What is with the skyrocketing audio prices? Guess it’s time to shop elsewhere…totally frustrating.
Hi @westonsigler.
Until now, the prices of items were determined by the type and length of the audio.
However, AudioJungle recently rolled out author-driven pricing, which means authors can now set their own prices for their items. That would explain what you’ve been seeing.
Hope that clarifies it a bit for you. 
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Hello @westonsigler ! If you do not have any money, that is, the price setting, which you can choose according to your budget(in the search box under the tags). Good luck!
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A post about the subject was flagged recently (maybe because of the confusing wording a bit?), but there was a correct informative part to it: We can shop by selecting prices of our own choosing.
Not all tracks went up, actually. Some authors lowered their items and others stayed close to the old standards. Have you tried filtering the results by prices? Maybe you could still find what you need in there?
Of course, it’s your choice to think to shop elsewhere and I respect this decision. Just an idea.
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We have moved on to a new source for $199 yearly membership. We will save that much ($199) at least by switching. Sorry.
…and this is another nail in the coffin!
Same disappointment here: 25 bucks, okay. But there are songs (especially packs) with prices up to $70 for one license?
I’ll be probably moving, too… Too bad, since there really are good quality songs in here.
Envato: maybe you should have figured out some sort of internal way to reward your power sellers. This only leads to less interesting songs since only the cheap ones will be bought and therefore less good produced music will hit the floor…
Well, don’t get the pricier ones, then. There are plenty of tracks (the vast majority actually) which are priced below $25. So, I don’t understand why you’d need to move.
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Well, yes, packs are composed of at least 3 songs, so they are more expensive than a single song…
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That might be. I came here 7 years ago, because the songs where affordable (for uses like YouTube blogs/vlogs, special interest videos, small audiences / small to no budget videos).
But now prices go up to the level they were where I came from (soundtaxi, etc.) The price increase just does not seem to make any sense at all, with available flatrate places like artlist.
Just asking myself, if it wouldn’t be better to sell 40 tracks for $15 rather than 5 for $25.
Nope, not worth it for the vast majority of authors on here.
But, again, what is your issue here? As I said, the majority of tracks have remained at the same price point or got even lower. Some fools are even selling tracks at $5. So if you’re looking for cheap, you should rejoice, as it got cheaper than it ever was. Just leave the higher priced tracks to bigger budgets. Everyone’s happy.
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When I take a look at my favourite list and / or the songs I already bought, I must say that nearly all of them are now more expensive, than before. It seems, that my “musical taste” is somewhat “elaborate”.
It is already hard enough to find the right track(s) for the project. Sometimes I spend 3-4 hours listening to songs until I find something I like. But if I have to turn on the “money filter” I’m afraid I won’t find any song at all in the future.
I know what it means to make music or even try to make a living of it, since I used to be a musician myself. But this was in the old days, when it was way harder to produce good quality, instrumental music. But even though our rates were higher, it wasn’t enough to pay the rent. That’s why I switched to video.
This price increase will only lead to “bulk tracks” and “high end tracks” being produced. Which means that the quality will be either crap, or high end. But neither will be selling well which in turn will lead to the better authors leaving the platform whilst the not so good will take over and the overall quality will drop.
But in the end, I don’t have to buy here. It would be just a shame, since some of the stuff I really do like.
Why couldn’t envato just offer a flatrate additionally? This would make me - and probably others - think.
So, what are you saying with this paragraph? That there is no money to be made in music anyway, so we shouldn’t even try and make a living? I hope this is not what you mean…
Why would it happen like that? It’s not like there are two price points, one cheap and one expensive. Authors are now free to choose the price that seems fair to them, in regards to the work and effort they put into it.
Why not? Just because you don’t have a budget, it does not mean than others don’t have a budget. There are plenty of professionals and agencies with a budget to go into music.
Personally I haven’t felt a drop in sales, since I went up with my pricing. I did feel an increase in earnings though.
The “sell cheap to sell massively” model is simply not working for authors anymore (actually it’s never worked but for a handful of authors).
So, sorry for the inconvenience of making you use the price range filter, but it doesn’t really compare to the dire situation, Envato’s reckless underpricing had put us music authors in.
