MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Pixmac => Topic started by: leaf on August 11, 2010, 04:40
-
Microstock Newcomer Pixmac Hires Industry Veteran to Spearhead North American Business Arm And Take Over The World ([url=http://www.pixmac.com]www.pixmac.com[/url] ([url]http://www.pixmac.com[/url]))
Prague, Aug 1st – Simon Raybould has been appointed Director - Sales & Marketing, North America for Pixmac. Formerly with the V.C.G Group and later Getty Images in London, and then until recently with Corbis and Veer in Canada, Simon now has his eyes firmly on the microstock market in the USA and Canada.
The team at Pixmac are young, dynamic, tech savvy entrepreneurs – whose perspective on the stock photography industry sits firmly behind their Macbooks.
“We hear a lot about how the industry has been in turmoil and it seems to be always bad news for photographers – well our perspective is the opposite. It’s the best time in the industry – if you are a buyer that is. Great imagery is now as “cheap as chips” as they say in England,” Simon notes. “And Pixmac leads the picture pack.”
Fresh faced, 2 year old start-up Pixmac has built a fabulous user interface from the ground up. Everything is based around helping the world’s designers. For example, we don’t even ask people to register or even have a username, login or passwords if they don’t want to. You can just find an image – and buy it. One less thing to worry about.
Couple all this with the fact that we represent both Fotolia and Dreamstime on the same site – Pixmac has over 10 million pictures to choose from. Our page upload speeds are really fast, and we have great features like our big brothers – search for similars, related images, zoom, and even a neat new “upload an image and see if we can find something similar” functionality (in beta testing).
We don’t carry the old baggage of the “olden sic golden days” of stock photography (some of us weren’t even born then). All we care about is giving designers the best tools to do their jobs easily and quickly. Quite simply – we are like them. We are all Mac obsessed, drink bucketloads of Starbucks, and have an office dog that occasionally eats one of the office chairs (no really).
Our target sights (or should that be sites?) are firmly on growing substantially and quickly. Corbis for whatever reason never really took the second place on the podium in the microstock arena, as they did in mainstream Royalty Free and Rights Managed content.
So that’s what we are after. Is it going to be easy? Certainly not. But the Starbucks down the road is open 24 hours, and they have plenty of comfy seats with electrical sockets to plug your laptops in.
About Pixmac
Pixmac is a young and vibrant startup company that makes good use on the previous experiences of all it's team members. Their very wide range of skills in design, technology and search engine optimization mix together and blend into the easiest and fastest agency out there, north, south, east or west.
We've quickly became cashflow positive and we're now working on making the user experience as good and pleasing as we can:
• We've introduced easy shopping without registration and are the first agency to do this.
• We're the fastest in page loading and image turnaround
• We're still the only agency that sells more micro-priced sources
• We've been growing faster than any other microstock agency launched since 2008.
Pixmac’s head office is based in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, a popular storybook tourist destination. It’s the country of the 2010 World Ice Hockey Champions and the country of world–acclaimed President Vaclav Havel, the leader of the new free Czech Republic.
We have now opened a North American office in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (because that’s where the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team is). So North American designers here we come!
Intrigued by what you have read? Please take a deep breath, grab a cup of coffee and go speedily to [url=http://www.pixmac.com]www.pixmac.com[/url] ([url]http://www.pixmac.com[/url]) and all will be revealed!
We love the world, its peoples and its colours. Please do take a look at our Home Page.
Thanks for joining us.
The Team at Pixmac… and Pixie, of course.
-
...And Pixmac leads the picture pack.
...We've been growing faster than any other microstock agency launched since 2008
If they say it it must be true then .
...We are all Mac obsessed, drink bucketloads of Starbucks...
These folks are so hype , I'm already hooked
...We love the world, its peoples and its colours...
* I give up , I can't make it cheesier .
I'm still waiting to see an agency statement that ends with :
"We love cash , bucketloads of cash "
-
"We've introduced easy shopping without registration and are the first agency to do this. "
That'll be great for hunting down license violators. Good luck!
-
"We've introduced easy shopping without registration and are the first agency to do this. "
That'll be great for hunting down license violators. Good luck!
