Any news?
Anyway this is the kind of topic that shouldn’t be closed after 7 days from last reply.
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Nice move! 
Hi @Rickyloca. Good point - I’ll update the topic settings, as Announcement threads have that topic timer switched on by default.
No updates since my post on May 3, though: we’re continuing to operate as normal through this period, and we’ll continue to operate under our current brand after closure. I’ve raised all the questions from this thread, but we don’t have answers for these yet.
It’s a fairly slow process to go through all the customary closing stages in each jurisdiction. Once we have more information you will definitely be hearing about it.
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So basically noting will change too much?
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For what it may be worth, I would like to share some constructive ideas from my experience as an author on CodeCanyon. I haven’t seen any improvement regarding the features offered by the platform for us authors, and here is what I would like to share with the new management hoping they can do something in this direction:
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Distribute obfuscated code and implement an activation system. As an author, I’d like to sell my software, not my code.
I’d like to submit my code to the Envato approval process once approve my new plugin (or the updates for the already existing) I’d like it to be automatically obfuscated by Envato.
If Envato/Shutterstock partners with something like Freemius it would allow us to better implement an activation system (Based on the purchase code) to avoid the customer illegally distributing the software or using it on infinite sites. The code obfuscation will make the cracking of the activation system more difficult. -
Change the billing method: The purchase of the software one time and using it forever is not profitable anymore.
Platforms like Yith, WooCommerce, and most of the Android apps on PlayStore use a different model. Pay a subscription for each software you purchase and you get support and updates per year and for a fixed number of sites. The subscription renewal could cost only 50% - 70% of the first price. -
Lower prices, return to the market-driven price, and remove hidden costs like buyer or handling fee. If you implement the previous points, I agree to sell my plugins at a lower price (30% - 40% less). This will contrast the illegal software distribution too.
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Data analysis: The more time passes the less you offer. On CodeCanyon I’m not no longer able to track customer traffic via Google Analytics. You don’t provide any serious visual tool that helps to understand each day/month/year how many plugins were sold, which one at which price, and where. They only provide some CSV. Elements … is still a dark and unknown object. I still don’t know why I have to wait a month to know my income per day and how they compute it. Since they introduced the Author driven price, they should have provided a reliable tool to perform analysis.
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Piracy: no innovative tool was introduced to fight against it. Currently, you don’t even have an area where we can report malicious sites.
Envato/Shutterstock is a big company, you can partner with Google and Bing to remove from their index sites that sell themes and plugins for a few dollars. As an author every day I report malicious sites via the Google Removal Tool 1 but this takes time. Every author cannot act as a single, this matter should be managed by the platform
As an author (I’m just one person) would like to focus on what I do best: coding. I don’t want to take care of marketing, piracy, price analysis, and whatever.
Many small authors just want to create. Envato was offering a good platform where we could focus only on that. Now it seems it lost its magic and worst of all seems to be doing nothing to change/improve over time.
In the last two years, I’ve been earning the half I was earning a couple of years ago with a portfolio that had 1/3 of the items I have now. Items with half of the features they now have. It seems that the more I do, the less I earn. Seems that the best strategy is to do nothing.
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Absolutely right, Elements is the blame, they digged their own grave and now the marketplace is dying.
R.I.P. Envato.
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I said this from day one but nobody cared, most authors were happy to be part of Elements for the 500$ bonus in the beginning.
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Idk, I earn more with elements alone than with videohive before elements. World changes, business should change as well and so we should adapt - that’s it.
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The funny thing is that some time ago I had exactly the same requests, and discussions with the Envato team that came to nothing.
I had proposed the possibility of using code obfuscation with a licence verification system
I created a tool for automating the sending of DMCA notifications, and proposed a partnership with a completely free service for authors, but they didn’t follow up.
I also suggested that Envato check authors’ demos, notify authors if their demos weren’t working (404, 500 errors, etc.) and then remove the items from the catalogue if the demos weren’t fixed within a reasonable time.
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I feel there is too much blame over element.It offers alot less items and there will always be people(100,000s) who just want to by a single track. I am suprised that Marketplace does not have a subscribe rate (maybe 30 d0llars a month)
(Sorry for the little OT)
I tried obfuscating my “licenser” PHP code in the beginning: you have no idea how many complaints I got about it. Hostings mark obfuscated code as potentially malicious and so do security WordPress plugins.
Is impossible to use obfuscated PHP code for everyone. I ended up simply minifying the code, but there’s plenty of “beautifiers” out there.
Working with open-source codes, they will always be readable.
Personally the best thing I ever did to fight piracy (before Envato forced me to remove the market banners for “unfair competition” 
) is to create the 7-days trial period.
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I think authors have lost a lot of trust in Envato.
I have also been minimizing uploads since last year and watching the situation.
There have been no positive changes in the market over the past few years.
And there are a lot of problems that need to be solved.
Old upload system, inconvenient separate login, low sales, neglect of copyright management, uncertain sales records, marketing that lags behind competitors, etc…
Now the world is dominated by AI. time will be limited because we have to prepare for something bigger.
So honestly, I doubt whether Envato will be able to improve in the future what it was unable to solve in the past.
Among these problems, I would like to briefly talk about DMCA, for example.
I think it is the certainly duty of a market like Envato to protect the copyrights of authors.
