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Messages - nd3000

Pages: [1] 2
1
I do not criticize him, never did. My reality is the same as his is (maybe with slightly better numbers) but essentially we are all in the same boat. I absolutely take my hat off to his achievement. Period.

I am purely stating that I am sorry for Him, You, Joe and myself. Its a sad reality we are all in atm trying to squeeze the last drop of green juice.

Let me be clear once again. I respect him no matter what, I just wish there was a segmentation of contributors based on their success in the market. There are plenty of metrics sites could use to filter out worse/bad content and promote better images/videos/contributors.

Why dont they? Well its simple. They earn more from lower tier contributors and new contributors attract more new contributors which in exchange further increases their profit percentages. The disadvantage of this is that buyers need to filter through many more images until they find what they need. It seems that they are still willing to sacrifice a little bit of their time. So this is not a huge drawback.

Exactly for this reason a more sustainable business might be macrostock.
Thats just my opinion, I might be wrong but I usually am not.

2
To achieve a given DL number at a given time in future you would need to overcome the increase of the sites databases increase in percentage - in a dream world that is, as the demand for new images doesnt increase exponentially. The population growth and demand for new media doesnt follow this pattern.

It is very easy to see that an individual (even a big corp) can not keep expanding at a rate so that the earnings stay steady. Microstock model is skewed, no nicer way to put it. Big corps will keep expanding as long as the expense of new image productions are profitable in X years ( you have to factor in inflation etc into this equation as well).  It is a rather complex business model to calculate but as long as you can have cheap production rates it might be worth adding images but with agencies competing against each other with cheap/free images we are already at dead end.

I am no longer motivated to work, upload, be creative etc. Producing high quality images for micro prices is totally not worth it, what one can do is pollute the database with mediocre images and hope that they get exposure among the other mediocre images.

Sad but true.

I was not lucky enough to join the micro business back  in the golden days, now its almost IMPOSSIBLE to make a living out of this industry. There is a 0.1% chance you will succeed and even if you do the future doesnt look bright.
Even in the case of a successful lift off, the potential to improve and expand the business can be (and is expected to be) destroyed by competing agencies' action to cut prices.
You just have to deal with it and understand that this business model is DEAD.

My advice to young folks is to invest their time in something else. Photography is ok, microstock is not.

3
Honestly I never knew that having 1k dl's a day was a big thing. I think when I first crossed that mark was 3 years after I started shooting and with around 30k images total in my portfolio. My numbers have dropped by 30% since the change at SS. Adobe started giving away images for free, I wouldnt be so hyped for the future.

Cheers

4
Just to update on the actual topic. My current RPD is 0.736, excluding video which is not bad as I had some SODs that brought the average up.

I still hate the new earnings system and consider this an anomaly. I didnt jump ship so far as I wanted to gather enough data beforehand. I still resent the idea of selling subs for 10 cents. If it was possible I would opt out of selling subs to those buyers with large package deals, I surely would. Even if it meant a lot less money for me.

BUT I have to say that I am very honored to be in the company of some courageous people who disabled their portfolios straight away. If a change is goingto happen, it will be because of them and THEM only. My attitude in this matter is not fruitful BUT I gave myself 2 weeks to see where I stand. Even if I stay and my earnings dont change I will feel like a traitor.

I will decide together with the Russians 8)


Thank you :) You are welcome to join, together with the Russians! I know they are many :)
Also, you can join Stock Submitter Coalition on FB, together we can do more!
www.facebook.com/groups/261369748434285/


Already joined. Are you Hungarian by any chance? ;)

5
Just to update on the actual topic. My current RPD is 0.736, excluding video which is not bad as I had some SODs that brought the average up.

I still hate the new earnings system and consider this an anomaly. I didnt jump ship so far as I wanted to gather enough data beforehand. I still resent the idea of selling subs for 10 cents. If it was possible I would opt out of selling subs to those buyers with large package deals, I surely would. Even if it meant a lot less money for me.

BUT I have to say that I am very honored to be in the company of some courageous people who disabled their portfolios straight away. If a change is goingto happen, it will be because of them and THEM only. My attitude in this matter is not fruitful BUT I gave myself 2 weeks to see where I stand. Even if I stay and my earnings dont change I will feel like a traitor.