Exactly. Very, very bad idea.
-
so i think everyone porfolio in dreamstime and fotolia will be available in pixmac?
what about similiar photos in this 2 porfolio? and what the different directly uploading to them?
-
so i think everyone porfolio in dreamstime and fotolia will be available in pixmac?
what about similiar photos in this 2 porfolio? and what the different directly uploading to them?
If you have checked the Partner Program in dreamstime, yes your port is automatically at Pixmac. I don't know about fotolia.
-
...
what about similiar photos in this 2 porfolio? and what the different directly uploading to them?
As far as I know they are running some system that should eliminate possible duplicities.
-
so i think everyone porfolio in dreamstime and fotolia will be available in pixmac?
what about similiar photos in this 2 porfolio? and what the different directly uploading to them?
If you have checked the Partner Program in dreamstime, yes your port is automatically at Pixmac. I don't know about fotolia.
Are you sure? I just checked, im enrolled on dreamstime but cant find any of my pics on pixmac (want to keep it that way); its also one of the many reasons i ditched Fotolia...was really tired of seeing my pictures popping up on all sorts of sketchy sites, some even without watermark.
-
i found some of my images i have on both fotolia and dreamstime, it appears on pixmac as fotolia.
do they choose or include whole porfolio?
i saw pixmac had a 'celebrity' images, all famous people images taken by paparazzi. quite new idea.
-
so i think everyone porfolio in dreamstime and fotolia will be available in pixmac?
what about similiar photos in this 2 porfolio? and what the different directly uploading to them?
If you have checked the Partner Program in dreamstime, yes your port is automatically at Pixmac. I don't know about fotolia.
On FT you can't choose. You're in.
And any kind of "duplicate avoiding software" or whatever they intend to use - it does not work. I can easily find (some of) my pictures twice on their website - for slightly different prices ??? ???
And those prices are strange as well, for what would sell as an XS on FT (customer paying 1$ or 1€ depending on location) their price tag is $3.88.
I'm afraid there's really nothing we can do about that other than delete our port on FT and opt out the partner program at DT... >:(
-
so i think everyone porfolio in dreamstime and fotolia will be available in pixmac?
what about similiar photos in this 2 porfolio? and what the different directly uploading to them?
If you have checked the Partner Program in dreamstime, yes your port is automatically at Pixmac. I don't know about fotolia.
Are you sure? I just checked, im enrolled on dreamstime but cant find any of my pics on pixmac (want to keep it that way); its also one of the many reasons i ditched Fotolia...was really tired of seeing my pictures popping up on all sorts of sketchy sites, some even without watermark.
Well, my answer is correct as of a few months ago. I was doing a Tineye one day on some of my images and some appeared on pixmac. Since I didn't upload to that site, I investigated and found out they were added through the DT partner program. I emailed pixmac and had them removed, and unchecked partner programs in DT. If something has changed since then, I am not aware of it.
-
Fresh faced 2 year old start-up
That made me laugh. 2 years going nowhere doesn't make them fresh. I also don't see the point in aiming for second. I still think any site that comes up with a cheaper more efficient way for us to sell to the buyers and pay us a decent commission could wipe away the opposition. Its a shame none of them try that.
-
If you have checked the Partner Program in dreamstime, yes your port is automatically at Pixmac. I don't know about fotolia.
I checked out of the partner programs at DT. I was tired to see those 0.21$ sales. Now you can say that's a loss but I can live with that kind of loss. I'm glad Pixmac is going to conquer the world from behind their Macs. Can somebody wake me up when they actually did? :P
(I'm a bit allergic to yuppie hype - it's so... 80'-ish; the 80-ies are out, greed is out, success is out, and we survived global warming)
-
That's a good point about licence violation, Sean. Now that I've read the hype, I may just opt out because of that.
I agree FD... so 80's.
-
Simon Raybould has been appointed Director - Sales & Marketing, North America for Pixmac. Formerly with the V.C.G Group and later Getty Images in London, and then until recently with Corbis and Veer in Canada, Simon now has his eyes firmly on the microstock market in the USA and Canada.
