Audiojungle - Review after one week.

Envato Authors AudioJungle
1

I joined Audiojungle to try and find new ways to make extra income through music that I had already produced, OR music that I produced very quickly. I had a ton of stuff sitting in my back catalog that is just getting dusty, but it’s stuff that I’m actually quite pleased with and think it could sell somewhere - if purposed in the right way.

While I have money from royalties and paying gigs coming through, I figured it would be phenomenal if I could get to the point where things in my back catalog are earning for me without me having to worry about deadlines etc…

So… I looked around the internet, there are a gazillion music libraries, and then there are the private music libraries where you compete with a gazillion other composers who you never meet in the HOPE that your music might get placed on some big ad or something.

The thing about Audiojungle, is that while the competition is healthy (i.e. there’s a lot of it), we’re pitching to…everyone who comes onto the audiojungle website. There’s no politics (or at least none that I’m aware of) so, it’s really down to the user and what they want from Audiojungle that day, which means in theory everyone has an equal chance.

In my first week here, I’ve had nine sales, which to be honest, considering I did no promotion whatsoever, I’m a little bit surprised about - in a good way! I’m not even close to putting up my entire catalog of work up here yet, and I imagine that the longer I’m here and as long as I keep regularly putting out quality work, the customers will come. One other user pointed this out on a different thread - “The key to stock music is that it is a marathon, not a sprint.”.

That said, those who started the marathon earlier than others probably have a distinct competitive advantage in the marketplace, but that’s how business works, so it’s fair!

Things I like about Audiojungle

  • GREAT site design.

  • So easy to use, my grandmother could use it.

  • Helpful and friendly community.

  • Good quality standards by the reviewers.

  • VERY helpful feedback from the reviewers with incorrect / wrongly submitted uploads.

  • Good pricing structure.

Things I’ve noticed about Audiojungle that interest me.

  • A good clear title seems to help your chances greatly with your music.

  • You never know what you’re going to get one day to the next.

  • Tracks you think might sell well don’t sell well at all, and vice versa.

Things about Audiojungle that concern me.

  • LONG TERM - the marketplace gets saturated. There are a lot of items here already. Perhaps items that haven’t sold after a period of time should be removed?

  • The sales volume % splits seem to be pretty high. You need to $3,750 of content before you move up 1% point? It doesn’t really fit with the pricing structure of Audiojungle in my opinion, but the guys at Envato seem to know what they are doing, so perhaps I’ll come back to this if/when I get to the next percentage point!

Things about Audiojungle that I’d like to see but aren’t here yet (at least not to my knowledge)

  • Who is following me?!

  • Who purchased my track?!

In summary, I’m delighted with what Audiojungle has given me so far this week. I may not make any $$$'s this week, or I may make quite a few. My goal within 6 months is to have $500 of income per month, which is certainly doable, but who knows what will happen!

Thanks to audiojungle for helping me find a way to make use of all the music that is sitting in my library. It greatly helps a composer who - in my case - is earning a living without audiojungle, but WITH audiojungle, I can certainly envisage it making my life a lot easier!

I will return with a one month review, and then a 6 month review.

2

Hey Gareth, great write up! It’s really cool that you’ve taken the time to write down all your initial impressions so meticulously, and it’s really awesome that you have such a nice impression so far.

I’m sure the guys at HQ will read over everything you’ve written, and I can tell you that none of it will fall on deaf ears.

We all know that Audio makes for a particular marketplace here, compared to some of the other Envato sites. So several of your points, notably the commission incrementation issue, have been brought up a couple times. Overall though, I can tell you that so many little improvements have gradually come about over the last couple of years, especially in the last few months. Envato runs on iterative improvements, So I think it’s a sure bet that things will keep improving. :slight_smile:

Anyway, best success here with us at AJ, market your music well, and I for one will definitely look forward to reading your next review!

3

Hey Gareth!

Thanks so much for taking the time to provide feedback based on your experiences so far! Whether it’s positive feedback or constructive feedback to help AudioJungle become even better, we’re always glad to hear it! :smiley:

Here are a few responses to your questions which is only fair considering the time you invested compiling the really useful feedback. :slight_smile:

