The new Pond5 site is up as well as the membership program. It will be interesting to see how much the membership program competes with non-membership footage.

Are my files included? Can I dial them in individually?

How does this work for us?

I like it.
Upload page opens fast.

BUT what is with REVIEW TIMES, grgrgrgrgrg 

Quote from: cobalt on February 25, 2016, 11:14
Are my files included? Can I dial them in individually?

How does this work for us?

If I'm not mistaken it's by invite only. I wasn't invited but I sure would like to know more about the program and how it might impact my existing sales and, more importantly, how I might be missing out on additional revenue opportunities.

Invitation only? Hm. I hope that is just the first roll out phase and not a new two tier system for the favorites club and the masses.

But usually they are an artist friendly site, so I hope they have been thinking about us as well.

Quote from: cobalt on February 25, 2016, 12:53
Invitation only? Hm. I hope that is just the first roll out phase and not a new two tier system for the favorites club and the masses.

But usually they are an artist friendly site, so I hope they have been thinking about us as well.

If I recall, it was "at this time" as if they aren't quite ready. I just dug into my account in preferences looking for an opt in, nothing there. I just site mailed them to find out more. Will post here when I find out.

Over on pond5 people are discussing that it will mean hd or 4k for less than 10 dollars...I hope when this program is open for everyone we can decide which content goes in....that would be a much lower royalty than on SS.

They emailed me saying that 850 of my clips had been selected for the new membership program. Guaranteeing me $425 a month.

I just logged into my admin and as far as I can see there is no way of telling which clips they selected.

I'm guessing they selected my best 4K/HD clips. If so, I need to remove them from the new program.

My admin just looks like the old one with a new CSS. Anyone know where the 'Membership Out' button is?

Quote from: stockVid on February 25, 2016, 14:31
They emailed me saying that 850 of my clips had been selected for the new membership program. Guaranteeing me $425 a month.

I just logged into my admin and as far as I can see there is no way of telling which clips they selected.

I'm guessing they selected my best 4K/HD clips. If so, I need to remove them from the new program.

My admin just looks like the old one with a new CSS. Anyone know where the 'Membership Out' button is?

With 850 clips 425 $
NO WAY ! I am speaking for myself.

Except if you have so bad clips that until now you earned less.
But I know that this is not possible, because you was picked from P5 base,
so your portfolio is 100 % interesting.

But to guarantee a fixed sum is something NOBODY has ever done. I certainly would be ready to offer a lot of content for a fixed monthly return.

You need to find a balance of course between direct sales and this. But it is a very interesting concept. Provided you can choose which content to include.

Deals like these have only been possible for very, very large studios, to offer them to normal artists is certainly new.

It is also a risk for them, will it really work out in their favor?

Is this only for video, or also for photos? I have thousands of photos I haven´t uploaded yet.

Obviously if you have 4k files selling for good money every month, than this is maybe a bad deal.

ETA: Did they include content without asking anyone or offering an opt out?? that would be negative, similar to what fotolia did with dpc.

I am sure they can get enough volunteer content if they just ask us.

The fixed sum is for video, for other images it works like subs anywhere else, a fixed amount per download, but better than subs return on other sites. Not sure how at liberty I am to spill the actual RPD.

Sorry missed the other question. They haven't opted anyone in as far as I know. They have asked very openly and provided all the details.

If they asked people, then that is a good sign. pond5 has always been artist friendly, it would be terrible if they started to play with us.

So I guess we will have to wait until we get official news.

They contacted me and asked if I wanted to participate. However, they could not give specific prices etc.

You have no say in the clip selection. They choose everything.

Every distributor has subs in one form or another some hide the fact others show it openly. Pond five has always treated artists fairly so I agreed.

I am disappointed that there is no difference between 4K and HD and I'd like to remove some of my best 4K clips from the program.

At the moment I see nothing in the interface that turns a clip off. Perhaps it will come in the next few days.

Quote from: stockVid on February 25, 2016, 15:43
They contacted me and asked if I wanted to participate. However, they could not give specific prices etc.

You have no say in the clip selection. They choose everything.

Every distributor has subs in one form or another some hide the fact others show it openly. Pond five has always treated artists fairly so I agreed.

I am disappointed that there is no difference between 4K and HD and I'd like to remove some of my best 4K clips from the program.

At the moment I see nothing in the interface that turns a clip off. Perhaps it will come in the next few days.

Slightly OT, do I see that correctly that I can download my own videos 3 times each for free?

There is a link for the free download on the preview page for each video.

Can anybody double check that?

Pond5 took all the site analytics data to figure out what was selling and bought up and made deals with content creators to get this 200k library to offer a cheaper and bigger alternative to videoblocks offering.  This will destroy contributor revenue.  They will promote videos from this 200k collection videos. For example, their search algorithm will rank the 200k collection videos ahead of contributor videos.  This is the beginning of the end to video contributors.

Again, this is still contributor content and contributors are compensated every month or every download. You don't like it don't opt in.

@Justanotherphotographer  I will never understand why everyone just goes along with they changes that give more power to the marketplaces and diminishes contributors power and earnings...can't anyone see where this is headed in 3-5 years...marketplaces will cut contributors out of the deal every step along the way by buying/building their own content and promoting it hard...this is just another step to do that. 

I agree, if they were buying or licensing the product for a one time fee or hiring people to copy the work. They aren't doing any of those things. Videoblocks is. Freepik is. Pond 5 isn't. All their doing is offering a sub program. Are you just upset you weren't contacted?

Quote from: StockGuy on February 25, 2016, 18:04
I will never understand why everyone just goes along with they changes

What choice do you have? To stay, or leave. If you make $2-4,000 per month it's not that easy to walk away, regardless of what you think of the new playing field...

It's THEIR marketplace after all, and if you don't like it, start your own. It's not easy.

I thought they were going to fill this up with clips that weren't selling well?  If not, this is alarming.

Quote from: sharpshot on February 25, 2016, 18:40
I thought they were going to fill this up with clips that weren't selling well?  If not, this is alarming.

That was my understanding.

Well on pond5 someone posted they took all his non selling clips and he is thrilled they will now make him money. He has thousands of files, so this might really work well for him.

It will also be interesting to see if the additional traffic through membership downloads increases overall sales of the files that are not part of membership, i.e. if your best files from a series are only available for normal downloads, but a customer "discovers" you through membership, will they buy the other files as well?

It is something new, will be interesting to see how it works out.

I do hope they put me in control and allow me to decide what to offer. Or to suggest for their editors, maybe they don´t want to pay for all the sunsets of the world...

Quote from: StockGuy on February 25, 2016, 18:04
@Justanotherphotographer  I will never understand why everyone just goes along with they changes that give more power to the marketplaces and diminishes contributors power and earnings...can't anyone see where this is headed in 3-5 years...marketplaces will cut contributors out of the deal every step along the way by buying/building their own content and promoting it hard...this is just another step to do that.

I think the 3-5 years is optomistic. Next year is when it will take off and become the way most will work. It's already gaining momentum. Agency owned content or paid flat rate is the future. Be prepared for The Atomic Wedgie.

Forgot about that aspect. Yes it is content that hasn't been downloaded much that is eligible to be included.