I will decide together with the Russians 8)

6
The most often used word in these magnificent letters is The POTENTIAL TO EARN MORE. Its not a lie. There is potential for you to travel to Mars now as well, it sure isnt impossible ;D

Oh man, this whole thing is funny in a way. Very sad and amusing at the same time.

I honestly think that SS could have introduced image quality levels and let contributors chose in what tier they want to sell their assets.

Each contributor and buyer would have a chance to pick a tier where to upload and search for content depending on how much they want to get paid/spend.

That way it would still be netting SS more money and promoting higher quality content etc.

Its just a hybrid system that while still not good is better than this one.
For higher tier contributors with quality content that was very costly to produce it would mean that actually most of their work would be seen as opposed to now when 10 pages of a dirty cat in 20 various angles shot from a phone gets posted every minute...

Justmy 2 cents.

7
I cant help but post again. As much as I try to be forgiving and understanding I failed this time. Astockphotographer088, if you really cared about trends and statistics you would be looking at what people SAY as opposed to trying to get numbers for YOUR very simplified statistical formulae. Just sit down, take a breath, nobody hates anybody here BUT I will try to help you get to the bottom of this easily. I know a dozen contributors who are in top100 rankings on all platforms. Plenty of files, plenty of data to be gathered. We ALL are seeing massive to considerable DROPS. I cant sugarcoat this and why would I? Do you think forums would be on fire if sales were fantastic?

I sell less or equal amount of images for far less money. So far today AS is beating SS 3fold for me. That would have never happened before, ever. Period. As so far in June is leading by more than a thousand dollars. Crazy right? Well guess what, AS stayed the same but SS just pooped itself.

Let go of trying to estimate an RPD man..varies from port to port, time of the year etc. big ports are going to give you the numbers in a week that hundreds of small ports will supply in a month. Those people are reporting a 10 to 40% drop.

Have a great day and please be reasonable.

8
People had been reporting losing images then which I assume might be related to SS deleting similars and duplicates. Thats my guess.

9
My RPD for subs in June is 0.23. We are talking 500+ subs / day here. Its a Bad joke.

10
I really dont like the negativity, guys stop it. People assuming higher levels could actually increase the earnings are VERY wrong. People who have large amounts of traffic and sales can provide better samples. I am nowhere near the big guns but I have managed to get here in 5 years while being a father of 2 while having other things to do. I really havent slept much, that is for certain 😂. I never wanted to negotiate a special deal nor do I intend to. What really pisses me off is that I have 20.000+ New photos ready to be uploaded which are way above my microstockish quality I have been adding thus far and I am not willing to upload high quality content to be sold off for 10 cents. So For the past months I kept uploading subpar quality images from 4-5 years ago..

So where does one sell high quality macrostock other than getty? I really dont fancy them either.
Well, if it turns out to be 30%, it is not the end of the world, especially because Adobe is overtaking a part of your and everyone elses income. It is roughly 15% of overall loses then. Just trying to make things look better, since I noticed it took a big hit on you :) Regarding your top quality content, well I know you are emotional, but Getty is still the biggest player in that field.

I just cant let them keep humiliating us/me even so now when I know that the change was not done to help them cope with the new challenges and all that pr crap they throw at us.

11
I believe you. As strange as it sounds some really did see a 200% increase during The past 2months without having covid images at all. Some glitch in the algorithm or pushing of some contributors to the front pages is real thing it seems. What bothers me is that I have seen  in some post that The average RPD netted SS something like 3.5 if I recall correctly. For them to decrease the rpd for us from 0.6-0.7 to 0.4-0.5 is just pure greed. I think january reset should be abolished although itwouldnt affect me much as I would climb the ladder fast enough. Still its just a moneygrab scheme for them and an ugly one.  Whats more important, they should change the minimum sub to something like 0.3 andthat should pretty much result in numbers similar to the old system forthe average contributor while still stimulating them to upload more as the ones higher up would be earning a bit more. It wont happen though, the sole reason was to stuff their hungry capitalist mouths even more.

