Let’s talk a bit about a potential implementation of the “Albums” category. Music Kits right now allow for no more than 3 tracks, thus limiting in my view the potential of “similar tracks” by the same artist.
There are two potential immediate advantages:
1a) Pricing. Let’s say that one track costs $29 as a standard license. Having an album with 10 tracks (just for the sake of example) would allow us to price it say, $199 (standard license), thus it has from the start a 30%-ish price cut for those who are more oriented to buy in a “bulk” format and benefitting from a permanent sale throughout the year. Clients win, artists win, Envato wins.
2a) The category would be much less saturated: if artists start making their own albums, with either pre-existing tracks on the marketplace or new ones, if we set a minimum of 10 tracks per album and a maximum of 15 or 20 (thus between 1000% and 2000% less saturation), by default, clients who are interested in this category would have much more focused options to choose from, thus saving potential time in their searches. Artists on the other hand benefit from increased exposure to clients. Clients win, artists win, Envato wins.
We should have however a bunch of rules to avoid potential exploitation:
1r) Pricing: the price of each track within the album must have a maximum of 50% off its individual counterpart on the marketplace. So if a track costs $29 for a standard license, its price within the album will be no less than $14.50
2r) As mentioned before, a minimum and a maximum number of tracks should be established per album, I think 10 as minimum and 20 as maximum are good thresholds.
3r) Similarity: tracks within an album must have an underlying theme and belong to the same genre, it shouldn’t be a mish-mash of genres, otherwise it defeats the purpose of the “Album” idea.
Potential search function extensions:
1s) in the case of Albums, extend the tags limit from the current 30 to 50, I think it would be reasonable to narrow down searches even more with a bit more detailed tags since music in this case has a “bulk” format.
2s) allow us to attach covers to the albums, as in, we set a 480x480 square resolution (reasonable enough) thus helping creators to aid the process of making their albums stand out. Thus, within the search, album covers appear with a play button in the middle listening to the preview, and below the album should be a “listen to full tracks” function which sends to the full list of tracks and their respective full previews.
3s) Album previews should contain a collage made of a maximum of 20 seconds for each individual track, thus a 10 track album will have a 200 seconds preview. The client will make a general idea of what the album is about/the sound/vibe of it without the need to click through each individual track. If the client needs more detail, see point 2s above
This is my initial take on the subject. What are your thoughts/ideas?