  • Removing older, unsold items: We're actually waiting for the devs to build a system that will help sitemanagers across all Envato marketplaces to better automate the removal of items that are no longer good enough. Once that's in place, we will be able to remove some of our older items that are not up to the quality standards of where we're at today. We won't be removing items that have 0 sales, instead, we will be looking at the quality of the audio/music. I know for a fact there are some incredible tunes on AudioJungle with 0 or low sales for example.
  • Saturated Marketplace: Yes and no. :) Yes, there are a lot of items, and we are continually growing, but having such a wide choice of music gives our customers the best possible opportunity of finding what they are looking for. Music is constantly evolving too from both a production level and a genre level, so although it's obvious to say, it's important that we keep accepting new music. An important priority for AudioJungle by the way that will remedy the fact that our library is continually growing, is search. We are currently working on a new and improved search feature/interface for our customers to more quickly find what they are looking for. This should be with us at some point in 2011.
  • Sales Volume: We recently increased our rates which give Exclusive authors not only a level-entry percentage of 50%, but we also made it easier to attain 70%! Authors used to have to achieve $300k worth of sales to reach 70% commission but that has drastically been reduced to only $75k worth of sales - that's a huge difference! So we are definitely moving in the right direction. :-)
  • Who is following me? You can find out who is following you by scrolling to the bottom of your profile page. It will show you 9 random followers. And yes, we are working on a page that will show you ALL of your followers - we will eventually make this possible. :)
  • Who purchased my track? Unfortunately, due to privacy, we do not allow authors to see who has bought their items.

Thanks again for the feedback, Gareth, we’re really thrilled to hear you’re enjoying your experience so far and we look forward to hearing more of your audio over the coming months! :slight_smile:

4

Great read. Great feedback. Great portfolio, especially after just one week! Keep it up @garethcoker! Good to have you here.

5

Welcome garethcoker! Nice work you’re doing. :wink:

6
Who is following me? You can find out who is following you by scrolling to the bottom of your profile page. It will show you 9 random followers. And yes, we are working on a page that will show you ALL of your followers - we will eventually make this possible. :)

This actually answers to my (unasked :slight_smile: ) question :wink:
Thanks! :slight_smile:
Looking forward for that page :wink:

7

Welcome Gareth!

I honestly believe that your music is the best I’ve heard on Audio Jungle to date! And I’ve been here for a few years :slight_smile: I think it’s beyond obvious why you received 9 sales your first week.

I greatly look forward to hearing more from you.

-Steven

8

Welcome to AudioJungle Gareth :slight_smile: It’s really nice to hear such positive words about the marketplace. Scott and the guys are doing such a great job here, it’s heartening to know their hard work is paying off!

9
Welcome to AudioJungle Gareth :-) It's really nice to hear such positive words about the marketplace. Scott and the guys are doing such a great job here, it's heartening to know their hard work is paying off!

You should probably give your self a little credit too, sir. :wink:

10
The thing about Audiojungle, is that while the competition is healthy (i.e. there's a lot of it), we're pitching to....everyone who comes onto the audiojungle website. There's no politics (or at least none that I'm aware of) so, it's really down to the user and what they want from Audiojungle that day, which means in theory everyone has an equal chance.

In my first week here, I’ve had nine sales, which to be honest, considering I did no promotion whatsoever, I’m a little bit surprised about - in a good way! I’m not even close to putting up my entire catalog of work up here yet, and I imagine that the longer I’m here and as long as I keep regularly putting out quality work, the customers will come. One other user pointed this out on a different thread - “The key to stock music is that it is a marathon, not a sprint.”.

Agreed. The community is fantastic and everybody has been extraordinarily helpful and encouraging. I have been really lazy about promoting myself, yet sales have been growing at a slow but steady pace for me, which says to me that AJ is doing a very good job of promoting their site and authors. I’ve listened to some of your portfolio, Gareth - I don’t think you’ll have a problem attracting customers :).

- Tracks you think might sell well don't sell well at all, and vice versa.

I’m glad somebody else noticed that too! Some songs that I was really excited about posting have had anemic sales, whereas I had no such conceptions (quite the contrary) when I posted what turned out to be my best selling track.

Things about Audiojungle that concern me.
  • LONG TERM - the marketplace gets saturated. There are a lot of items here already.

I have similar concerns, but at the same time my sales have steadily grown as the marketplace has grown. The more quality music that we have up here for prices your average webcast author would gladly pay, the more attention AJ will attract. I, for one, welcome new high quality authors such as yourself because a.) you motivate me to do that much better and b.) customers who come to the site for the first time and hear your music will have an enjoyable experience, come back again and again, and eventually hear some of my tunes as well :). It sounds like (from Scott’s post) that steps are being taken to make sure that everything out there is of high quality, and if so, I say let the market grow!

Thanks to audiojungle for helping me find a way to make use of all the music that is sitting in my library. It greatly helps a composer who - in my case - is earning a living without audiojungle, but WITH audiojungle, I can certainly envisage it making my life a lot easier!

For me, music is not my day job, but after a year on AJ I at least now have a glimmer of hope that it can one day be (a faint glimmer, but a glimmer nonetheless!).

11

Audiojungle certainly has the potential to grow into something that can become your day job, or at least pay all your monthly bills.

And if that happens jhunger - you’ll be able to pursue music full-time on a freelance basis (the happy situation I find myself in) - so just keep putting stuff out there.

12

Interesting thread. I agree. I’ve been here 3 days, i think. Very helpful people, the reviewer’s, one in particular, are great. No BS, just help. Thanks AJ!

jon