MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Jo Ann Snover on March 24, 2014, 16:10
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I had not heard of either of these sites before today, but came upon them while trying to see how many other sites (beyond Fiverr) were trying to give away Shutterstock files.
I came to a site that appeared to be one where thieves gave away packages of Shutterstock downloads, althought it's getting harder to separate the sites with a little free content and links to Fotolia, Shutterstock, Deposit Photos or other "sponsored" content:
http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/vector-misc/free_set_of_vector_globes_144882.html (http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/vector-misc/free_set_of_vector_globes_144882.html)
I saw a Shutterstock ad on this page (I'm guessing what ads you see will depend on your browsing history) but the link clearly said free for something that looked awfully like the stuff Shutterstock sells.
I found the files on Shutterstock:
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-41724784/stock-vector-golden-image-of-an-earth.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-41724784/stock-vector-golden-image-of-an-earth.html)
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-41724787/stock-vector-golden-image-of-an-earth.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-41724787/stock-vector-golden-image-of-an-earth.html)
The work of this artist:
http://www.shutterstock.com/portfolio/search.mhtml?searchterm=globes (http://www.shutterstock.com/portfolio/search.mhtml?searchterm=globes)
Then I went to the freebie site and clicked on the link to the claimed source of these files, Vecteezy (http://www.vecteezy.com/) but when I clicked in the search box I ended up on a page for Lootback (http://lootback.com/)
It appears Lootback shares the kickback it gets from various stock sites for their referrals with the buyers. If you look at who's behind the two sites, it appears to be the same folks:
http://lootback.com/about (http://lootback.com/about)
http://www.vecteezy.com/about (http://www.vecteezy.com/about)
As the artist's Shutterstock portfolio is mentioned in the All free Download site, I'm now seriously confused as to whether this is all above board and legitimate or whether someone is ripping someone off?
Does anyone know anything more about these sites? If not, I may just report the whole thing to Shutterstock and let them see if there's anything amiss.
It seems there shouldn't be so many players involved in the seemingly simple business of licensing a photo or illustration...
In this particular illustrator's case, he has the globes on Vecteezy as a free download
http://www.vecteezy.com/miscellaneous/3842-free-set-of-vector-globes (http://www.vecteezy.com/miscellaneous/3842-free-set-of-vector-globes)
But there are a ton of other Shutterstock vectors available from All free Download that don't mention Vecteezy and appear to be offered free
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oh I have never heard of these sites, nice find Jo Ann
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A thread On SS touches on this.
http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=136633 (http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=136633)
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A thread On SS touches on this.
[url]http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=136633[/url] ([url]http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=136633[/url])
Actually the response on SS is as always very tame. The thread here is a lot more useful.
http://www.microstockgroup.com/image-sleuth/fiverr/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/image-sleuth/fiverr/)
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As far as I know, Vecteezy is a legit site and they're partnered with Shutterstock. The free images from Vecteezy shouldn't be SS images, and there is a separate section of Vecteezy that shows SS images as "Sponsored Images" that link to SS.
All Free Download appears to be a pirate site.
It seems there shouldn't be so many players involved in the seemingly simple business of licensing a photo or illustration...
Agreed. This is probably my biggest concern in microstock right now. There has always been a certain element of loss of control over your images when you put them into microstock. It's the nature of the game, high-volume licensing, putting images out as far and as wide as possible. But it's going way too far these days. DP doesn't even know who some of their partners are. It's so spread out and difficult to track.
For the first time in my stock career I'm actually doing some new work that I can't put into microstock. I just can't have some of this stuff floating around in these random programs. Throughout this year I'll be branching off with a more premium portfolio for sites that pay decently and don't participate in these partner deals and API arrangements.