For a while I’ve been thinking about something that’s a bit uncomfortable to discuss, specially here, but I wanted to know your opinions and perspectives, if you are interested.
Some authors (including myself) feel that AJ is very rapidly approaching it’s closing time. Matter of couple of years, probably less. I do think that for some time, it will remain open to harvest a handful of new authors to feed Elements, but once that phase is completed, I hardly doubt it will be worth the cost it takes to even function. Gates are closed, even to the marketplace, and the only exciting news we hear every 4 months is the free file of the month and that the fees are going up for some reason that’s way awesome for us, unless we get paid less.
So, I was wandering, if the day comes when we receive the message that the marketplaces will be closing (and I’m fully aware this won’t happen right away), what would you guys do with your portfolios, now that most libraries are not taking in new authors and the ones that do pay pennies? I’m not talking about really hi-end libraries.
I have some very vague ideas, but it would be good to know other colleague’s thoughts.
I think this will happen to all marketplaces even though code without support is nothing, but considering the greed and stupidity of most users they will buy it even if it will not work.
For example one of my plugins has to be maintained every 2-3 months as browsers change and new stuff appears, who in the right mind will develop a product and get 10$ to 100$ per month, I am working on this plugin since 2014.
This greed and lack of knowledge will destroy everything in the end Envato 100% because Evanto will move with the money they will feed the beast until nobody that participates in it gets nothing.
I really hope I am wrong but a few years back when I said the all-stock marketplace would die because of Elements most of you were happy with the 300$ bonus or whatever it was…
Envato is what it is today because of the effort that authors put in their work and passion in partnership with them, but they seam to forget that…
I will be here until the end but even now it could be saved if good decision are takes, one of them is to remove the banner this will be a move in the right direction and Elements will still do well.
I somewhat agree, and yes, code and themes are definitely a whole different story where support is key.
But just trying to keep this thread in topic: I really wonder what other (non Elements, of course) music authors have in mind as future outlets for their portfolios when single sync licensing finally follows the Blockbuster fate.
I have already moved on to other marketplaces. I’m keeping my portfolio here, but focusing my efforts on building new portfolios on other sites. And so far it’s working well enough, even with only a dozen or so tracks. Sure, it’s a fraction of the earnings I used to get on AJ, but still more than I get from AJ today, which is close to nothing. It’s unfortunate what’s happening on the market right now, but it looks like Envato has things already figured out, while we authors need to scramble to adapt to this new reality. I agree that AJ will eventually close. The silence from Envato is deafening on this matter.
Even with a tiny portfolio, after a couple years i decided to become non exclusive.
Uploaded works on different non exclusive stock websites, used contentID, registered my music with PRO. Plans for future - i will try to get accepted on the libraries that already rejected me.
And promote my music on youtube. I think this is all i can do.
I bought a theme a few years ago. After everything went okay, the theme disappeared from Theme Forest.
When I updated Wordpress, the theme stopped working. That’s how I found out that the theme disappeared and the update and support were abandoned.
It seems normal for this to happen when the project becomes unsustainable and I think more and more items will shut down because working here not worth it for many authors.
I changed the theme but not with one from Theme Forest.
Now that we are allowed to openly discuss this, may I ask which other libraries are worth, even if the earnings are pennies? The ones I considered are MotionElements, MotionArray, Pond5 obviously and VFine though I don’t know if they are taking in new authors either.
I know for a fact that Pond5 can change the prices of your music without prior notification to the author which is insane. I don’t know. YouTube and SM promotion seems like an important step; right now I don’t have the time but it’s definitely in my to-do list.
I also had trouble finding a way to signup for Adobe Stock. In fact, Adobe doesn’t take direct submissions, I had to sign up for MusicRevolution and after uploading my first tracks as Non-Pro they contacted me to give them permission to add those and any subsequent tracks to Adobe Stock. They have to be uploaded as “Non-Pro”, though.
Awesome. Thx for being so open! I believe that keeping a decent, modern looking YouTube channel (having all tracks registred with ContentId, OF COURSE) is another important step. It’s nice to have this conversations so generously. Feels like community again! Hahahaha.
If they only take non-PRO music I would not do that. Be kind to your future self instead and register everything with a PRO and Content ID.
PRO money won’t reach you tomorrow, but you might thank yourself 2 years from now. PRO money (and Content ID) has no upper limit. You could make so much more money in the long run compared to direct stock sales.
You do not want to deny yourself that possibility.
There is no doubt that pretty much all stock sites have had their peak, and are slowly declining. Probably more from oversaturation (both number of tracks, but also competitor sites) than lack of customers though.
This is the first year I have had months under $1,000 from Pond5 since 2014. Almost 10 years of good earnings, but unfortunately a steady decline even there.
I have made a living from music (and some other stock) for many years now, and 2023 is the worst year in quite a while (since 2014 or so) when it comes to direct stock license sales. The peak was in 2016-2018.
However, it looks like 2023 will be my BEST year ever, thanks to PRO and Content ID money.
Fully agree with @Fwdesign , also the ADP is causing massive disruption.There is a sale for the entire year from some author or the other. So, even though all items go through a quality test, the ADP makes the quality irrelevant.
The Audio jungle Market was essentially destroyed by the authors themselves. The moment authors embraced the 50% share subscription model, they essentially eliminated the music licensing market as we once knew it: A customer wanted a track for a video project, they bought a single use license from the author. AJ Authors essentially agreed to give Envato 50% ownership of their intellectual property in this new deal. AJ authors agreed to a pay cut and a massively devalued fee for their IP. What once cost $20 for a single use standard license, suddenly was reduced to 0.20 cents a download. You all bought into the concept of “new revenue stream from a new client base”. People still do buy individual licenses because that’s all they need. Elements will soon start charging “pay once, and have access to all the music for life”…That will be the nail in the coffin.
Then add this dilemma to the mix and it all adds up to a bleak future for music creators:
The biggest decision that all governements will make regarding IP rights is “Who will own AI generated music?” On BOOMY, users can set up an account and create AI generated tracks, but BOOMY owns the copyrights to that generative AI music. Their music sucks at best by the way. I tried to see what their outputs sound like today and they are not good tracks. Frankly, I have no idea why anyone would invest in AI generated music when the world is already swimming in billions of human authored tracks. Do we really need inferior AI generated tracks?
There is no future growth opportunity with production music so start looking for a new job.