Is he one of those responsible for the disastrous start of the Veer Marketplace?
-
i thought sales on pixmac isn't subscription based?
i wonder are whole porfolio of dreamstime will be enrolled? i only see my images from fotolia.
-
This is one of the most unprofessional and lousy written press releases I've ever read.
It's a shame that any John Doe starting an "agency" can get contracts with DT or FT right off the bat. Most likely these guys are friends and are doing each other a "favor". ::)
The world keeps turning.
-
so i think everyone porfolio in dreamstime and fotolia will be available in pixmac?
what about similiar photos in this 2 porfolio? and what the different directly uploading to them?
If you have checked the Partner Program in dreamstime, yes your port is automatically at Pixmac. I don't know about fotolia.
You're correct, Tangie just confirmed in the DT forums. Still strange my pics werent there when i'm enrolled. Not anymore, i dont feel comfortable with buyers not even have to register.
-
(and we survived global warming)
Tell that to the Pakistanis
It's just another wannabe trying to rake in a cut from the industry. If they can't even produce a coherent press release the chances of them making a hit with the designer community are pretty small. The only way to make a middle-man business like this work is through strong communications which they obviously aren't capable of.
-
OK, I'm not on any of the social networking sites so I cannot test this site's "send picture to Twitter" button to find out what happens. Could somebody who is on Twitter test it to let us know if this is just giving away our photos to Twitter blogs? Because as far as I am aware, usage on blogs should be paid for and if it isn't then it becomes a violation by Dreamstime and Fotolia of their agreed terms, as far as I understand them.
-
Just looking through Pixmac and found my DT portfolio. Pixmac has 877 images of the 1823 that are on DT. Looks like there hasn't been a recent update of my images. The most recent image on Pixmac was uploaded to DT on 4-23-09. In the time period from 4/09 to today I have up loaded about 500 images to DT so there is about a 500 image discrepancy - so they did not import the whole portfolio.
And I only show 4 sales through Pixmac.
My FT referenced portfolio shows 1529 images of the 1855 images currently on FT.
Most recent on Picxac was uploaded to FT on 4/24/10
And it shows 10 sales.
So obviously there are a lot of duplicates.
-
Picmac and Dreamstime seem to be good partners. Both are unprofessional.
How a DT admin can say this on DT forum?
Contributor's question:
" I`m a bit worried about pixmac recent developments: buyers dont have to register or login...making it impossible to pursue copyright infringments."
Tangie's response (DT admin):
"The fact that the buyers do not create accounts does not necessarily mean that they do not provide any data making thus the purchase impossible to track. Our recommendation is to contact Pixmac and ask them for more details".
They have no idea how it works? Dreamstime have signed contracts with theirs partners and this is contributors job to deal with them? We don't even know who they are. There is no list, no details.
-
Picmac and Dreamstime seem to be good partners. Both are unprofessional.
How a DT admin can say this on DT forum?
Contributor's question:
" I`m a bit worried about pixmac recent developments: buyers dont have to register or login...making it impossible to pursue copyright infringments."
Tangie's response (DT admin):
"The fact that the buyers do not create accounts does not necessarily mean that they do not provide any data making thus the purchase impossible to track. Our recommendation is to contact Pixmac and ask them for more details".
They have no idea how it works? Dreamstime have signed contracts with theirs partners and this is contributors job to deal with them? We don't even know who they are. There is no list, no details.
That is the same answer they gave me way back in January (or maybe even before) when I found my photos on Pixmac. I had to contact Pixmac directly to get them taken down, then had to uncheck partner programs on DT. And I was under the impression that the sales from Pixmac were directly reported into DT and they could not be separated out. sc said a couple of posts ago that he shows 4 sales through pixmac, so I am not sure how pixmac sales are being reported.
-
Yes the guy recently left Veer. That's what managers do all the time when things look dim, switch companies. Seen too many of those. It's not a photographer's friend, though.
“We hear a lot about how the industry has been in turmoil and it seems to be always bad news for photographers – well our perspective is the opposite. It’s the best time in the industry – if you are a buyer that is. Great imagery is now as “cheap as chips” as they say in England,” Simon notes. “And Pixmac leads the picture pack.”
