Author Topic: Wirestock..keywording and online distribution (Read 26218 times)

cobalt · « **on:** January 27, 2020, 06:51 »

Hi everyone. Any opinions on Wirestock?

https://www.wirestock.io/#howitworks

They seem to be the follow up of the group that wanted to start a blockchain linked agency.

https://www.microstockgroup.com/selling-direct/peer-to-peer-direct-stock-selling-platform/

Now they have opened a place that on the surface looks similar to blackboxglobal, they take 15% distribute to seven micros but also do your keywording and description (unless it is editorial).

For many part timers or newbies or people who are not good with English, this is certainly a very attractive idea.

makes more sense than a blockchain site IMO.

All content goes into a central port, juts like blackbox, not into your individual portfolios.

What I really don't like that nowhere on the site kann you find address, telephone number, bios of the team and managers.

But jjneff has looked at them, also brasilnut.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2020/01/08/review-wirestock-stock-agency/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cClb-o5lQss&fbclid=IwAR3gzhzM4UBqgclksMj9Nm-_BjAYgYQ7bIotZTSwR6ICkHNjUS0I9yRqJ-c

I find it interesting enough to sign up.

But more info about the faces behind the service would make a huge difference.

Like Blackbox it will be an additional place and not replace my main ports.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #1 on:** January 27, 2020, 15:00 »

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2020, 06:51

Hi everyone. Any opinions on Wirestock?

https://www.wirestock.io/#howitworks

They seem to be the follow up of the group that wanted to start a blockchain linked agency.

https://www.microstockgroup.com/selling-direct/peer-to-peer-direct-stock-selling-platform/

Now they have opened a place that on the surface looks similar to blackboxglobal, they take 15% distribute to seven micros but also do your keywording and description (unless it is editorial).

For many part timers or newbies or people who are not good with English, this is certainly a very attractive idea.

makes more sense than a blockchain site IMO.

All content goes into a central port, juts like blackbox, not into your individual portfolios.

What I really don't like that nowhere on the site kann you find address, telephone number, bios of the team and managers.

But jjneff has looked at them, also brasilnut.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2020/01/08/review-wirestock-stock-agency/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cClb-o5lQss&fbclid=IwAR3gzhzM4UBqgclksMj9Nm-_BjAYgYQ7bIotZTSwR6ICkHNjUS0I9yRqJ-c

I find it interesting enough to sign up.

But more info about the faces behind the service would make a huge difference.

Like Blackbox it will be an additional place and not replace my main ports.

I just joined, there are still some bugs in the system. The most upsetting is if I choose to NOT use the automatic keywording, which is necessary if I want to submit anything Editorial, their system doesn't read keywords. My keywords are properly attached using XMP protocol. So why do I want them to do the keywording, when they don't? And if I have to fill in the specifics, except Description, which is limited to 150 characters so my descriptions are truncated...

They store releases and that seems to work fine. I released a shot of myself.

Accepted and distributed just fine.

I checked only some agencies, but they appear to submit to all anyway. Which ignores my three selections for example. However it appears they cross check before uploading anything, to see if it's already on the agencies. Nice touch for that second part.

What I'm getting at, is there are some bugs or inconsistencies and some parts don't seem to work as we'd expect.

This is interesting, agency minimums, for anyone. I revised the list, re-ordered:

If they are submitting images and their collection is on SS for example, they should be past the $500 mark in a flash, and I suspect level 2 just as soon. So the 25c is understated. SS is likely to be just the same as the rest in that range.

Look at IS.

Yeah, WS is honest, you might get a 2¢ dl

Here's how it works, the easy version. We upload, they are supposed to review and do the data, keywords Etc. upload to the agencies. They take 15% off the top, we get the rest. Minimum payout is $30. Pretty simple?

Oops, needed to add this, they are sold under the Wirestock name, not our name.

Example: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/wirestock+inc?sort=newest 34,000 images on SS.

cobalt · « **Reply #2 on:** January 27, 2020, 15:43 »

Selling under a common name, i.e. as one large port, makes it like on blackbox. You lose the individual visibility and brand name recognition, but together the port has a huge upload stream power and should always push the port to a high ranking, even without negotiation with the agency.

And once they are established, they can negotiate better royalty rates and thus partially offset the 15% you pay them.

The question is: are they here to stay? Who are the people behind it?

Is there a longterm plan or just grow it all quickly, then sell it plan?

The attraction of Blackboxglobal is that Pat Gowan and team are highly visible, organize personal meet ups etc...and make it clear they have a very longterm vision for their plattform.

Glad to hear I can upload my own releases. I have no plans to offer a digital signature on that page, I will always upload my own paperwork.

There are thousands of people who just do stock full time and especially for all those who don‘t have English as a first language, this could be a great service.

cobalt · « **Reply #3 on:** January 27, 2020, 15:58 »

Well, here are some faces.

https://medium.com/hive-ventures/announcing-our-latest-investment-in-armenia-wirestock-eac8f365e3ff

Have you seen, where I can download a valid contributor contract?

I must give one to my accountant, everytime I join a new agency. And it must have their legal adress, tax details etc...

Text:

Announcing our latest investment in Armenia: Wirestock
HIVE Team

We first met the Wirestock team through Sebouh Der Kiureghian, a former product manager at Amazon and someone Nina Achadjian, the partner at HIVE Ventures, grew up with in the Bay Area. Sebouh had been spending time in Armenia and started to tell us about a company he had been advising there. He showed us the deck, shared his experience working with the team and why he was so bullish on the idea.

We were, of course, intrigued. Although we get hundreds of inbound messages from startup founders each year, a warm intro from someone we respect is always a priority, so we set up a call with the Wirestock team the very next day.

