Music authors selling their tracks for less than $5??? This hurts all of us

Firstly, I thought the minimum you could even sell a music track for is $5.00 and I'm seeing this one author making a ton of sales
that are under $5.00 I think this hurts us all, we shouldn't be pressured to compete with such low insulting prices. There should be a mandatory minimum or suggested minimum- It would be pretty bad if the norm price is lower than Audiojungle which is ridiculously low not to mention their horrifically insulting system. I love Pond5 and I just think there should be some authority to an extent so that it does not become deluded.

Jason

I totally agree ! i seen a few composers here on P5 selling full length tracks for less than $5 , this alarms me, and just isn't right. it hurts composers, P5 and the market as a whole. It's just contributing to the devaluation of music. There must be a set low price for tracks that are 20 seconds and longer. I agree with you FutureSound, I myself love P5 and do quite well here so it's quite disheartening when I see composers come here with that AudioJungle mentality, it is insulting. For all you composers with single digit pricing for full length tracks , you better think hard about what your actually doing and reconsider, your desperation may be ok for you in the short run but hurts us all in the long run, it just contributes to the downward spiral that has gripped this market. Pond 5 must control this !! I would suggest that any composer that agrees with this should contact P5 ....... this is a very serious issue !

current trends suggest that the future of stock photos, videos, and audio will be that prices will continue to move downward.

business competition in general means that the biggest brand will get the highest price, the smaller brands will differentiate themselves with lower pricing, and the lowest brands will offer free services.

pond5 would benefit by offering a premium library at higher prices, but it would have to be hand picked, and they'd have to be able to remove content as better content becomes available.

I support a free market, with no minimums. the market should set the price.

Wrong. Prices are heading upward. All stats show this as fact across the valid agencies. People get fired for buying on price alone. The free market as you call it, is not the one that actively buys. The pro market is the only one to pay attention to.

when I started buying stock online, perhaps 10 years ago, 1 video cost $499 minimum, and there were heavy restrictions for use. you absolutely positively could not buy any stock video for less than $499 at the time.

now 1 video is $5 minimum.

that is a drop in price.

I used to have to pay $1,000 for a 1 year music license. now I can get an unlimited license for $1. that is also a drop in price.

you can buy unlimited photos for ten cents each. they used to be $100 when I started.

it seems like prices are about 1% to 5% of what they were 15 years ago.

when I bought my first hard drive, it was 50 mb. now you can buy 3,000,000 mb for the same price, and store a massive library of videos very cheap, which will allow web sites to store videos cheap.

the pricing trend for digital media is going down dramatically, and will continue to do so. anyone who is expecting prices to increase is living in a dream world.

Wit all due respect, wrong dtiberio and correct vadervideo. A trend has begun where prices on some popular RF sites , and growing , are starting to rise, and that's a reality. Yes dtiberio, prices have dropped dramatically as you say but it's now to the point where it's hurting both producers , libraries, agencies and very soon the buyers, if it drops any further quality will start to dry up and then what do you have ? You will be forced to go to top end and boutique libraries to find quality, then you will have to pay. If low and mid tier priced libraries can keep their prices reasonable for everyone involved we still will have a market for quality for people on a shoe string or low budget, It may be fine now but what about the future ? When you have producers on a site like Audiojungle screaming for a price increase or they're leaving ....well that says something and yes AJ are planning to raise their prices. Also , a trend has begun where quality producers are leaving sites where you can get music for the prices you speak of, in time what's going to be available ? yes, you will always find some quality music on those sites because of artist desperation but how much ? And if you think quailty producers are going to keep on selling their product for those prices you speak of that is living in a dream world because at those prices many libraries and agencies are going go under. It's economics, the price of producer's music is the company's income, with costs going up yearly and their income decreasing in time .... well ??? Quality professional producers in huge numbers will not give away their music for free, it's almost to that point already and that's why prices are starting to increase, everyone on both sides of the fence are feeling the problem. This market is starting to change, many twists and turns are starting appear because the market is ready to bottom out and there is only one way to go now and can't be any further down than it already is now without it becoming a waste land. The trend of boutique libraries will probably continue and attract the qaulity. Sorry about the rambling but this is serious stuff ........ by the way, today I seen that same artist selling his cinematic track for $2 . P5 really must do something about this !

dtiberio: I guess I am living in a dream world then. My recent sales are really just an aberration and ghost like. I also get paid in Monopoly money. However, if you feel devaluing yourself and your product is the way to go, by all means, do so. It in itself tells us the mind state that you have fallen into. It is too bad that you have surrounded yourself with such negativity even though the evidence shows different. Cheer up man and join the party. Stop devaluing yourself.

dtberio ..... you're speaking from the perspective of where things have gone ....... we're speaking from perspective where things are now going :)

dtberio... If you really think low ball prices are the future of stockfootage/music. Why not go a step further and use the free clip check box in sale data and give your portfolio away.

For someone who is suppose to be so smart and savvy on market trends. You sure are wasting your time shooting, editing, uploading and selling for next to nothing. Is'nt your time worth more than 2.50 - 5.00 dollars a clip?

jason,

where do I find the link to make all my videos available for free? I am using the old interface.

thanks for your suggestion