Author Topic: Agencies hiding something from us? (Read 3388 times)

liquidsnake · « **on:** December 21, 2020, 02:08 »

Hi fellow stockers 🙂

I hope someone can give me an insight into a problem I've been experiencing for a while now.

Occasionally I stumble upon a footage of mine in a TV commercial or social media ads that is nowhere to be found in sales reports on ShutterStock, Adobe Stock or iStock where I sell my stock content.

Does anyone know how is this possible? Are micro stock agencies hiding from us some of the content being sold or there is something in Terms and conditions that I missed?

Thanks in advance for any help

Hannafate · « **Reply #1 on:** December 21, 2020, 08:57 »

Are the ads for the agencies?

Also, some topics have a lot of similar footage, I've been fooled by almost identical images that weren't actually mine.

But, if you see something that's certainly yours, and hasn't been sold, contact the agency about abuse.

ShadySue · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2020, 09:11 »

Quote from: Hannafate on December 21, 2020, 08:57

Are the ads for the agencies?

Also, some topics have a lot of similar footage, I've been fooled by almost identical images that weren't actually mine.

But, if you see something that's certainly yours, and hasn't been sold, contact the agency about abuse.

Difficult when the clips are being sold over three agencies, though. How to you establish where the TV producer sourced the file/s?

Free_Soul · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2020, 11:01 »

few years back i saw 2-3 of my footage in different ads/movie (in different period of time) 1 was exclusively in getty so i asked them and after few months they replied me with sale report.
The others were selling in multiple microstock agencies and i emailed all of them and they denied, didnt get paid for them, I was also reluctant at that time as i was busy in my own project so i didnt work much to track them. They were my own because in 1 footage, there was a symbol of an antique objects which was with me. Others were also showing some certain signs of my belonging.
I had a feeling that microstock sites do sell some or many of our files without our knowledge

Firn · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2020, 12:06 »

I know at least from Alamy that this happens quite often, because I've heard from multipe people that they find some of their images credited to Alamy online that were never reported as sold on Alamy. Usually after contacting Alamy they get the sale, but no one knows how many sold images are out there that we don't find where Alamy does not pay us.
Also, there is a very recent thread in the Shutterstock forum where someone found an image used by a newspaper that also never sold. Upon contacting them he was told they purchase their images from Shutterstock and if there was any issue he should contact Shutterstock as it was not their problem. He contacted Shutterstock, Shutterstock claimes the image never sold. Dead end.

I think this is happening more often than we suspect.

Horizon · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2020, 12:10 »

Last year I found some of my footage in a car advert! I sued and won the case and got quite a bit of money for it. Do not hesitate just sue for theft and infringements and weather its Agency or client!

cathyslife · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2020, 12:51 »

Quote

I had a feeling that microstock sites do sell some or many of our files without our knowledge

I think they sell images that way. I once happened upon my image in Good Housekeeping mag. Something I rarely read. Their circulation is in the hundreds of thousands. The credit line said my name and istock, so I knew where it came from. I looked, no extended license sale for that image. I contacted them and they made it right. But how many other images appear in places that require an extended license that contributors don’t get paid for? It was pure luck that I found that one.

pancaketom · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2020, 14:53 »

If the agencies keep track of sales the same way they keep track of and report things to us, then you bet they are making all sorts of mistakes. If you point something out to them sometimes they will fix it, and if they overpay us, they will definitely try to claw it back if they can, but I bet there is a lot of error and slop in their systems, especially as they transition to all you can download subs plans.

edited to add - I don't think this is something that is consistently done maliciously or to increase their bottom line, more that the agencies are not 100% accurate at keeping track of things and that for the few cents they or we would gain they are not particularly interested in spending the significant time and $ it would take to fix it.

Tenebroso · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2020, 15:00 »

This being discussed in this thread, if true, not an error. If it happens as a rule, it is a serious crime.

liquidsnake · « **Reply #9 on:** December 23, 2020, 03:58 »

Hi guys,

Thank you so much for your responses, I can see that this is not so uncommon after all. There is definitely something shady going on. In the meantime I got in touch with a marketing agency that was using my content (content that never got reported in sales reports) and was given a website where they downloaded it from. I believe this and probably many similar ones we still don't know about are soley responsible for all of our content being sold without our knowledge and royalties paid.

I opened a whole new topic here:

https://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/found-a-site-that-sells-our-footage-for-dirt-cheap-and-practically-free/new/#new

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Author Topic: Agencies hiding something from us? (Read 3388 times)

liquidsnake

Hannafate

ShadySue

Free_Soul

Firn

Horizon

cathyslife

pancaketom

Tenebroso

liquidsnake

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