Within minutes of listening to Mikayel Khachatryan and Vladimir Khoetsyan’s pitch, we knew we had to invest. Not only had the two of them come from the right technical backgrounds and domain expertise, they were also able to clearly articulate the problem, market size, and their path to building a billion-dollar business. More than anything, Mikayel and Vlad were passionate about Wirestock’s mission: enabling content creators to earn money for their work, seamlessly and at scale.

Wirestock is tailor-made to serve creatives in the stock content industry. If you’ve ever seen a billboard, read through a company’s brochure, or even browsed the picture frames section of Target, then you’ve certainly interacted with stock content. Stock images and designs have allowed businesses all over the world to create stunning marketing, promotional, and commercial materials for years. As the world continues to become increasingly digital, stock content has become even more pervasive, spreading to websites, blogs, TV commercials, and on and on. With the increasing number of mediums that businesses use to interact with their customers, the market for stock content only continues to grow — in 2018 alone, over $3 Billion was spent on stock photography globally, a number that’s expected to grow to over $5 Billion by 2024.

This growing market is fueled by the hard work of content creators, a group of over 1 million worldwide creatives responsible for most of the beautiful visuals that we see on a daily basis. Traditionally, these creators have been stuck with out-dated, inefficient, and time-consuming processes to distribute and sell their work. A typical selling experience includes spending hours uploading photos, tagging and writing descriptions for each photo entry individually, posting certain photos for sale on stock agency websites, and then managing these postings on an ongoing basis. This process has to be repeated for each stock agency website a creator would like to sell on (there are over 10 major stock agency websites).

Enter Wirestock.

At its core, Wirestock is a one-stop-shop for stock content creators (photographers and illustrators) to distribute their work online, seamlessly and at scale. Within seconds, content creators can upload their portfolio of content for distribution on the world’s largest stock content websites. Content is automatically tagged and described using Wirestock’s proprietary software. All submissions are managed through one single Wirestock account so that creatives can spend less time uploading, managing and selling content, and more time doing what they do best: creating.

Wirestock’s automated image submission
All of us at HIVE believe in Wirestock’s transformative power for content creators around the world. This belief in the company and the founding team gave us the conviction to invest in Wirestock. Today, we’re excited to announce that HIVE is leading Wirestock’s first fundraising round. Our investment in Wirestock goes beyond capital — HIVE introduced the Wirestock team to top angel investors and mentors around the world, including Magdalena Yesil, Vahe Kuzoyan, Hovig Safoian, Argam DerHartunian, Vache Shirkian, Andrej Kiska, Ilya Golubovich, and Nerses Ohanyan, all of which chose to participate in this round of funding.

Congratulations to Mikayel, Vlad, Ashot, Hovhannes and the rest of the Wirestock team on their success to date and on completing their first fundraise. We are incredibly excited to welcome Wirestock to the HIVE family and look forward to partnering with the team for years to come.

Wirestock has already helped thousands of photographers make a living doing what they love and we can’t wait to see the team deliver that same quality experience to the rest of the world’s 1 million content creators.

cobalt · « **Reply #4 on:** January 27, 2020, 16:03 »

And here is a link to their investors.

https://medium.com/hive-ventures

As long as the investors are really interested in longterm growth and not a quick „teaser company“ that gets flipped quickly, there is nothing wrong at all.

I invited them to come in here and introduce themselves.

Would be helpful if they designated a contributor relations person that got themselves verified by leaf with an official stamp.

We artists are a very friendly bunch, as long as you talk to us

They are offering a very useful service.

cobalt · « **Reply #5 on:** January 28, 2020, 15:11 »

Hello Wirestock?

Still interested in working with the wider stock community?

If you want to attract the interesting content, you will find that this goes much easier if you talk to us, the way Pat Gowan from Blackbox does.

Without the direct involvement of him and the team they would not have gone from 4000 to 50 000 contributors in 18 months.

PZF · « **Reply #6 on:** January 29, 2020, 11:34 »

Keywording not good.
Mountain where no mountain, yellow where no yellow, holiday maker where I see no holiday maker etc etc etc.

cobalt · « **Reply #7 on:** January 30, 2020, 08:03 »

Thank you for sharing.

Anyone uploading there, please share your experiences.

If they really want our business, then Wirestock will announce a community leadership person that talks to us.

Stu49 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 30, 2020, 08:35 »

Marina for inland village !! ??

Keywords tend to be very vague and general !
but then they have no idea what's in the image, or where it is ! So how can they be specific ?

They tend to copy from one image to the next in a batch, so church is in keywords from last image, but no church to be seen !?

I use them for Similars and Duplicates, so nothing to lose really ;-)

Time will tell

cobalt · « **Reply #9 on:** January 30, 2020, 09:57 »

Sounds like a really bad start for their business.

Portfolios with useless keywords will never achieve a good ranking and the quality contributors will stay away.

There is potentially a lot of demand for a service like that.

Why not do it right, pay attention to details and have reliable growth?

Brasilnut · « **Reply #10 on:** January 31, 2020, 12:18 »

Quote from: cobalt on January 30, 2020, 09:57

Sounds like a really bad start for their business.

Portfolios with useless keywords will never achieve a good ranking and the quality contributors will stay away.

There is potentially a lot of demand for a service like that.

Why not do it right, pay attention to details and have reliable growth?

Yes, some of their keywording has been poor.

Myself and a few other contributors have pointed this out, using practical examples and they are implementing a more robust process. I've just checked some of the latest uploaded images and the keywording has improved.

