Selling exclusive license and removing track from AJ?

Envato Authors AudioJungle
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Community! I have a strategic question :slight_smile:

I have an inquiry about my best selling epic orchestral track from a client who already has bought a big license. He asks if it’s possible to sell him “all” exclusive rights of this track. This means I would have to remove it from AJ. The track will be used as an opener for a recognizable event but not well known enough to be sure that PRO royalties will be decent.

Track has been uploaded two years ago and since than I’ve sold it already 150 times, including kits and earned 2500$. Every month I sell it circa 5 times and earn circa 100$. Track is relatively well visible in search results and I’m pretty sure it generates sales of other tracks too (plus some minor income from AdRev and potential PRO royalties). It’s my best selling orchestral track so I’m little worried if removing it from AJ can affect sales of other epic orchestral tracks.

First client proposition is 2000$. What would be your price for the exclusive rights? And is it worthy to sell a 150 sales bestseller and remove it from AJ at all? @Flumen I remember you discussing about this some time ago.

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10.000$

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Exclusive music starts at $10.000 per track.

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And never (EVER! :D) judge value of your music work by the sales on AudioJungle. Seriously. Maybe in a few months you decide to go non-exclusive with AJ and suddenly you discover your best track sells 10x elsewhere. How much is it worth then? You never know. My best seller on some other library was a total flop on AJ.

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First, congrats on the big placement!

Short answer: I agree with Audiorya and PhotonicMusic.

Long answer:

There are some things I would consider:

• Does the placement have personal/emotional value to you? Does it matter to you if your track is used for the event or not? Is it something where your name would be exposed to lots of people, or would it just be another anonymous opener track? If it was something I like a lot, like a very cool indie game or something, I might be willing to accept less money.

• Do you need money now? Or does it not make a difference in your life right now if you get $2,000 or not? For someone who needs money now, (new car, house needs fixing etc.), $2,000 today is more valuable than $10,000 over 5 years.

• I would estimate 5 years of earnings for this track, which is conservative. This would be $6,000 for your track, so effectively, that is what it costs for you to give it up. But many tracks sell well much longer than that! $10,000 minimum for a track like that seems more reasonable.

• Lastly, you said it was for an event. Is it possible that they just need it to be exclusive for a short period of time? If so, that of course opens up different possibilities. $2,000 for one year might be OK.

Of course, the track would lose its momentum here at AJ, and maybe you would not be able to upload it again? That would have to be discussed with Envato staff.

To sum up: If they want the track forever I would ask for at least $10,000. Just explain to them that it’s a big earner and that $2,000 means you would lose money after 20 months.

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Just for clarity - the buyer knows that they can’t revoke the use of the music to previous buyers right? Or prevent previous buyers from using it (within license) how and where they want

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You’ll make more $$$ if you don’t sell it. Realistically, you should expect at least $5,000+ for that track. I’ve heard that $20,000 is the going rate.

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I agree with the others here, anything under $10 000 seems to little. $2000 is not uncommon for a non exclusive broadcast license on other sites to put it in perspective. And your track is selling well as it is.

When negotiating the price you can say something along the lines of: It’s not uncommon for these kind of deals to be $15 000-$20 000 (+ secured PRO backend) and then ask them what they are comfortable with within their budget. Then you give them a price reference and they might pay you that or meet you at a compromise.

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Any custom work I’ve done, or discussions I’ve had about removing AJ tracks for exclusive rights has been in the $10,000-$20,000 range. I agree with @Flumen’s points of why you’d considering less money.

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I strongly agree with @Flumen . I was (and am) in this situation and sold a semi best seller for 2k . I really needed the money and selling the track was a relief. Of course I could get more on the long term, but family and necessities run the game.
Congrats on the opportunity!

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Thank you all for response. And thank you @Flumen for a wider insight. I think this topic can be helpful for many authors!

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