Genre guides Hip-hop
Hip-hop · how it gets madeA rap record is a team by default: someone made the beat, someone wrote to it, someone mixed it, someone shot the video. Most of the friction is not talent. It is the handoffs. This page is about the handoffs.
Makes the beat and owns the master of it until a deal says otherwise. Sends a tagged MP3 first, the untagged and the trackout after the money lands.
Writes and records to the beat. Owns their vocal performance. Needs the beat cleared before the record can come out.
Records, mixes and masters. Usually a Producer profile with Mixing Engineer as the specialty. Prices per song or per hour, with a revision count.
A second artist on a verse or a hook. Fee or split, one round of revisions, credit line agreed up front.
Cover, press, the visual. Rate per shoot, deliverables named before the date.
Most of the friction is in the handoffs, so this is the order the handoffs happen.
The beat comes first. An artist hears it, checks the tags and the disclosures, and asks what a licence includes.
The terms get written down before any file moves: which files, whether credit is required, what exclusivity means, the number.
The artist records to the tagged MP3, then swaps in the untagged or the trackout once the licence is settled.
The mix engineer gets the trackout, the vocal stems consolidated from bar 1, a reference, and the revision count.
Features get the same treatment: a fee or a split, a delivery date, a credit line, one approval of the final mix.
The splits get written down on a split sheet while everyone is still talking. That is the day it is easy.
Tagged MP3 for writing. Untagged MP3 for a rough. WAV for the final two-track. Trackout for every element as its own full-length WAV, which is what a mixer needs. Ask for the trackout by name, not "stems"; stems can mean grouped submixes and the ambiguity gets expensive at mix time.
Beats price as a non-exclusive licence, an exclusive, or a custom production fee, each with its own caps and deliverables. Features price as a fee, a split, or both. Engineers price per song with a revision count. Ranges for 2026 are in the pricing guide and the rates post below; treat them as ranges, not quotes.
"Prod. by" is a term of the licence, not a courtesy. It goes in the metadata, the caption and the credits, or it does not count. Writers on the composition and producers on the master are two different splits, and every song has both.
Genre is one of the six signals that rank the deck, alongside role fit, activity, profile depth, distance and KollabScore. The rate and the terms get agreed in the app and settle between the two of you. KollabMe never holds the money.
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