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Author Topic: Dissolve price update  (Read 41499 times)

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« Reply #125 on: August 02, 2015, 03:42 »
0
How do you define inferior product?
I define it as NOT providing buyers with the same features and services that other agencies do.
Shutterstock offers a paid service for their agents locating media.  So, if I don't have time to do the research on clips for a project, I can pay them to do it.  And they do a GREAT job of it.  Pond5, for certain clients, will do the same thing for free.

Correction! P5 does NOT offer this kind of service at all. P5 does NOT have sales department, sales agents, nor presence in the richest markets - UK, Canada and Australia.
 :o
« Last Edit: August 02, 2015, 03:44 by KnowYourOnions »


« Reply #126 on: August 02, 2015, 03:47 »
0
Darn it.I always wanted to sell my stuff in Canada,UK and Australia.

Daisy

« Reply #127 on: August 02, 2015, 06:36 »
0
No one is really cheering for Videoblocks they are cheering for the 100% royalty.

In the long run Videoblocks will not be good for the industry as they will eventually have a vast library of 'free' content. The faster they buyout clips for their 'free' library the faster the industry will meet its demise or have to rethink itself. However, you can always say 'no' if they request to buyout your clip and make some money in the meantime.

Dissolve's decision to match Videoblocks price structure without matching their royalty is not good for any of us. Our incomes will plummet and it will also spark a price war and accelerate the dive to the bottom.

Either way we end up screwed but with Videoblocks you can make some money on the way  :)

« Reply #128 on: August 02, 2015, 07:08 »
+2
No one is really cheering for Videoblocks they are cheering for the 100% royalty.

In the long run Videoblocks will not be good for the industry as they will eventually have a vast library of 'free' content. The faster they buyout clips for their 'free' library the faster the industry will meet its demise or have to rethink itself. However, you can always say 'no' if they request to buyout your clip and make some money in the meantime.

Dissolve's decision to match Videoblocks price structure without matching their royalty is not good for any of us. Our incomes will plummet and it will also spark a price war and accelerate the dive to the bottom.

Either way we end up screwed but with Videoblocks you can make some money on the way  :)

You are missing the point.I am not accusing anyone of cheering for videoblocks,and i dont care about the reasons that makes vb so lucrative right now, be it commissions,sales,personal preference,ideology, and whatnot.
Im just stating the obvious.
That since it was more or less revealed right from the start that this move from dissolve was to hit videoblocks,
vb suddenly became the good guy out from nowhere in a conversation that wasnt even meant from them.And not only vb.Suddenly everyone is the good guy here apart from ds.

I agree with you that it is at least imperative that we should make money from whatever agency we can but we are running out of agencies to even do this for a limited amount of time,forget about business planning,sense of stability,etc etc.
Which shows exactly how frail this business has become,and in my mind for no good,logical or pragmatic reason whatsoever,other that stupidity and greed.

« Reply #129 on: August 02, 2015, 08:42 »
+2
No one is really cheering for Videoblocks they are cheering for the 100% royalty.

In the long run Videoblocks will not be good for the industry as they will eventually have a vast library of 'free' content. The faster they buyout clips for their 'free' library the faster the industry will meet its demise or have to rethink itself. However, you can always say 'no' if they request to buyout your clip and make some money in the meantime.

Dissolve's decision to match Videoblocks price structure without matching their royalty is not good for any of us. Our incomes will plummet and it will also spark a price war and accelerate the dive to the bottom.

Either way we end up screwed but with Videoblocks you can make some money on the way  :)

You are missing the point.I am not accusing anyone of cheering for videoblocks,and i dont care about the reasons that makes vb so lucrative right now, be it commissions,sales,personal preference,ideology, and whatnot.
Im just stating the obvious.
That since it was more or less revealed right from the start that this move from dissolve was to hit videoblocks,
vb suddenly became the good guy out from nowhere in a conversation that wasnt even meant from them.And not only vb.Suddenly everyone is the good guy here apart from ds.

I agree with you that it is at least imperative that we should make money from whatever agency we can but we are running out of agencies to even do this for a limited amount of time,forget about business planning,sense of stability,etc etc.
Which shows exactly how frail this business has become,and in my mind for no good,logical or pragmatic reason whatsoever,other that stupidity and greed.

This is a good point. The perception (and reality) is the Dissolve doesn't give a rats a** what we make, only what they can muster up in revenue. Compare that with VB and you can reasonably infer that VB=good guy and Dissolve=bad guy. It is actions that drive these conclusive perceptions and the ones Dissolve made is NOT GOOD for the contributor, as usual. 

