Beatopia: A single-license subscription paradise for artists looking for curated beats

15 April 2022 - Press release

 

Artists on the hunt for beats online have to go through hell. Beat marketplaces are designed for producers, not artists. Their offerings are a mixed bag, forcing users to wade through inconsistent audio quality, ads, confusing licensing terms, and high prices ($30-$200 for just one track).

Launching this April, Beatopia does beats differently, turning that producer-centric experience on its head by building an ideal place for artists to find beats. With an affordable subscription model and a single standardized license that still incentivizes producers, Beatopia makes it easy to find the perfect instrumental for any project. "Musicians shouldn't have to be experts in audio engineering, keyword searching, or obscure legal language to get a beat for their project," says founder and CEO Tasos Frantzolas. "With Beatopia, beats are professionally mixed and there's one license that governs everything, so it's very simple to understand what you can and can't do."

With that license and Beatopia's reasonable price point, artists can take more risks and explore with full creative freedom."Normally, it would cost around $200 to get the full rights, wav and stems for a single beat. Most people can't afford that," Tasos continues. "We're offering a value of $1000 for $15 a month, and that's allowing people to experiment more. More experimentation means more creativity."

Once artists subscribe, they gain access to five new beats each month of vetted, high-quality wav files. These sounds come from hitmakers the world over, including Bighead, best known for producing Lil Pump's hit "Gucci Gang." Mixed and mastered by experienced audio engineers, everything sounds immaculate and includes the stems. To enable discovery, Beatopia's vast library of different moods and styles is organized to make it easy for artists to find the right vibe for any genre.

"A lot of the beat platforms today are very hip-hop and trap focused," says Tasos. "Obviously, these are the most important genres in today's culture, but there's a wider audience of people who want to sing and make music- and they are hungry for high quality beats" Adds Head of Growth Andrew Longsden, "We're always keeping an eye on current trends but also to styles that are more evergreen. As we scale up, we'll use data to determine what genres people need."

Ultimately, this curated library combined with a low-barrier subscription model sets Beatopia apart from similar marketplaces. "All the platforms out there now are focused on the producers," says Tasos. "We're focused on giving the power to the artists."

It's a philosophy that has guided his career. Raised with a studio under his house by a family involved in music, art, and film, Tasos grew up surrounded by musicians, instruments, and recording. He pursued his own creative path in music, co-writing songs with reggae superstars Horace Andy and Black Uhuru's Michael Rose. In 2007, his passion for audio led him to found stock sound effects library Soundsnap, an experience crucial to informing Beatopia.

"I think there's an analogy between making a record and founding a startup," says Tasos. "You have to use all the talents and skills that you have and work with gifted people who are often young and inexperienced. We had a business model that we knew worked with Soundsnap. We understand the digital distribution piece and how to create a user friendly platform. Now we can take all that experience from the sound effects space into the music world."

There's no question that the music world is where Tasos' passions lie, and that Beatopia springs from that passion. "I've done quite a bit of sound design, studied sonic arts and music production," he says. "I think it's a good time to disrupt the status quo of the beat marketplaces, to find that sweet spot for artists and producers." 

The process of finding usable beats has long been bogged down by red tape, subpar audio and high prices. Beatopia clears the path of impenetrable legalese and provides high-quality tracks for artists at any stage of their career.