My average rpd without enhanced was $0.52 and with the enhanced it was $0.64
My June rpd right now without enhanced is $0.56 and with the enhanced it is $0.86

I don't understand the huge difference in your portfolio and you have a big number of downloads, so your losses must in the hundreds right now. Are you commercial or editorial? I am asking because maybe editorial gets more large publication clients that would own those penny deals Shutterstock is offering. But commercial may keep attracting more smaller clients?

Losses are in thousands. Commercial only.

12
I dont know why somebody would compare data from like 2 years ago even. The market has taken a hairpin turn since then basically. Add to that the presence of a virus and various other factors with one being certain portfolios have a specific time when theydo better etc. its best to compare May to June.

13
You are taking a 5 day sample of one person's earnings and then telling people they need to understand maths maybe you could brush up on your statistics.

With a 25% sample you can accurately determine election results also. It's called statistics and they work. The 25% is because I counted 5 working days out of ~20 average that stock sales are most active.

So please be as kind as to explain my numbers then. I am a mathematician and a software engineer by trade so I might know a thing or two. I have not been posting on forums because I am emailing shutterstock directly BUT I am lvl 6 and I have had a steady 500+ images sold on every freaking day for the past 3 years. That gives you a clear picture and a good enough sample to draw conclusions. 70% of the sales are below 0.2 and most are just 0.1. I do get 100+ sales as well but the overall numbers are dreadful. We are looking at a 30% decrease in earnings. I am waiting for another week and I am gone.

Look man, I trust what you are saying but I'm out of this sentimental bs that some people that can't calculate throw at me. I don't see a 70% below $0.2 like you, but more like a 40%. If you want to talk about it more accurately and compare stats feel free to pm me. If your portfolio had exactly the same tendencies like mine at the moment then you would have surely seen a +8% with the new system just because you are level 6 and I am level 5. I am willing to share screenshots, skype video call with you or whatever.

I believe you. As strange as it sounds some really did see a 200% increase during The past 2months without having covid images at all. Some glitch in the algorithm or pushing of some contributors to the front pages is real thing it seems. What bothers me is that I have seen  in some post that The average RPD netted SS something like 3.5 if I recall correctly. For them to decrease the rpd for us from 0.6-0.7 to 0.4-0.5 is just pure greed. I think january reset should be abolished although itwouldnt affect me much as I would climb the ladder fast enough. Still its just a moneygrab scheme for them and an ugly one.  Whats more important, they should change the minimum sub to something like 0.3 andthat should pretty much result in numbers similar to the old system forthe average contributor while still stimulating them to upload more as the ones higher up would be earning a bit more. It wont happen though, the sole reason was to stuff their hungry capitalist mouths even more.

14
I really dont like the negativity, guys stop it. People assuming higher levels could actually increase the earnings are VERY wrong. People who have large amounts of traffic and sales can provide better samples. I am nowhere near the big guns but I have managed to get here in 5 years while being a father of 2 while having other things to do. I really havent slept much, that is for certain 😂. I never wanted to negotiate a special deal nor do I intend to. What really pisses me off is that I have 20.000+ New photos ready to be uploaded which are way above my microstockish quality I have been adding thus far and I am not willing to upload high quality content to be sold off for 10 cents. So For the past months I kept uploading subpar quality images from 4-5 years ago..

So where does one sell high quality macrostock other than getty? I really dont fancy them either.

15
You are taking a 5 day sample of one person's earnings and then telling people they need to understand maths maybe you could brush up on your statistics.

With a 25% sample you can accurately determine election results also. It's called statistics and they work. The 25% is because I counted 5 working days out of ~20 average that stock sales are most active.

So please be as kind as to explain my numbers then. I am a mathematician and a software engineer by trade so I might know a thing or two. I have not been posting on forums because I am emailing shutterstock directly BUT I am lvl 6 and I have had a steady 500+ images sold on every freaking day for the past 3 years. That gives you a clear picture and a good enough sample to draw conclusions. 70% of the sales are below 0.2 and most are just 0.1. I do get 100+ sales as well but the overall numbers are dreadful. We are looking at a 30% decrease in earnings. I am waiting for another week and I am gone.
You are right, I'm level 6 also, and the numbers  look more like 40% to 50% decrease. Maybe you were talking about impact on your overall income (including all the agencies)?

