I composer and sell stock music on AudioJungle all from the comfort of my home...Ask me anything

How can you track people using your music illegally?

Have you found your music being used illegally?

There is a website called adrev where you upload your tracks that you sell. When you go on audiojungle to check out tracks you will hear a watermark in all of the songs. That is the preview file. When you buy a track you receive a zip file containing an unmarked track. Sometimes people will just download the watermarked preview and use it in their YouTube videos without buying a license. Adrev tracks YouTube and put ads on those videos and we can make their ad revenue and adrev takes a cut as well. I find lots of illegal usage and some people who just never cleared their license (they usually have like 14 views anyways so no money). Nowadays before a buyer purchases a tracks he can see on the item page if it's registered with adrev and how he can clear it with the license he receives. It's an extra step but it protects us composers.

wow i messed up the title lol. Sorry.

I'm a musician on Audiojungle too! How do you advertise your work? I've just started, and I find difficult to "reach out" to potential customers...

the best thing to do is write really good music. After your song gets accepted..make a Youtube video for that song with a buy link. I get lots of of buyers from Youtube. Also twitter/soundcloud/vimeo (filmmakers always looking). I also moderate r/royaltyfreemusic where we post links to our songs.

Will answer you soon. Out at the mall with my wife.

Can you write me a theme song tailored to me?

Yes. You can send me a private message if you would like.

Will do! Do you do lyrics or is it a musical score?

Only musical score. I can't sing lol.

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I actually have a song that has some sounds that resemble whales that became zombies

How did you get into such a career. And how consistent is your income? Does it allow you to live comfortably?

The first question is a longer answer so I will answer it later when I have more time. The income from selling is somewhat consistent each month. Between 500 to 800 dollars besides my other jobs. I live in a foreign country so I can live decently I guess.

If you earn of your income from music sales, what do you earn the rest of your income from?

Who paid you the most money for the use of one song?

Have you ever been approached to produce porn music?

I freelance on the side for more custom music production which I can charge more for. I sell some of my own music on the side as well on itunes,etc and I do a little programming.

Ferrari paid me the most because they purchased a regular license off the site but wanted it customized after.

No.

Ferrari paid me the most because they purchased a regular license off the site but wanted it customized after.

What did they ask for?

They wanted me to redo certain parts of the songs to fit the video better.

Is the video available to the public? I'd like to see/hear it.

Yes they are both on YouTube. I'm on my phone and not next to my computer for a couple of hours but I will try find them both. Edit - found one of them - http://youtu.be/HK8zC1oH7f0

Did you study music, if yes where?

What would you say to young people looking to study music and make a living from it?

I did study music production for visual media in an online university which I will not name. I did not finish the course and dropped out early because I felt like I wasn't learning enough to justify the cost. There's so many free resources online that it just wasn't worth it. I would totally tell young people to pursue a music career but also learn another skill/profession on the side.

What is your advice to a totally new composer?

Be wary of advice on Internet forums. You don't always have to follow all the rules people talk about. Try to just write music and write and write and come up with smaller ideas u can build into bigger songs.

Do most of your songs follow a simple form? Verse, chorus, verse, etc.

For the stuff that I sell on audiojungle it usually follows a simple formula like u wrote. Music that people buy on there isn't usually very experimental and the more interesting stuff usually don't sell well. The other songs I write that I release as my own stuff is usually much wilder and crazy.

Do you accept material from outside writers?

No....wait what do you mean?

I've been writing music with a DAW for 10+ years, have had many digital / CD compilation / vinyl releases so am a competent producer. I'd LOVE to get into writing stock music, but until I saw your post I had no idea how to go about it, so big thanks for that.

My question: how saturated are sites like these? I'd have guessed there's a lot of low-quality music were it not for reading a reply you made below describing their quality control.

Audiojungle currently has close to 350,000 tracks for sale. It is saturated but if you write good music and market a little you can start making sales. There is also featured file of the week and author of the week where you are featured on the front page. The review team pick those and you can get lots of exposure.

Thankyou for the reply... I shall see how I get on, definitely going to give it a go.

I'd be happy to list you as referrer, seeing as I wouldn't have known about the site without your post! PM me if there's any additional info I need other than your AudioJungle username.

I think the referral program is only for buyers. But thanks anyway.

Are there any musicians/composers that make a great living doing this on audiojungle? Has anyone gotten rich off of making music for sites like this?

Yes there are some top authors on the site who do like 450 sales a month which is a very nice amount of money.

After doing some research in audiojungle forums it seems like there have been a lot of changes lately and the site is losing traffic drastically.

On top of that, people are complaining that review times for new uploads are taking up to 24 days.

Do you strictly use audiojungle or other sites as well? And have you experienced a sales decline and long review periods recently?

the review period is longer. that is true. People complain about sales all the time dropping. Everyone thinks they are going to sell ten tracks a day which just isn't possible. April just finished and I had a pretty regular month. Don't always listen to the people on the forum. The people who are usually making sales just stay quiet.

Ive been trying to write an album for several years, I'm a decent musician (play guitar and drums) and to a good standard, however I've never managed to finish a single song, i find all i ever have is a collection of riffs (riffs that i like) and i never know where to go from there. Even if i track them I kinda sit there and I'm like "ok...now i have another riff ...what do i do now". I hope that makes sense, as someone who has written and completed many songs, does this ring a bell? any advice for dealing with this? many thanks

Of course. This happens to everybody at some point. What I suggest is to focus on one riff and start adding more instruments to it. Build an intro, add bass and drums and then come up with a melody which I'm sure you can do. Once you have more ideas you can start piecing then together or restart everything in different orders and see how it sounds. If you get stuck move on to a new song.

