Developers shouldn't bear the cost of uploading audio

Feature Requests Website Features
#1

As a developer, it’s impossible to upload audio files for free.

I’ve personally spent over 100,000 Robux on audio upload fees. To put that cost into perspective, it would take at least 4 years of accruing monthly stipends from the highest level of Premium to earn that amount.

Developers who choose not to upload their own audio are limited to sounds that have been uploaded and shared by other users. For me it is very difficult to find suitable music or sound effects in the Library due to a lack of search tools (such as categories, or filters) and if I do find a suitable sound, the uncertainty over who owns the rights to the sound usually prevents me from using it in final production.

This leads many developers to source their own sounds, but in order to pay the upload fee, Robux must be bought directly or earned through sales, which means it could be a deal-breaker in the case of a new developer creating their first experience.

These kinds of paywalls can be significant barriers, and they should be removed wherever possible in order to maintain the awesome, sandboxy, free-for-all nature of Roblox’s engine.

EDIT: I found this feature request very relevant to this thread, and it posits an interesting compromise that would allow developers to expediently create game atmospheres by using default Roblox sound banks. Not a complete solution to the problem of audio upload costs, but very helpful!

238 Likes
Uploading audio should be free
#2

Sound moderation is a lot more time consuming than images and meshes. An image can easily be Moderated within 3 seconds, but audio needs to fully played. This means a 4 minute song requires 4 minutes to approve. I believe Roblox requires 2 moderators to approve audio, so this doubles the time requirement.

58 Likes
#3

I have to agree with the OP on this. I haven’t uploaded a single audio yet. And have no plans to do so. I might end up reluctantly uploading audio but if I can put it off for as long as possible I will.

For a platform that encourages user generated content. Charging for the things that will basically make or break your game in order to just get on with the development of your game… when there’s a possibility it could fail. That seems like a huge gamble. Despite the terms of service not allowing Gambling.

Uploading Audio, or Video is asking a lot for new developers, or even players who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to spend cash on Robux.

I’m not really sure what kind of solution they could come up with to replace the current reason for it being like this. As it stands tho I have no plans on using these features until my game generates enough for me to feel comfortable spending robux on it, or I deem it necessary to do so.

It feels more like a microtransaction cashgrab, for the gamble that is your work in progress game. It goes against what the platform stands for… But I get its to maintain the current quality and integrity of the platform.

I’d rather pay my way into a whitelist where I’m verified and trusted to upload videos and audio that is in coordination with the 3 strike policy than to microtransaction the content that I spend my time to create to add to the game. There’s not a single engine out there that charges you to add content to your game.

Roblox --> “Powering Imagination” | [Paywall] --> Me. Definitely feeling empowered.

54 Likes
#4

Yeah I mean, it’s not up to us to justify why Roblox can’t do XYZ by saying it’s difficult or time consuming, just to address pain points that keep us from being maximally productive, and suggest changes to improve our quality of life as devs.

17 Likes
#5

It’s not a matter of what “feelings right”. Roblox is a business and the time consumption, as outlined by @TheNexusAvenger, shows why Roblox needs to charge for audio reviewing.

8 Likes
#6

What if your account gets compromised? Someone can upload any audio or video at will and bypass moderation completely, and end up getting your account banned.

The reason you need to pay for audio is just like what’s been said above; time.

16 Likes
#7

Surely could just lower the amount it costs to upload :man_shrugging:

35 Likes
#9

Sounds costing money upload helps prevent people from brute force bypassing sound moderation to upload explicit rap songs and sexual sounds, which get through already but cost the people uploading them robux, and the robux can be traced to their actual account by moderators(although I’m not sure if they do that).

I do think this is a good idea and that obc or full devforum members should have free sound uploads though :yum:

22 Likes
#10

I disagree with you, chesse, and want to remind you of the risk of how accounts can be compromised. A free bypass is dangerous by all regards

7 Likes
#11

A compromised account however, is the responsibility of the account owner. It’s up to you to keep your password safe. Unless the account was some how compromised by a fault, or lapse in security on Roblox itself would it not be the responsibility of the account owner.

Obviously if your account was compromised there would be a way to handle that. As I said above before someone falsely flagged my post as off topic.

So the danger of this would be the requirements to enter the whitelist whether you have to pay and reach some other requirements as well as the 3 strike policy. The way Roblox vet those entering the whitelist would determine how dangers it is to bypass.

And in the event your account was compromised and someone uploaded audio that was against the rules and you received 3 strikes immediately then you should be removed from the whitelist whether you believe it was your fault or not. Because you should have been more responsible with your account. Of course an appeal process should be in place for the exceptions such as someones account was compromised by Roblox itself and not the account owner.

15 Likes
#12

Your post wasn’t even remotely on-topic, it had nothing to do with the OP and it certainly doesn’t apply to all users. It was nothing more than a condescending rant about your account’s security.