Just SS alone, but some contributors I know have had a huge jump, 200% during covid months at SS. I kept dropping sales during that period as well. So depends what timeframe we compare it to. There is a natural decline because of the volume and expansion of microstock and covid added to that but May vs June should filter out the noise somewhat ..and that is a 28% drop for me.

16
You are taking a 5 day sample of one person's earnings and then telling people they need to understand maths maybe you could brush up on your statistics.

With a 25% sample you can accurately determine election results also. It's called statistics and they work. The 25% is because I counted 5 working days out of ~20 average that stock sales are most active.

So please be as kind as to explain my numbers then. I am a mathematician and a software engineer by trade so I might know a thing or two. I have not been posting on forums because I am emailing shutterstock directly BUT I am lvl 6 and I have had a steady 500+ images sold on every freaking day for the past 3 years. That gives you a clear picture and a good enough sample to draw conclusions. 70% of the sales are below 0.2 and most are just 0.1. I do get 100+ sales as well but the overall numbers are dreadful. We are looking at a 30% decrease in earnings. I am waiting for another week and I am gone.
Thank you for this and taking the time to post

No problem guys. I am doing this for the greater good and to postpone the death of the broken microstock business model.  For the record, I have been earning more at AS for the last couple of months with May being AS = SS x 1.15. So far in June AS= SS x 1.3 . If AS had a nice exclusive package for contributors I would be gone by now.

17
You are taking a 5 day sample of one person's earnings and then telling people they need to understand maths maybe you could brush up on your statistics.

With a 25% sample you can accurately determine election results also. It's called statistics and they work. The 25% is because I counted 5 working days out of ~20 average that stock sales are most active.

So please be as kind as to explain my numbers then. I am a mathematician and a software engineer by trade so I might know a thing or two. I have not been posting on forums because I am emailing shutterstock directly BUT I am lvl 6 and I have had a steady 500+ images sold on every freaking day for the past 3 years. That gives you a clear picture and a good enough sample to draw conclusions. 70% of the sales are below 0.2 and most are just 0.1. I do get 100+ sales as well but the overall numbers are dreadful. We are looking at a 30% decrease in earnings. I am waiting for another week and I am gone.

18
Shutterstock.com / Re: Zero sales of new files
« on: November 03, 2019, 15:57 »
the list is pretty old, in 2 years everything has changed...actually since 2017 ss open the gate an flooding of images has began...f

https://www.fotolia.com/p/206713618


this is house poe production born after 2017, in less than 2 years and a bunch of months they added half million images, there are much more from serbia and russia....the scheme is simple ,saturated all market, take idea and copycat them using many photographer paid penny,m and good model paid 10 dollar hours maximum. light field has a fully functional studio with lot of room, you can rent for 10 dollar hour if you go kiev to produce.

i have seen many house of production lately are copycatting especially the style and idea of jacob lund.

Show me your data collection for 2019? You know, locations, number of artists, image totals for top 20 maybe?

Thanks for the filler on Andorra I never would have known. Here's some things I found which I'd say I still don't know much about Andorra. Andorra, according to the World Bank, is among top 15 countries with the highest GDP per capita. ... According to International living index, Andorra is a 12-th position in the world in terms of level and quality of life. Andorra is often considered as one of the safest countries in the world, and Andorra La Vella one of the safest European cities. The most used language is English, 38.8% of the Andorran population speak Catalan. To date, there are 516 Russians in Andorra. The immigration policy of the Principality is under control, and the number of immigrants is strictly quoted according to demands of the economy.

The link for "house poe production born after 2017" whatever that means, doesn't show anything. Got a link that works?  ;)

Reminder, true the location could be a lie and many accounts list no location. We don't know. This is simple the best information to indicate who has the largest accounts and where they are from. I don't know if SS actually checks the listed location. What I mean is, this is the best data available, if someone has better, please show us.

