Beat Meritocracy: Airbit Tackles Beat Discovery Via AI-Powered Search by Sound

New Search by Sound feature live on Airbit, built to surface beats that sound right, not tags

Airbit, the beat marketplace committed to supporting sustainable careers for producers, is launching Search by Sound, a simple, ingenious way artists can find their next awesome beat. Search by Sound lets beat seekers pop a file or link into the search bar. The first of its kind in the space, the Search by Sound technology removes vocals, which can skew results, and finds just the right sounding beat, often by emerging producers making hidden gems.

These gems have too often laid buried, overlooked by algorithms and tag-based search. Airbit’s Search by Sound uses machine learning-based audio analysis to find sonic similarity between tracks, regardless of producer hype, tags, or other factors. This changes the game for beat discovery. The curious can try it for themselves here. 

In the world of buying and selling beats, producers have traditionally angled to be discovered by beat seekers via type beats, tags or file names that bake the name of a star artist into the beat’s name, making it easier (in theory) for recording artists to find something in a style they already know and love. 

“Type beats aren’t bad in and of themselves; in fact, type beats have been one of the only tools producers and artists have had to find each other,” explains Wasim Khamlichi, Airbit founder and CEO. “Type beats are the symptom, not the disease. They get in the way of truly talented people getting their work out there, and of music fans finding truly good and creative music. It's a dilemma for both new talent and curious fans.”

When type beats first emerged on YouTube thanks to producers like Cashmoneyap, they connected producers and beat seekers. Talented young producers were struggling to be heard, and type beats were one weapon in that struggle. When artists or MCs were searching for beats to use, with YouTube as the search engine of choice, they would have to describe the sound of the beat they wanted, and the easiest way to do this was naming an artist. Then things got messy: The self-reported nature of type beats meant they were often inaccurate. “There is a perverse incentive to mislead, because people want to be discovered,” Khamlichi notes. “That makes this approach a frustrating experience for the end user.”

Airbit wanted to improve the experience for both parties, by removing human bias and ensuring producers get in front of prospective beats buyers on the merit of their beats, not their tagging hustle. It’s part of a bigger mission to support producers, veteran and new, as they create more sustainable careers and businesses. “We want good producers with great beats to get discovered, so that artists can make the amazing tracks they hear in their heads,” says Khamlichi. “AI and better search were the way to make that happen and build a more meritocratic marketplace.”


About Airbit Airbit’s mission is to make music more fair with an online marketplace where producers can sell their beats and artists can buy those beats at a fair price. We provide a wide array of selling tools, as well as user friendly music monetization services. Airbit is one of the most trusted and well-known names in beat-sales. Airbit was founded to champion producers, and offer them a creative career path through licensing, selling their music when they want, how they want.

Many African creators have been the driving force behind global and regional hits--yet have never reaped the reward. Amplifihub, a Nigerian-based music production and licensing e-commerce platform, is partnering with Airbit, the producer hub and beats marketplace, to change this. The partnership will empower emerging and established producers across Africa by collecting unpaid publishing royalties from a wide range of sources.

As part of this partnership, Airbit will offer its unique music monetization tools and pioneering technologies to Amplifihub’s users. These tools will unlock vital revenue streams from platforms like YouTube for composers, artists, and producers across the region. Amplifihub, co-founded by award-winning Afrobeat beatmaker and producer Sarz, and Airbit share a vision to support talented producers at all stages and give them everything they need to create the career they want.

Speaking on this opportunity, Ezekiel Olayinka, COO of Amplifihub, expressed that Amplifihub is excited at the opportunity of working with Airbit, and looking forward to a long-lasting partnership between Amplifihub and Airbit. He also said that the partnership is in line with Amplifihub’s goal of ensuring that music producers earn while they create.

Excited to experience the value Airbit will bring to African creators and music producers, Judah Wiedre said, “Our mission is to create pathways to sustainable careers for some of the most talented audio creators on the planet, the world’s producers. This collaboration with Amplifihub lets us extend our mission to a new region and new creator communities.” 

“The future of music is being created in markets that have been overlooked for too long. We’re excited to help connect more producers with the global royalty system and help them get the remuneration they deserve,” Airbit Founder and CEO Wasim Khamlichi explained.

Expressing her zeal to continue to provide opportunities for Music Creator across the Africa, Oyinkansola “Foza” Fawehinmi commented: “DMCE’s investment in Amplifihub is towards giving african creators the opportunity to live on their creation and this partnership is step towards making that happen and we are looking forward to the disruption” 

“I have always stood at the forefront of emancipating African sound composers towards self dependence by making a living out of their creation. This partnership is part of getting that done,”  Sarz stated. 

About Airbit

Airbit’s mission is to make music more fair with an online marketplace where producers can sell their beats and artists can buy those beats at a fair price. We provide a wide array of selling tools, as well as user friendly music monetization services. Airbit is one of the most trusted and well-known names in beat-sales. Airbit was founded to champion producers, and offer them a creative career path through licensing, selling their music when they want, how they want.