They're a young company and lots of room for improvement but I believe that their management have a good attitude and are aware of the challenges they face to achieve growth.

MircoV · « **Reply #11 on:** January 31, 2020, 12:24 »

Fully agree with Brasilnut about their attitude and potential. They were open to take suggestions and reacted very fast. I see myself working with them exclusively. Time-saver is undervalued. They practically take almost the whole process away from me giving me time for new things. Thank you Wirestock.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2020, 13:31 »

Quote from: MircoV on January 31, 2020, 12:24

Fully agree with Brasilnut about their attitude and potential. They were open to take suggestions and reacted very fast. I see myself working with them exclusively. Time-saver is undervalued. They practically take almost the whole process away from me giving me time for new things. Thank you Wirestock.

Yes and they fixed the bug that was sending every upload to every agency, not just the four I selected.

Support contact seems to actually be a human who reads what I write and answers, which is so much unlike most of the rest.

If they start showing the metadata to the reviewers and caption writers, that should help make the data they add, more relevant. Images with nothing will still be subject to vague descriptions, without important details.

cobalt · « **Reply #13 on:** January 31, 2020, 18:13 »

If they are genuine, they will get a lot of support.

But we have been through a lot of startups that abruptly disappear.

There is a great need for this service and they can probably attract millions of contributors, especially in the non English speaking world if they are serious about it.

By the way, there is also this site: www.dropstock.io

Are they related?

georgep7 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 01, 2020, 03:12 »

Offtopic, is there any similar example of this in the past from any agency/distributor?

Quote

And once they are established, they can negotiate better royalty rates and thus partially offset the 15% you pay them.

cobalt · « **Reply #15 on:** February 01, 2020, 08:43 »

Quote from: georgep7 on February 01, 2020, 03:12

Offtopic, is there any similar example of this in the past from any agency/distributor?

Quote
And once they are established, they can negotiate better royalty rates and thus partially offset the 15% you pay them.

On large marketplaces like Getty, shuttestock etc partners that upload large volume or special content can negotiate their own royalties and also ranking. Obviously a partner supplying high quality medical shots of open heart surgery will have more options, than a partner whose contributors send in sunsets and flowers.

And these contracts are not public, but many suppliers are quite open to discuss that.

You can also see it yourself, go to gettyimages and do a search. Then look at which collections are always on the first 3 or 4 pages. Some of these collections are getty content, some are from external sources like the flickr collection, the eyeem collection, canva, westend61 etc...Getty has over 200 partners.

These rankings are partly the result of quality content and sales results, but also part of explicit ranking.

You notice this if suddenly all your content drops drastically in sales. If you then check on getty you might find they have a new „hip and trendy“ collection whose files are heavily promoted on the first pages.

Supplier agencies can also negotiate other royalty rates, they don‘t have to accept 20% like the regular contributor.

Part of my sales success of sometimes very mundane files on eyeem, is because they are very prominently placed on getty. But this might not last forever.

With video I see that my videos coming to Shutterstock via Blackbox are always ranked higher than the files in my own video port.

File ranking is a complex process, but a lot of it does not depend on me. If my files come into a matketplace via a partner with a really good contract, they will have a much better chance than if I do it myself.

But...you pay for the privilege by sharing the royalties and usually the content has to be exclusive.

And you never know when a new „hip“ partner comes along and gets better placement.

If wirestock gets itself a reputation of supplying a bad selection of files with crappy keywords...well they write their own ticket...

But they are still new, so they can learn.

In principle coming in with a joint portfolio everyone shares the advantage of getting a better ranking with a much higher upload volume. The latter seems to be a criteria on most agencies and is easy to observe.

They also march through the royalty rate system much faster together. So even if they do not negotiate a special royalty, the entire portfolio will reach the highest royalty level much, much faster than if you go it alone.

So that in itself, should quickly compensate for the 15% they take.

If they improve the keywording and make that, really, really good, then I believe 15% is cheap.

However, personally I would never give up my own portfolios. I would just treat it as an additional agency for exclusive content.

But I can see many people, who just do a little stock on the side or just want to upload holiday snaps use this service exclusively, if it works out.

georgep7 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 01, 2020, 15:06 »

thank you for the long answer, I had no idea on most of those facts!

PedroToledo · « **Reply #17 on:** February 02, 2020, 09:38 »

Keywording is bad, they don't even pay attention to the notes I put to the reviewer about the location

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #18 on:** February 02, 2020, 12:12 »

Quote from: olafvik on February 02, 2020, 09:38

Keywording is bad, they don't even pay attention to the notes I put to the reviewer about the location

I see that as the biggest downfall at this point. Vague descriptions, weak keywords, and they have no way of knowing details about the specifics. If our images can't be found or seen, they won't sell.

Anyone who uses Stocksubmitter will not want to lose 15% just to have WS make up vague descriptions and weak keywords. That comes from friends who do use Stocksubmitter.

I'm still adding images to WS and then I'll wait and watch.

"As for metadata, we are working on the second version of Wirestock which will support uploading and submitting with existing metadata. We plan on releasing this in March."

But I'd like to point out, the idea is to pay them 15% to keyword the images, so am I going to pay them 15% for distribution? I could buy Stocksubmitter for that.

This will be interesting to watch. I hope they keep improving.

mike_snaps · « **Reply #19 on:** February 03, 2020, 11:23 »

Hi Microstock Community

First of all, thanks a lot for all your feedback and suggestions. We really love this community and actually started talking to you way before we launched Wirestock. It has still not been a full year since we launched Wirestock in February of 2019. As you may know, we are in an active phase of growth and are constantly improving the experience of content submission. To address the comments above, I want to list some of the improvements that we are working on right now:

-Keyword optimization for easy submission
-Curation and Easy Submission speed
-Ability to read metadata for non-easy-submission uploads
-Addition of new marketplaces
-Referral Program

We are planning to release a major update of Wirestock in the next couple of months which will be much faster and easier to use. Please stay tuned for new updates and improvements.