Translation:
Yes it's true the photographers are bleeding to death and their corpses are all over the place. But think about the vultures! ;D They will have a great feast soon on those suckers with their cams. And I'm going to teach Pixmac how to properly scrape the last meat from their skulls, yeah!.
I really start to feel "cheap as chips". Maybe it's a better name than "regular".
I don't understand how any photographer can not feel insulted by this kind of corporate underlife. Instead of making sure the producers of images that suffer all costs and risk get some decent fees, the corporate will kick them further down. The worst thing is that you have no choice by the obligatory opt-in.
-
I did upload some of my portfolio directly to pixmac when they were paying an upload bonus. Just logged in and they sold a few recently. Looks like they are all PPD for reasonable amounts, none of the cheap subs they once had.
-
Hello everybody,
Let's sort everything out. We're certainly not thieves, and we're not enemy of all contributors nor we're sharing your files for free on Twitter (was that serious?).
1. We have strong duplicate detection. It's not perfect but it does a pretty good job. So my guess it that 95% of the files are recognized as dupes and the rest is either new or somehow more compressed than it is on the other site.
2. Violators: We take everything pretty seriously and even though it may seem like we don't know the buyer's size of shoes, we do know buyers e-mail address and more importantly payment details via PayPal or Credit Card, so it's pretty secure. Does anyone of you think that other sites are any more secure where you can basically fill in any made up personal info and hotmail address if you so choose to do so?
3. The content we're getting from FT and DT is treated very seriously. We don't publish anything without watermarks and we don't even release hi-res files until it's sold. Also, no FT or DT image is sold via subscription on Pixmac everything is pay as you go.
4. Guys, you should be able to choose on FT and DT to opt-out third party distributors. That's what we've been told.
Finally. Yes we're here to make money – we’re a business, but obviously not without you on our side. Is there really someone who thinks that by stealing and violating rights we will grow and make significant sales without being spotted? Honestly? Also, there is no need to be offensive – we are also people not “them”. We welcome any feedback and advice on reasonable ideas that we can implement (as we already did many times)
Thank you.
And thanks to everyone who sees Pixmac as a serious business and have supported us so far.
Vitezslav Valka, CEO & Simon Raybould, Director of Sales & Marketing – North America.
Note from Simon – Cheesy? I take offence to that…..hold on, let me just change my ipod over from Michael Bolton to Celine Dion.
The world keeps turning (and I keep getting dizzy)
One last serious note – www.pixmac.com (http://www.pixmac.com) is a pretty good site (we hope) for users. We
genuinly believe it’s a worthwhile tool in a designers toolbox.
-
Anyway, some of you should watch more of this: YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RewcXrqUWOM#) rather than the conspiration movies some of you probably like...
Vitezslav, Pixmac's CEO
-
When I go to watch ^^^ that video, it says it has been blocked in my country on copyright grounds.
-
Hello everybody,
Let's sort everything out. We're certainly not thieves, and we're not enemy of all contributors nor we're sharing your files for free on Twitter (was that serious?).
1. We have strong duplicate detection. It's not perfect but it does a pretty good job. So my guess it that 95% of the files are recognized as dupes and the rest is either new or somehow more compressed than it is on the other site.
2. Violators: We take everything pretty seriously and even though it may seem like we don't know the buyer's size of shoes, we do know buyers e-mail address and more importantly payment details via PayPal or Credit Card, so it's pretty secure. Does anyone of you think that other sites are any more secure where you can basically fill in any made up personal info and hotmail address if you so choose to do so?
3. The content we're getting from FT and DT is treated very seriously. We don't publish anything without watermarks and we don't even release hi-res files until it's sold. Also, no FT or DT image is sold via subscription on Pixmac everything is pay as you go.
4. Guys, you should be able to choose on FT and DT to opt-out third party distributors. That's what we've been told.
Finally. Yes we're here to make money – we’re a business, but obviously not without you on our side. Is there really someone who thinks that by stealing and violating rights we will grow and make significant sales without being spotted? Honestly? Also, there is no need to be offensive – we are also people not “them”. We welcome any feedback and advice on reasonable ideas that we can implement (as we already did many times)
Thank you.
