MicrostockGroup
Microstock Footage Forum => General - Stock Video => Topic started by: helloitsme on February 18, 2015, 08:52
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to put pressure on other agencies that give us only 30%.
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Where do they get their money for hosting and marketing? Pay to play?
"Up to 140 downloads during your free trial. Start your 7 day free trial today!" Do contributors get anything for the 'free downloads'?
I couldn't find the FAQs page for contributors, just that for buyers.
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If it seems too good to be true than it is most likely a scam :-\
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They pay you for your files upfront. There are some other threads about it and Graphicstock. Or at least that is how they used to operate.
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They pay you for your files upfront. There are some other threads about it and Graphicstock. Or at least that is how they used to operate.
They seem to be planning to run parallel models.
Something called 'membership fees' - I found the contributor FAQs: https://contribute.videoblocks.com/faq
"VideoBlocks is a subscription-based service. Members have access to subscription content provided by VideoBlocks (the "unlimited downloads library"), as well as a pay-per-download marketplace - which is where your content comes in. All accepted submissions are published to the marketplace.
Since we profit from our membership fees, we're able to pass on 100% of the marketplace sales to you. While our marketplace pricing is competitive, you earn nearly twice as much per-sale as you do with other agencies. Our unique model allows us to offer lower prices for customers, while still ensuring that you earn more for each sale.
Subscribers save money, while you earn more."
However, the marketplace is still untested - not opening until April 2015. Looks like (?) contributors don't get paid for subscription sales, only 'marketplace' sales (?)
"If stock footage is included with a VideoBlocks membership, why would anyone purchase marketplace content?
The marketplace has more than twice the amount of content than our unlimited downloads library, and continues to grow with each upload. The marketplace is intended to offer more diversity, breadth, and volume than the unlimited downloads library."
Ah, presumably the 'unlimited subscription' files are those which were bought outright.
Hmmmm.
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Already uploaded my several video. upload process run smoothly and easy.
And 100% commission ! (hopefully it's true) :D
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There are other threads about this company. They never come in to clarify. I believe that this is because the legitimate questions brought up in theses forums have no good answers. Such as.....if we get 100% commission where is their motivation to promote the collection? how will they fund the maintenance of the site, search, etc? Where are the customers coming from?
I also dont like the fact that while we get 100% commission the videos are way cheaper than many other sites. If they get any traction they will force other outlets like ss to cut prics and ultimately our commissions. They funking industry has destroyed imagery pricing and is now somewhere high on the S-curve tondoing the sale with video. If video blocks....and the likes of big stock....do have an influence on the video industry, then go out of business, the sites who had to survive with pricing wars arent magically going to raise their prices. That pricing will become the new ceiling, effectivly taking video to "unsustainable" levels.
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I have already registered there,even filled tax forms, but haven't uploaded and propably never will unless there is a clear discussion of what this deal is all about.
Btw, HD and 4K prices aren't bad at all, especially 4K, and given the full commission it's actually a very good deal.
Which brings me to...I can see the cheese, but where is the trap?
There are 2 separate marketplaces.One pre-existing, dirt cheap, with files that have lots of downloads,and the other one is the one that we are supposed to create as new contributors with high prices and 100% commission minus some ridiculous paypal fees as described.
How can these 2 coexist?
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There are other threads about this company. They never come in to clarify. I believe that this is because the legitimate questions brought up in theses forums have no good answers. Such as.....if we get 100% commission where is their motivation to promote the collection? how will they fund the maintenance of the site, search, etc? Where are the customers coming from?
I also dont like the fact that while we get 100% commission the videos are way cheaper than many other sites. If they get any traction they will force other outlets like ss to cut prics and ultimately our commissions. They funking industry has destroyed imagery pricing and is now somewhere high on the S-curve tondoing the sale with video. If video blocks....and the likes of big stock....do have an influence on the video industry, then go out of business, the sites who had to survive with pricing wars arent magically going to raise their prices. That pricing will become the new ceiling, effectivly taking video to "unsustainable" levels.
Seems like you don't like any stock agencies. LOL. You should sell yours directly only.
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I have already registered there,even filled tax forms, but haven't uploaded and propably never will unless there is a clear discussion of what this deal is all about.
Btw, HD and 4K prices aren't bad at all, especially 4K, and given the full commission it's actually a very good deal.
Which brings me to...I can see the cheese, but where is the trap?
There are 2 separate marketplaces.One pre-existing, dirt cheap, with files that have lots of downloads,and the other one is the one that we are supposed to create as new contributors with high prices and 100% commission minus some ridiculous paypal fees as described.