You can also check out this podcast episode to find out more about our team and our vision.

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #20 on:** February 07, 2020, 13:11 »

Quote from: olafvik on February 02, 2020, 09:38

Keywording is bad, they don't even pay attention to the notes I put to the reviewer about the location

Not getting better, they just dropped iStock. Reviewer didn't read my notes either.

bestravelvideo · « **Reply #21 on:** February 09, 2020, 10:46 »

I have sent a first batch of photos at Wirestock.
At the ones already sent to the agencies, I see some mistakes, although I had at the photo title the format: city/monument title.
At the details tab, I do not see any option to submit any note, I only see a notes tab prior to submission.
Does anyone know how do I tell them the correct name?
Finally, out of the ones submitted, will I see after some days which photos were accepted at which agency?

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #22 on:** February 09, 2020, 14:34 »

Quote from: bestravelvideo on February 09, 2020, 10:46

I have sent a first batch of photos at Wirestock.
At the ones already sent to the agencies, I see some mistakes, although I had at the photo title the format: city/monument title.
At the details tab, I do not see any option to submit any note, I only see a notes tab prior to submission.
Does anyone know how do I tell them the correct name?
Finally, out of the ones submitted, will I see after some days which photos were accepted at which agency?

I may have missed it, but all I see are what's submitted from Wirestock and to which agencies.

As noted here and also when I wrote support, they are making changes where we can add specific information. I have to wait and see how that works. If that means I have to supply everything and not just details, that can inform the person doing the keywording, and I have to do everything, "non-easy submission" then why would I use WS?

Quote from: mike_snaps on February 03, 2020, 11:23

...some of the improvements that we are working on right now:

-Keyword optimization for easy submission
-Curation and Easy Submission speed
-Ability to read metadata for non-easy-submission uploads
-Addition of new marketplaces
-Referral Program

We are planning to release a major update of Wirestock in the next couple of months which will be much faster and easier to use. Please stay tuned for new updates and improvements.

We'll have to wait and see?

Quote from: cobalt

On large marketplaces like Getty, shuttestock etc partners that upload large volume or special content can negotiate their own royalties and also ranking.

That would be an advantage possibly. But WS has dropped iStock.

kall3bu · « **Reply #23 on:** September 11, 2020, 13:41 »

As mentioned from Uncle Pete:
#The most upsetting is if I choose to NOT use the automatic keywording, which is necessary if I want to submit anything Editorial, their system doesn't read keywords.#

I was surprised reading it, because I uploaded after that and keywords were read from their system.

But since nearly one week now, the system even does not read any keywords - including commercial images.

Another thing:
They past keywords from one image to another, but the images are totally different.

My guess: They have big actual problems with a new system, which was planned to go online on 2nd September 2020. Since that time, everything seems to go wrong with uploading and submitting in case of keywording and reading keywords. Suggestions from me to order keywords were not done also. I found that image with wrong keywords on Alamy online.
And my files which are in the processing folder waiting already a week, too.

I do not want to blame wirestock. They really trying their best. Last weeks I had many problems to solve and they were always replying unexpectalbe fast and in a way that contributors like - respectful!

Does anyone here has the same problems now?

Did wirestock anywhere publish that actual are problems with a new system?

I only know about 2nd September as changing the system, because one of the friendly supporter told me that in an email wihtout I was asking about it.

I now wait until the new system works well with my new uploads.

What are your experiences since 2nd September?
Or am i alone with this problem?

Let´s hope, they will get fix it and the new system will be better as promised.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #24 on:** September 15, 2020, 13:03 »

Quote from: kall3bu on September 11, 2020, 13:41

As mentioned from Uncle Pete:
#The most upsetting is if I choose to NOT use the automatic keywording, which is necessary if I want to submit anything Editorial, their system doesn't read keywords.#

I was surprised reading it, because I uploaded after that and keywords were read from their system.

But since nearly one week now, the system even does not read any keywords - including commercial images.

Another thing:
They past keywords from one image to another, but the images are totally different.

My guess: They have big actual problems with a new system, which was planned to go online on 2nd September 2020. Since that time, everything seems to go wrong with uploading and submitting in case of keywording and reading keywords. Suggestions from me to order keywords were not done also. I found that image with wrong keywords on Alamy online.
And my files which are in the processing folder waiting already a week, too.

I do not want to blame wirestock. They really trying their best. Last weeks I had many problems to solve and they were always replying unexpectalbe fast and in a way that contributors like - respectful!

Does anyone here has the same problems now?

Did wirestock anywhere publish that actual are problems with a new system?

I only know about 2nd September as changing the system, because one of the friendly supporter told me that in an email wihtout I was asking about it.

I now wait until the new system works well with my new uploads.

What are your experiences since 2nd September?
Or am i alone with this problem?

Let´s hope, they will get fix it and the new system will be better as promised.

I'd have to upload something to see, but the keywords did populate last time I uploaded. I'm not sure if that went to the image or just to the reviewer.

Still the Editorial nothing seemed to work, I'm not going to spend all kinds of time, copying and pasting that data over again. Or at the most, not going to upload more than a few images.

Still wondering about the Instant Sales, because a friend told me, those are one time buys from Freepix! Yeah I like the $3.40 but I don't like them becoming free. Talk about competing with myself? On the positive, most of those are images that haven't make $3 in ten years, on the other sites.