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Well, I’m sorry if I offended you in any way. Don’t know why you are jumping at me like that. But never mind. I just wanted to say (to whom it might concern) what one of the guys who is actually buying music here regularly feels about the price increase. Nothing more and nothing less. As I said: I was asking envato, not blaming the authors in any way.
I just wanted to say, that I know how hard it is to make money with music. I think that was pretty clear.
Good to know. Thank’s for that insight. At last, I got to know how professionals are working.
What’s your problem being rude like that? Barking at the wrong tree. Nevermind.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. It would be very interesting if Envato could do a survey about what customers are willing to pay for a track.
From my experience a lot of my customers are video producers and bigger companies with budgets, so I have chosen higher prices to adapt more to them. But customers are as different as authors, and the price search is good for this. Your are still able to find super tracks priced 15-$20. At the same time bigger budget clients can search high-low (price) to browse more top end tracks if they want that.
In an ideal world I would also like to sell cheaper “non business” licenses to student films, personal projects and such, but we don´t have that option at the marketplace at the moment. So we just have to adapt to the market we are selling to.
@dasmedienatelier and @PurpleFogSound, please relax. Let me try and shed some light on the situation, I don’t like seeing our lovely community catching fire for small things! I’ll quote you guys along each post I can give my feedback on the matter. Sorry if it’s gonna be an excessively long reply! 
The marketplaces have author dependent prices, as any free market this allows authors to set prices on their items based on what they see fit. This can be deterring for some customers but can also shed more reality on the quality of certain works.
Are those songs worth that amount for you? Are their quality of that value, if so, then purchase them, otherwise, look for an alternative on the market, authors that set prices with negligence in mind only for a quick buck usually see the side effects of this action quite quickly when their sales die off and then they come to their sense.
On the contrary. Power authors as you state set their prices according to the quality of their product based on their competitions, if they produce something that is truly unique they can set a price a tad higher than the competition, as for example with cars and mobile devices, the premium products stand out with extra features that make them unique, but cost more.
That can and cannot be the case, it all depends on what the target audience of that author is. For example, if your audience is willing to pay $25 for your track, then they will be willing to pay $15 as well, so from a business perspective for that author it’s only logical to charge the higher amount ( as I said, for authors that are actually into this for serious reason, not just testing prices and getting burnt )
High end will always sell mate. People are always out for quality, that’s a fact. Would you rather pay $3 for something that’s 30% of what you’re searching for or $30 for something that’s 100% what you’re looking for.
If the prices and quality go up at the same time, that’s a win win for the authors and buyers, but at the same time prices cannot go up to eternity, as at one point of increasing prices a sale drop will be visible for that author, which in turn will spark them to decrease and A/B split test prices until they find the correct value for their work.
An open market isn’t allowed to do so, for a subscription service that is applicable but for an open market that concept is illegal. It’s called antitrust laws, whether they are set by Envato or the Authors to a pre-determined price it still conflicts with anti-trust laws that are no mostly in place internationally, which would cause a lot of legal hassle.
The system is currently mostly flawless. Since authors have the intent of selling. Those who are serious will margin their prices in an area where they get good sales and provide a high value for buyers, those that set prices that extravagant even to the standards of buyers with endless budgets, will only see decreases in sales and will be forced to rethink their tactics if they are to succeed.
The system is self solving. Authors can’t go crazy and all decide to increase their prices by 500%, as the opposite will happen to their sales.
That’s 100% correct, but to make this even more accurate, authors do this to the extent of their sales increasing, not decreasing. If a price range is set to high, an author will see falls in sales, therefore will have to rethink tactics to survive.
None of you were jumping on each other, you were both providing good feedback to one another, so no need to feel offended.
I don’t believe this was said as an intent to offend, indeed there are things that can make the search process a bit difficult, and I believe that was what was intended in that way. Although I do see it as sarcasm if I look at it from a strange standpoint, @PurpleFogSound has always been a great member that usually offers valuable insight without the intention of offending anyone.
@dasmedienatelier, I’ll gladly help you with any price concerns or questions you may have as long as we don’t break any antitrust rules, I’m your man, so feel free to ask away! If I can help, I gladly will!
Cheers guys!
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