How can these 2 coexist?
I think their business model is to get as many paid subscribers who can buy our footages for cheaper prices than Shutter Stock etc. My guess is that unless the customers subscribe to their annual membership, they can't buy our footages at $49 (1080P) which is much cheaper than $79 (1080P) at Shutter Stock. It's like Costco membership fee that they get from customers.
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Which brings me to...I can see the cheese, but where is the trap?
As Mantis has said, it's pretty worrisome that they don't come here to answer questions, despite having asked for feedback in their original thread.
The trap may be clause 2.5, as I pointed out in that original thread:
2.5 Promotions. We may, from time to time, run promotions for Members and we may include your Content as part of such promotions. You agree and acknowledge that such promotions may affect the amount of Revenue you receive for specific Content.
As I've stated, I won't be joining unless they amend that to identify specific limits for these promotions. As written, it seems to me it is wide open for potential abuse.
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There are other threads about this company. They never come in to clarify. I believe that this is because the legitimate questions brought up in theses forums have no good answers. Such as.....if we get 100% commission where is their motivation to promote the collection? how will they fund the maintenance of the site, search, etc? Where are the customers coming from?
I also dont like the fact that while we get 100% commission the videos are way cheaper than many other sites. If they get any traction they will force other outlets like ss to cut prics and ultimately our commissions. They funking industry has destroyed imagery pricing and is now somewhere high on the S-curve tondoing the sale with video. If video blocks....and the likes of big stock....do have an influence on the video industry, then go out of business, the sites who had to survive with pricing wars arent magically going to raise their prices. That pricing will become the new ceiling, effectivly taking video to "unsustainable" levels.
Seems like you don't like any stock agencies. LOL. You should sell yours directly only.
If you saw your income go from nearly $3500 a month the less thN $2000 in a matter of a few years......and i just was remonded of this while getting my taxes in order....younwould also have a poor perception of many agencies. If you have the experience ......if you feel the pain of paycuts, cheating and ripoffs ...you too would feel the same. And to your point, i am working towards that....selling on my own site.
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Hey guys,
Zach Bernstein here, head of content at VideoBlocks. Responding to some comments:
"Up to 140 downloads during your free trial. Start your 7 day free trial today!" Do contributors get anything for the 'free downloads'?
All members - including free trial members - will have access to purchase marketplace content, but it will not be available for free. So buyers will always be paying for your content. To clarify here, content you upload to VideoBlocks is only made available in the marketplace. We acquire and produce content for our "unlimited access" library separately.
I can see the cheese, but where is the trap?
There are 2 separate marketplaces.One pre-existing, dirt cheap, with files that have lots of downloads,and the other one is the one that we are supposed to create as new contributors with high prices and 100% commission minus some ridiculous paypal fees as described.
How can these 2 coexist?
helloitsme has it right, in that our model is very similar to Costco. I also like to compare our model to Amazon Prime Movies: with a Prime membership, a customer has unlimited access to a pool of movies. But if a customer wants something different or more specific, they can explore the larger library of pay-per-download movies and purchase individually as needed. This is how our model works. At buyer launch, the marketplace will have more than twice as much content as our "unlimited access" library, and it will only continue growing from there. While we of course want buyers to get value out of our unlimited library, there will also be incentive for them to explore the marketplace.
A few more details can be found at our main thread here: http://www.microstockgroup.com/videoblocks/videoblocks-footage-marketplace-keep-100-of-what-you-earn (http://www.microstockgroup.com/videoblocks/videoblocks-footage-marketplace-keep-100-of-what-you-earn)
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removed.
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I have uploaded some video files on VideoBlocks. However, after tagging my files, the files cannot be sent to the review queue because the videos are still processing after a few hours. How long does this take?
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Same here. Sent just 4 clips in first batch and they are processed ok, but after that all other clips still processing for a whole night.
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is this for real? why would they do it this way. Seems to be a bad business plan and I will not invest my clips is a bad company!
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is this for real? why would they do it this way. Seems to be a bad business plan and I will not invest my clips is a bad company!
Actually the business plan (unlimited database for subscribers and a separate marketplace for contributors) sounds plausible to me. I'm willing to give them a chance.
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Noedelhap & Gizmo - our encoding system decided not to play nice on Tuesday/Wednesday. Sorry about that! Hopefully you've seen that everything's back to normal now.
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Videoblocks marketplace open today?
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When does the marketplace open for customers?
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We opened to customers last week! Check it out if you haven't already!