12 Best Websites To Sell Beats Online In 2024 (Sell Instrumentals + More)
Wondering where to sell beats online? We’ve got you covered.
If you’re a talented music producer, you can potentially make thousands of dollars per month selling your audio creations to rappers, corporations, and other artists.
In this post, we’ll be helping you to get started by revealing the best websites to sell beats on.
We’ve made sure to include a good mix of platforms with different target markets, commission structures, etc. So you should be able to find something that fits your needs on this list.
Plus, if you stick around until the end, we’ll also be answering some of the most frequently asked questions about selling beats online.
#1 – Your own website
The best place to sell beats online is through your own online store, instead of a third-party marketplace.
Financially, it makes sense selling through your own site compared to a third-party marketplace as you get to keep 100% of your own profits—there’s no middleman to take a cut of your earnings.
And that’s not the only benefit.
When you sell through your own website, you have complete control over everything: the design of your storefront, site navigation, pricing, payment systems, funnels, etc.
This level of control opens up opportunities that you wouldn’t be able to take advantage of if you sold through a third-party marketplace instead.
For example, you can capture the email addresses of customers who buy your beats through your site, so you can retarget them again and again. You can also upsell other complementary products on your beat store that you couldn’t sell on beat marketplaces, like artist merch.
Selling through your own website also makes sense from a branding perspective. It lends credibility to your name as a producer and makes you seem more professional.
And it acts as the central location that you can direct your audience to from all other online platforms (like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.). So when you run promotional campaigns, you’ll be building your own following rather than someone else’s.
And don’t worry—building your own website isn’t as hard as it might sound.
You can create a simple online store on your own web domain in under an hour using an ecommerce store builder like Sellfy.
All you have to do is sign up for one of Sellfy’s paid plans (we’d recommend the Starter plan), upload your beats as digital products, customize the design, and you’re ready to go live.
Then, you can use Sellfy’s built-in marketing features to start growing your sales and following. And if you ever want to branch out and expand your product catalog, you can sell your own branded artist merch with Sellfy’s built-in print-on-demand tools.
#2 – Airbit
Airbit is one of the most popular beat marketplaces in the world. With over 800k users, there’s no shortage of competition. But if you can cut through the noise, you can tap into the platform’s huge customer base and collect your share of the $45 million that Airbit producers earn every year.
Over 2 million beats have been sold on Airbit to date, to thousands of artists including some huge names in the music industry like Eminem, Beyonce, Migos, and Wiz Khalifa.
It’s super easy to start selling on Airbit. Just upload your beats, choose your prices and how you want to get paid, and start earning.
Once you’ve uploaded your beats, they’ll be listed in the Airbit marketplace waiting to be discovered by Airbit’s huge user base. And you’ll also get your own artist Infinity Store on the platform, where fans can follow you to eagerly await new releases. As the sales roll in, you’ll be paid instantly.
There are templates for things like beat licenses, discounts, contracts, packages, etc. to make your life easier, and some cool advanced features like collaboration tools (so you can split the revenue with other co-producers), automatic YouTube monetization (which uses the content ID system to collect ad revenue on your behalf when someone uses your beats), and more. They will take a cut of revenue to facilitate this and it’s only available on certain accounts.
You can upload 10 beats with a free basic account, or upgrade to Platinum for $7.99/month to upload and sell unlimited beats. When you upgrade, you also get $100 worth of Promo Credit, which you can use to promote your beats on the platform and drive sales.
Airbit do take a cut for marketplace sales. The exact percentage depends on whether you grant them an exclusive or non-exclusive license, and the type of account you have. See their website for more details.
#3 – AudioJungle
AudioJungle is the audio branch of Envato Market—one of the biggest marketplaces for digital products in the world.
What’s cool about selling on AudioJungle is that you can sell any type of audio file. Not just beats, but also things like music packs, sound effects, audio logos, and more.
Like Airbit, it has a huge customer base and great discoverability, which means you don’t have to put as much effort into marketing your tracks as you would if you chose to sell through your own site instead.
#4 – PremiumBeat
PremiumBeat is an online music library where artists can sell beats. It’s owned by the same company behind Shutterstock—the uber-popular stock image marketplace.
When you sell on PremiumBeat, you tap into Shutterstock’s seller reputation and huge user base.
Anyone can submit their beats to the PremiumBeat library, as long as you meet three conditions:
- Your beats must be 100% original (you must fully own and control the copyright of both the composition and master recording)
- Your beats must be free of third-party rights
- You must be willing to make your beats exclusively available to PremiumBeat
The latter point means you can’t upload or sell your beats anywhere else after you’ve submitted them to PremiumBeat. This might be a deal-breaker for producers who want to sell through multiple channels.