Daisy

« Reply #130 on: August 02, 2015, 08:50 »
0
We must stop uploading to Dissolve and do our best to close our accounts. They already have several thousand 1080p clips marked at $49.


(can we get all this back into one thread?)

« Reply #131 on: August 02, 2015, 09:01 »
0
Buyers don't care what royalty rate you're getting if they see the exact same clips for a much lower price they are going to go towards the cheaper site.  It seems to me that you can't have your cake and eat it too, either you support low pricing or not because if it's not Dissolve that lowers prices some or all of the other sites will if cheap sites are taking market share.

« Reply #132 on: August 02, 2015, 09:24 »
0
Buyers don't care what royalty rate you're getting if they see the exact same clips for a much lower price they are going to go towards the cheaper site.  It seems to me that you can't have your cake and eat it too, either you support low pricing or not because if it's not Dissolve that lowers prices some or all of the other sites will if cheap sites are taking market share.

So what's your point?That this conversation is futile?That we should all go with it because buyers behave instinctively just like you say?Maybe its in our benefit then?


« Reply #133 on: August 02, 2015, 09:29 »
0
Buyers don't care what royalty rate you're getting if they see the exact same clips for a much lower price they are going to go towards the cheaper site.  It seems to me that you can't have your cake and eat it too, either you support low pricing or not because if it's not Dissolve that lowers prices some or all of the other sites will if cheap sites are taking market share.

So what's your point?That this conversation is futile?That we should all go with it because buyers behave instinctively just like you say?Maybe its in our benefit then?
I think you should stay away from cheaply priced sites if you don't want others to follow.  I've stayed away from VB for exactly that reason.

« Reply #134 on: August 02, 2015, 09:36 »
+1
Buyers don't care what royalty rate you're getting if they see the exact same clips for a much lower price they are going to go towards the cheaper site.  It seems to me that you can't have your cake and eat it too, either you support low pricing or not because if it's not Dissolve that lowers prices some or all of the other sites will if cheap sites are taking market share.

So what's your point?That this conversation is futile?That we should all go with it because buyers behave instinctively just like you say?Maybe its in our benefit then?
I think you should stay away from cheaply priced sites if you don't want others to follow.  I've stayed away from VB for exactly that reason.

You are right.Last month ss lowered  price of 4k.Seems like a cheap site to me.Although my commissions there have always been low in average.So cheap for me again.But stable and lots of sales.So now im confused.Is it cheap or expensive?
P5 is cheap.But it can be expensive too.I have decided to be mostly expensive for me and sometimes cheap.It delivers on both.So what should i do?Ditch p5 too?

What i mean is it all comes down to what you are expecting to get from an agency and if you can live with that.
So let me ask you is there any agency in your universe that isn't "cheap"?Because in mine there isnt any.


« Reply #135 on: August 02, 2015, 09:51 »
0
Buyers don't care what royalty rate you're getting if they see the exact same clips for a much lower price they are going to go towards the cheaper site.  It seems to me that you can't have your cake and eat it too, either you support low pricing or not because if it's not Dissolve that lowers prices some or all of the other sites will if cheap sites are taking market share.

So what's your point?That this conversation is futile?That we should all go with it because buyers behave instinctively just like you say?Maybe its in our benefit then?
I think you should stay away from cheaply priced sites if you don't want others to follow.  I've stayed away from VB for exactly that reason.

You are right.Last month ss lowered  price of 4k.Seems like a cheap site to me.Although my commissions there have always been low in average.So cheap for me again.But stable and lots of sales.So now im confused.Is it cheap or expensive?
P5 is cheap.But it can be expensive too.I have decided to be mostly expensive for me and sometimes cheap.It delivers on both.So what should i do?Ditch p5 too?

What i mean is it all comes down to what you are expecting to get from an agency and if you can live with that.
So let me ask you is there any agency in your universe that isn't "cheap"?Because in mine there isnt any.
If you are ok licensing your work on one site for $49 expect other sites to follow. 

« Reply #136 on: August 02, 2015, 10:03 »
+7
"Who we are

Dissolve was founded by image-industry veterans including founders of iStockphoto and Veer, and executives from Getty Images, Corbis, and Fotolia. Dissolve's headquarters are in Calgary, Canada, with staff in Los Angeles, New York City, and Vancouver."

 Has no one in that wealth of experience noticed the need for good relationships??????

« Reply #137 on: August 02, 2015, 14:06 »
0
Quote

 Has no one in that wealth of experience noticed the need for good relationships??????

There is a good chance that they maintain good relations with a number of their own contributors to the point that they may be taking some of their "advises" a bit too far.
But that is a bit far fetched, i admit.

