Sell beats online — license tiers, escrow, and royalty splits built in
Sell beats online with three license tiers, escrow, royalty splits, and delivery from Vault. Built for producers who need more than a flat upload.
The standard advice for producers who want to sell beats online is to list on BeatStars, set your price, and wait. That is not wrong, but it misses most of what makes beat selling a real business rather than a side income.
A real beat selling operation has licensing that reflects how buyers actually use music. It has royalty agreements that mean you continue earning after the initial sale. It has payment infrastructure that protects both you and the buyer. And it has a way to deliver files instantly without email chains.
This page covers how beat licensing works, what the right platform infrastructure looks like, and how TYFRA Marketplace handles all of it.
How beat licensing actually works
When a producer sells a beat, they are not selling ownership of the beat — they are granting a licence to use it. The terms of that licence determine what the buyer can do with it and what you continue to earn from it. This distinction matters because it is the difference between selling your work once and building an ongoing income from your catalog.
The three-tier licensing model
Most professional beat stores use a three-tier model. The names vary (Basic, Premium, Exclusive; Silver, Gold, Platinum; Non-Exclusive, Commercial, Exclusive) but the logic is consistent.
Tier one — non-exclusive, limited use. The buyer can record and release music using your beat, but you retain ownership and can license the same beat to other buyers. The royalty percentage you keep is highest at this tier because the buyer's rights are most restricted. Typically used by independent artists releasing on streaming platforms without major label backing.
Tier two — non-exclusive, commercial use. The buyer gets broader commercial rights — they can use the beat in revenue-generating content, sync placements, or commercially released music without significant restrictions. You still retain the master and can sell to others. Your royalty share is lower than tier one to reflect the buyer's expanded rights.
Tier three — exclusive. The buyer acquires sole rights to use the beat. You can no longer license it to anyone else. This is a one-time payment — there is typically no ongoing royalty because the buyer has bought out your rights in the recording. This tier commands the highest upfront price.
Why configurable royalties per tier matter
A beat listed at the same royalty rate across all three tiers is leaving money on the table. An exclusive buyer who pays £500 for a beat and agrees to a 20% ongoing master royalty is a different deal from a basic buyer who pays £30 for a non-exclusive license and agrees to a 50% ongoing royalty. The royalty rate is a negotiating lever — set it to reflect the value being exchanged at each tier.
How to set up a beat listing on TYFRA Marketplace
TYFRA Marketplace's Beat Sales product covers the full workflow from listing to delivery.
What you configure per listing
Name and description — what the beat is called, genre, BPM, key, and any relevant production notes.
Artwork — upload or link from your Vault portfolio.
The track itself — link from your Vault. The preview file (what buyers hear before purchasing) can be the same track or a watermarked version. The delivery file is the full-quality WAV or FLAC, served via BunnyCDN on purchase. Confirm with product whether preview watermarking is available on Marketplace listings or only on Promo campaigns.
License tiers — set three tiers (Basic, Premium, Exclusive) with your own pricing, master royalty percentage, and publishing split per tier. You are not locked into any platform-defined terms — you set what each tier grants.
Download limits — the default is three downloads per purchase. Confirm with product whether download limits are configurable per tier or fixed.
The escrow process
When a buyer purchases, their credits (1 credit = £10) are held in escrow. For Beat Sales, payment is instant — meaning credit is reserved immediately rather than held pending acceptance. Files are delivered automatically via BunnyCDN. The sale is recorded, your balance updates, and the funds become available after the standard holding period. Confirm with product whether Beat Sales use instant or acceptance-gated escrow versus Custom Services.
Platform fees
The platform fee runs from 15% on the free tier down to 0% on VIP. This matters significantly at volume. On £1,000 of beat sales in a month: 15% fee = £150 to the platform, 0% fee = £0 to the platform. Upgrading your membership tier pays for itself quickly if you are selling consistently. Confirm with product the full tier breakdown.
Minimum payout
£50 minimum with a 14-day holding period. Standard and reasonable — funds are not locked indefinitely. Bank details are securely stored with encrypted access.
Your portfolio — the trust signal that drives sales
Buyers on any beat marketplace make decisions quickly. They play a few seconds, check the price, check your catalog, and either buy or move on. A portfolio of strong work is the single most important factor in converting a listener to a buyer.
TYFRA Marketplace listings link directly to your Vault portfolio. Tracks stored in Vault carry their full metadata — BPM, key, genre, moods, instruments — which displays on your listing and makes your beats easier to find for buyers searching by BPM or genre. Seller verification badges and buyer reviews (1–5 stars with written comments) build the trust that converts first-time buyers into repeat clients.
