros: You can Use them Commercially - The Annoying Tag comes off the beat - You can get on the radio, internet, mixtapes, albums, ect. - Less people will have the beat if you must pay to use it
• Cons: Costs money - some leases have limitations

Working With A Producer

Probably the best option is having your own producer. Nothing is more valuable than having that exclusive "Sound" to go along with your lyrics. Having a producer instead of just looking for beats from everybody helps you to create a signature sound and bond with somebody that can make the perfect beat for you the majority of the time. Some producers charge upfront and some charge on the back end. If you are a serious and talented Artist a producer might be willing to negotiate with you. If their main income is from producing expect to be charged, but if they truly believe in you they will take a smaller payment upfront and negotiate royalties with you on the back end. This is probably the best deal because now the producer WANTS you to succeed because they have money riding on you too.

• Pros: You will have your OWN sound - You will be the only Artist with those beats - Producer will work harder to make your music sound better - You can build a strong bond with one producer instead of spending a lot of money with different producers
• Cons: More than likely it will cost something upfront

Learn How To Make Your Own Beats

Personally this is the path I took. Not because I wanted to be cheap, but because I truly did want to learn how to make beats. This choice is great because you can create a song from scratch, from your head all the way to the recording. You dont have to pay for somebody else to work. And best of all you have full creative control. The drawbacks are that it takes time. A few years at the least to become truly good at producing. It also costs A lot more than just leasing some beats. You will need a good computer, you will need good sounds to compete with whats out there, good headphones, monitors, keyboards, drum kits, software, will eventually dig into your pockets now matter how good you are at stealing things on the internet. Learning how to make beats is an extreme choice but its doable if your disciplined.

• Pros: Complete creative freedom - Dont have to pay for the service - Dont have to depend on anyone else
• Cons: Takes years to learn - Costs money along the way - Takes time away from being a rapper

So there you have it, this is my take on the options that artists have when it comes to getting beats. As long as have your know what your goals its a lot easier to tell which direction you should go with getting beats to rap to.