I read those.  All very reasonable IMO.  #1 and #2 seem to be a direct result of Yuri's departure leaving them and their customers in the lurch.  No wonder they want to avoid that sort of thing in the future. 

Also pleased about the second paragraph in #4 stating that if your photo depicts sensitive uses, it is automatically available for sensitive uses.   I have my images opted out of sensitive uses because it's too broad, but I do have some photos of people smoking, or experiencing illness and it would be silly if the opt out prevented them for being used for those purposes. 

All in all, a smart batch of changes.

I'd be curious to see what the reaction would be if iStock. changed their terms to add things like a 90 day lock in period (exclusives leaving and they want to stop the bleeding), using social media to market (more google drive deals), free (full sized?) comps (giving away our images), secrecy about earnings (the company is about to collapse), no opt out for sensitive use of some images (taking away our choices), etc....

To me those changes look bad for contributors.

Every company on the internet can change their TOS whenever they want to. Shutterstock is no exception.

The part that you cannot talk about your own earning does not seem to be fair.

The part that you cannot talk about your own earning does not seem to be fair.

Quote from: cthoman on September 17, 2013, 11:17

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on September 17, 2013, 11:07

"we respectfully ask that you do the same and keep specific information about your earnings private. General characterizations are fine."

That seems a bit restrictive.  Wonder what extent is too much.

Are they asking or telling?
It appears to be a contractual obligation that you don't talk about your earnings. I am surprised that your family members are not included in the exemption.

Other agencies, if I remember correctly, such as Fotolia or maybe DT, forbid contributors to talk about DLs and earnings in their own forums, but put no restrictions other than their own sites. IS has a monthly thread discussing DLs and earnings.

The new terms are nicely penned, but it does not change the harsh nature of the reality. By the way, I am a video contributor to SS.

6. Confidentiality
By submitting any Content to Shutterstock, you acknowledge that you will acquire certain confidential information, including but not limited to royalty rates, royalty payments and earnings data (collectively, "Confidential Information"). Confidential Information shall not be disclosed to any third party other than representatives, agents, attorneys, accountants, auditors and advisors with a bona fide need to know, who shall first agree to keep the terms confidential.

http://submit.shutterstock.com/terms/

It's in the TOS so talking about your "royalty rates, royalty payments and earnings data" or other things (whatever they are) would be a violation and I guess could result in the termination of your account.

Read a summary of the changes here;

http://www.shutterstock.com/buzz/terms-of-service-updates

Here's the details;

At Shutterstock, one of our most important goals is to support your success by delivering healthy and reliable earnings to you. We do that by growing and investing in customer relationships. Over the years, that investment has led us to deliver record milestones of 750,000 customers, 300 million paid downloads, $150 million in contributor earnings, and royalties of up to $120 or more per download.

We also have goals to minimize changes and to be open and transparent when changes do have to be made. With the latter goal in mind, we�d like to explain a few modifications to our Terms of Service. A summary of the most significant changes is below; please consult the Terms of Service for the full details.


1. If you decide to remove more than 100 items or 10% of  your content, whichever is greater, Shutterstock has up to 90 days to accommodate the request. With over 29 million assets, we�re seeing record levels of content growth and contributor activity, but also record levels of customer activity. As we grow, there are new technical, workflow and customer realities that we need to accommodate. Ninety days gives us some time to make sure images come out of search results gracefully, as well as handle other administrative and technical tasks. In practice, we expect this to go faster.

3. We can market your content via social media. We already market your content to customers through many different channels, and social media is one of the most powerful ways to drive customers to your work. This update formalizes our ability to use social media channels for marketing with the intention of growing sales for you.


7. Confidentiality: We Protect And Respect Your Privacy. Please Respect Ours. As an artist at Shutterstock, you�re in a position to acquire information that you would not otherwise receive outside of our platform. Your earnings information might sometimes contain data that can be used by our competitors to reverse-engineer our products and services.

We work hard to both protect and respect your privacy; we respectfully ask that you do the same and keep specific information about your earnings private. General characterizations are fine.

These are highlights of the most important changes to our Terms of Service. Please consult the full document for additional details, and please let us know if you have any questions at [email protected].

Best Regards,

The Shutterstock Team

Good luck enforcing that. You'd need a full time staff just doing that.