The data used for artists location was the 18,000 accounts that had over 1,000 images on SS at the time. Of course that could have changed, but the selection was designed to represent active contributors, not 300,000 accounts registered. (as an example, the number is now over 500,000)

But the question remains, show me your data, numbers and proof?

well don't have data but is pretty easy to see the influence of russia ukraine and serbia in  the database.. zillions of file...just search any lifestyle idea you will see the predominance of house of production born in eastern europe

the link is light field fotolia google it...it's from kiev in ukraine...450000 file in less than 2 years...they have many people working salary less than 600 dollar....model super cheap...try replicate it in usa. in serbia there is

https://shootset.com/search?p=22&sort=recommended&country=Serbia&radius=10

is a stock model agency...if you ever have browsed lifestyle content in fotolia with model release you will recognize thousand of photos with the same 10 20 model of this agency....
it's not that they love doing photos more than us...it's their cost areas cheap is still good to shoot lifestyle content....in italy good model cost 10 times the price i pay in ukraine....where i pay 10 dollarr hour and it's already much more than what many stocker from kiev pay.

In Serbia you pay 30$ for an average model but no model works for less than 20$ these days. Some with more experience have a wage as high as 65$/hr. So its pretty easy to see that an average set with 7-8 models will cost you around 1k. Not very expensive but not darn cheap either.

in serbia cost of life is one 4 of the rest of world...renting space is one tenth...model cost 30 dollar but you can find pretty darn good for 10 15 dollar.... it's not you or other serbian have more wish to shot is that you have cost 23 4 times inferior to the rest of the world...it's like producing cheap items in america or in china, it's not competitive for usa because cost are higher is the same....that'0s why most of house of production are in serbia russia and ukraine.
you have a portfolio that would have cost 5 times more than what you paid and you did in less than 2 3 year, try to work and produce such a portfolio in uk or italy ,, then you will see how much you would have earned and if you would have shot micro stock for living.....anyway next year i will move to belagreade for 2 months...already contacted many models from that agency and 30 dollar are for top notch model , other are happy with much less.

Its not that I am not aware of the costs of living in other countries as I live in an EU country with costs of life being a lot higher compared to Serbia. That is the exact reason I go to shoot there. I just wanted to clarify the costs of a set over there. What used to be 15 usd 2-3 years ago, its 30-50 today.  But hating people for living in 3rd world countries just because they can produce content for less is like hating people paying low taxes in Virgin Islands. Btw living in a 3rd world country isnt necessarily great in some other aspects.

Im not here to argue, I justposted facts but Im out.

19
Shutterstock.com / Re: Zero sales of new files
« on: November 03, 2019, 02:46 »
the list is pretty old, in 2 years everything has changed...actually since 2017 ss open the gate an flooding of images has began...f

https://www.fotolia.com/p/206713618


this is house poe production born after 2017, in less than 2 years and a bunch of months they added half million images, there are much more from serbia and russia....the scheme is simple ,saturated all market, take idea and copycat them using many photographer paid penny,m and good model paid 10 dollar hours maximum. light field has a fully functional studio with lot of room, you can rent for 10 dollar hour if you go kiev to produce.

i have seen many house of production lately are copycatting especially the style and idea of jacob lund.

Show me your data collection for 2019? You know, locations, number of artists, image totals for top 20 maybe?

Thanks for the filler on Andorra I never would have known. Here's some things I found which I'd say I still don't know much about Andorra. Andorra, according to the World Bank, is among top 15 countries with the highest GDP per capita. ... According to International living index, Andorra is a 12-th position in the world in terms of level and quality of life. Andorra is often considered as one of the safest countries in the world, and Andorra La Vella one of the safest European cities. The most used language is English, 38.8% of the Andorran population speak Catalan. To date, there are 516 Russians in Andorra. The immigration policy of the Principality is under control, and the number of immigrants is strictly quoted according to demands of the economy.

The link for "house poe production born after 2017" whatever that means, doesn't show anything. Got a link that works?  ;)

Reminder, true the location could be a lie and many accounts list no location. We don't know. This is simple the best information to indicate who has the largest accounts and where they are from. I don't know if SS actually checks the listed location. What I mean is, this is the best data available, if someone has better, please show us.

