How to sell beats online with a download link

How to sell beats online usually splits into two jobs: being found, and finishing the sale. Marketplaces and stores help with the first. A paid download link finishes the second: preview, pay, WAV, stems, license, on one URL.

If someone already commented "send the lease," you do not need another listing form. You need a folder they can open.

Preview, checkout, stems

One link

Lease or exclusive, you set it

Your price

Spike plan fee on Free, Pro, Business

5% / 1% / 0%

What to put in the beat folder

• Tagged MP3 for the unpaid preview, or rely on a short audio clip.
• WAV or AIFF for the paid download.
• Stems if that is the tier they bought.
• A license PDF that matches the price (lease vs exclusive).

Name files so a rapper at 1am can find the 808. The folder is the product. See how to sell digital files online for the generic version of this setup.

Leases vs exclusives

Two prices means two folders, or two products on a storefront pointing at two folders. Do not hide the exclusive in a paragraph at checkout. Exclusive should be an obvious second link. When an exclusive sells, turn selling off on the lease folder if that was the deal.

Preview without giving the WAV away

A full untagged WAV on a public page is the beat. Use a tag, a voice tag, or the short preview clip Spike applies when selling is on (default 15 seconds for audio, configurable). The paid view is the clean file.

When to use a marketplace

Use a beat marketplace when you want search traffic you do not already have. Use Spike when the buyer is already in the thread. You can list a pack in both places. The extra Spike gives you is delivery you still own after the sale.

If the money is supposed to clear before stems go out, read how to get paid before sending files.

Exclusive sales are the case where you want the library most. When the exclusive closes, you still have the session files. You can turn the lease link off without hunting an old transfer. The buyer of the exclusive still has their download on the page they paid on.

For tagged previews, be consistent. If the unpaid MP3 always says your name in the first bar, buyers learn the unpaid view is not the master. That is clearer than a quiet full-length stream that happens to be the WAV.

If you sell beat tapes as a bundle, one folder can hold ten tagged MP3s and ten WAVs. Price the tape once. If you sell singles, one folder per beat keeps licenses honest. Either way the unit of sale is the folder, not a row in someone else's catalogue.

License text belongs in the ZIP, not only in a caption. A buyer who returns six months later should still find the lease terms next to the WAV. If you offer a cheap MP3 lease and a dearer WAV lease, two folders with two prices keep the rights honest. Do not put both licenses in one checkout and hope they pick the right file.