About Amplifihub

Amplifihub is an online platform where music producers, artistes and media houses in Africa can sign up to offer African music making services online. Our platform aims to make accessible, the African sound and music making experience to the world. It was founded in 2019 with investment from  Digital Music Commerce and Exchange Limited (DMCE), the pan-African music investment company, and foremost African Music producer “Sarz” . Amplifihub offers users with the following services:

• Personal Online Beat Store For African Music Producers
• Html5 Beat Stores For Music Producers To Use On Personal Websites
• African Instrumentals & Beat Store Database
• African Mixing & Mastering Service Hub
• Classic Catalogue Sample licensing 

Osabuhoien Osaretin popularly known as “Sarz” is an award winning afrobeats producer and starmaker  has more than 100 Afrobeats hits to his production credit. He is also the Founder of The Sarz Academy ; a non-profit organization that develops emerging producers into household names and to name a few such producers include ; Dunnie , Ppriime, Tempo , STGprodigy. 

Airbit Collects $2.5 Million in YouTube Monetization for Producers in First Half of 2021

Airbit, the online hub and marketplace for beatmakers, has collected and distributed more than $2.5 million in YouTube-generated revenue to producers for the first half of 2021, an amount that is projected to grow 230% year over year from the $1.8 million collected in 2020. In the first six months of 2021 alone, Airbit helped producers monetize more than 4 billion views. 

Airbit is the only beats marketplace to have a direct relationship with YouTube, which means more money going straight to producers. By adding producers’ work to YouTube’s ContentID system, Airbit allows producers to unlock yet another key revenue stream. “YouTube is a beats search engine, and producers need to make sure their work is monetized there, where billions of views are happening,” explains Judah Wiedre, COO of Airbit. “Without this, they are leaving significant money on the table.”

“Airbit has helped me have fewer copyright claims on my YouTube channel and ensures I get credited. Before, artists would often forget to credit me, or sometimes they downloaded the beat and would forget entirely that I produced it.  Now with Airbit’s YouTube Monetization, they get an official reminder who the producer is and they can decide to purchase the beat if they want to monetize their YouTube video,” explains producer Ryini Beats. ”It also helps the artists we work with. Now that we are in control of the Content ID, we can easily remove a claim for any artist who leases a beat from us.”

Airbit strives to find every potential source of revenue for producers. The goal is to help them build a viable and satisfying independent career and to foster a sustainable ecosystem for producers, the too often unsung creative heroes of hip hop, pop, and RnB. “We’re on target to earn around $10 million dollars this year for producers from publishing and ContentID alone,” says Wiedre. “Money from sources like YouTube is growing fast, and it’s making a difference in producers’ lives.”

Producers point to Airbit’s speedy payouts and consolidated collections from one source as reasons they signed up for Airbit’s YouTube monetization. “According to my experience of 6 months, Airbit provides the fastest service,” Sachin, another Airbit producer, notes.:”Before, I had to collect Content ID from 3 companies, and payment was received after 2 months.” 

“I signed up to Airbit's YouTube Monetization program purely as an experiment. Airbit have been collecting royalties on my behalf ever since, and their system is incredibly easy to use,” says producer Oskrr. “It has made a massive difference to me financially and has allowed me the freedom to focus on making music that I love, full-time.”

About Airbit

Airbit’s mission is to make music more fair with an online marketplace where producers can sell their beats and artists can buy those beats at a fair price. We provide a wide array of selling tools, as well as user friendly music monetization services. Airbit is one of the most trusted and well-known names in beat-sales. Airbit was founded to champion producers, and offer them a creative career path through licensing, selling their music when they want, how they want.

Airbit Launches Playlists, Curated and Collaborative Beat Collections to Showcase Producers’ Best

First celebrity-curated playlist by GRAMMY-Winning Producer S1 (Kanye, Drake)

Airbit has launched a new feature to support producers and showcase their beats and sounds. Airbit Playlists will help beatmakers and soundcrafters highlight their best work and reach more potential artists on and off the beats marketplace. 

Playlists on Airbit come in three flavors: 

• Curated: Airbit and its producer ambassadors will curate playlists of beats

• Collaborative: Airbit will allow users to create their own collaborative playlists 

• Unlisted: Private playlists producers can share, even with people who don’t have an Airbit account

“We're passionate about making sure the right beats reach the right people for the right projects. Playlists will help our team and our users spread the word about the beats that are out there, as well as continue to build and support our community of creators,” explains Wasim Khamlichi, Airbit CEO. “We'll be adding new playlists regularly, updating them, and recruiting high-profile contributors to make sure artists and content creators get access to the perfect beats for their project.”

The new feature is rolling out with help from Symbolyc One, a prolific producer and Airbit advisor who’s worked with Drake, Kanye West (S1’s first GRAMMY win came for “Power”), Meek Mill, J. Cole, and many, many others. S1 will present Airbit’s first celebrity-curated playlist, out May 6, 2021. After dedicating years to building his career, S1 has chosen to sell beats online exclusively via Airbit, something new for the seasoned music professional. 