« Reply #138 on: August 15, 2015, 01:52 »
+1
So- prices in my portfolio will be reduced as well.
Got a notification yesterday.

My answer was:
Thank You for heads up.
A question: does my royalty rate will still be 20%? I know that for other contributors it's around 30 or even 35%.
I think it's less time consuming to keep the prices of my port on 49 and not to start providing lists from files I have on sale elsewhere and track the prices on other sites which is not really my idea of contributor duties in microstock business. However the price cut does feel like a punishment. Therefore I am afraid to upload my  remaining part of portfolio of 3d animations as dissolve seems to make price cuts too freely (why not to reduce price down then to 10 dollars?)

Best;
Taavet

« Reply #139 on: August 15, 2015, 03:07 »
+1
Wow. Are you sure? Since when do they offer 20%?

« Reply #140 on: August 15, 2015, 03:58 »
0
20%?

I thought it was at least 30 for indie content.

Does their contract also allow them to change the royalty rate anytime and not just the price?

Daisy

« Reply #141 on: August 15, 2015, 05:07 »
+3
Close your accounts ASAP.
They are heading to 1080p for $29.

#BoycottDissolve

« Reply #142 on: August 15, 2015, 08:12 »
+1
20%?

I thought it was at least 30 for indie content.

Does their contract also allow them to change the royalty rate anytime and not just the price?

According to them, they have the right to change prices, but I am not sure about commissions. If they went to less than 30 then I think they would have to close their doors.  Uploads are already going to be strained with the price drop, but at, say, 20% it becomes comedic. And it shows a severe weakness in their business model and lean workflows.

« Reply #143 on: August 15, 2015, 09:31 »
+3
According to the contract and also the public faq on their website commissions are always 30% for indie,only prices can change.
Having said that i know of some people who have negotiated (or tried to negotiate) their contracts for more than 30% but i haven't heard of anyone who started with less than that from the get go.
Some info on this would be nice.
But still,30% of cheap is cheap.

« Reply #144 on: August 17, 2015, 10:08 »
+1
Seems they will offer from 20 - 45%  (that I know of) depending on who you are or how large your portfolio is.

« Reply #145 on: August 17, 2015, 10:14 »
+1
Close your accounts ASAP.
They are heading to 1080p for $29.

#BoycottDissolve
You're overreacting. What's your stake in this?

« Reply #146 on: August 17, 2015, 10:32 »
+3
He/she's right. actually.Urging others to boycott dissolve like this is not the way to deal with these issues.More so when you are accusing them of things that they haven't even done (saying things such as they will lower all prices to 29usd).
They could perhaps even sue you if they wanted and rightly so,they would then appear vindicated in the public eye and we would all look silly.
If you have something personal and truthful to share about them or something interesting to discuss about this matter like everyone has done here and in the other thread then go ahead,thats your public responsibility in my opinion, not hashtagging.

There are not many things one can do in these circumstances other that discussing in public and act according to what his own dignity dictates.
If i delete my clips there eventually, it's not a boycott, but a personal freedom that may or may not set an example.But it's far from a cause that we all share and it shouldn't be perceived as such.

« Reply #147 on: August 17, 2015, 10:45 »
+2
Boycott sounds a little extreme to me. I mean, if you sign up with a completly new, untested agency for 5 years, you need to accept your share of responsibility for the risk you took with that commitment.

Public discussion of the issue always helps. And it looks like it is working and those that want out, can now get out.

Video is a small world, not that many producers who create useful content. Theyd better keep them happy.

Daisy

« Reply #148 on: August 17, 2015, 12:07 »
0
Of course I don't know what Dissolve will be doing five months from now. It is only an opinion.

An opinion based on these facts:
1. They launched Dissolve by selling tens of thousands of clips for $5. These clips were 'given' to them without the contibutors permission by T3Media.
2. They started selling 4K clips for $79 and it was only after considerable outcry that they raised the price to roughly the industry 'norm'.
3. They have lowered the price of 1080p to $49 which is way less than the industry average.

I have just checked and my clips are still for sale on their website despite sending several emails asking for them to be removed and my account closed.

I think other contributors should know who they are dealing with and #BoycottDissolve

« Reply #149 on: August 17, 2015, 12:22 »
0
Quote
I have just checked and my clips are still for sale on their website despite sending several emails asking for them to be removed and my account closed.

When you share information and experiences like these...

Quote
I think other contributors should know who they are dealing with and #BoycottDissolve
You dont need to add things like these.Everyone gets the message.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2015, 12:30 by gcrook »


 

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