Very conflicting that I should be happy to get the money and then have my images offered for free on a site like Freepix, that's killing Microstock.

alexandersr · « **Reply #25 on:** October 05, 2020, 16:07 »

I have a question, maybe it's something stupid, I apologize for that. If I already have images in the microstock that Wirestock has. If I upload images there, will they appear as repeated? That is, will my same images compete with each other? Thank you.

JustAnImage · « **Reply #26 on:** October 05, 2020, 16:29 »

Quote from: alexandersr on October 05, 2020, 16:07

I have a question, maybe it's something stupid, I apologize for that. If I already have images in the microstock that Wirestock has. If I upload images there, will they appear as repeated? That is, will my same images compete with each other? Thank you.

If you upload images to Wirestock, which are already on other sites like Adobe or Shutter, those site will find thatr images as "duplicate" and will not take them a second time.
But you don't see at Wirestock, which of the 7 agencies have accepted your images, you only see if Wirestock has taken the image.

alexandersr · « **Reply #27 on:** October 05, 2020, 17:25 »

Quote from: JustAnImage on October 05, 2020, 16:29

Quote from: alexandersr on October 05, 2020, 16:07
I have a question, maybe it's something stupid, I apologize for that. If I already have images in the microstock that Wirestock has. If I upload images there, will they appear as repeated? That is, will my same images compete with each other? Thank you.
If you upload images to Wirestock, which are already on other sites like Adobe or Shutter, those site will find thatr images as "duplicate" and will not take them a second time.
But you don't see at Wirestock, which of the 7 agencies have accepted your images, you only see if Wirestock has taken the image.

Thanks!

offisapup · « **Reply #28 on:** October 06, 2020, 16:58 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on September 15, 2020, 13:03

Still wondering about the Instant Sales, because a friend told me, those are one time buys from Freepix! Yeah I like the $3.40 but I don't like them becoming free. Talk about competing with myself? On the positive, most of those are images that haven't make $3 in ten years, on the other sites.

Very conflicting that I should be happy to get the money and then have my images offered for free on a site like Freepix, that's killing Microstock.

I was wondering about the "Instant Pay" too because I had a few of those (all 3.4$). If they are freepik sales then that's a clear breach of contract and trust in my opinion because I did not give them permission to sell images to freepik where anyone can download and use it for free. Good thing I have only 50 odd images there.

It's not about the money the images made but contributors need to know where the images are being sold. Without transparency, it's impossible for me to trust wirestock. So never uploading my images there again if these are proven to be freepik sales.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #29 on:** October 15, 2020, 16:51 »

I thought it worth adding to this thread as Wirestock has some 5,000 images in Adobe Stock's free collection. No idea how this deal was done - for the other factory contributors they negotiated a one year deal (according to Jim Pickerell's article)

Two things stood out for me. One was that the Wirestock contributions are noticeably different (not in a good way) from the other very high quality content in the free collection.

The other was that Wirestock images kept showing up in searches where they didn't belong. The keywording is truly terrible. As just one example, a lighthouse image had keywords for Maine and New England, but it clearly wasn't from there - the title "Building on a rock formation at the seashore" is clearly what you get when you let someone who knows nothing about the image do metadata.

The image is actually from Italy, the Punta Palascia Lighthouse. I didn't know that (only that it wasn't Maine), but a Google image search helped me out.

Something similar with "Harbor with colorful buildings by the ocean" which has modern, skyscraper & marina (there isn't one) as keywords, but none for Riomaggiore or Italy (what's in the picture)

I know that keywording and uploading is no fun, but if you're thinking of handing over your images to Wirestock, bear in mind that if the keywords are useless your images may never sell because no buyer will ever see them in a search for which they are applicable

Tenebroso · « **Reply #30 on:** October 15, 2020, 16:57 »

Very interesting, thank you very much.

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on October 15, 2020, 16:51

I thought it worth adding to this thread as Wirestock has some 5,000 images in Adobe Stock's free collection. No idea how this deal was done - for the other factory contributors they negotiated a one year deal (according to Jim Pickerell's article)

Two things stood out for me. One was that the Wirestock contributions are noticeably different (not in a good way) from the other very high quality content in the free collection.

The other was that Wirestock images kept showing up in searches where they didn't belong. The keywording is truly terrible. As just one example, a lighthouse image had keywords for Maine and New England, but it clearly wasn't from there - the title "Building on a rock formation at the seashore" is clearly what you get when you let someone who knows nothing about the image do metadata.

The image is actually from Italy, the Punta Palascia Lighthouse. I didn't know that (only that it wasn't Maine), but a Google image search helped me out.

Something similar with "Harbor with colorful buildings by the ocean" which has modern, skyscraper & marina (there isn't one) as keywords, but none for Riomaggiore or Italy (what's in the picture)

I know that keywording and uploading is no fun, but if you're thinking of handing over your images to Wirestock, bear in mind that if the keywords are useless your images may never sell because no buyer will ever see them in a search for which they are applicable

Pauws99 · « **Reply #31 on:** October 17, 2020, 03:04 »

I don't think adding another link in the supply chain will end well

.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #32 on:** October 19, 2020, 09:54 »

Quote from: alexandersr on October 05, 2020, 16:07

I have a question, maybe it's something stupid, I apologize for that. If I already have images in the microstock that Wirestock has. If I upload images there, will they appear as repeated? That is, will my same images compete with each other? Thank you.

Sorry for being late to the party. Wirestock, when I started there, said they compared to the database at the agencies and didn't upload duplicates. Followed by, they did upload a duplicate to SS when I never checked SS for anything.

