Attention: Web designers, Accountants, Lawyers and Photographers

donding

« on: May 05, 2009, 13:38 »

#link

If you're any of the above...read this thread. It's important.

Contributors' Collective
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/contributors'-collective/

Come and voice your thoughts and opinions.


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tan510jomast

« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2009, 13:44 »

#link

Quote from: donding on May 05, 2009, 13:38

donding
(Marketing and Promotional Representative)


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donding

« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2009, 13:57 »

#link

Quote from: tan510jomast on May 05, 2009, 13:44

Quote from: donding on May 05, 2009, 13:38

donding
(Marketing and Promotional Representative)

Thanks tan but I don't know the first thing about marketing...that's why I hope some of these members here will get on that thread and come up with suggestions.


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zymmetricaldotcom

« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2009, 15:30 »

#link

Has Zymmetrical not been aiming for many of these objectives from our inception?

- 70% commission
- no free photos
- no subscriptions
- open market pricing
- truly internationalized system, one of very few agencies that uses truly international domains (this has been a key strategy from the start, each month we are tripling traffic on Zymmetrical.de, .es, etc.)
- experienced staff (Paul Melcher, veteran of innumerable startups as photo industry liason, review staff that are veterans of popular stock agencies, and humbly myself as one who has been selling digital art online since 1991)
- high editorial standards from the start
- established, scalable web system that relies on a programming framework that just got series "A" venture capital (www.dotnetnuke.com)
- made in Canada: Canadians aren't boastful but it helps to know the business you are dealing with operates from an advanced legal/copyright jurisdiction

After the pain and frayed patience levels of a year-long beta we are ready and able to support coop initiatives - we have always maintained an Artist focus, and hopefully any shortcomings in actual returns on time invested can be balanced out against our undeniably non-standard approach.

ps. I completely agree with the time-dependent exclusivity clause, however 1 month is not enough turnaround for most magazine publishers etc. 6 months would be a healthy figure.


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m@m

« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2009, 15:52 »

#link

Quote from: donding on May 05, 2009, 13:38

donding, you're the type of person we need in our Contributor's Collective venture, with an open, productive and positive frame of mind...good idea, good thread to open. Grin


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sharpshot

« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2009, 15:59 »

#link

I do back Zymmetrical but the problem with all the smaller sites is that they have so far failed to attract enough buyers. Lots of contributors will only upload to sites that are going to give them regular payouts. It is a problem that is hard to solve. Until more contributors give the smaller sites a chance, they will find it hard to attract enough buyers to keep us all happy. I wish everyone would take a risk and back Zymmetrical but so far that isn't happening.

Crestock have the marketing side right, lots of big adverts in the design magazines have attracted buyers to the site but they pay 25 cents subs commissions, so that puts me off them.

If Zymmetrical could spend as much on marketing as Crestock does, perhaps we wouldn't be looking at other options.


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goldenangel

« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2009, 16:06 »

#link

Quote from: sharpshot on May 05, 2009, 15:59

I wish everyone would take a risk and back Zymmetrical but so far that isn't happening.

I don't see backing them as taking any risk, except maybe investing our time in submitting there?


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hqimages

« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2009, 16:10 »

#link

Donding you have GOT to be chairperson!! I will give web design services free of charge, I specialise in search engine optimisation, however, I'm not a developer/programmer, just have a good working knowledge of php/mysql, but we would need someone who specialises in programming too!


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GeoPappas

« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2009, 16:43 »

#link

Quote from: zymmetrical on May 05, 2009, 15:30

- no subscriptions

If you have no plans to add subscriptions, then why does your Sellers Legal Agreement (@ http://www.zymmetrical.com/help/legal/) mention subscriptions in quite a few places?

Here are a few quotes from the text:

1h. “Subscription Service” means a service for which a user pays a flat license fee for access to the content included in the subscription service during the subscription period.

6b. Licensor shall remit to Artist $0.60 per Unique Download of its Submitted Content from the licensing of the Submitted Content in a Subscription Service.

If Submitted Content is licensed through a Sub-distributor in a Subscription Service, Licensor shall remit to Artist no less than $0.50 per Unique Download from the Sub-distributor from the licensing of the Submitted Content. Sub-distributors may determine their own pricing. Such payments shall be Artist’s sole compensation for the licensing or use of any Submitted Content.

6b ii. Any user with a paid subscription to the Subscription Service may
download as much content as the user wishes, subject to the conditions of the subscription program. Artist will be paid one time for each Unique Download of the Submitted Content by a paid subscriber. If
Artist, an immediate or extended family member, any individual under Artist’s direction, or any individual acting with the intent of increasing downloads of Artist’s Submitted Content for the benefit of Artist (the “Parties”) purchases a subscription to the Subscription Service, Artist agrees to notify Licensor via email with the related account details, and further agrees that the Parties will not download Artist’s Submitted Content.


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donding

« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2009, 17:13 »

#link

Quote from: hqimages on May 05, 2009, 16:10

Thank you hqimages, but I'm not sure that would be what everyone else would want me to do. I think you might do a better job at that than I after reading your posts in the other thread. You make some very good points.
We do need someone like you. Search engine optimisation is very important. The searchs have to be relevant to the keywords. It has to be a eye catching web page also to draw people back. That takes alot of work I know and I thank you for making the offer.


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hqimages

« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2009, 17:30 »

#link

You're welcome. And I hope more people come on board.. I don't think a web site that is already the property of one person making a profit will benefit us, it has to be a real co-op, owned by the contributors themselves..