The data used for artists location was the 18,000 accounts that had over 1,000 images on SS at the time. Of course that could have changed, but the selection was designed to represent active contributors, not 300,000 accounts registered. (as an example, the number is now over 500,000)

But the question remains, show me your data, numbers and proof?

well don't have data but is pretty easy to see the influence of russia ukraine and serbia in  the database.. zillions of file...just search any lifestyle idea you will see the predominance of house of production born in eastern europe

the link is light field fotolia google it...it's from kiev in ukraine...450000 file in less than 2 years...they have many people working salary less than 600 dollar....model super cheap...try replicate it in usa. in serbia there is

https://shootset.com/search?p=22&sort=recommended&country=Serbia&radius=10

is a stock model agency...if you ever have browsed lifestyle content in fotolia with model release you will recognize thousand of photos with the same 10 20 model of this agency....
it's not that they love doing photos more than us...it's their cost areas cheap is still good to shoot lifestyle content....in italy good model cost 10 times the price i pay in ukraine....where i pay 10 dollarr hour and it's already much more than what many stocker from kiev pay.

In Serbia you pay 30$ for an average model but no model works for less than 20$ these days. Some with more experience have a wage as high as 65$/hr. So its pretty easy to see that an average set with 7-8 models will cost you around 1k. Not very expensive but not darn cheap either.

20
MicrostockSubmitter / Memory keeps being used up. Anybody else?
« on: December 10, 2017, 11:47 »
Hello,

Stocksubmitter has been using up all of my memory for the last couple of days/weeks after which it shuts down without warning. Even after a fresh start it just keeps eating up all the memory without doing anything. Paging file adjustments dont seem to  help. Anybody else with this issue?

Thank you,

21
MicrostockSubmitter / Re: Updates
« on: October 10, 2017, 03:09 »
When I first asked about backups , this is what  I got:

All of my files are stored on a network NAS which is 24/7 on with hybrid RAID + there are 2 local backups to computers on network. Furthermore my NAS is synchronized with backblaze so a cloud backup of FILES THEMSELVES is created. But I click on "no I dont want to backup data" at the startup of the program. Backing up files themselves is I suppose sufficient? If statuses of images by agencies are stored in files themselves then all is good. (video has a seperate file, i know).

Cheers,

22
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock Custom is born
« on: September 29, 2017, 14:00 »
I just want to wait it out in that case as I am not willing to shoot something and not own any rights for any image on that set. Doing a couple of photos for couple of hundred bucks is ok as long as I can make hundred more images but something tells me that is not the case.

Other than that I just can not comprehend how one could possibly finance a shoot with pocket money?

If offered around 400-500 for business location that one has to travel to and shoot 4-5 models can get by getting 300-400 dollars I may be doing something totally wrong or very right.

Travel expenses
Equipment amortization
Time spent organizing models and location
Shooting time
Model costs (20-50bucks /h)
...
and of course the retouching, uploading, tagging process is free in this case but otherwise still accounts for a large part of the expenses.

And this is why I just dont know how I could possibly charge something 500 bucks that cost me close to 1000 not counting my effort / time / experience etc.



23
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock Custom is born
« on: September 29, 2017, 12:27 »
Dear compatriots,

Correct me if I'm wrong but I interpret this in the way that I ought to submit a number of photos they require (or videos for that matter) and with the rest I may do whatever I want. Submit to shutterstock "classic" or other agencies? Yay or Nay?

Here is what I read in the contract that needs to be signed:

"You may also make Submissions that we do not accept and for which we do not compensate you, on our sole prerogative (Unselected Submissions). You will own, all right, title and interest in and to the Unselected Submissions, however Unselected Submissions containing an identifiable brand in the image that were shot and submitted specifically for a Shutterstock Brief, may not re-sold or licensed or used for any commercial purpose whatsoever, nor may you represent that the Unselected Submissions were taken for a Shutterstock client or for a Shutterstock Brief, both of which are covered by Section 7, Confidentiality. "

Thank you for your clarification.

Cheers,

24
I do apologize for jumping to conclusions way to early, most of the errors I am facing on a daily basis is due to sites malfunctioning and not processing attached releases. Support is still lacking but should be back to normal soon, I was told.


25
Unfortunately, even after buying stocksubmitter you wouldnt be able to get support from either the developer nor their "live support" ...and neither does Nikaris answer messages sent to him. They just dont like people who suggest new options, point out bugs, etc.
The software would not attach model releases to files at times (more often than not) and would submit images that way after which the agency wold reject your photos / videos. Now as you know  pond5 likes to have videos renamed after they had been sent once so  there you go , you can go try again.

The idea behind stocksubmitter is great but the support is terrible.

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