Things I've Noticed that Might Be Hurting Your Sales

houseofsounds said
I rarely even click into the area to see the descriptions unless I get to the point of being ready to buy, so at that point extra tracks would be a bonus, but not the selling point.

Sadly, I expect this is often the case, though it should be a real selling point I would think. Even in the thumbnail search view, AJ does have some minimal info, but I do wish AJ would improve on this, as well as add some extra fields of information. Number of included tracks/files should be one of them. Especially considering the extra tracks don’t raise the price of the song at all, while usually giving it tons of extra value and flexibility. I almost always include extra variations (length, loops, etc.), it’s a shame to not be able to publicize that more effectively.

For instance, currently the thumbnail view shows: “Bit Rate: 320 kbps, BPM : 105, Length: 2:52, Looped Audio: No, Sample Rate: 16-Bit Stereo, 44.1 kHz”. Considering you can only include 320 kbps MP3 or 16-bit Stereo 44.1 k WAVS , it should really only need to tell you “WAV/MP3”, which would make room for more useful info, such as ”# Tracks”.

Interesting comments about the categories, and like/dislike of “corporate” section. I tend to stick most of my tracks there, often because I don’t feel like there’s enough choice or specificity of other categories to choose from, so it does become a “catch-all” for me. Particularly if it’s a blend of musical styles. I’ve also had a reviewer move one of my songs I filed in another category over to “corporate” as they felt it was more suitable and would sell better there.

Also very interesting about the 30 second track highlight—I usually try anyway not to make my intros (if any) too long, but when I include multiple versions, of which you’re required by AJ to put all of them together in the preview, I often consider which order would be best to put them in. I usually go with (what seems to be) the convention, and put the full-length track first, then any looping parts, then any shorter variations. I wonder if it would be better to put the short variations first? In a way they’re almost like a “highlight” version of the item. My concern is that would be confusing to buyers who think perhaps the song is too short.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and continuing to share!

felt_tips said
My searching technique usually involves searching in a certain category (I usually know what sort of music I’m after) with a keyword. Then I order the results by sales. It’s the only one that’s remotely useful in sorting the wheat from the chaff. The ironically irrelevant relevance seems to be based on title/description/keywords with maybe a bit of sales stirred in for good measure. Why would I want to search by that… or by date, alphabetical author name, alphabetical song title, for that matter?

What I really would like to search by is sales average. Then I can see what’s selling now too, rather than just what has been on the marketplace for 5 years. In terms of searching, this is a complete no-brainer and I can’t imagine why Envato would not implement it. It’s already there for my own Videohive portfolio.

The harder part is finding good stuff that’s not selling… and there’s plenty of it. I sometimes wish there was a bigger curated section… hand-picked by staff / experts or other arbiters of musical taste. The featured item is a bit thin, really. I’d like to see more promotion of quality stuff that is perhaps not getting the attention it deserves. On Wikimedia, for instance, there’s an image of the day and it’s usually a stunner. I’d like to see a whole page like the Popular Items for this… the Good Items!

So this helps to further explain why best sellers keep on keeing on!! Thanks for sharing, I would love the added search features too, as a buyer and a seller.

A little before this post was: http://audiojungle.net/forums/thread/rating-system-bug/69404 ...

Another problem is the inverse relationship with the buyer, I think we do not sell military secrets, but only the music … our music …. and why not make a universal form for the buyer, so we can understand, how to work better, more interesting…maybe then no longer be a need for this topics?

Sinar said
It’s no secret that the buyer pays attention to the rating and ranking plays an important role in promoting the track / work …

A little before this post was: http://audiojungle.net/forums/thread/rating-system-bug/69404 ...

Tell me, how you can have success with similar problems on the site … for example, I have a track with 14 sales and there are no stars … of course it slows its progress of my work, I think many have the same problem. The search system, not perfect, the announcement of the new system in the picture, was six months ago!!!, but the situation has not changed .

Another problem is the inverse relationship with the buyer, I think we do not sell military secrets, but only the music … our music …. and why not make a universal form for the buyer, so we can understand, how to work better, more interesting…maybe then no longer be a need for this topics?

Take it or leave it I guess….

That said, great thread.

I think we’ve come up with some cool features AJ could add to help these issues, I especially love the idea of a Staff Picks/Staff favorites section where the staff picks high quality files they come across that they are good enough to be called out. I mean they already listen to tracks all day, why not have a section where they can drop in their favorites. I wish somehow we as community could create a community bookmarks folder, where people could drop cool files (other than their own) We could call it hidden gems or community picks or something. Wishful thinking I suppose.

ZtarrZound said
. It almost seems pointless to continue to make suggestions in hopes of improving the site for both authors and buyers.

unfortunately … because we want to help … I think that the creators of the site work in this direction, at least I (and not only) in a hope ! We all interested in the development and modification of the improved site, I think this takes time and a little more “transparency” in our relationship with the owners of the this site…

Sinar said

ZtarrZound said
. It almost seems pointless to continue to make suggestions in hopes of improving the site for both authors and buyers.

+100%

unfortunately … because we want to help … I think that the creators of the site work in this direction, at least I (and not only) in a hope ! We all interested in the development and modification of the improved site, I think this takes time and a little more “transparency” in our relationship with the owners of the this site…

What exactly do you mean about being more transparent with the owners? Does this count as being tranparent? Would love any suggestions you give about how we aid in making changes

chanredfield said
I don’t think it’s just about being loud…a bad track being loud is still a bad track. The best sellers are usually loud, but also they are better in many other aspects, I would use the term “full” as opposed to loud, their sound is fuller all around through good use of instruments, arrangement and mixing.

Well, Chan, yours is an interesting point of view. Anyways, you’ll agree that, on equal terms of “goodness”, between two tracks, a buyer will choose, in most cases, the “louder” one. On AJ, there are lots of interesting tracks, witch has nothing to envy to “top seller” tracks; but, simply, those tracks are lack in loudness. Moreover, we can discuss a lot about the “good use of instruments, arrangement and mixing”, without a conclusion: but, i guess, we can say that most of popular traks “works well” by a commercial slant. That’s it. Hope that this will not be only a commercial war: but, we all have to assume this is a part of the game!

chanredfield said
What exactly do you mean about being more transparent with the owners? Does this count as being tranparent? Would love any suggestions you give about how we aid in making changes

And tell me now that did not allow developers to make such a player? What stops to make further improvements to the rating? Search the AJ radio is comfortable and has more functionality. Thank you so much for this SchschartsSound… remains an open question about the rating system and a search engine, probably will wait for another brilliant author who does everything himself?