How to Sell Beats Online in Kenya: A Producer's Guide

Short answer: to sell beats online in Kenya, upload each beat as a good-quality MP3 with clear artwork, sell it under a clear non-exclusive licence, price it in KES, and use a platform where artists can pay with M-Pesa and you can withdraw to M-Pesa. On Ziki that's one upload: choose "Sell", set a price, and the beat is listed under Beats in the Ziki Marketplace.

The rest of this guide covers what to prepare, how licensing and pricing work, what you actually take home, and how to get artists to find your beats in the first place.

1. Prepare your catalogue

Artists judge a beat in the first fifteen seconds, so the basics matter:

• A clean, finished mix. Export a good-quality MP3. On Ziki a track for sale can be up to 15 MB and must be at least 60 seconds long.
• Previews protect you. Paid tracks on Ziki play a 30-second preview to people who haven't bought them, so you don't need loud voice tags all over the beat. Buyers get the MP3 as you uploaded it.
• Consistent artwork. Square cover art, at least 360×360 pixels. A recognisable style across your beats makes your page look like a brand, not a folder.
• Searchable titles. Name beats the way artists search: the style or reference ("Afrobeats", "drill", "Gengetone", "amapiano", "type beat") plus a short, memorable name.

2. Decide how you'll license

Most online beat sales are non-exclusive leases: the artist pays to record and release one song on your beat, and you keep the right to lease it to others. Exclusive rights (one artist only, sold once) cost much more and are usually negotiated directly.

Every beat sold on Ziki comes with the Standard Non-Exclusive Licence. In plain terms the buyer can release one new song on the beat, for profit, on streaming, downloads, radio and live shows up to 100,000 combined streams and sales, plus one music video, worldwide and with no expiry. They must credit you as "prod. by" plus your name. You keep ownership. Our explainer What Is a Beat Lease? goes into the details artists ask about.

If an artist wants an exclusive, talk to them directly, agree the terms in writing, and take the beat down from sale once it's sold exclusively.

3. Price for your market

Price in shillings for the artists who will actually buy. The minimum price on Ziki is Ksh 50, and the price you set is a floor: buyers can choose to pay more. Some producers on Ziki price leases in the thousands, like Keithwamz's type beats at Ksh 3,000. Others start low to build a buyer list and raise prices as their name grows.

A few rules of thumb:

• Price your strongest beats higher than your experiments.
• Keep a couple of free beats to bring artists to your page, and say clearly in the description whether they may release songs on them.
• Don't race to the bottom. Artists who care about a beat will pay a fair price for it.

4. List your beat on Ziki

1. Create a free account and complete your profile (photo, bio and your social links).
2. Go to Upload and choose Sell a song or beat.
3. Add the MP3. If the file already has a title, genre and artwork in its tags, Ziki fills them in.
4. Set the genre (Instrumental works for most beats), the price and a description that names the style, tempo and mood.
5. Release it now or schedule it. Scheduled beats get a countdown page until they go live.

Your beat gets its own page and appears in the marketplace and on its genre page.

5. Get paid without friction

Card-only stores lose most Kenyan buyers. On Ziki, buyers pay with M-Pesa or a card, and the download is ready as soon as the payment goes through. What you keep:

On a Ksh 1,000 sale	You keep
Basic account (free): 10% commission, payment fee included	Ksh 900
Ziki PRO: 0% commission, only the payment processor's fee	About Ksh 960–985

Your earnings build up as a balance. When you want them, request a withdrawal from Settings → Payments. Once it's approved the money is sent to your M-Pesa number, and a small M-Pesa transfer fee comes off the amount sent. See how earnings work on our page for artists.

6. Get artists to find your beats

• Share every upload. Post the beat's link with a short clip on Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp status. Artists buy from producers they keep seeing.
• Use your link-in-bio page. Every Ziki profile has a free page at ziki.co.ke/bio/your-name with your music and links, made for your social bios.
• Upload consistently. A catalogue of twenty good beats gives buyers twenty ways in.
• Make a video. Add a YouTube link to the track and it shows on the beat's page.
• Watch what works. Your dashboard shows plays over time, so you can see which styles people come back to and make more of them.

Mistakes that cost producers sales

• Uncleared samples. If your beat samples someone else's recording, you can't license it to anyone. Only sell what you have the rights to.
• Selling a beat exclusively while it's still leased. Take it down from sale first, and remember that earlier lease buyers keep their rights.
• Vague descriptions. Say the tempo, key and mood. You can find both for free with the BPM and key finder.
• Disappearing. Answer artists who message you. Repeat buyers are where producers make their money.