“Just because you can’t see things happening, doesn’t mean they’re not happening. In the 13 years before working with Kanye, I had a lot of failures and a lot of mishaps, but all of those things were preparing me for that particular moment,” he says. Through it all, he emphasizes, community matters: “It’s so much easier to accomplish a goal when you can collaborate with others and build a community of creatives all supporting each other and moving together toward a mutual goal. And that’s exactly what I see with Airbit.”

About Airbit

Airbit’s mission is to make music more fair with an online marketplace where producers can sell their beats and artists can buy those beats at a fair price. We provide a wide array of selling tools, as well as user friendly music monetization services. Airbit is one of the most trusted and well-known names in beat-sales. Airbit was founded to champion producers, and offer them a creative career path through licensing, selling their music when they want, how they want.

Beats Mean Business: Independent, Tech-First Beats Marketplace Airbit Wants Creators to Build Careers, Not Just Sell Tracks

Everything has changed for music producers. Once the hidden wizards of the studio, producers have jumped out in front and found their own independent business paths online, thanks in part to Airbit. 

“The mentality among producers is shifting compared to 10 years ago,” explains Wasim Khamlichi, founder and CEO of Airbit. “People used to look down on producers who sold their beats online. There’s no stigma now.”

More than a beats or sound pack store, Airbit evolved to make it easy for producers to expand their professional options and revenue streams. Airbit’s Infinity Store features and YouTube monetization, unique among beat marketplaces, allow producers everywhere to create a branded, customizable site to present and sell beats and sounds, much like a Shopify for producers, and to maximize the money they earn from their work, no matter where it pops up.

With 800,000 creators on the platform and growing fast, Airbit has attracted established producers like multiple GRAMMY-winner S1 (Kanye West) and serious contenders, including Cyanide (Smokepurpp), KingDrumDummie (NBA YoungBoy), TnTXD, Ric & Thad (Tierra Whack, Bad Bunny), and The Beat Menace (Meek Mill, Pop Smoke).

For Khamlichi, computers had been an obsession since childhood, and by the time he was 16, he was building software for the UK government. “I started realizing everyone around me there was miserable,” he recounts, “and I saw it wasn’t where I wanted to be.” Khamlichi knew where he wanted to be, however, after an epiphany when he landed at an Eminem concert thanks to a friend’s extra ticket. “I knew then that I had to be involved with music,” he recalls.

His love of music and computers collided. Khamlichi got into music production and made his own beats as a hobby. As he got deeper into music, he decided to build his own online store to sell his beats. “Producers were the last to get credit, the last to get paid. There were no marketplaces back in the day,” he says. “You had to find your own customers and figure out your own online store.” Khamlichi’s solution, crafted in Flash, caught the eyes of friends and acquaintances, and soon he was building stores for other producers and beatmakers. 

His customer base grew and grew, until it made sense to set up a marketplace to connect the producers and artists swirling around hundreds of individual sites. Khamlichi and team made some serious tech overhauls (including ditching Flash). The result was Airbit.

Airbit allows producers to join the site on a freemium basis, with higher paid tiers unlocking more customizable tools and more extensive monetization. Licenses let artists lease a beat--use it in specific ways for a specific period of time--or buy it, giving full exclusive rights to the artist. Producers can set their price points and terms and can use their storefront as a standalone site or embed it in an existing website. 

Airbit strives to do more than broker beats, however. It wants to nurture a community and create a truly sustainable way for producers to build a career online and off, by bringing more relevant tools together in a single place. That includes the unglamourous but vital realms of monetization and publishing, elements treated as frills or afterthoughts by other marketplaces. Airbit is the only beats marketplace that allows its producer members to join YouTube’s ContentID, no easy feat for independent creators. The ContentID system flags beats that appear in uploaded content and notifies producers, so they can better monetize their work and monitor license terms. The platform’s strong producer focus has led to several global hits, uncounted new opportunities, and even a few producers who asked to invest in Airbit.

Producers’ expanded options are influencing how artists create, too. Part of this change connects to broader music listening trends that are blurring genre lines and upending music categorization. Airbit wants to set the stage for the coming genreless future. “Let’s stop the labelling. Let the music be free; don’t force it to conform to specific rules,” reflects Khamlichi. “Hip hop isn’t a genre, for example; it’s a culture. It’s infiltrated every other music scene and style.”

For many creators, the goal isn’t to find something that’s their genre, but to find beats that echo the aesthetic of a specific popular artist or producer, so-called “type beats.” There’s an aspirational and inspirational quality to how artists search, a quality that categories like genre may not capture. “Our dream is to do away with having to translate the sound you’re shooting for into search terms. Right now, we’re rolling out new features that allow creators to search by sound, but it could be even more advanced in the future. Artists always have ideas for melodies. Imagine you could hum into your phone or tap out a rhythm and then find the perfect beat to match. You could give us your idea and see if someone already created a track for that melody.”

Airbit’s creator-focused, tech-first spirit harkens back to Khamlichi’s first online store and still drives the company today, as it expands into everything from blockchain-based digital collectibles to AI-driven search. “We’re independent and plan to stay that way, like many of the producers and artists who use Airbit,” Khamlichi states. “We see that supporting and developing independent creators instead of buying them out, is the future of a sustainable and equitable music industry.”