It's possible that they are supposed to remove duplicates before upload, but the agencies are also supposed to check.

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on October 15, 2020, 16:51

I thought it worth adding to this thread as Wirestock has some 5,000 images in Adobe Stock's free collection. No idea how this deal was done - for the other factory contributors they negotiated a one year deal (according to Jim Pickerell's article)

Two things stood out for me. One was that the Wirestock contributions are noticeably different (not in a good way) from the other very high quality content in the free collection.

The other was that Wirestock images kept showing up in searches where they didn't belong. The keywording is truly terrible. As just one example, a lighthouse image had keywords for Maine and New England, but it clearly wasn't from there - the title "Building on a rock formation at the seashore" is clearly what you get when you let someone who knows nothing about the image do metadata.

The image is actually from Italy, the Punta Palascia Lighthouse. I didn't know that (only that it wasn't Maine), but a Google image search helped me out.

Something similar with "Harbor with colorful buildings by the ocean" which has modern, skyscraper & marina (there isn't one) as keywords, but none for Riomaggiore or Italy (what's in the picture)

I know that keywording and uploading is no fun, but if you're thinking of handing over your images to Wirestock, bear in mind that if the keywords are useless your images may never sell because no buyer will ever see them in a search for which they are applicable

Instant Pay on WS is $3.40 - you can opt out of that. So far I've seen that images are on Freepix for sure. I don't know about Adobe and the contract for one year from WS? Maybe someone has tracked one of their images. I upload to Adobe myself and upload nothing through WS to Adobe. I'll never be able to see that.

I don't know how WS could estimate "above the annual RPI of that asset" but WS does say, the image has to be unsold for a period of time, before it will be offered as Instant Pay. If you don't like $3.40 one time payment, that's your choice. Images that have sold are not supposed to be part of Instant Pay. Only the images that have not generated any sales for several month in any of your selected agencies are chosen to participate in the Instant Pay program. Afterwards, the selected images are sent to the Instant Pay agencies which choose the images that comply with their requirements for which they make a one time payment. The earnings are later displayed on your Dashboard. In your Earnings by Photo you are able to see which images exactly have been sold. I want to inform that irrespective of the fact that images are chosen by Instant Pay you still keep licensing them through other agencies as well to which you have submitted before.

Someone needs to find an example of an image that was uploaded personally to WS that appears in the Adobe free collection and provide the details. I can understand that Adobe can check past sales, but they can't check past WS sales? Something is not right if, for example, one of my images is sold to Adobe, by Wirestock, for $3.40 because then the claim that Adobe based the pay on past sales, is impossible.

Quote

... bear in mind that if the keywords are (nearly) useless

I can attest that buyers do find my images, because they have sold.

However Jo Ann is essentially correct. The keywords are often vague descriptions, like "A vertical shot of a wooden direction sign surrounded by greenery" or "A high angle shot of a factory with smokestacks" and Sushi? "Overhead shot of raw foods placed in a white plate with black color in the background " those are real examples.

I upload rejects and images that have no sales ever on Adobe or SS after many years. Everything new and anything that sells, is not going to WS. My view is, making money from dormant, dead non-earning or buried images, is not competing with myself.

Also Wirestock V 2.0 (this reply was in July, I don't know if they read metadata yet or not, I haven't uploaded in months) You will have the chance to upload your photos with metadata with the new Wirestock 2.0 version.

Roscoe · « **Reply #33 on:** October 21, 2020, 02:05 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 19, 2020, 09:54

Also Wirestock V 2.0 (this reply was in July, I don't know if they read metadata yet or not, I haven't uploaded in months) You will have the chance to upload your photos with metadata with the new Wirestock 2.0 version.

Yes they do read metadata now, although their interface remains quite buggy and I'm still missing the portfolio search functionality and feedback on whether files were accepted by an agency or not.

All of the earlier mentioned remarks are true. Their own keywording tends to be very generic or even wrong, and their collection contains a lot of garbage.

That said, I like using WireStock as an aggregator for low earning agencies like DT, DP 123RF and Pond5 giving me faster payout.
Additionally, I admit being guilty of adding generic garbage-like images too. You know, the kind of images which you usually don't upload to your personal agency accounts as keywording all these images isn't worth the time. So I let Wirestock deal with the keywording, and take whatever sales these images make. (which they, to my own surprise, do. Every now and then).

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #34 on:** October 21, 2020, 09:34 »

Quote from: Roscoe on October 21, 2020, 02:05

Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 19, 2020, 09:54
Also Wirestock V 2.0 (this reply was in July, I don't know if they read metadata yet or not, I haven't uploaded in months) You will have the chance to upload your photos with metadata with the new Wirestock 2.0 version.

Yes they do read metadata now, although their interface remains quite buggy and I'm still missing the portfolio search functionality and feedback on whether files were accepted by an agency or not.

All of the earlier mentioned remarks are true. Their own keywording tends to be very generic or even wrong, and their collection contains a lot of garbage.

That said, I like using WireStock as an aggregator for low earning agencies like DT, DP 123RF and Pond5 giving me faster payout.
Additionally, I admit being guilty of adding generic garbage-like images too. You know, the kind of images which you usually don't upload to your personal agency accounts as keywording all these images isn't worth the time. So I let Wirestock deal with the keywording, and take whatever sales these images make. (which they, to my own surprise, do. Every now and then).

Yes, I'm guilty of uploading leftovers and rejects and personal rejects. Good to hear they are now, sometimes, reading metadata.

"aggregator for low earning agencies" is exactly the way to describe the way I see them. It solves the problem of taking years to get paid, and maybe never, when someplace like DT requires $100 in earnings to collect. I don't dislike DT, but with a trickle of downloads, and even worse, I'm uploading through WS now, it could be a long, long time.

