Industry-built vs. Self-made: Battle of the Producers
Technology and the Internet have changed many things in the music industry over the last 20 - 30 years or so. One of the things is the way in which music is created, marketed and sold. For instance computers were hardly in use for producing and recording music but now that’s the norm. Social media is a huge component of music marketing and many careers have flourished due to good social media usage. Soulja Boy is the first rapper to really use the Internet to his advantage and make a career in music from an online buzz. Now it’s common to have a rapper build a buzz on the Internet and translate it into a career. This is also becoming a common trend among producers.Soundclick and YouTube are among the major platforms that have helped create “Internet producers.” What differentiates Internet producers from your typical music producer is that Internet producers market and sell their beats online. The typical practice is to have a website or online profile of some sort which has a portfolio of your beats to which potential customers can listen and normally buy directly by making a payment via PayPal, credit card or some other payment processor. This is a great avenue for producers who can sell beats as they sleep since the purchasing process is normally automated. A major concern though is that producers have resorted to selling their beats at a very low price so as to have an advantage over rivals. This is good for artists since they can get beats at a cheaper price. However, many producers have cried out against low pricing understandably so because it has caused the monetary value of beats to generally go down.One way in which Internet producers market their music is by selling what have come to be known as “type beats.” These are beats which are crafted to suit the sound of a specific artist. For instance a “Drake type beat” is crafted with Drake in mind hence it will contain elements that said artist typically likes. This seems to be a major issue to many (mostly industry) producers who have spoken out against the practice and have expressed great displeasure towards it. Their argument is that type beats promote mimicking and therefore hip hop is lacking variety. This is indeed a valid argument, because there are producers who sit and study other producers only to mimic their sound for the purpose of selling type beats.On the flipside of the argument are producers who say type beats don’t necessarily mean that a beat was made with a certain artist in mind. The labeling of a beat as a “Drake type beat” simply means that the producer can picture said artist’s rap style meshing with the beat seamlessly. In other words, type beats are often labeled as such only after they’re complete, so there’s no copying that occurs. The beat is just labeled as such after the producer has created it, listened to it and then decided that it is a beat that would suit a certain artist. An example of a type beat is in the video below.
The type beat phenomenon is quite new and has been made popular through YouTube. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world and a lot of people go there to listen to music and search for beats. Many consumers of music and budding artists search for beats that match a certain artist’s style. “Type beat” is a result of this behavior and shrewd producers have taken advantage of this term in order to drive traffic to their beats and videos on YouTube. You can’t be mad at a person who uses customer behavioral information to their advantage as is the case here. As a result a number of producers have amassed huge followings on YouTube and are making good money selling beats and by racking up views to their videos. This type beat issue has become so heavily contested that even big name, industry producers such as 9th Wonder have chipped in. A few weeks ago 9th Wonder discouraged people from being “type beat” producers in a series of tweets to which well-known Internet producer Taz Taylor took offence. Taz went on a tirade explaining why people make type beats and went on to defend the Internet producer community at large. Several others such as BusyWorksBeats, another well-known Internet producer took 9th Wonder’s side on the issue and all hell broke loose.
The argument against type beat producers is that it discourages creativity. The argument for it is that it has helped people who would never have made it in the music industry to make good money from their craft. The story seems to be far from over. I understand both sides of the story and can respect both parties. However, it has highlighted an issue in hip hop which seems to be the theme of the day even on the artist side which is that the older hip hop generation does not want to change with the times. If a young man can realize his dreams of being a music producer, rapper, mix engineer, etc whether it’s through the use of the Internet or face-to-face interactions with customers it’s all good as far as I’m concerned. Let’s not restrict our creativity to the mediums that those who came before use. The great thing about the Internet is that it’s an equalizer. Whether you live in the USA, India, Malawi, New Zealand, Brazil or Denmark you have the same ability to showcase your talent and monetize it to the world. Long live the Internet producer, but much respect to the old heads too. We’re all musicians, let the music speak for itself. The cream rises to the top.
