MicrostockGroup

They should start reviewing content like thy use to. Rejecting 100% or almost 100% of uploaded content won't get them anywhere.

I have an idea, although it is likely just wishful thinking.

Instead of rejecting submissions for "Low Commercial Value", allow them to be added but with a probationary period. No sales after 60 days, and then they'll be removed.

I had a vector that was rejected twice for LCV,  and finally approved on the third try. It has sold 35 times now in the past 5 weeks. Not amazing results, but certainly has some value.

+1 excellent idea

They could open a midstock credit based agency, that pays 60% commissions and offers the best, fresh imagery available . That would sure be nice. They could just transfer the top 5% of the images there (not just based on sales, but also originality, edginess etc, an A/V like stuff) and leave the weeds at SS.

 

All we're doing here is talking about things we'd like as contributors... accept more of my images, etc.

I think the point of the Hackathon is to think outside the box on how to grow Shutterstock's business.   How can they attract more customers, offer a new product or service that better serves customer needs, etc.   (I know some will reply that letting more of your images in will help grow their business... No.  Still missing the point.)

Maybe some kind of engine in which a customer can enter his website URL and have Shutterstock crawl its content and then suggest images that match the themes and even style of the site?  Can it be done?  I'm no programmer, but it seems possible to me.

I think ides like this are more in the spirit of what the Hackathon is about.

They could try an exclusive images collection, with higher prices and commission.  They could do a lot more to sell video clips, I really don't think they have put as much effort in to that as they have stills.  What about all the times we have stills and video clips of the same subject?  Perhaps buyers might want both, if there was a way to show them on the same page.

I don't know if it would work but I have wondered why the sites can't get in to the markets that sites like zazzle and redbubble are in.  Just selling products and prints of microstck images wont work but they could select the content most suitable and use that.

Offer PNG format.  Once iStock implements it (soon), everybody else will have to fall in line to compete.

I'd prefer to see a company ask their vendors and customers for input on what they'd like to see improved, changed and added rather than just keep their head in the sand as if a select few within their inner circle had the corner on good ideas.

There is also one difference between what SS is doing and what iStock is doing that seems pretty clear - iStock is asking for suggestions on what is broken and how to fix it whereas SS has the attitude that there are a lot of fantastic new options and directions out there and they are seeking ideas from a wide variety of sources to take their business to the next model. 

With the new developments on IS yes, I'll stump again for SS exclusive! I don't care if we get 1 penny more, anything to encourage people to drop the rest and feed the beast. LOL 

SS is The Beast!

I'm not sure there is really much they can do to improve. Maybe adding collections, but their huge database of files makes that a large undertaking. They kind of backed themselves into a corner with the subs model. I guess they could go the opposite route and offer more individual sales, but I assumed that was what the acquiring BigStock was for. And that seems to have been kind of a bust (at least from my perspective). It will be interesting to see what they come up with though.

one possibility would be to phase out the current subs and replace them with subs that limit the size of image you can download, or charge more credits per download, etc

re the probationary acceptance - that's a great idea -
and would take few resources to implement - the probationary files could have a flag set, and then the system would automatically delete images with that flag and < Y  sales after X days, otherwise the flag would be removed; so no further human attention would be needed