And thanks to everyone who sees Pixmac as a serious business and have supported us so far.
Vitezslav Valka, CEO & Simon Raybould, Director of Sales & Marketing – North America.
Note from Simon – Cheesy? I take offence to that…..hold on, let me just change my ipod over from Michael Bolton to Celine Dion.
The world keeps turning (and I keep getting dizzy)
One last serious note – [url=http://www.pixmac.com]www.pixmac.com[/url] ([url]http://www.pixmac.com[/url]) is a pretty good site (we hope) for users. We
genuinly believe it’s a worthwhile tool in a designers toolbox.
We can not opt out on Fotolia.
Patrick.
-
Hello everybody,
...
4. ...That's what we've been told.
...
We can not opt out on Fotolia.
Patrick.
With all due respect, if a reseller (agency) has contracts with Fotolia and "you have been told" that "we should be able to opt-out" but we cannot, then, I believe, it's fair to ask questions and get nervous about our content and the way it is being handled.
I don't think you would feel comfortable if your bank tells you that you should have money in the account but your online statement shows otherwise.
I cannot find a third party opt-out on Fotolia in my profile settings either. So, now what do we do? Believe you because "you have been told" or blame Fotolia because they don't offer an opt-out despite you told us so?
I'm not implying that you are doing anything that would hurt us contributors but since everybody here is running a business of some sort we all would like to have this sorted out clearly for everyone involved.
-
It’s the best time in the industry – if you are a buyer that is. Great imagery is now as “cheap as chips” as they say in England,” Simon notes. “And Pixmac leads the picture pack.”
With a statement like that, it really makes us question rather you have our best interests at heart... ???
-
Maybe 'cheap as chips' was the wrong phrase.... all I meant was that its now possible to get great images for a few dollars (compared to when I started in stock photography in the 90's). I wasn't belittling the content or the photographers or content contributors. I am sorry if it seemed that way.
I just meant for example that as a freelance designer on a very small budget its possible to create amazing looking websites and print with great imagery for not that much (compared to years ago anyways).
Like many of us, when I started it was just RM imagery - sometimes costing $$$$'s - then came RF - costing $$$'s then after technology opened up the market both in photography hardware, and on-line technology advancements - moving the market to Microstock - costing $'s - which was a great thing for designers, but really really tough on professional photographers.
Simon
-
Yes, I must say that I perceive 'cheap as chips' as a derogatory term that devalues our work - and I am English, so I'm very familiar with the phrase. Out of interest, do you see any hope for us contributing artists? Many are feeling that the agencies are in a race to the bottom, price-wise, and that it becomes progressively less sustainable in terms of income vs equipment investment. If commissions continue downwards, many will pull their ports and switch to macro agencies, as they'll be left with no option.
Just curious for an agency's view on the future of prices and commissions.
-
is there a way we can see how many images of one's in pixmac?
and is there a way to know which sales of dreamstime are from pixmac.
i would like to know how many pictures of my dreamstime and fotolia portfolio are in pixmac.
any advantage to upload directly to pixmac?
-
As for the opt-out: When I was checking that there was something like a checkbox to be able to opt-out on Fotolia. Now what I see in our Profile, there's only: "I accept to be a Fotolia total exclusive contributor and I accept to be bound to the Fotolia exclusive contributor Terms and Conditions" which may tell that you should be exclusive otherwise you can be redistributed.
Well if that's the case and you're pretty sure that Pixmac shouldn't be your distributor channel, just send an email to our support department and we will remove your files at Pixmac. But before you do so, please Skype me, go with me for a cofee or a drink and you'll see that we're on the boat together. If we will stretch the price to unreal levels that would mean that even we don't make enough money to pay all the marketing etc. So believe that at least Pixmac's target is not to kill it's contributors.
I'm a designer and CEO for 2 years only. So it's more on Simon to say what's his predictions on the stock photo market. But I'm sure that the prices reached their bottom line and there is no reason why it should go lower. On the other hand, the "TraditionalRF safety harbour" is getting smaller and smaller and there are contributors that can produce more material for less. And that's a real thread.