Anyone who uses one of the stock uploaders and does their won work, doesn't really want WS. For myself and I can assume some others, with extra images, that aren't worth the time to do all the detailed work, or pay for software to distribute images, WS is a nice easy answer.

Yes, the information about what happened to images is a mystery. We don't know if something was accepted or rejected. WS does do quality review and they do reject before things are sent to agencies, but we don't know more than that. The reporting of downloads seems fine and does attribute which agency the sale was at.

For all the negatives, and they take 15%, using them for easy distribution and aggregator for low earning agencies, is just fine with me. Things I care about, I do myself. This is just extra income for very little effort. As the discussion has been, how much work do you want to do for 10¢ ? I submit to AS, SS and Alamy on my own, the rest I don't care anymore. (no I don't do video)

Tenebroso · « **Reply #35 on:** October 23, 2020, 10:04 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on October 15, 2020, 16:51

I thought it worth adding to this thread as Wirestock has some 5,000 images in Adobe Stock's free collection. No idea how this deal was done - for the other factory contributors they negotiated a one year deal (according to Jim Pickerell's article)

Two things stood out for me. One was that the Wirestock contributions are noticeably different (not in a good way) from the other very high quality content in the free collection.

The other was that Wirestock images kept showing up in searches where they didn't belong. The keywording is truly terrible. As just one example, a lighthouse image had keywords for Maine and New England, but it clearly wasn't from there - the title "Building on a rock formation at the seashore" is clearly what you get when you let someone who knows nothing about the image do metadata.

The image is actually from Italy, the Punta Palascia Lighthouse. I didn't know that (only that it wasn't Maine), but a Google image search helped me out.

Something similar with "Harbor with colorful buildings by the ocean" which has modern, skyscraper & marina (there isn't one) as keywords, but none for Riomaggiore or Italy (what's in the picture)

I know that keywording and uploading is no fun, but if you're thinking of handing over your images to Wirestock, bear in mind that if the keywords are useless your images may never sell because no buyer will ever see them in a search for which they are applicable

I suppose it is an extra benefit for those who upload images there, each user will have accepted the proportional part of the income for belonging to free files. An extra for collaborators who upload to this group account. It all adds up.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #36 on:** October 26, 2020, 12:26 »

Quote from: Tenebroso on October 23, 2020, 10:04

I suppose it is an extra benefit for those who upload images there, each user will have accepted the proportional part of the income for belonging to free files. An extra for collaborators who upload to this group account. It all adds up.

I haven't found the WS photos on Adobe, maybe someone can help.

But to answer:

There is no proportional income from Adobe, artists who were asked to participate, accepted a payment in advance. It seems that the terms were, free for a year, and maybe then Adobe will select new images or do whatever they are going to do with this plan.

Wirestock has Instant Payment $3.40, the artist gets paid that and Nothing More! Your image can be on a free site forever Freepix for example, and you get nothing else. But there is an opt out for anyone on WS who doesn't want to supply free sites for a one time download payment.

No extra benefit

TonyD · « **Reply #37 on:** January 03, 2022, 18:42 »

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2020, 06:51

Hi everyone. Any opinions on Wirestock?

https://www.wirestock.io/#howitworks

They seem to be the follow up of the group that wanted to start a blockchain linked agency.

https://www.microstockgroup.com/selling-direct/peer-to-peer-direct-stock-selling-platform/

Now they have opened a place that on the surface looks similar to blackboxglobal, they take 15% distribute to seven micros but also do your keywording and description (unless it is editorial).

For many part timers or newbies or people who are not good with English, this is certainly a very attractive idea.

makes more sense than a blockchain site IMO.

All content goes into a central port, juts like blackbox, not into your individual portfolios.

What I really don't like that nowhere on the site kann you find address, telephone number, bios of the team and managers.

But jjneff has looked at them, also brasilnut.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2020/01/08/review-wirestock-stock-agency/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cClb-o5lQss&fbclid=IwAR3gzhzM4UBqgclksMj9Nm-_BjAYgYQ7bIotZTSwR6ICkHNjUS0I9yRqJ-c

I find it interesting enough to sign up.

But more info about the faces behind the service would make a huge difference.

Like Blackbox it will be an additional place and not replace my main ports.

What is the minimum payment cash out on wirestock ? I am thinking of uploading to wirestock after closing my Dreamtime & Alamy ports because it will take me maybe years to get to their minimum payouts due to low sales.

Level6 · « **Reply #38 on:** January 03, 2022, 20:53 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on September 15, 2020, 13:03

Quote from: kall3bu on September 11, 2020, 13:41
As mentioned from Uncle Pete:
#The most upsetting is if I choose to NOT use the automatic keywording, which is necessary if I want to submit anything Editorial, their system doesn't read keywords.#

I was surprised reading it, because I uploaded after that and keywords were read from their system.

But since nearly one week now, the system even does not read any keywords - including commercial images.

Another thing:
They past keywords from one image to another, but the images are totally different.

My guess: They have big actual problems with a new system, which was planned to go online on 2nd September 2020. Since that time, everything seems to go wrong with uploading and submitting in case of keywording and reading keywords. Suggestions from me to order keywords were not done also. I found that image with wrong keywords on Alamy online.
And my files which are in the processing folder waiting already a week, too.

I do not want to blame wirestock. They really trying their best. Last weeks I had many problems to solve and they were always replying unexpectalbe fast and in a way that contributors like - respectful!

Does anyone here has the same problems now?

Did wirestock anywhere publish that actual are problems with a new system?

