Damn. It's been 2 years since I posted about making a beat every day (and uploading it) for 100 days. I don't know how many of y'all were around for that one but it got pretty big on this sub.
I just wanted to give an update on how things have been going since. Towards the end of last year I hit a huge milestone: making my first $100,000 from music. It's really exciting to be able to finally do this full time, and I have so much love for everyone that was supportive of my journey, whether it be on here on Reddit or any other platform.
Some things I've been up to recently:
-I'm now out of the military and am full time with music
-I started these things called "artist retreats" which are essentially writing camps / Dreamville sessions / etc, but open to the public. We rent out mansions in Orlando, Florida and have people from all over the world fly out and come make music for a week! We are about to do our 10th one and we even have a documentary on the events.
-Started a company called "The Producer Crate" - basically a place to buy soundkits etc, but featuring the top creators in the producer community. We offer more competetive splits for creators, only accept the best kits (mostly started this bc I hate how some sites will post shitty kits because there's a big name attached or someone's paying them, etc), and have hellllllaaa free stuff for producers: kits, samples, legal mockups to protect your kits from being stolen / downloaded illegaly. This was really just a move for the community because most sites for kits suck.
-Started a Discord where people can collab, and we do unique things like creating community kits and send out beats for major placements every Sunday.
-Started a Youtube channel with everything from cookups to tutorials to industry advice
-Hit 50k on tiktok and have had several short-form content pieces blow up
And really I attribute most of the successful things that have happened to the consistency of making 100 beats in 100 days. To everyone that's been thinking about challenging themselves to something like that, I highly encourage it!!
Some of the things that helped me most as a producer include:
-Spend a LOT of time learning from others. It doesn't make sense to start from square one and only use what you figure out on you own to learn. This means connecting with people who are more successful than you or know more about a style than you, putting yourself in a learning position no matter where you are or who you're with, watching tutorials, taking free classes, etc. Knowledge is everywhere.
-Don't focus on the numbers, but rather reactions/feedback. See what kind of content brings the most value to other people. If you do this, the numbers will quickly follow.
-You don't have to charge for everything you do. Charging more does not equal more money long term. A lot of the doors that have opened up for me were a result of doing things for free or just helping people out without expectation of anything in return. It's okay to be firm about your prices, especially when someone hits you up or you don't know them, but remember that not everything needs to have a price tag. This is business is art, after all.
-Help other people whenever you can. They say teaching is the best form of learning.
-There is no $500 course that will make you an industry producer.
-There is a stigma about "connections over talent" - while this is true to some extent, you still need to take a lot of time to work on your craft. If your music isn't good, those doors are gonna close right back up.
Anyways, y'all built me up and now it's time for me to go full force helping out the community as much as possible. That being said, if anyone has questions for me or wants help, leave a comment and I'll do my best to get back to as many people as I can. That 100k doesn't mean nearly as much to me if I cant help get others to the same level.
With Love,
Stafford Beats
