Recently AurusAudio celebrated one year on Envato Market. He’s learned a lot about producing for AudioJungle in the last twelve months, and in this article he shares some of his most useful tips to help you succeed on AudioJungle
1. Get to the point
With such heavy competition nowadays, it’s of the utmost importance that you make a good first impression, and quickly. Buyers often won’t listen for more than 20-30 seconds (they’ve got a lot of tracks to choose from!). In most cases, avoid long build ups and slow starts – ideally you’ll want to catch the listener’s attention with a gripping introduction, and reach the main point of the track in less than 40 seconds. Also consider that your music may be used in 15, 30 or 60 second videos, so structuring your track to accommodate for these is key.
2. Balance originality and commercial viability
Some of the best top-sellers on AJ have been the result of an excellent mix between a tried and tested genre, and a unique element that sets them apart from the rest. Whether it’s an unfamiliar instrument, a special sound or an uncommon chord progression, having something that makes your track unique is one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd. Yes, a large part of it is working out what buyers want from what is already selling, and this is not to say you shouldn’t take inspiration (forgive the pun) from others, but believe me, trying to copy top-sellers is a waste of time. Items become top-sellers because they have something other tracks don’t. Therefore, trying to engineer the perfect copy is futile – it will never sound as good as the original. Plus, you’ll live with the feeling that your work isn’t all your own. On top of that, I’ve seen a few authors banned for doing this. Moral of the story: be creative and original!
3. Focus on the mood
A lot of authors feel trapped in specific genres, thinking that buyers are only interested in one specific style of music for their videos. This is true in some cases, but what I’ve come to realise is that the mood or feeling of a track is what’s important, and genre is interchangeable here. You can have an inspiring corporate track, but also an inspiring orchestral track, an inspiring pop track, and an inspiring cinematic track – all different genres and styles, but ultimately conveying the same emotion or feel. We’ve seen this in the Popular Files list especially, with several successful tracks of different styles and genres, but covering the same mood or emotion. Corporate music doesn’t have to be boring! Corporate music can be so many things, so get creative and start a new trend!
4. Don’t invest all your hope and energy into one track
I’ve been burnt by this countless times where I’ve worked for days, sometimes weeks on a single track spending all that time trying to craft ‘the perfect track’. The reality is, there’s no way of predicting for sure whether something will sell or not – so don’t get disappointed if your favourite track doesn’t take the market by storm like you thought it would! I’ve developed a workflow where I work on at least two tracks at once in my spare time, and as soon as one is finished and submitted, I temporarily forget about it and move on to the next one. Working on several tracks in a session is a great idea as it keeps the ears fresh, and the creative juices flowing, often resulting in cross-inspiration between tracks!
5. Use appropriate titles
Believe it or not, using 1-word generic titles isn’t always the best solution. The best titles are those that most accurately describe your track. If your ‘Epic Cinematic’ track is more dark and heroic, consider a name like ‘Dark Epic’. Think adjectives or phrases that buyers would enter to find your track and go from there. You may get more views by using common titles, but you may not benefit from more sales, unless your track’s title exactly describes the music.
6. Focus on quality
Unless you have the time to churn out amazing tracks daily, it’s best to focus on quality. By quality we’re talking about a good, balanced mix, solid production with quality samples and recordings, as well as overall item value, usability and versatility to the buyer. The selling potential for a single item of high quality and commercial value is incredibly high on AJ. If you can have the edge of quality, usability and versatility, focusing on small details where others ignore them, you’ll always come out on top. A consistent, compact, high-quality portfolio will always beat a massive collection of lower quality items. Obviously the ideal solution would be both quality and quantity, but if you have to choose from the two, focus on quality. With so many new items coming in every day, battling with numbers is no longer a viable selling model in my view, and it’s crucial that you stand out in every way possible.
7. Keep uploading new items!
Regular uploading is a great way to maintain steady exposure of your portfolio and brand. I always experience an increase in sales across the board when uploading new items. Whilst I can’t really explain the phenomenon, I can definitely say the initial front-page exposure from newly approved items helps with this. Many visitors of the AJ front page are new buyers, and should they take interest in your newly uploaded track, it’s likely they will proceed to browse your portfolio, potentially establishing a connection with that buyer and leading to more sales. Of course, as stated above, you should never push quantity at the cost of quality – consistency is the key here, so uploading one track per week for 20 weeks is a much better idea than uploading 20 tracks one after the other. Set yourself a weekly / monthly goal of uploading tracks and follow that.