One last thing: Ask Yuri Arcurs if he likes Pixmac or not. He mentioned Pixmac at CEPIC speach that we're doing the online marketing better than any other agency. So the problem whe have is only that we're "only" two years in the market. But we'll make it and we will be always listening to you guys...
Sorry for that long bla bla bla.. ;-)
-
I found out one can click their own contributor's name on pixmac, so i only see my partial portfolio, all from fotolia.
so where is my portfolio from dreamstime?
-
is there a way we can see how many images of one's in pixmac?
and is there a way to know which sales of dreamstime are from pixmac.
i would like to know how many pictures of my dreamstime and fotolia portfolio are in pixmac.
any advantage to upload directly to pixmac?
1. On Fotolia you should be able to see "Sold via third party channel" or something like that. I hope it's still there. This was discussed in some Fotolia forum thread about a year a go.
2. I don't think you'll be able to see it on Dreamstime. But I'll ask Serban...
3. We take all the images that FT and DT offers via their API. We update that every day (every 24 hours) and there's no way how to choose which images we take and which not. So if it's sent over API we have it. In some cases the updating may be broken, so there might be delays in the sync. But if you spot any significant differences and if they have any logic in it, just let me know, because I want to have complete data not a portion of that. If you upload to DT and FT at the same time, part of the images might be set as duplicates, but together it should be the same amount of images. If not let's investigate the case and fine the cure.
4. You'll be in our subscription (which most of you don't like) and you'll be in our API chain of partners as eg. http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/ (http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/) but currently our focus is to generate serious sales. As we've started with paying for uploads as any other new agency did and found out that we were not able to satisfy contributors later on with sales.
So our general target now is make the fastest site in the market (we're almost there). Make it easy for the buyers (I'm sure we are already leaders in this). Make the site localised for several markets (we have 15 people locally already in several countries). All that together with some other ideas that we're launching soon should make you guys a bit more satisfied. Because that's what I've been doing for those two years (just check the forums here for my nickname and you'll see what has changed during that time)...
Vita
-
I found out one can click their own contributor's name on pixmac, so i only see my partial portfolio, all from fotolia.
so where is my portfolio from dreamstime?
Can you send over your nickname or links to DT, FT and PX portfolios? I'm curious myself... Thx.
-
Certainly there are contributors that can produce more material for less, but if the only contributors left are the ones at the top, the reduction in choice, variety and overall volume will be palpable. We already see complaints from buyers about the 'samey' quality of much in microstock. I read in this forum yesterday that macrostock has taken a turn upwards for the first time in years, and my guess is that it's because buyers are getting tired of the 'samey-ness' and are prepared to pay a bit more for something different. (Poor results in agency search engines is another major issue for buyers). In micro, the reviewers' guidelines largely won't allow us to stray too far from a strict criteria (with the exception of iStock, who seem to have a greater appreciation for creativity).
I am glad to hear that you don't think prices will go any lower. It'll be interesting to hear what Simon thinks on that point also. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to questions. It's always good to get direct answers from the people at the helm, and is much appreciated.
-
1. On Fotolia you should be able to see "Sold via third party channel" or something like that. I hope it's still there. This was discussed in some Fotolia forum thread about a year a go.
Yes, it does show something like that. But with FT's gazillion different partners there is no way of knowing where such a sale originated from.
I personally had that happen exactly once, and this obviously was from Pixmac (see below for explanation).
2. I don't think you'll be able to see it on Dreamstime. But I'll ask Serban...
No, nothing can be seen on DT. It shows up like any other sale. I had one at Pixmac for my DT portfolio, that showed up at DT as "sold with 2010 credits".
3. We take all the images that FT and DT offers via their API. We update that every day (every 24 hours) and there's no way how to choose which images we take and which not. So if it's sent over API we have it. In some cases the updating may be broken, so there might be delays in the sync. But if you spot any significant differences and if they have any logic in it, just let me know, because I want to have complete data not a portion of that. If you upload to DT and FT at the same time, part of the images might be set as duplicates, but together it should be the same amount of images. If not let's investigate the case and fine the cure.
