Very few people can say they\u2019ve made six figures while only working about 20 hours a week. Even fewer people can say they accidentally had a No. 1 song in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Robin Wesley can now say both thanks to one red-hot industry: the business of beat selling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A beat is the rhythmic and melodic backbone to a song that much of modern music is built from. It\u2019s what rappers rap over and songwriters compose over. In an age where becoming a recording artist requires little more than a decent laptop and a quiet closet, the demand for crowd-pleasing beats is high, giving music producers a brand-new opportunity to turn their passion for music into profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wesley<\/a> is one of these producers. His career as a beat maker started organically in 2012, experimenting with recording equipment out of fascination and posting his work on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was making music and I started getting more traction online and from local artists and I was just looking into ways to monetize that,\u201d Wesley said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how I came across the concept of beat licensing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wesley found a home for this passion for music in online beat-selling marketplaces Airbit<\/a> and SoundClick<\/a>. <\/strong>In 2013, his first year on the job, he made a mere $500. Two years and a lot of learning later, his annual revenue passed $30,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s not alone. Airbit CEO Wasim Khamlichi said producers have earned over $32 million on his platform alone with a few producers making six-figures every year selling beats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI believe the desire of musicians to have independence in the music industry has been the most influential in the rise of online beat-selling,\u201d Khamlichi said. \u201cAn artist can become an overnight success by topping the charts or getting on the right playlists, completely independently and without the need for a record label.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In September 2017 a little-known Vietnam songwriter named Chau Dang Khoa purchased a non-exclusive license to one of Wesley\u2019s beats for around $100. Little did he know the finished song would be catapulted into the public ear only a few months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was getting messages from other customers that I have in Vietnam,\u201d Wesley said. \u201cThey were saying like, \u2018Hey, I recognize this beat of yours. Isn\u2019t this one of your beats? This song is blowing up here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The song skyrocketed to No. 1 on the charts and now has more than 180,000,000 views<\/a> on YouTube. Wesley was able to negotiate publishing royalties for the song after its success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The musical phenomenon \u201cOld Town Road\u201d came about through similar means, with Lil Nas X buying the beat<\/a> online for only $30. The producer, a Dutch 19-year-old who goes by YoungKio, signed to Universal Music Group soon after the song\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>The learning curve<\/h2>\n\n\n\n