And it was a handshake deal - no digital signatures, no paperwork, no structure.” Sometimes the email would take like, 48 hours to come through.
You would just send $40 and the producer would email you an MP3. “The internet wasn’t mature yet, so it was hard to send high-quality files. A decade ago, when he started BeatStars, Batshon says the beat-sales marketplace was “like the Wild West.” “It was hilarious,” he remembers.
“You’re looking at the next evolution of A&R.”īeat sales have been common online for years - Batshon claims to be one of the first to engage in the practice, leasing beats online via AOL chat rooms in the 1990s when he was still a teenager. “I won’t be surprised if half of the hip-hop albums out there have production from our marketplace on them,” Batshon adds. BeatStars now boasts more than 500,000 users and expects to pay out more than $20 million to producers this year. “It’s a pivotal time we’re in right now,” says Abe Batshon, who founded the beat-sales site BeatStars in 2008. This will only become more common: Producers who sell their beats online dream of a not-too-distant future where all the biggest acts shop for beats like YBN Nahmir. 37, co-produced by Mantra) and 2 Chainz’s “Blue Cheese” (from Pretty Girls Like Trap Music, which sold over 500,000 album-equivalent units, co-produced by K Swisha). Those are all young acts, but other established artists besides Brown called on internet producers as well - see Future and Rihanna’s “Selfish” (No. 46, produced by Izak) and Lil Skies’s “Nowadays” (No. 3 on the Hot 100, co-produced by BigHead on the Beat), YBN Nahmir’s “Rubbin Off the Paint” (No. Similar recent hits include Lil Pump’s “Gucci Gang” (No. In September, Tay-K’s “The Race” peaked just outside of the Top 40 producer S. But now the Martianz and other producers relying on a similar business model are frequently creating some of the most popular songs in the country. Occasionally the two worlds merged together, as when Kanye West included a lengthy snippet of Desiigner’s “Panda” - made from a beat purchased online for $200 - on The Life of Pablo in 2016. Producers like the Martianz used to be internet curios, far removed from commercial juggernauts like Brown. But for “Pills & Automobiles,” Brown crafted the track using an instrumental from two relatively unheralded beat-makers - Jordan Hutchins and Felix Rodriguez, known as the Martianz - who came up by selling beats online to aspiring rappers all over the world. For decades, a star at Brown’s level would solicit ideas for a new single from a small group of established producers with a long history of hits and deep connections in the music industry. But the single’s success was noteworthy for a different reason. This in itself is not remarkable, since the R&B singer has amassed more than 40 platinum plaques over the course of his career. Ultimately the album sold over two million copies in the US alone and earned two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary R&B Album.On August 4, 2017, Chris Brown’s single “Pills & Automobiles” was certified platinum by the RIAA. "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" was a second top 10 hit single from the collection. It hit #2 on the album chart and sold over 150,000 copies in its first week. "Run It!" was the first single from Chris Brown's self-titled debut album. Actress Destiny Lightsy appears like Chris Brown's love interest in the music video. It features girls and boys participating in dance-offs in a school gym. The accompanying music video earned an MTV Video Music Awards nomination for Best New Artist. The song was also a #1 smash in Australia and New Zealand as well as climbing to #2 in the UK. It also reached #1 on the R&B chart in the US. "Run It!" became only the third debut single from a male solo artist to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was produced by Scott Storch and gave ample room for Chris Brown to introduce both his dancing and singing prowess.
At the age of 16, Chris Brown blasted on to the pop charts with this drama-filled dance floor banger.