Do you think there is a decent market for rock or metal music?

The best selling category on audiojungle is corporate happy music. Rock is pretty good. Metal not so much. You have to think about what most people use in videos/commercials/advertisements because that is where most of the stuff is being used.

What half of sfira do you hold, and does this not matter if you do this for a job?

I don't do half. This is my job so I listen and compose music during sefira. I do everything else though - as you can see I don't need to worry about the shaving part.

How much do you earn per song?

Where do find inspiration to produce original music?

there are 5 levels of licensing on AudioJungle. Most composers on there try to make their songs over 2 minutes in length which yield the highest prices. So if you are just starting off as an exclusive author on AudioJungle you will make 50 percent of your sale. The most basic license is 19 dollars. So half of that. Exclusive author meaning that you cannot sell the same songs on other royalty free sites.

As you sell more, your commission level rises and you make more of your sale. Where I am at now: on a 19 dollar item I make $10.26.

The other prices depend on usage.

Music Broadcast (1 Million) - 38 dollars Music Mass Reproduction - 76 dollars Music Broadcast (10 Million) - 152 dollars Music Broadcast and Film - 304 dollars

Full details here - http://audiojungle.net/licenses/music?license=music_broadcast_and_film

The key thing here is that we can sell the same song over and over. People can buy it whenever they want so I sometimes wake up in the morning to money ;)

Inspiration for me comes from many different places: Spirituality, Religion, Life events, messing around with sounds and sometimes just hearing it in my head.

Hope that helps.

Many musicians unintentionally incorporate sounds from other songs in their music. Has this ever happened to you?

Initially, how difficult was it for you to find clients interested in using your music?

We don't find our clients. The clients know the site and just browse for the right songs that they need. This can be tricky since there are many songs uploaded to there each day. So each author/composer on there does their own sort of marketing - Youtube videos, Soundcloud, Facebook advertising.

I don't think that I have ever used anyone else's sounds. All the songs uploaded to the site undergo a review process for about 1 week to 22 days (depending on how many songs are being uploaded) and if it did happen then it would be caught by the reviewer.

How can I do this?

Are you musical at all? Do you produce music currently?

Trumpet piano and guitar and a loop pedal

Sounds pretty cool. Get yourself a daw (digital audio workstation) like fl studio, logic, etc. and start recording.

What Do You Think Of Les Folies D'Espagne From The Film Tous Les Matins Du Monde?

I don't know what that is. I'll check it out later though.

Hello! What software do use sir!?

Currently Logic X and a lot of plugins. I'm in love with alchemy thee days.

Have you looked at the stuff from u-he? Diva is incredible.

I use some of their stuff as well

Do you ever compose for a specific group or soloist to perform or do you try and be as broad with performers or do it for yourself to perform?

I only compose music that is meant to be used in videos for now.

Let's say you stopped recording today. Would you have passive income? If you don't mind me asking how much? For how long?

i dont have to make songs everyday. Once a song is up there, people can buy them whenever. I sell tracks that I made 3 years ago. For the last couple of weeks I have been on vacation visiting family in New York and havent made anything new and I still made 30-40 sales.

Is it difficult developing new songs which sound distinct from each other?

Whom do you consult for impartial reviews of your music?

I don't consult anybody. I just write and write and write. The songs that are sold on AudioJungle undergo a review process by a team of professional reviewers and they choose to accept or reject the track. Out of 130 songs that i have made for that site - only 3 were rejected.

Developing new songs that sound different is very easy for me because I listen to so many different styles that I am always coming up with new ideas. I love using Asian instruments in my music and if you combine that with regular Electronic music or Hip hop beats you can come up with something funky. So far I think that most of my songs sound different form eachother.

how new are you to library music? Do you use any other libraries? Any reason you're choosing to sell for cheap on AJ?

I've been there for close to 3 years. I don't use any other libraries. I chose audiojungle because it was the first one I found out about and I like the set up there.

right on! if it works for you that's cool, but I think you're underselling yourself using AJ. If you're going non exclusive you might as well branch out to other libraries and get more sales. AJ really doesn't pay very well

I'm exclusive to Audiojungle. I don't know how many sales the bigger libraries actually do so I'm afraid to go there.

ah forgot you can go exclusive with AJ, don't know what that's like. I'm non exclusive to a few libraries (I need to add more), but have been getting sales through AudioSparx lately. My experience with AJ is getting a bunch of sales of $5 or $15 whereas with AS I get less sales but I get like $60-$125 depending on the license. Honestly i think you should at least consider other libraries so you don't miss out on $. If AJ works for you that's cool, just know you could probably make more.

Interesting. I'll check out audiosparx for some other tracks that didn't make it AJ

How was your Pesach?

Have you composed any niggunim for tefilah? Links please :)

It was great bh. Came into New York to be with family. Going back to the holy land soon. I'll post some soon.

Do you do compositions for films? If so, whats the going rate?

I have not done anything original for a film yet. Hope to soon though.

Has your music ever been used in a film/television show? And how to you track down people who try to use your audio/music illegally?

Yes. Some of them have been used in small TV shows in America but mostly in foreign countries. I answered your second question before to someone else. It's a long answer so please go look there.

Do you ever get affected by anti-Semitism at all?

I live in Israel so not really. I am in New York now visiting and so far nothing. I get lots of funny looks because i have a huge beard. On Reddit though i do get some.

Can you share examples?

Can you also link me the music you made for Ferrari?

examples of anti-semitism? last time i stumbled into r/conspiracy and got blamed for all the worlds problems.

here is one of the ferrari videos. There are two different videos using 2 of my songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK8zC1oH7f0&app=desktop