I did like the idea of having a paid membership along with a free option, and that way, we can raise some capital without taking a % per download. So in exchange for the contributor receiving 100% of their profits, they pay an annual fee to admin/volunteers to fund the registration/hosting of the site, and any other costs that pop up, any money left over at the end of the year could be used to throw a party

(well I don't know about a party but we can all decide what to do with leftoever money when the time comes)

Then each member can donate a % of their earnings if they wish as additional capital to run the site, but only if they can afford it, we leave that to their discretion..

(you still got my vote for chair donding, I think you're more steady than me, I tend to get hot under the collar if I'm really convinced of something!)


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hqimages

« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2009, 17:34 »

#link

Plus if contributors are getting 100% from us, it makes sense that we can get a helluva lot of referral business, as people will refer buyers to the place that makes them the most money everytime.. the more links back to us from web sites/blog/various profiles, the better our page rank with google..


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donding

« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2009, 17:42 »

#link

Quote from: zymmetrical on May 05, 2009, 15:30

Zymmetrical I'm not familiar with your site and I will go check it out, but the main question would be if you would be willing to back a co-op?
Would you be willing to listen to what those of the co-op want and change accordingly?
I think what everyone is voicing their opinions about right now is the terms and conditions of the big sites. You could be a great benifit if you would be willing to listen. As for rather you would be willing to do these things that would be left totally up to you. The way the site would be run would have to be agreed upon by all members.


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donding

« Reply #13 on: May 05, 2009, 17:44 »

#link

Quote from: hqimages on May 05, 2009, 17:34

That's another important part to success...that Google ranking. I always go to the first few when I make any kind of search. It would be important to get up there with all the hits.


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Vonkara

« Reply #14 on: May 05, 2009, 18:47 »

#link

Get yours today for FREE!!

ADD to discuss here http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=87899&page=1 and on MSG


« Last Edit: May 05, 2009, 18:50 by Vonkara »	Ignore \| Logged

tan510jomast

« Reply #15 on: May 05, 2009, 18:57 »

#link

Quote from: Vonkara on May 05, 2009, 18:47

Get yours today for FREE!!

ADD to discuss here http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=87899&page=1 and on MSG

lol, how about one of peanuts? i got some in my portfolio,
including this one, my latest masterpiece

rofl


« Last Edit: May 05, 2009, 19:13 by tan510jomast »	Logged

dnavarrojr

« Reply #16 on: May 05, 2009, 20:30 »

#link

One primary problem you're gonna run into is the same problem all the existing sites have... Creating a set of guidelines everyone is willing to follow. I guarantee that every single guideline will have someone who thinks it's a bad idea.

The idea of each artist creating their own web site and then somehow linking them together is the right direction, in my opinion. Each artist can charge what they like on their own site and create whatever type of license they want. What's needed is the ability for buyers to locate what they are looking for across all of the contributing sites.

What is needed is a web software package that easily allows an artist to quickly set up a web site, upload their content, set their prices, etc... Then the meta-data for each image is exported to a "central" site where buyers go to do their search.

The web software would have an API that allowed the search site to interact with it, allowing buyers to create a shopping cart, and handling the monetary transaction. A committee runs the central search site and charges a small per-transaction fee to cover costs and build revenue for maintenance and upgrades. A service can be used to handle automated payouts.

Charge a fee for the web software to cover initial costs.


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Kngkyle

« Reply #17 on: May 05, 2009, 20:39 »

#link

Hmm. I uploaded just 5 photos like a year ago to Zymmetrical just to test the system. Wasn't impressed at the time and never really checked to see if they ever sold. Just took a look now.. got a $17.50 sale from 1 of them last month. Maybe I should upload more? How is everyone else doing at Zymmetrical? Maybe this is the place to take our little co-op idea and work with them (if they are willing).


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donding

« Reply #18 on: May 05, 2009, 21:38 »

#link

Well folks I'm outta here...time for bed and time for more insperational dreams. Lets hope this won't die in our sleep..
Sweet dreams all


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Kngkyle

« Reply #19 on: May 05, 2009, 22:55 »

#link

On Zymmetrical upload page:

Quote

Notice - May-05-09:

Due to the unworkable volume of uploads from members who are not reading instructions and/or submitting large batches of unedited content, we are unfortunately forced to pause uploads. Uploading is currently disabled for all members (including FTP and the web forms) until we put online a new system with stricter, defined rules and penalties for those who do not 'play fair'.

All files already in the system should be described and submitted to our reviewers as normal.

For the vast majority of members who have been uploading quality content in a practical way- sorry for this inconvenience, however we cannot let a minority of members use up business resources in an unlimited way. Thank you for your patience as we revise the system and the policies.

- Keith Tuomi
CEO Flyerstarter Services Ltd.

I was going to upload some more files. Guess not today. Lips sealed

Hope this gets fixed soon. If their ever is a partnership between us and Zymmetrical I'm sure there will be a huge increase in submissions.


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epixx

« Reply #20 on: May 06, 2009, 01:50 »

#link

Try Featurepics. They were my fifth best earner last month, ahead of BS, StockXpert, 123 etc., with a low number of sales, but a high payout (70% of a price I decide myself) per dl.

FP rocks Grin


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leaf

Premium Member

« Reply #21 on: May 06, 2009, 02:03 »

#link

Is this not getting confusing for anyone else having two threads on the same subject. I think it was a decent idea starting a thread with a different subject but perhaps we should keep the discussion in the other thread

http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/contributors'-collective/


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