Mixed feelings here but somehow I think the way they have done this is knowing that it will be just and effective 20% cut to contributors.  I understand their logic to the downward pressure of prices if the same content is everywhere BUT to ask us for a leap of faith deleting all our content everywhere is just not reasonable and an insult to artists because

1- If you loose best match placement in all the other agencies because you take videos down and tomorrow another Hellman & Friedman buys Pond5 you are screwed

2- The hit of deleting all the content in other outlet is an enormous financial hit that I think none with large selling portfolios is going to bet. It might take months or years to make same or bigger numbers

3- The 6 months is also a disgrace in spite whatever they say. We are in the digital age....very weird to act like predigital ones. One of the reasons when I never joined Dreamstime was that 6 month period. Period

If they would have acted with the wellbeing and with a fair deal in mind they could have just started with exclusive clips not Artist exclusive so that contributors can dip their toes slowly in the hot water and see if it works of them. Now it is a big russian roulette.

So bad implemented folks. I am sorry to see that greed has also finally bitten in a very short time the two remaining agencies that treated better their contributors.

Good luck to all with whatever decision you take

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on March 21, 2019, 11:49

The lack of logic is amusing, since the very nature of stock footage is that it is never exclusive. The goal is of course to sell it multiple times. Will the client feel better if 99 other Pond5 customers used the same clip? But not if Shutterstock customers did...

Exactly.  "We don't like to see the same clip out there, so try not to sell it too much."

"Will those non-exclusive clips drop to 40% or would we have to delete all content from other agencies? I'd think about going exclusive, but there's no way I can afford to delete anything from SS"

It's artist exclusive.  You have two weeks to remove.

I think their (P5) point was that if the content is only available on their platform, they control the price therefore the price would not be slowly eroded by different agencies competing with each other selling the same content.

That's not what they said.

They specifically said that the buyers didn't want the clips being used by other buyers. Which of course makes 0 sense dealing with any stock asset. Do they know what a stock asset is? It is an asset that is in stock, ready for anyone to buy and use immediately. If you want exclusive content you film it yourself or hire someone to do it.

Quote from: wds on March 21, 2019, 12:06

I think their (P5) point was that if the content is only available on their platform, they control the price therefore the price would not be slowly eroded by different agencies competing with each other selling the same content.

That's not what they said.

They specifically said that the buyers didn't want the clips being used by other buyers. Which of course makes 0 sense dealing with any stock asset. Do they know what a stock asset is? It is an asset that is in stock, ready for anyone to buy and use immediately. If you want exclusive content you film it yourself or hire someone to do it.

Good point!...they said that, but they also used the example of stock photo prices declining due to vendors competing with each other with the same content. So yes I agree with you that the "...buyers didn't want the clips being used by other buyers..." argument never made sense since it is stock content.

Oh I get it but it is not exclusive to just Pond5....... File exclusive is the way to go! like Stocksy does it.

100%

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on March 21, 2019, 11:25

So Pond5 thinks they're going to get people to sign up for exclusive ARTIST for a 10% bump.

ETA: Oh, excuse me.  20%.  Since they're cutting non-exclusive artists to 40%.

Really? Sounds like they've just copied Alamy

So, just like I said:

I'm not sure what exactly what they'll do, but I'm almost certain it won't be "good news" for contributors.

Didn't an Alamy exec or someone have a video explaining all the new "changes" which were, of course, bad for contributors?

Feels like damage control in advance, having them personally stream the news to the community instead of sending generic e-mails.

Pond5 - if you're listening - we the contributors don't care how you deliver the news - as long as they're good. If they're bad, there's no good way of delivering them - not though a genetic newsletter, a "town hall", or a personalized youtube video. And just trying to deliver them as softly as possible is manipulative. So I hope for the best, but I do expect the worst.

I'll be increasing the prices of ALL of my assets on P5 to make up for the loss of commission. In fact, I'll further up the prices, so let's see how that affects my sales. Free market.

I really can't see many contributors going exclusive with Pond5 and Pond5 must know that, so really what this is just a way for Pond5 to cut commissions and try to spin it as something positive.

Quote

Pond5 are losing market share at an alarming rate.

Out of interest, who are they losing the market share to?

Adobe?

I will higher prices for my Pond5 assets
this will be my way to protest.

What ..
I usually sell well on Pond 5 and on other sites.
Now logically I will not be exclusive, seeing as well in other agencies.
I think I'm going to have to raise the value of the videos in Pond5, to lose less.
Example. A video that sold for $ 69 and made $ 34.50, now I'm going to win $ 27.60.
Either I settle for this or I raise the value from $ 69 to $ 86 to continue earning the same $ 34 and running the risk of not selling because of the sale value.
Very sad this.
Storyblocks is already finished for me in videos after the increase of values and commission break.
Now I'm afraid POND5 will stop being my second best site ...
Anyway...

Does this effect photo royalty rates or does that remain 50%?

Quote from: hafakot on March 21, 2019, 13:08

I will higher prices for my Pond5 assets
this will be my way to protest.

but wait, someone just mentioned this (I assume new agreement):
If you do not enroll in the Exclusivity Program, notwithstanding section 3.b. above, you shall not set the price for an item of video Content that is higher than the lowest price for which the same (or substantially the same) Content item is offered by or on any Other Marketplace, and if we discover that the Content item is offered at a lower price by or on any Other Marketplace, we may change the price of your content in our marketplace.

A lot of my HD content has been priced below "market place" on Pond5 because of their higher royalties. Now I can hike up the price by 30% and still be below 79$. So in my case, all is good.

And not very motivating either.