Author Topic: "Crossroads" on Shutterstock (Read 22718 times)

daniel hurst · « **on:** November 23, 2018, 13:43 »

If your SS video sales have tanked recently? I may know why....

Anyone else notice the video account "Crossroads" on Shutterstock? They have about 300 clips and their clips are basically taking up all the top search positions on Shutterstock. Look at the entire video collection sorted by "best match" or "popular" and its all this contributor. Search a simple term like "office" and top 27 shots are all theirs, shot with same model and location. Not only are they taking our sales but buyers are going to quickly more on to other sites if they see search results like this. There is a topic on the forums about this but SS admin has not responded. I have emailed the video team as well without any response.

Video-StockOrg · « **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2018, 14:06 »

They've probably been hacked...

Not Today · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2018, 14:08 »

I smell a witch hunt

noodle · « **Reply #3 on:** November 23, 2018, 14:17 »

Quote from: Not Today on November 23, 2018, 14:08

I smell a witch hunt

Time to get the shovels and pitchforks!

Stockmaan · « **Reply #4 on:** November 23, 2018, 14:19 »

If you search "forest" here we go, again crossroads and a woman.. This is game over for Shutterstock!

alijaber · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2018, 02:07 »

wow.. tried: "roads", "cars", "beach" and "house"... and yep, those guys are always at the top!

alijaber · « **Reply #6 on:** November 24, 2018, 02:12 »

Also tried: "girl" "woman" "man" "nature".. always "croassroads" at the top!

derek · « **Reply #7 on:** November 24, 2018, 02:40 »

Haha! good find!!.......whoever thought SS is NOT engineering the search towards certain instances, well think again!!

!! yes youre right, game over! I'm removing my videos asap!

StockStudio · « **Reply #8 on:** November 24, 2018, 04:22 »

WOW!
This is VERY very serious...
I'll write something to their support ASAP
How on earth could someone hack their search engine???

Shelma1 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 24, 2018, 06:18 »

I doubt their search engine has been hacked. Illustrators have been noticing this for a while now. Newbie ports are pushed to the top of the search and established contributor’s work is pushed back. I’ve seen many instances of newbie ports suddenly taking over the entire first page of search results. But when I say it people laugh and make jokes about conspiracy theories. Now you’re seeing it with footage. So now you see what I see.

derby · « **Reply #10 on:** November 24, 2018, 07:01 »

Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 06:18

Newbie ports are pushed to the top of the search and established contributor’s work is pushed back

I do not believe. ONE single contributor pushed up for quite all simple search key? There should be other explanation.

New contributor having more visibility is not conspiracy theory, it's perfectly legit.
But why should be only one between hundreds, maybe thousands, it's nonsense and goes against agency itself interests.

Daryl Ray · « **Reply #11 on:** November 24, 2018, 07:12 »

This is nothing new, unfortunately. Others do this as well, just more subtle. They can favor or handicap individual contributors by assignment of some kind of rating system. Years ago, a curator let it slip during a back and forth discussion. "This can negatively affect your contributor rating." was warned. Definitely seems a little conspiracy-ish at first, but it makes sense that they'd have a way to weigh portfolios of their choosing how they'd like to.

My guess is that Shutterstock has their own "contributor ratings" system and someone got greedy or cocky when assessing Mr. Crossroads here. Chances are, this was no hack or mistake, Crossroads is likely a Shutterstock employee, an associate of one, someone a SS staff member wanted to give a bump to, or just a buyout deal of now 100% owned SS content. Reasoning is irrelevant though, we can clearly see the result.

It's not a conspiracy, its a company doing whatever they want at the expense of those that created everything that made them wealthy. Look at their swanky Manhattan offices, these guys don't give a f***. Look at how terrible iStock has treated their contributors, and how an embarrassing number of you still willingly and openly support them. Why wouldn't these companies push the envelope and see how much we'll take?

derek · « **Reply #12 on:** November 24, 2018, 07:13 »

Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 06:18

I doubt their search engine has been hacked. Illustrators have been noticing this for a while now. Newbie ports are pushed to the top of the search and established contributor’s work is pushed back. I’ve seen many instances of newbie ports suddenly taking over the entire first page of search results. But when I say it people laugh and make jokes about conspiracy theories. Now you’re seeing it with footage. So now you see what I see.

This is the trouble in stills as well, the search the buyers see and the geographical search is all newbie content and also from very specific countries in the world and its NOT the rich countries!

trek · « **Reply #13 on:** November 24, 2018, 07:15 »

Quote from: derby on November 24, 2018, 07:01

Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 06:18
Newbie ports are pushed to the top of the search and established contributor’s work is pushed back

I do not believe. ONE single contributor pushed up for quite all simple search key? There should be other explanation.

New contributor having more visibility is not conspiracy theory, it's perfectly legit.
But why should be only one between hundreds, maybe thousands, it's nonsense and goes against agency itself interests.

Could this account be company owned content?