Just looking at the current motion graphics items, there are a lot of thives who steal items from other authors and upload them, and there has been no management at all over the past few years.
(Please understand that I’m only talking about the video because I’m motiongraphics author. But I’m sure other categories are suffering the similar problem)
Envato seems to believe that it is more profitable to make money by increasing items without wasting time.
For example, these are four thieves accounts that I was able to find with a few seconds search in motiongraphics category.
I’ll write it here so you can see it too.
daruth2, kobirulislamkk, intellipixelforge, SACreativeElements
Thieves are stealing someone’s sale like this. (add https://)
original: Fire Explosion Tunnel Background 4K Loop, Motion Graphics | VideoHive
stolen: Looped Fire Flames Ember Cinematic Tunnel, Motion Graphics | VideoHive
Even rather than kicking them out, Envato allowed some of them to elements.
If I report this problem to the author support center, Envato will tell me to send them a DMCA take down notice again, but I want to ask.
So is anything resolved?
Even if the author sends a DMCA notice, only the items included in the notice are deleted and the thieves are still active.
Thieves are create a new ID and upload it again, and the reviewer allows it again.
This is really stupid situation.
So I have a question here.
Is Envato considering replacing reviewers with AI?
Basically, it is very vulnerable to Envato’s review system of similar and copied contents.
At least, AI is better at filtering out duplicate content than current review system.
Now that I know see other author’s reply, Envato has neglected valid and good suggestions, I wonder if there are any other alternatives.
Here’s one more thing to say, because I also think Envato should have introduced an automated DMCA system.
As we all know, while platforms like YouTube have grown significantly over the past few years, many Envato’s videos have been used here.
Among them, there are countless channels where uploads were made inappropriately and without any aditional editing process, impersonating the author.
They buy a single use license for the footage, then sell or use it in perpetuity.(elements accelerated this problem)
All videos on Envato should have taken sufficient steps to automatically search for copyright on platforms such as YouTube.
Anyway, these basic problems have not been solved and undeveloped for many years, so what can we expect in the future?
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Yes. And also “redesign” that happened after 2017 with huge pictures in search and few items on the page, painful scrolling (after page 10, I wanna die). Before, Envato was like a newspaper with lots of new cool stuff and great ideas, but now it’s lost its charm and become “like all others”. I would keep silent about all Envato promos that were there before and have now disappeared. And elements, especially banner on items that don’t exist on elements.
TBH in 2017 I thought that Envato would buy ShatterStock… meh(
When someone finds service with great food and unlimited rents of Lamborgini and cool apartments for 19.99 p/m, send me a link.
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You truly didn’t have experience with Shutterstock. There could be only 2 wishes.
- At least minimal communication with real people (they are rude and do not speak with authors in their forums).
- They wouldn’t close this market (they could do this like Envato closed twenty20) why not?! fewer competitors.
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I agree with you. Many authors’ Elements applications are rejected due to quality standards. I think the important thing here is not quality. The important thing is a lot of content and they don’t care whether it is stolen or not.
A difficult process awaits Shutterstock.
I understand what you are saying and I also think the past market is better than now.
I think the subscription market, which was the next best solution they chose, made the situation worse, leaving many problems unresolved.
Perhaps until the development of AI, criticism of elements may have been valid.
but now, many authors, including myself, make a living thanks to elements.
So what I want to talk about is not contents quality or quantity.
Market trends and consumer perceptions have already changed.
The mass production of low-quality content have already begun and are now an unstoppable subscription market trend (related to efficiency compared to effort).
because high-quality contents ultimately requires a lot of time and effort, and it doesn’t fit the current subscription market.
As you know, we are now in the age of AI, so who can create content for days on end for just a few dollars?
I believe that issues related to quality & quantity depend on the future direction of the market.
Again, Many problems in the past, due to thoes problem the market and consumer purchasing perception has changed and subsciption market has begun.
the situation getting worse and finally taken steps to merge, but there is no way to escape from the negative effects that AI will bring.
Now perhaps they don’t even have time to fix many problems.
But even now we have to work and earn money.
The question here is what future direction Envato can show for us.
What we want is not a hopeful message, but clear motivation and specific improvement plans.
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I agree. The future of stock music sites (subscription or otherwise) relies on CURATION. They should ruthlessly delete inferior old or out-of-date music, and anything that sounds cheap or derivative. LESS IS MORE should be the selling point; instead of advertising a stock site with millions of audio' it should be with a carefully managed and updated HIGH QUALITY selection’ - even high-selling tracks should not be immune to culling if they sound cheap. AI music will always sound dull compared to a genuinely clever melodic idea with a sense of development in the production, with light-and-shade, with tastefully original ideas that represent individuality. AI will sound bland in comparison. Sadly stock sites are drowning in horribly repetitive derivative knock-offs of better originals, with cheap sounds, no melody, and a reliance on loops etc from sites like Splice and Loopmasters.
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they should increase price … they should produce content by themselves for 2-3 months and then understand the cost and time it takes to produce content … income is going down with every passing day … and It will get worsen … Money Game !(
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Selling yourself to the most hated stock photography platform of all time. I don’t know a single contributor that has a good word for Shutterstock. You sold out to the devil. 
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https://envato.com redirect to https://elements.envato.com/
All priority for envato market has ended
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