The responsibility is irrelevant, the fact remains that if an account was compromised that was part of a whitelist system then that would cause serious problems. It’s not too surprising in the current system to hear a bypassed audio, I can’t imagine how it would be with a whitelist system. Not to mention that the amount of copyrighted audio would also begin to rise.

9 Likes
#13

If you bought a license to use a specific Audio. And then uploaded that Audio. That audio file is still copyrighted. But you have a legal license to use said Audio. With that being said, Copyrighted Audio will still continue to be uploaded even as the platform continue to evolve.

All you have to do is make sure you have the legal rights to use said Audio. Even the Audio Roblox has uploaded is copyrighted. The point you made was to stop the copyrighted audio that is unlicensed from being uploaded. The sad part is even the terms of service says you need to have permission to use copyrighted material, even though Roblox will still moderate the audio file that you had permission to use.

So the problem lies deeper than bypassed audio. Its a problem with the moderation itself, And to fix this issue of the OP you have to dig deeper. Thus my points and posts were not irrelevant.

7 Likes
#14

Problems due to moderation cost and floodchecks are problems that can be tackled by other means. These are off-topic and not relevant to the feature request – it is something for Roblox to figure out.

OP’s feature request is perfectly reasonable. To add to the developer feedback, when I was working on my incubator game, I spent about $100 purchasing sound licenses so I could use them in my game. I didn’t have enough Robux to upload it all, and when I did the math to see how much I’d need to buy, it was another $100. I just gave up on uploading audio. So far, all of the games I’ve worked on use local files on my PC so I don’t have to pay to upload and test them in a development environment. Adding a paywall to sounds raises the barrier of entry to development and results in less immersive games because sound upload is discouraged.

36 Likes
#15

Yeah. I dread uploading sounds for this reason and try to make them as short as possible to minimize their cost. If I mess something up, I usually just leave it. So I have a bunch of half-perfect sounds uploaded that I will probably never replace.

At the very least, the price could be reduced. 20 R$ for a second-long sound really adds up.

10 Likes
#16

Be mindful that feature requests are meant to push beyond the current limitations of the platform.
Echo broke that down well:

The engineers definitely don’t see our feedback as irritating, they can pick and choose what is most important to them, but bringing up these pain-points helps them prioritize. From working as an intern at HQ, believe me they crave feedback as much as we love giving it. We should all be hungry for a better Roblox experience, communication is key.

1 Like
#17

I’ve spent a fair share on audios (majority costing licensing sounds), and it might have to do with myself never really having a tight budget for any projects, but the small amounts Roblox charges for audios I view as an investment vs an meaningless purchase.

The audios improve the quality of the project, and as with licensing the audios I believe it’s well worth the cost, and the cost isn’t significant enough where only the top developers are able to purchase them. I don’t believe the cost puts anyone at any disadvantage.

1 Like
#18

Licensing sounds from a third party is the only investment you should be making when choosing sounds for your game. Uploading them to Roblox at cost is by definition a disadvantage, no matter how small, especially for fledgling developers. See Echoreaper’s anecdote for an exact circumstance.

6 Likes
#19

A well off trader / featured game developer is probably not the best case study for users that cannot afford upload costs :wink:

11 Likes
#20

We are always trying to break down barriers and costs to development. As of right now, we have no plans to address this issue but we recognize its importance.

Thank you for this feature request. It has been shared around internally.

30 Likes
Load sounds from file
Uploading audio should be free
#21

As a Roblox developer, it is currently too hard to upload audio.

The cost for uploading sounds, even in its current state, is still too high for development.
I can upload large meshes (usually larger than the audio), images, animations, and more, for free. Why not audio?

Multiple solutions that Roblox can implement exists, and are as follows:

  1. Create an option to find duplicate sounds (because most sounds probably have been uploaded already).
    This would increase space saved, as two uploads would not be made.
  2. Make free audio game-specific (as in it cannot be used anywhere else).
    This would prevent abusive audio entering other games or being used as a third-party account evading a ban.
  3. Remove the cost entirely.

Many times I’ve wanted to upload my own audio, to find that it will drain away Robux. Any Indie development teams I work with must spend money on audio if the sound does not exist.

Ever since audio became impossible to search for (unlisted audio cannot be found, and most audio is unlisted), I’ve found myself increasingly more required to upload the sounds I want to use for my game.

Other game development platforms do not have this restriction.

Changes were recently made to the Roblox Community Rules which now include banning the use of screamer or loud joke audio:

Distorted audio, including excessively slowing down or speeding up the audio content to make it indiscernible, and audio that is excessively loud including screaming, high-pitched or excessive noises are not permitted.

This change now reduces the amount of spam audio uploaded, which should additionally provide another reason to make audio free, as spam audio is against the rules, meaning less uploads for moderators to review, and less space being taken up.

19 Likes