Shelma1 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 24, 2018, 07:27 »

Could be. Or it could be a videographer they want to work with. Or their algorithm could just favor contributors with the lowest royalty rate, which seems most likely. That way Shutterstock maximizes profits, because they keep more of the money made from each sale.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #15 on:** November 24, 2018, 07:43 »

Quote from: trek on November 24, 2018, 07:15

Quote from: derby on November 24, 2018, 07:01
Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 06:18
Newbie ports are pushed to the top of the search and established contributor’s work is pushed back

I do not believe. ONE single contributor pushed up for quite all simple search key? There should be other explanation.

New contributor having more visibility is not conspiracy theory, it's perfectly legit.
But why should be only one between hundreds, maybe thousands, it's nonsense and goes against agency itself interests.

Could this account be company owned content?

I know Shutterstock like to describe our work as theirs but do they actually own any content?

Artist · « **Reply #16 on:** November 24, 2018, 08:41 »

Quote from: trek on November 24, 2018, 07:15

Quote from: derby on November 24, 2018, 07:01
Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 06:18
Newbie ports are pushed to the top of the search and established contributor’s work is pushed back

I do not believe. ONE single contributor pushed up for quite all simple search key? There should be other explanation.

New contributor having more visibility is not conspiracy theory, it's perfectly legit.
But why should be only one between hundreds, maybe thousands, it's nonsense and goes against agency itself interests.

Could this account be company owned content?

There is probability for this, don't know.. I have seen there is a topic in their contributor forum too with no official reply till now.

Fairplay · « **Reply #17 on:** November 24, 2018, 11:05 »

Quote from: trek on November 24, 2018, 07:15

Quote from: derby on November 24, 2018, 07:01
Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 06:18
Newbie ports are pushed to the top of the search and established contributor’s work is pushed back

I do not believe. ONE single contributor pushed up for quite all simple search key? There should be other explanation.

New contributor having more visibility is not conspiracy theory, it's perfectly legit.
But why should be only one between hundreds, maybe thousands, it's nonsense and goes against agency itself interests.

Could this account be company owned content?

Check this out:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/stolen-pictures-on-shutterstock/

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #18 on:** November 24, 2018, 12:47 »

Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 07:27

Could be. Or it could be a videographer they want to work with. Or their algorithm could just favor contributors with the lowest royalty rate, which seems most likely. That way Shutterstock maximizes profits, because they keep more of the money made from each sale.

The royalty rate is always 30% for footage. So, no.

Orchidpoet · « **Reply #19 on:** November 24, 2018, 13:06 »

Is it possible because Crossroads uses top expensive professional equipment? The clips were shot with Phantom Flex 4K and Red, from what I saw. That could affect rating I speculate.

StockStudio · « **Reply #20 on:** November 24, 2018, 13:13 »

I shoot with high end cameras all the time, but I don't write the camera model in the description, since I don't think it's relevant to the client.
Sounds not reasonable at all.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #21 on:** November 24, 2018, 13:42 »

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on November 24, 2018, 12:47

Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 07:27
Could be. Or it could be a videographer they want to work with. Or their algorithm could just favor contributors with the lowest royalty rate, which seems most likely. That way Shutterstock maximizes profits, because they keep more of the money made from each sale.

The royalty rate is always 30% for footage. So, no.

But I would assume most footage contributors also contribute still images, so their royalty rates would be different for those. And since still images sell more than footage, the algorithm would still benefit Shutterstock.

Brightontl · « **Reply #22 on:** November 24, 2018, 16:38 »

Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 13:42

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on November 24, 2018, 12:47
Quote from: Shelma1 on November 24, 2018, 07:27
Could be. Or it could be a videographer they want to work with. Or their algorithm could just favor contributors with the lowest royalty rate, which seems most likely. That way Shutterstock maximizes profits, because they keep more of the money made from each sale.

The royalty rate is always 30% for footage. So, no.

But I would assume most footage contributors also contribute still images, so their royalty rates would be different for those. And since still images sell more than footage, the algorithm would still benefit Shutterstock.

Sorry Shelma,
Wrong assumption.
If you contribute footage, you would never, ever want to contribute still images as well

cathyslife · « **Reply #23 on:** November 24, 2018, 16:52 »

Quote from: Brightontl on November 24, 2018, 16:38

Sorry Shelma,
Wrong assumption.
If you contribute footage, you would never, ever want to contribute still images as well

Really? Seems like there are a ton of people here who started out with images, then added video to their ports.

pkphotos · « **Reply #24 on:** November 24, 2018, 17:44 »

Quote from: cathyslife on November 24, 2018, 16:52

Quote from: Brightontl on November 24, 2018, 16:38

Sorry Shelma,
Wrong assumption.
If you contribute footage, you would never, ever want to contribute still images as well

Really? Seems like there are a ton of people here who started out with images, then added video to their ports.

Such as myself and my video port is now 20 times bigger than my photo port. Just another conspiracy. The Crossroads appearing at the top of every search is another conspiracy. They only have 280 clips in total, 4K RED camera, production quality, so no surprise they make it to the top

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Author Topic: "Crossroads" on Shutterstock (Read 22718 times)

daniel hurst

Video-StockOrg

Not Today

noodle

Stockmaan

alijaber

alijaber

derek

StockStudio

Shelma1

derby

Daryl Ray

derek

trek

Shelma1

Pauws99

Artist

Fairplay

increasingdifficulty

Orchidpoet

StockStudio

Shelma1

Brightontl

cathyslife

pkphotos

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