Would it be possible to not show sales for our items? I feel that it’s not a good look, to have portfolios with pages mostly full of zero sales. What do others think?
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Completely agree.
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May be…
However, seeing that even elite authors’ new tracks are not selling, one becomes somehow calmer)
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The current status quo is based on total item sales. Paradoxically the more sales you make, the more sales you make. You can see this throughout the entire marketplace categorization (weekly top sellers, total sales on items, author status, featured authors etc.).
This corporate profit maximization mechanism conflicts with sustainability for most of us individual authors but does not affect the market in general so don’t expect it to change.
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While I agree with you, both regarding titles used for search and public sales numbers, I don’t think it’s likely they will change it.
The display of sales numbers is the DNA of Envato. It’s a big part of what made the site grow exponentially.
It sure was a big reason I joined a long long time ago. One look at the best-seller list, some searching, and: “Wow, you can make that much money selling simple tracks like that?”.
I’m sure that is exactly what went through 99% of our minds, when looking for ways to sell music (and themes, code, After Effects templates, etc.).
One look at ThemeForest, and images of luxury houses with yachts popped up in your mind. I mean, how hard can it be to put together a theme, really?
It is also what led to the fall of the individual composer (most of them). Too much advertising of where the easy money is, and now the market is overflooded.
On the other hand, it can be good for the customer. 10,000 sales is pretty good evidence that a track works, and if they want something more unique, it’s easy to find tracks with 0 sales.
99% of customers want popular tracks though. They don’t want, or need, unique. It’s just something composers want.
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Interesting points, but sales are no longer an indication of quality, or should I say, lack of sales does not equate with not being quality, most authors now have pages and pages with zero sales, not because the tracks aren’t good, but other factors. How does that look to potential buyers?
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That is true.
But all tracks started on 0 before and got sales. Hiding the number will likely not boost sales of new tracks (which is what I suspect you’re hinting at). The search algorithms will be based on sales anyway, like they are everywhere, and for good reason.
99% of all music needs have been met years ago. Simple and hard truth. The library grew exponentially, while the number of buyers did not. In fact, marketplace buyers are decreasing in numbers, while the library keeps on growing and growing.
There is only one possible outcome.
A serious culling of low quality and/or blatant copycat tracks would help a little… But one can imagine how popular that would be…
There you can quite clearly see that the marketplace buyers aren’t there as much anymore. PinkZebra had 140 sales, used to have 1,000+.
Hiding sales numbers will not change that.
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I agree, if we compare it with 2016, the difference is enormous.
I found the top tracks for 2009.
At that time, there were not many elite authors and authors in general, respectively, and there was almost no competition.
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The nostalgia!
The year 2010. That was around the time I first found out about a little company called Envato, sitting in my dorm room. Dreaming of making a living from music. Bad production skills. But the dream came true!
When soundroll-osaurs ruled the world!
The search engine was already based on titles, but authors had not yet started to exploit it (on a large scale). You didn’t have to.
I wish I was the first one to do it… But I wasn’t. The first one to really successfully exploit the search engine is still #1 today (started around late 2015/2016).
The rest is, as we say, history. Even if that history isn’t very pleasant… Well, depends on who you are. Some people of course made a small fortune.
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Hiding the number will likely not boost sales of new tracks (which is what I suspect you’re hinting at).
No, not at all, I’ve come to not expect many sales here any more, the ones I get are of course welcome, but as an Elements author also, I merely regard AJ as the inescapable portal to getting my tracks into Elements (because they still have to be uploaded through AJ). What I’m hinting at, is the many many new items here with zero sales, and what that means, and personally I’d like that to be hidden, because I don’t think its a good look; it shows that new items don’t have a lot of chance of being found. How on earth the tracks that are on the front page manage to get the sales that they do, is beyond me…
A serious culling of low quality and/or blatant copycat tracks would help a little… But one can imagine how popular that would be…
Won’t happen.
Wow, what a blast from the past! 
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Fair enough.
Back during the good old days, I remember some users being concerned about public sales numbers for the exact opposite reason.
They didn’t want to advertise how much money they made.
No, probably not. But half the library could easily be removed without anyone missing out on too much…
Back during the good old days, I remember some users being concerned about public sales numbers for the exact opposite reason.
They didn’t want to advertise how much money they made.
Indeed, and others concerned that massive sales might make a track less desirable for someone looking for something fresh.
No, probably not. But half the library could easily be removed without anyone missing out on too much…
Of course, but I doubt AJ is enough of a priority to warrant the work involved.
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True, but maybe AI could actually be of some use here.
Tell the AI to remove tracks that sound very similar to tracks posted before that track. There should be thousands and thousands of those.
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Exactly.
It’s quite interesting to go through the top sellers from back then. There are many tracks that would not even be accepted today. Very obvious production issues like distortion etc.
Almost every track I uploaded got 5+ sales the first couple of days, and there were absolutely some that would never pass the review process today.
A track with 0 sales was almost impossible. It had to be REALLY bad. Even up to around 2022 it was very difficult to get 0 sales.
Imagine that @Osynthw - almost impossible to get 0 sales!
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Tell the AI to remove tracks that sound very similar to tracks posted before that track. There should be thousands and thousands of those.
That would indeed remove many thousands, but might upset a few folk, especially if it’s in their Elements pf too!
Not that difficult! I succeeded many times, and I’m sure many others had the same success.
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Seems like a dream I wish I was there even sooner, and with the knowledge I have now, I’m sure my situation would be a bit better !!!
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I also regret that I was not there at that time.
I accidentally learned about Envato from a friend in 2019
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