#5 – BeatStars
BeatStars is another great website to sell beats online. It’s similar to Airbit in terms of popularity but seems to be a little less competitive. Creators on BeatStars have sold over 1.3 million digital products and earned over $100m to date.
You can sell up to 10 tracks on BeatStars for free, or upgrade to a paid membership to sell unlimited tracks and unlock premium features.
Paid subscribers enjoy zero commissions but free users are subject to 30% fees on their earnings.
You can also use BeatStars as a distribution platform to release your beats and earn music from download and streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, SoundCloud, etc.
#6 – Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an online music store and community platform where fans can discover, support, and connect with artists. It’s a great place to sell beats and other music products online and stands out for its artist-first revenue model.
To date, artists on Bandcamp have earned almost $1 billion. To get your share of the pie, you can sign up, customize your own direct-to-fan store, and list your tracks on the larger marketplace.
You can set your own beat prices so there’s no limit to your earnings. And what’s cool is you can even specify a minimum fee but give fans the option to pay more if they want to (and they do around half of the time).
Bandcamp takes a 15% cut of digital music fees, so you still keep 85% of the money, which is pretty good.
#7 – TrakTrain
TrakTrain is a great website to sell beats if you’re a serious producer. Free users get zero commission fees on their first 15 MP3 uploads, with no additional hidden charges on your beat sales.
Once you sign up, you can create your profile and upload your tracks. There are plenty of customization options that give you a lot of flexibility.
For example, you can split sales with your co-producers, offer free downloads in exchange for social follows or email opt-ins (great for building your following), schedule releases for later dates, etc.
And there are a bunch of marketing tools that can help you to get more exposure, like promotions, discounts, ads, etc.
#8 – AudioDraft
Audiodraft is a good place to sell your beats if you’re targeting the corporate market. It caters to businesses working on their audio branding.
You can set your own prices, but tracks in their “Music Library” have fixed prices for exclusive licenses. The Music Library features handpicked tracks selected by Audiodraft.
Producers earn 70% of revenue from their beats on AudioDraft.
#9 – Soundee
Soundee is another marketplace for selling beats that’s definitely worth checking out. Free users only keep up to 70% of their profits, but you can sign up for a paid plan to keep all the money from your sales.
It’s not quite as well known as Airbit and BeatStars, so it’s a little harder to be discovered on Soundee. But the flip side of that is it’s also less competitive, which makes it easier to make sales.
There are also some advanced features including the ability to accept cryptocurrencies and offers, co-producer support, email marketing integration, etc.
#10 – SoundClick
SoundClick is another well-known music marketplace that’s been around for decades. It has a huge library and is one of the only marketplaces to let free users upload an unlimited number of tracks.
However, while the number of tracks you can upload is unlimited, there are data limits to be aware of. And you’ll be subject to a 30% fee on sales of license beats.
You can avoid fees by upgrading to the Gold membership for $15/month.
#11 – Soundgine
Soundgine is a marketplace where producers can sell hip-hop beats, sound FX, TV & movie scores, songs, albums, and any other type of audio you can think of.
It’s super easy to use. Just sign up, create your beat store and upload your audio to the marketplace, set up your payment gateways, and you’re ready to start selling.
You can choose your own prices for different licenses and even offer membership subscriptions to your customers. Plus, you also get access to a state-of-the-art music player that your customers can use to preview your tracks and share your music on social media. Plans start at $9.99/month.
#12 – SoundCloud
SoundCloud is one of the oldest and most popular online platforms for independent music creators. Since 2007, the platform has been a hub for new and emerging artists to sell their beats online.
Creators have the choice to upload their beats for free, or upgrade to a SoundCloud Pro Unlimited membership and get access to tons of useful creator tools.
SoundCloud uses a fan-powered royalty system, so artists are paid based on the amount of time their dedicated fans spend streaming their beats.
Artists must be members of the Pro Unlimited program or Repost by SoundCloud to receive royalties.
Related reading:
- How To Get More SoundCloud Followers
- How To Promote Your Music On SoundCloud
- How To Make Money On SoundCloud
Websites to sell beats: FAQs
How much should I sell beats for?
When you’re pricing your beats, the first thing to think about is whether you want to sell exclusively or non-exclusively. This will be the biggest determiner of the price you sell them for.
If you sell exclusive rights to a beat, you can only sell it once and once only—the artist has exclusive rights to use it for the duration of the lease. If you sell non-exclusively, you can sell the beat as many times as you want, to as many different customers as you want.
For obvious reasons, if you’re selling an exclusive license, you can charge a lot more. Typically, you can sell exclusive beats for $100-$500 (or even more if you’re a recognizable artist targeting the high-end of the market).
If you’re selling non-exclusive beat licenses, pricing your beats somewhere between $25 – $100 each might be more reasonable.