Ok, now to how you find your own pics on Pixmac.
Do a search (on Pixmac.com) for any of your topics / pics using less common keywords. Take a look if you can find one of your pics, then click on it. (I could easily find the same pic twice with such a search, one is from DT, the other from FT).
The detail page has your name with the distributing agency added to it as a link below the pic (e.g. Dirkr (dreamstime)).
Click on that link, it will show all your files on pixmac from that agency, together with the number of sales (for me one on each agency) and a list of best sellers (so I could easily identify the sold pictures - the one of FT matched the one where I got the special sales notice on FT for).
In my case that results in 628 pics from DT (where I have 832 online) and 609 from FT (where I have 634 online).
This shows, that there are a lot of duplicates (explanation might be, that I keyword in German for FT and in English for DT - if the duplication detection relies on keywords it must fail ;) )
In addition (if you look closer) both prices and sizes are different for the same file from FT or DT ???
4. You'll be in our subscription (which most of you don't like) and you'll be in our API chain of partners as eg. [url]http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/[/url] ([url]http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/[/url]) but currently our focus is to generate serious sales. As we've started with paying for uploads as any other new agency did and found out that we were not able to satisfy contributors later on with sales.
So our general target now is make the fastest site in the market (we're almost there). Make it easy for the buyers (I'm sure we are already leaders in this). Make the site localised for several markets (we have 15 people locally already in several countries). All that together with some other ideas that we're launching soon should make you guys a bit more satisfied. Because that's what I've been doing for those two years (just check the forums here for my nickname and you'll see what has changed during that time)...
Vita
In general I would welcome your effort to generate more sales. And I am not totally against the concept of distributing files I have already online to partner agencies.
What troubles me is the lack of control I have over this distributions (not really your problem, but maybe you can talk to FT and DT about that). Ideally I would like to have a list of all available partners with their exact conditions and an opt-out possibility on a case by case basis.
With FT I get nothing (no information, no opt-out), with DT close to nothing (no information, just a global opt-out).
That certainly is bad.
And one more thing: You are giving prices on your website (for direct purchase without use of credits) which are well above the FT / DT prices (e.g. the smallest size is advertised at $3.88). If these are sold, I will still just get an XS download at Fotolia, netting me €0.28. That is less than 10%.
So in light of all of this, would you recommend taking down all our pictures on Pixmac as distributed from FT / DT and uploading directly to Pixmac? And if so, what would be the conditions (couldn't find that easily on your site)?
-
I found out one can click their own contributor's name on pixmac, so i only see my partial portfolio, all from fotolia.
so where is my portfolio from dreamstime?
Can you send over your nickname or links to DT, FT and PX portfolios? I'm curious myself... Thx.
hi zager,
here is my link that i found portfolio of mine in pixmac, i have same username in DT and FT too.. i didn't upload to PX but i uploaded to DT, FT.
http://www.pixmac.com/author/mtkang%40ftl (http://www.pixmac.com/author/mtkang%40ftl)
If pixmac will take the whole portfolio of a contributor from DT and FT, who opt-in partnetship sales, then many of my images aren't in pixmac.
Since i have choose to opt-in, i hope all my portfolio is available in PX.
-
I might start uploading to pixmac again. Might as well give them a chance and I would rather sell direct through them. I don't like some of the things they have done in the past, like the crazy cheap subs but they seem to learn from their mistakes.
-
Hello everybody,
Let's sort everything out. We're certainly not thieves, and we're not enemy of all contributors nor we're sharing your files for free on Twitter (was that serious?).
Yes, it was. Some of us are not 18 and living in a Twitterverse or a Blogosphere and have no idea what it does.
So would you like to explain what the object of the "send to twitter" button is, and how it generates commission for us.
BTW, when I check out your site, I see that you are doing something horrible to the thumbnails in terms of saturation, contrast, sharpening and possibly even colour adjustment. It isn't very flattering to our portfolios.
