Microstock Photography Forum - General > Newbie Discussion
boycott shutterstock
cascoly:
along w Pete, i dont concentrate on RPD since total income is my only real measure.
but here's my RPD for those who care
Oct $0.388
Sep $0.379
Aug $0.493
Jul $0.493
Jun $0.500
May $0.953
Apr $0.641
Mar $1.104
Feb $0.303
again, nowhere near the 10c lvl and actual $ still > AS most months
everest:
Maybe I got myself explained wrong. It is not that they are pumping it artificially but they made a quick money grab the same as Getty did with Istock some years ago. At that time Getty grabbed clients money multiplying prices for customers and so many disappeared. Shutterstock went the opposite route. They have put the burden on contributors and those are disappearing fast (just look at what gets uploaded nowadays at SS).
With such moves you make investors happy in the short term because your benefit increases dramatically but down the road things don't look so rosy anymore. Lets talk about SS stock in 2 years . You will see how drastically different their stock market graph and corporate benefits will be.
Contributors and after clients will be where the good content is. And it is no longer at SS.
--- Quote from: cascoly on October 11, 2021, 19:35 ---
--- Quote from: everest on October 11, 2021, 15:15 ---They have just pumped up the stock killing the future of the company.....
--- End quote ---
highly unlikely SS is pumping their own stock - $100/share stocks don't get pumped since the buy to raise it by 10% over millions of shares is enormous
compared to pumping a penny stock to $1 or $2 -- an increase of over 100x for much less invested
--- End quote ---
marthamarks:
--- Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 11, 2021, 06:48 ---The quoting got mixed and messed up, Martha didn't ask about RPD, I did. And I know she would never support or have any downloads on SS, as she left when they stabbed us.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, Pete, for clarifying that. Even I was having a hard time tracking my own comments through that long, muddled thread.
Milleflore:
--- Quote from: Uncle Pete on October 11, 2021, 06:48 ---The quoting got mixed and messed up, Martha didn't ask about RPD, I did. And I know she would never support or have any downloads on SS, as she left when they stabbed us. I kept my account, because I make some money, and I already had the work done, the images are out in the wild and pulling back doesn't hurt SS, only myself.
With that: A Microstock agency boycott does nothing, they never have. Not IS, not DT, Not DP, not FT and least of all SS. The only way artists can make any change or be effective in improving the earnings, with a protest or boycott, is if we have power over the agency, that forces them to change.
No power, no financial threat = No Change.
Now back to the RPD point. As much as I hate 10c downloads and the reset,
--- Quote from: sergio76 on October 01, 2021, 12:50 ---I've uploaded some photos on Shutterstock..then when I realized I was earning only $ 0.10 per photo..ok well, bye bye Shutterstock. I've already read a thread in another forum where many people complained about this. In my opinion, earning $ 0.10 per photo is comparable to the illegal exploitation of workers. Especially when behind a shot there is a preparation and maybe even a cost. How much does Shutterstock make from the subscriptions that editorial or advertising agencies make monthly or annually, then paying his contributors only $ 0.10 per photo?
--- End quote ---
If someone uploads and keeps their account open, then they are not exploited, they are a willing victim. People who leave have made their own decision to not take the micro payments.
Again, we don't earn 10c per download, that's a false claim.
My RPD is less, and in fact my number of downloads and my income is less on SS than it was, before the change. But a small percentage of something is more than 100% of nothing.
RPD this year
Sept = $1.03
Aug = .68
July = $1.57
June = .27
May = .62
April = .64
March = .24
Feb = .30
Jan = .33
Nothing to cheer about, compared to higher numbers before the changes, but NOT 10C.
And I'll admit that RPD is a terrible, useless statistic, because we earn dollars not some statistical number. But in this case, the claim that we get 10c a download vs the truth, I needed to go look for real numbers. $50 EL skewed July up, and some downloads in the teens, elevated Sept. I'm probably averaging around 45c RPD and I'm not going to spend more time, calculating the exact number. Used to be closer to 75¢
--- End quote ---
You take the good with the bad now with SS. Its like iS but better. For example, from today's sales on SS:
Zero Talent:
--- Quote from: everest on October 11, 2021, 23:32 ---Maybe I got myself explained wrong. It is not that they are pumping it artificially but they made a quick money grab the same as Getty did with Istock some years ago. At that time Getty grabbed clients money multiplying prices for customers and so many disappeared. Shutterstock went the opposite route. They have put the burden on contributors and those are disappearing fast (just look at what gets uploaded nowadays at SS).
With such moves you make investors happy in the short term because your benefit increases dramatically but down the road things don't look so rosy anymore. Lets talk about SS stock in 2 years . You will see how drastically different their stock market graph and corporate benefits will be.
Contributors and after clients will be where the good content is. And it is no longer at SS.
--- End quote ---
Doom's Day predictions are a dime a dozen. There is a guy in every main square prophecying that The End is Nigh.
Yeah, there is always a chance for SS to fail in two years. But if it will happen, it will not prove that you are wise, but just a lucky gambler. :P
Even so, if there will still be demand for stock on the market, a competitor or more will jump straight in, to fill the gap.
You will be fine, maybe even better, if SS made a mistake, because smart competitors tend to learn from mistakes.
If demand is still there, buyers buy from a different outlet.
As simple as that.
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