Folks, I just thought I’d share this because it can be disheartening when your hard work is rejected… but remember it doesn’t need to end there! Here’s my example why…
I had a track rejected 2 years ago because it didn’t meet the “commercial production standard” and also their “commercial/composition arrangement standard” either. I like many others just do this as a hobby and I’m still at the very early stages… learning the techniques and really just messing around to see what I can come up with.
I spent a fair amount of time putting the track together so I was a little gutted when it was rejected by AudioJungle… so instead of letting it go to waste I added the track to a few normal music/social media sites to allow people to listen to it or buy it as a normal download… (I didn’t bother trying to submit it to any rival stock music sites). I even put it up for free download during the Christmas week last year.
Fast forward 2 years and with no sales but an “OK” amount of streams my track was picked up by a Music Supervisor back in July and is now currently being used in a Christmas Motion Picture… which is currently in cinemas worldwide!
I never ever dreamed this would happen as I really only thought it would be used on sites like YouTube by normal everyday creators and have to admit, it was stressful dealing with the licensing myself… but it would never have happened if I’d let the track go to waste.
So remember, as good as AudioJungle is, it doesn’t mean the end of the road if your track is rejected! I don’t have many tracks on here because I find it hard to create specifically for such use… I generally just create what I want or what I think sounds good, and then put it up online… generally in the hope that someone out there somewhere will like it. Most of my Envato sales have come from my Motion Graphics Video work and not my music, but on the flip side my most successful track in terms of credit (not $$) is the one that was rejected!
Great and inspiring story with an important moral!
Remember that the message you get with a rejection is in most cases a template. It does not necessarily mean that the quality of your track is low. It could also be the commercial viability regarding arrangement, style, etc.
I hope you are collecting your royalties form the world-wide cinema plays, because it’s something you’ve definitely earned!
Would love to hear the track by the way!
Cheers!
Hi Thanks!, yeah I guess they have a set of criteria they need to adhere to and then they simply select from a template the ones not met, hence rejection… they do sometimes however provide specific advice. I remember they told me to make something a bit louder so they could approve it.
Here’s a link to my 2014 demo track they used in the movie;
And this is the 2016 version (better as I spent more time and $$ on it);
Great story, that really worked out amazingly well. There are quite a few stories like this around I’ve found though…tracks that get rejected here become best sellers elsewhere. Overall, the music quality on other libraries seems to be higher, but with less rejections which didn’t seem to make sense to me. But anyway, for now its still the most popular library (no doubt due to having the lowest prices) so best to just continue with it for now.
Fantastic track, both versions, no idea why it got rejected. I’m guessing somebody got butted by a deer on Xmas eve? And / or keeps receiving unwanted xylophones on Xmas day? J/k. I hope the AJ board of directors see the funny side.
