BeatStars Reaches $50 Million in Royalties Paid Out to Producers Who License and Sell Instrumental Beats To Recording Artists On The Platform
The World’s Leading Music Marketplace, Which Sourced the Beat from Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” Among Other Hits, Launches Official iOS and Android Streaming Apps
06.11.2019
Press for BeatStars:
“The music situation improved in October, when Hill stumbled upon the beat for ‘Old Town Road’ while trawling the site BeatStars, which allows aspiring artists to purchase or lease instrumentals. The track was made by Young Kio, a teen in the Netherlands. Kio marked the ‘Old Town Road’ instrumental as a ‘Future type beat,’ and Hill found it intoxicating.” – Rolling Stone
“Lil Nas X, however, says it’s all due to a combination of hard work and knowing how to use the tools of the internet to create something that would click with the masses. ‘Old Town Road,’ after all, started with a track he found on BeatStars, a site launched in 2008 for aspiring musicians to upload their instrumentals, that was created by YoungKio, a fellow teen from the Netherlands. Lil Nas X bought the track for $30 and wrote lyrics inspired by his anxieties over his parents’ disapproval of him dropping out of college.” – Vulture
“So, out of a combination of ingenuity and desperation, [BeatStars founder Abe Batshon] came up with an unprecedented idea. He hit up a producer in a chatroom, asking to use a beat. He offered to pay something, but less than the sale price—under the condition that the producer could still sell the beat to someone else. Thus the concept of a non-exclusive license for a beat was born. Batshon wouldn’t turn his idea into a full-fledged business until 2008, when he started Beatstars, an online marketplace for beats.” – Complex
“Sites like BeatStars help democratize the hip-hop landscape.” – Genius
The Announcement:
BeatStars is at the forefront of the new music business, providing a sleek and fair marketplace for artists and producers to connect and make hits. Today, BeatStars announces a new milestone: the company has paid out over $50 million to the producers who license and sell beats on the platform. BeatStars experienced exponential growth in recent years, earning over $20 million for its active producers in 2018 alone–a 100% increase over 2017. The marketplace hosts over 1.5 million active tracks, including 568,000 tracks uploaded in 2018.
Founded in 2008 by Abe Batshon, BeatStars helps bring order to the Wild West of internet beat-sharing, ensuring that producers get the credit and payment they deserve as engines of the hip-hop boom. The site boasts 340,000+ active sellers, including profiles from multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning producers including Mr. Porter, DJ Green Lantern, and Statik Selektah. The marketplace was the origin point for several massive hits, including Lil Nas X‘s number one hit “Old Town Road” (produced by Netherlands-based BeatStars user YoungKio), Flipp Dinero‘s Double-Platinum “Leave Me Alone” (produced by Young Forever Beats), and Queen Naija’s Platinum “Medicine” (produced by 30Hertz).
“The $50 million earned mark for our creators is an amazing achievement for the community that we serve and the company we are striving to build,” says Abe Batshon to Billboard. “We hope to continue creating tools to empower music entrepreneurs like never before in the music industry and help foster a sustainable new economy for music producers and songwriters around the world, for years to come.”
Not content with the massive growth the company has already experienced, BeatStars offers its service to an entirely new base of users with its newly launched Android app. Peaking at #4 in Trending Music Apps on Google Play’s App Store, the new app allows premium users to stream 1.5 million tracks, to license and download all high quality studio files in-app, to follow and message their favorite producers, and create playlists. The app also offers the Lyric Pad, through which users can write down lyrics and search for rhymes at the moment of inspiration. Offering the same functionality of the BeatStars iOS app, which currently has over 6000 ratings at 4.9/5 stars, the Android app officially launched on June 6th.
Download BeatStars for Android on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beatstars.mobile&hl=en_US
Check out the Billboard article about the announcement: https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8515243/beatstars-producer-payouts-50-million
BeatStars Background
Founded in 2008, BeatStars is the leading global music marketplace connecting over 1.5 million recording artists and music producers, helping them collaborate, network and license beats. Since inception, BeatStars has paid out over $50 million to music producers licensing beats to recording artists on the platform. Founded by Abe Batshon, BeatStars currently has offices in Austin, Texas, Funchal, Portugal and Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Notable Beats sourced from BeatStars:
Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road” (Remix) (prod by YoungKio)
Future & Rihanna – “Selfish” (prod by Mantra)
Future – “Fresh Air” (prod by Mantra)
6ix9ine – “Kooda” (prod by Koncept P)
Flipp Dinero – “Leave Me Alone” (prod by Young Forever Beats)
Queen Naija – “Medicine” (prod by 30Hertz)
Joyner Lucas – “I’m Not Racist” (prod by The Cratez)
Youngboy Never Broke Again – “Highway” (produced by The Martianz)
Please contact Michelle or Scott if interested in talking with Abe Batshon of BeatStars or YoungKio.
Links:
BeatStars: website | youtube | instagram | facebook | twitter
Download the BeatStars Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beatstars.mobile&hl=en_US
Download the BeatStars iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beatstars-instrumental-beats/id1436154382