Vocal Sales and Custom Services — the same model, broader catalog
The same licensing infrastructure applies beyond beats.
Vocal Sales. A vocalist who records toplines, hooks, or full vocal performances and sells them with license tiers is running the same business model as a beat producer. Deliver the stems on purchase, define what rights transfer at each tier, keep the publishing interest unless the exclusive tier sells it.
Custom Services. Mixing, mastering, arrangement, session recording — any service-based work can be listed with a price, a delivery time, and a revision count. Payment goes into escrow on order confirmation (not instant, unlike beat sales — the client pays, you accept, you deliver, escrow releases). This removes the payment-chasing element from client work entirely.
All three service types share the same marketplace infrastructure, the same portfolio system, the same review mechanism, and the same payout system.
TYFRA vs dedicated beat stores
The argument for dedicated beat stores is network size — BeatStars and similar platforms have large existing buyer networks. If a producer's only goal is maximum exposure to beat buyers, a large established marketplace has a head start.
The argument for TYFRA is integration. A beat sold on TYFRA earns income that goes straight into Finance alongside your live income, your session work payments, and your royalty statements. The track that sold lives in Vault alongside your catalog, your stems, and your collaboration agreements. If the buyer of the beat asks about a remix, that conversation can start in Social. If the beat gets placed in sync, the Vault metadata is already correct. There is no re-uploading, no separate account, no separate bank account.
Dedicated beat stores are single-purpose tools. TYFRA is the system those tools should connect to, but can't.
Building a beat business, not just a listing
The producers who build sustainable income from beat sales treat it as a catalog business, not a single-item shop. That means:
Releasing consistently. A catalog of twenty beats with a new beat added each week is more searchable than a catalog of five beats with nothing new for three months.
Pricing to match the buyer's use case. A bedroom rapper making non-commercial music and a label artist recording for a major distribution deal have different budgets and different needs. Your tier structure should reflect both.
Using your analytics. TYFRA Finance shows which beats are selling, at which tier, over time. This is data you can use — if a particular BPM range or genre is consistently selling better, produce more of it.
Building the relationship. A buyer who follows you on Social, watches your process, and sees your new releases is a repeat buyer. Treat the Marketplace sale as the start of a relationship, not the end of a transaction.
For the broader editorial angle on pricing, tiers, direct sales, and where beat selling fits inside a full artist income system, see sell music directly to fans.
TYFRA Marketplace — at a glance
- →Marketplace: Beat Sales, Vocal Sales, Custom Services
- →3 license tiers: Basic, Premium, Exclusive — set your own prices and royalty splits per tier
- →Escrow protection: 1 credit = £10, instant for Beat/Vocal Sales, acceptance-gated for Custom Services
- →Platform fee: 15% free → 0% VIP
- →Minimum payout: £50 · 14-day hold · encrypted bank details
- →BunnyCDN delivery — instant file transfer on purchase
- →Download limit: default 3 per purchase
- →Portfolio linked from Vault — metadata and audio analysis included
- →Seller verification badges + 1–5 star reviews
- →All sales tracked in Finance — one income view across all revenue streams
- →£9.99/mo all-in · free tier available
Related on TYFRA
Common questions
Create a TYFRA account, upload your beats to Vault (this sets up your portfolio and stores all metadata), then list them in Marketplace as Beat Sales listings. Set your three license tiers, prices, and royalty splits. Your listing goes live immediately.
Yes. Each tier has its own configurable master royalty percentage and publishing split. You are not locked into platform-defined rates — the terms of each tier are yours to set.
Yes, the platform fee runs from 15% on the free tier. Upgrading your membership tier reduces the fee, down to 0% on VIP. See pricing for the current tier breakdown.
Payment is processed in TYFRA credits (1 credit = £10). For Beat Sales, delivery is instant — the buyer receives the file via BunnyCDN immediately. The sale is recorded in your Finance dashboard and your balance updates after the holding period.
Yes, unless a buyer purchases the Exclusive tier, which transfers sole rights to them. Basic and Premium license tiers are non-exclusive — you can continue selling the same beat to other buyers at those tiers. Once an Exclusive sale is completed, you should remove the non-exclusive listings for that beat.
Confirm with product whether buyers receive WAV, MP3, or both — and whether this is configurable per tier or per listing.
Request a payout when your available balance reaches £50. Funds are released after the 14-day holding period. Bank details are stored securely with encrypted access.
Confirm with product whether watermarked preview files are supported on Marketplace listings, and whether this is separate from the Promo campaign preview clip feature.
Your data flows with you across TYFRA
These aren't separate apps. Your tracks, metadata, splits, contacts, and conversations stay connected—so every tool in the TYFRA suite can work from the same source of truth.