But remember: you can sell non-exclusive beats as many times as you want. So while the individual cost might be lower than an exclusive license, if you can make 10 non-exclusive sales, you’ll be making more money than if you were to sell exclusively.
Some artists also sell different versions of their beats at different price points in order to hit a larger market and increase sales. For example, you might sell a standard version of a beat at the base cost but charge extra for a high-quality version. Or you might charge an additional fee for the stems or music project files you used to create the beat.
Is selling beats online profitable?
Yes, selling beats can be a very profitable business venture—if you put in the work. But don’t expect to get rich overnight.
The great thing about selling beats is that you can sell the same beat over and over again with a license, or you can earn money by crafting an exclusive beat for a customer.
The entire beat selling industry generates over $30 million a year, so if you can tap into even a small fraction of that market, you can earn a good living. There are plenty of producers that earn upwards of $30,000 per year selling beats. But to reach that level, you’ll need to consistently put out great tracks and work hard to build your reputation as an artist.
How do I make beats?
There are a few things you’ll need to start making beats. First, you’ll need a DAW (digital audio workstation)—this is your beat-making software. You use it to record, edit, and produce your beats. Ideally, you’ll want to choose a DAW that includes a sampler, and all the other plugins you’ll need.
Next, you’ll need a sample library of sounds to use in your own beats.
Some DAWs will come with their own library of sounds which may be enough for you to get started. But you’ll be able to make your beats & tracks stand out by using sample databases like Splice or Sounds.com. If you’re a beginner, it’s usually easier to start with the latter.
And if you’re really serious about making beats, you might want to invest in a MIDI controller.
This is a piece of hardware that allows you to build beats in a more hands-on way, by ‘playing’ the music on an electronic musical keyboard. This will save you from having to draw all of your notes into your DAW software.
Aside from your DAW, all you’ll really need to get started is a pair of headphones. However, if you want to record audio and get better sound quality, you’ll want to get an external audio interface.
The Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 bundle is a great starting point because it includes your audio interface, headphones, microphone, cables, etc.
You get the lite version of Ableton Live included so you can start making beats right away. However, lite versions of any DAW have their limits. Which is why I recommend getting a premium DAW such as FL Studio. Any other DAW can work but FL Studio is a particularly good option because it includes all the tools you’ll need to get started. The software is competitively priced and offers free lifetime updates.
You don’t need to be an expert producer to create some great beats, however, learning the basics of music production will be extremely useful.
When you have your equipment, you can start crafting your beats. First, select a tempo that’s a good fit for the genre and style you’re going for (e.g. 130BPM).
Then, start with your drums, then add additional layers such as bass, pads, and leads. Start off with 1 bar or 4 bar sections and go from there. After you’ve got all your core instruments down, start looking at sound effects. After that, you’ll want to polish it up and create a mixdown file ready for mastering.
Your mixdown is a finished lossless audio file (e.g. WAV) where you’ve got all your levels set, compression, EQ, and any additional effects such as delay or reverb applied. If you want to use any automation, this is the time.
Once that’s done, you’ll export to WAV or AIFF to ensure you have the highest quality possible audio track. Then import the finished track into a fresh project file of your DAW and apply some limiting/compression, EQ, etc to that single audio file. You’ll want to reference your track with other modern music as well. This will help you make sure everything sounds right – in particular the overall level of the track.
You could do this process in the original project file of your DAW but it’s easier to do the master in a fresh project file.
How do I market beats?
There are lots of marketing strategies you can try to promote your beats.
One of the best strategies is to upload music to YouTube with eye-catching titles and thumbnails and link back to your online beat store in the description. This can help with discovery and provides a channel for you to grow your following and reach new potential customers.
You might also want to try reaching out to up-and-coming rappers and lyricists on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, then letting them try out one of your beats for free. This can help you build connections with artists that may turn into paying customers.
You can also try running a social media marketing campaign, running promotions/ads on the beat marketplace you sell on, etc.
Choosing the best websites to sell your beats online
That concludes our roundup of the best websites to sell your beats online. All that’s left to do now is pick your favorite and start earning!
Not sure which one to choose? Here’s what we’d recommend:
- Use your own beats store/website if you’re serious about making a living through selling beats. It’s the best choice for professional music producers as you have full control over branding and pricing, and you get to keep all of your profits. And, it’s really simple to do using storefront builders like Sellfy.
- Sell your beats online through Airbit if you’d prefer to sell through an online marketplace. It requires less marketing than selling through your own site but there’s more competition, and you’ll have less control over your brand.
- Check out AudioJungle if you don’t want to be limited to beats. It’s a great platform for selling all kinds of audio, including beats, sound effects, and music.
We hope you found this helpful. Good luck!
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