Things I've Noticed that Might Be Hurting Your Sales

Hi guys, I work for an advertisement agency, often times it’s my task to find music for video projects. The last few times I’ve done this, I’ve noticed a couple things that keep me from buying certain tracks. Just thought I would share a view point from a buyers perspective, of course these are just my opinions, hope someone finds it useful.

1. The first (no surprise) is quality. When I am searching for a particular sound, I usually just enter a keyword in search and scan the tracks from the thumbnail view which allows me to go through things very quickly, what I notice right away is that many tracks lack in production quality when compared to the top sellers. While I would love to help out some of the authors that are new or that have low sales, often times in a time crunch I just find myself turning to the top sellers, why? Because I know the quality is top notch and I will save me time. I am thinking one of the many reasons top selling songs continue to sell is because when you go to that section they are all great, I suggest us authors take the time to see how our tracks compare to others, production wise, this will help raise the bar across the site.

2. Sudden changes in song direction. Several times this morning, i found a track that was working great against a video, but then all of sudden 1 minute in, it takes on a completely new direction in mood and feeling, what was once motivational and inspiring is all of sudden dark and tense or funny or just plane weird. I’m not suggesting not trying new things, but if your going for a particular mood feeling in a song, make sure your sections support that, again the top selling authors a great at this.

3. Song length, now this is of course debatable. I have found so many great tracks with awesome ideas, but I didn’t make the purchase because they were too short, meaning under a minute and not loopable. I wonder how many of these killer tracks were passed up simply because they weren’t long enough, i know go through this every week.

Anyway, i thought it would help, I know it’s definitely got me thinking about my future productions. Peace.

Ok, good to know, thanks for your comments!

I found this very helpful, especially the second and third tips. I know my tracks have changes in mood often, so I will be sure to be more aware of that in the future. I have never tried making a piece with loopable audio yet—it sounds like it might be the time to do so.

Thanks for your tips!

Thanks for the tips. So many things to consider when trying to sell tracks. Im guilty of the mood changing thing in some of my tracks. That’s the artist in me trying to keep the song interesting, but I realize that it’s not a great technique to use in stock audio.

Thanks for the advices! I’m taking notes.

Ace. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing.

M

Thanks, chanredfield
Very useful notifications, especially for new authors, however all AJ authors should pay attention for these advices, I think. And of course, it’s nice that these tips came directly from buyer

I would love for other buyers to share their experiences, how they search/shop, what their experiences are. I’d also love to see some of the higher selling others chime in. The way I figure it, always striving for the highest quality can’t ever hurt sales right?

Golden words Chan. The fact that we authors often do not think about usability of our tracks. Many of us think that there’s always someone who likes our idea and will make for this beautiful video or game. But the true is that my best selling audio is from my custom non-ex works, when I’ve known what for the sound is and I’ve planned mood for a song. Stock is not a place for improvisations and experiments, there your file always must be something matching to existing item of potential buyer.