I only know about 2nd September as changing the system, because one of the friendly supporter told me that in an email wihtout I was asking about it.

I now wait until the new system works well with my new uploads.

What are your experiences since 2nd September?
Or am i alone with this problem?

Let´s hope, they will get fix it and the new system will be better as promised.

I'd have to upload something to see, but the keywords did populate last time I uploaded. I'm not sure if that went to the image or just to the reviewer.

Still the Editorial nothing seemed to work, I'm not going to spend all kinds of time, copying and pasting that data over again. Or at the most, not going to upload more than a few images.

Still wondering about the Instant Sales, because a friend told me, those are one time buys from Freepix! Yeah I like the $3.40 but I don't like them becoming free. Talk about competing with myself? On the positive, most of those are images that haven't make $3 in ten years, on the other sites.

Very conflicting that I should be happy to get the money and then have my images offered for free on a site like Freepix, that's killing Microstock.

Oh...so it wasn't just me that couldn't get the editorial (video) to work. I tried and gave up and yeah I'd be concerned about anything ending up on a free site,Freepik, Pexels, whatever. Look at what's happening over at Alamy now with a Chinese distributor.

Also found this story on them: https://www.selling-stock.com/Article/who-is-behind-wirestockio-founders-funding-an

And Found their domain registration and it seems to have been updated, I looked all over their website and not even a location, nothing.

Raw Whois Data
Domain Name: WIRESTOCK.IO
Registry Domain ID: D503300000309675559-LRMS
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.gandi.net
Registrar URL: https://www.gandi.net/whois
Updated Date: 2021-08-13T20:45:24Z
Creation Date: 2018-11-18T12:49:54Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2022-11-18T12:49:54Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date:
Registrar: Gandi SAS
Registrar IANA ID: 81
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +33.170377661
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registrant Organization: Wirestock
Registrant State/Province: CA
Registrant Country: US
Name Server: NS-101.AWSDNS-12.COM
Name Server: NS-1683.AWSDNS-18.CO.UK
Name Server: NS-1222.AWSDNS-24.ORG
Name Server: NS-915.AWSDNS-50.NET
DNSSEC: unsigned

>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2021-11-09T13:31:36Z <<<

For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://icann.org/epp

Access to WHOIS information provided by Internet Computer Bureau Ltd. ("ICB") is provided to assist persons in determining the contents of a domain name registration record in the ICB registry database. The data in this record is provided by ICB for informational purposes only, and ICB does not guarantee its accuracy. This service is intended only for query-based access. You agree that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this data to(i) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, facsimile or other electronic means of mass, unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than the data recipient's own existing customers; or (ii) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of Registry Operator, a Registrar, or ICB or its services providers except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. UK privacy laws limit the scope of information permitted for certain public access. Therefore, concerns regarding abusive use of domain registrations in the ICB registry should be directed to either (a) the Registrar of Record as indicated in the WHOIS output, or (b) the ICB anti-abuse department at [email protected].

All rights reserved. ICB reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by these policies

The Registrar of Record identified in this output may have an RDDS service that can

Level6 · « **Reply #39 on:** January 03, 2022, 20:59 »

Quote from: vintage age on January 03, 2022, 18:42

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2020, 06:51
Hi everyone. Any opinions on Wirestock?

https://www.wirestock.io/#howitworks

They seem to be the follow up of the group that wanted to start a blockchain linked agency.

https://www.microstockgroup.com/selling-direct/peer-to-peer-direct-stock-selling-platform/

Now they have opened a place that on the surface looks similar to blackboxglobal, they take 15% distribute to seven micros but also do your keywording and description (unless it is editorial).

For many part timers or newbies or people who are not good with English, this is certainly a very attractive idea.

makes more sense than a blockchain site IMO.

All content goes into a central port, juts like blackbox, not into your individual portfolios.

What I really don't like that nowhere on the site kann you find address, telephone number, bios of the team and managers.

But jjneff has looked at them, also brasilnut.

https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2020/01/08/review-wirestock-stock-agency/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cClb-o5lQss&fbclid=IwAR3gzhzM4UBqgclksMj9Nm-_BjAYgYQ7bIotZTSwR6ICkHNjUS0I9yRqJ-c

I find it interesting enough to sign up.

But more info about the faces behind the service would make a huge difference.

Like Blackbox it will be an additional place and not replace my main ports.

What is the minimum payment cash out on wirestock ? I am thinking of uploading to wirestock after closing my Dreamtime & Alamy ports because it will take me maybe years to get to their minimum payouts due to low sales.

Another story of interest on this outfit: https://www.selling-stock.com/Article/is-wirestocks-instant-pay-program-a-scam

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #40 on:** January 04, 2022, 13:42 »

Quote from: Level6 on January 03, 2022, 20:59

Another story of interest on this outfit: https://www.selling-stock.com/Article/is-wirestocks-instant-pay-program-a-scam

Old news, not true, many errors, December 2020. You should really read before you attack and spread malicious rumors.

Quote from: vintage age on January 03, 2022, 18:42

What is the minimum payment cash out on wirestock ? I am thinking of uploading to wirestock after closing my Dreamtime & Alamy ports because it will take me maybe years to get to their minimum payouts due to low sales.

$30 accumulated from all agencies combined. They take 15% off the top.

This should answer all the other questions, like who, where and what's behind the site. https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2021/03/22/interview-with-mikayel-khachatryan-co-founder-and-cto-at-wirestock/

Short read: Armenia

Wirestock isn't for everyone and won't be the magic solution to everything, but they can be useful in different ways for some of us. Everyone needs to decide based on their own interests and how they make and distribute images.

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