Monday, February 02, 2009
Radio and Blogs
Haven't been posting on our BeatCellar blog for a while because...we have a new blog! We just launched TheRapBuzz.com as a way to share our passion for hip hop, and at the same time filter and digest for you the most important news out there in the rap world. So that's us guys who produce your beats, as a new activity we have now turned into bloggers as well...ah, we just love the web too much...
And then...we recently appeared on Radio Siena in Italy. Oh yes, one of our lovely artists wanted to interview us and find out why we spend all our time locked up making beats and running a website (and a blog as well now).
Fun times...the snow keeps falling on London and those beats just keep coming...
Ai!
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Talk to us
We're going to test this for a while and see how it goes. If it gets killed by spam we'll pull the plug on it, if however it becomes a useful resource for constructive feedback and cool ideas it'll live forever.
So, let's hear it...head over to www.getsatisfaction.com/lacantinaproductions and get posting! Who knows, we may even reward the best ideas and suggestions with free beats...who knows...
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Everything a Rap Artist Needs
After a few weekends of non-stop coffee and cigarette filled work we have finally managed to re-design and update our world famous resources page...
- A fresh look & feel which is much easier on those tired eyes of yours
We have also hunted down and hired some amazing writers who have already contributed their thoughts to these pages...of course, there is more to come from them in the following months
AND, mailing list subscribers will receive all new articles before they are published online. This is on top of special offers, new beats and other lovely freebies...(yes, we like being nice)
Enjoy people
Saturday, August 02, 2008
New beats and beatmaker
And...another beatmaker joins our world famous production team, I-Cue. His beats are technically excellent and add yet another style to our melting pot of sounds (for real..)
Unlike Sockola, I-Cue wasn't hired while the founders of this site were intoxicated, but he applied himself online and simply knocked us out of our chairs. Way to go man!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
New beats and a fresh look
New beats have been uploaded and the catalogue has been re-designed...ai!
We did love the pictures on our old one (really) and liked to believe that you did as well. Stunning visuals and rap beats, a winning duo.
But then one day while cooking pasta we realised we had too many beats. And because we want your beat tasting experience to be as seamless as possible, we cut the pics and put all our bangers on one plate. Yes. (send us feedback if you hate it...!!)
And last, make sure you check out the first new beatmaker to join our world famous production team, Sockola. A fan of Reason's NN-XT, the man is known to love digging the crates for underground euro latin pop gems and being whack at Xbox first person shooters. He was hired one dark night when Jerry Spina and Stone Tone where too intoxicated to understand the implications of their actions.
Ai ai!
Labels: rap beats
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Selling Rap Beats Online - A few words on our birthday...
We've learnt loads in four years, but if there is one thing that has really stood out, it's the fact (read carefully, fact) that it ain't easy. Creating one of the web's top audio production sites has taken a tremendous amount of work, passion, enthusiasm, time and money. It didn't just happen...
That's why it annoys us we've gone from having 5-6 quality sites selling beats online to what now are probably close to a hundred beatsomething.com's. Sure, competition is a positive force, it fuels innovation...but the problem is that we're not seeing innovation, just hopeless imitation.
Why? Because it looks like the new online rap beat biz opportunity is not about selling beats anymore, but telling others how to do it, and charging for the privilege. The craziest thing is that these "secrets of selling beats online" ebooks make it look like child's play...to the point that anyone who reads them feels they are perfectly capable of selling beats online and making six figure profits. Ha ha
Of course these ebooks are BS. Yes, they point you in the right direction, but it's not only about knowing how to do it, it's knowing how to do it better than everyone else. And if that wasn't enough, they fail to mention that without QUALITY beats, no one goes anywhere.
So what's our advice? Don't be foolish and throw your hard earned cash down the internet money making dreams drain just because some ebook tells you so. There's no more space for beat sites, the market is bursting (a search for "rap beats" on Google brings up 507,000 results, yes).
Instead, join an existing audio production site. Have a look around, pick the best ones (not the open to all buy and sell beat sites, you'll never get noticed there) and send them your beats along with a well written email. Trust us, if you're talented you'll eventually have your beats online, without having wasted thousands of dollars on building and promoting yet another buyrapbeat.com
So while we blow out the four candles on our birthday cake, we hope we've helped you with this simple, yet vital piece of advice...happy birthday LaCantinaProductions.com
Labels: rap beats online, sell rap beats, selling beats online
Monday, June 25, 2007
10 Tips for Buying Rap Beats Online
Because we love you all (yes we do) we want you to know what you're doing when you're buying rap beats online. There's lots of stinking crap out there, so these tips are here to guide you through the blinding dirt and find the shining light...ok ok enough philosophical talk, enjoy the tips and good luck with thA beats!
1. Music Licenses – Understand them
Know the difference between exclusive and non-exclusive licenses. An exclusive license will grant you the exclusive (hence the name) right to use the beats for your projects.
A non-exclusive license will give you the right to use the beat for your musical projects, however the producer retains the right to sell the beat to other artists too.
2. Music Licenses – Know which one to buy
Exclusive licenses can be expensive, but essential if you’re looking to commercially release an album. If you’re however recording a demo or mixtape, a non-exclusive license is fine, however make sure you check with the producer what rights you get as these will vary from site to site.
3. Prices, don’t pay too much!
Owners of beat sites often get carried away by their big ego’s and will charge inflated prices for standard beats.
A rough guideline for prices follows:
Non-Exclusive Licenses - $15 - $50
Exclusive Licenses - $100 - $1000
Of course, the above prices depend on the producer’s popularity and talent. However, we would not recommend paying more than $1000 for an exclusive license bought online from someone you have never met in person.
4. Websites, only buy from trusted ones
Any proper online business will make sure they have a trustworthy image. Therefore make sure that the site you’re buying from has at least one or two of these:
- Full contact details, phone number, email, mailing address
- Privacy Policy
5. Look for trust symbols
On top of the above, the website should also have third party trust symbols. These are certifications from other companies that prove the website is trustworthy and not fraudulent.
- BBB Certification
- Paypal Verified
- Shopping reviews
- Hacker Safety Certifications
- Antivirus Safety Certifications
6. Email the site and check if they reply
Crazy, but certain beat sites will not bother doing this. Would you want to do business with someone who doesn’t care about talking to you?
Also, this will prove that the website is a serious online business with a team of human beings running it properly.
7. Look for testimonials
This is not essential, but it’s always good if you can see that others have dealt with the site before and have been satisifed with their beats.
8. Avoid producers who only use a Soundclick/MySpace page to sell beats
A domain name costs less than $15 a year, surely it’s not a good sign if someone doesn’t even have the money to buy that and set up their own independent website?
9. Search for the site on Google
10. Is the site alive?
