The iTunes Of Beats? BeatStars Launches Digital Production Marketplace
With the new music industry taking a shift to virtually obsolete release dates and on-demand music services, the ever-growing need for high quality (and affordable) music production is at an all-time high. In comes BeatStars, a digital production marketplace where singer/songwriters, producers, and vocalists can collaborate and monetize their compositions.
BeatStars claims to have the highest average transaction for its user base in the digital music industry at over $100. Many of today's well known producers and songwriters currently utilize the platform, inclduing Grammy Award winning music producer Focus (Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, 50 Cent). Focus uses the BeatStars platform to manage his catalog of beats and compositions and he calls the service “The iTunes of Beats”. Mason “MDL” Levy (Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, Cee-Lo), producer and writer of Justin Bieber’s hit song “Boyfriend,” also utilizes the BeatStars platform to create a passive income for himself.
Music producers and artists are not the only people benefiting from the service. Up-and-coming record label Funk Volume, which is home to XXL magazine’s Freshman alum “Hopsin,” uses the BeatStars HTML5 widget to create a new source of revenue directly on the label’s website.
“Our fans love our artists, but they also appreciate the beats they record over,” says Dame Ritter, founder of Funk Volume. “Why wouldn’t our fans that buy our songs also purchase our beats? The BeatStars widget has been a great source of revenue for us.”
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The bootstrapped start-up founded by former INgrooves distribution and content development manager, Abe Batshon, has envisioned his marketplace since the mid 90’s.
“As a songwriter, I originally developed BeatStars for myself and then quickly realized that tens of millions of aspiring recording artists around the world are struggling to find the best available production as well,” says Batshon. “There is a huge disconnect between the music producer and recording artist communities. Access to high quality production from Grammy Award winning music producers has never been attainable until now. And not to mention the millions of beats created everyday on DAW’s that don’t have a proper hosting and monetization mechanism for their content. Imagine video without YouTube – that’s the current state of beats today.”
From inexpensive non-exclusive licenses to complex synchronization licenses, BeatStars is steadily positioning itself to be a go-to hub for recording artists in need of studio quality compositions to record vocals over, as well as for music supervisors seeking the right sound to fit their next TV/Film project.
BeatStars is integrated with Facebook Timeline and available in the iOS app store and Google Play.
Hisham Dahud is a Senior Analyst for Hypebot.com. Additionally, he is the head of Business Development for Fame House, LLC and an independent musician. Follow him on Twitter: @HishamDahud