-
^^^It just lets you post a link on twitter to the watermarked image on pixmac. Nothing sinister, other sites do the same. Probably wont generate many sales, I still don't quite get twitter but have been doing a bit of twitting lately :)
-
Anyone who posts automated nonsense like that, I unfollow on twitter. Like those dumb "I uploaded 10 new images on Shutterstock" tweets.
-
In general I would welcome your effort to generate more sales. And I am not totally against the concept of distributing files I have already online to partner agencies.
What troubles me is the lack of control I have over this distributions (not really your problem, but maybe you can talk to FT and DT about that). Ideally I would like to have a list of all available partners with their exact conditions and an opt-out possibility on a case by case basis.
With FT I get nothing (no information, no opt-out), with DT close to nothing (no information, just a global opt-out).
That certainly is bad.
And I certainly have no problem with sites generating more sales, but the part bolded is the exact reason I don't opt in to partner programs. None of the sites seem willing to disclose this information, as if we have no right to it!
Quote from: zager on Today at 01:50
4. You'll be in our subscription (which most of you don't like) and you'll be in our API chain of partners as eg. [url]http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/[/url] ([url]http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/[/url]) but currently our focus is to generate serious sales. As we've started with paying for uploads as any other new agency did and found out that we were not able to satisfy contributors later on with sales.
And the chain goes on and on, and now there is no control. By the time my image gets sold at the end of the chain, my commission is what...one penny? I don't think so. We can't even get the top micros to help out with copyright infringement, how can we possibly keep control when we don't even know all the sites our images are at?
-
...
And the chain goes on and on, and now there is no control. By the time my image gets sold at the end of the chain, my commission is what...one penny? I don't think so. We can't even get the top micros to help out with copyright infringement, how can we possibly keep control when we don't even know all the sites our images are at?
Correct. We are fully out of control. The agencies will simply refer to the contributor agreements that we signed that they can do pretty much anything they want with our images and we have to live with it or leave. No opt-in or out.
This is a very simple way of showing how important it is to exploit our content without securing our copyright to a certain extent.
The agencies rather blow out the images for the cost of pennies than help contributors being affected from lost royalties and copyright infringement. What kind of relationship is that? Reminds me of a beaten wife...
-
In general I would welcome your effort to generate more sales. And I am not totally against the concept of distributing files I have already online to partner agencies.
What troubles me is the lack of control I have over this distributions (not really your problem, but maybe you can talk to FT and DT about that). Ideally I would like to have a list of all available partners with their exact conditions and an opt-out possibility on a case by case basis.
With FT I get nothing (no information, no opt-out), with DT close to nothing (no information, just a global opt-out).
That certainly is bad.
And I certainly have no problem with sites generating more sales, but the part bolded is the exact reason I don't opt in to partner programs. None of the sites seem willing to disclose this information, as if we have no right to it!
Quote from: zager on Today at 01:50
4. You'll be in our subscription (which most of you don't like) and you'll be in our API chain of partners as eg. [url]http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/[/url] ([url]http://www.ccvision.de/de/microstock/[/url]) but currently our focus is to generate serious sales. As we've started with paying for uploads as any other new agency did and found out that we were not able to satisfy contributors later on with sales.
And the chain goes on and on, and now there is no control. By the time my image gets sold at the end of the chain, my commission is what...one penny? I don't think so. We can't even get the top micros to help out with copyright infringement, how can we possibly keep control when we don't even know all the sites our images are at?
Agree very much so with every point. These are MY images and I want to keep control over them, not see them showing up on all sorts of sites i know nothing about, keeping my fingers crossed they'll only rip me off a little.
I only opted out of the DT alliances program yesterday (Fotolia was gone already), but NONE of my pictures showed up on Pixmac (i searched profoundly), so thats something that needs checking.
I do appreciate you Pixmac guys chiming in here to clear things out and definitely will consider uploading my portfolio directly, but no way i'll be doing it through sketchy partner programs, and it will also depend on the transparency of Pixmac's alliances.
-
I might start uploading to pixmac again. Might as well give them a chance and I would rather sell direct through them. I don't like some of the things they have done in the past, like the crazy cheap subs but they seem to learn from their mistakes.
LOL, yep it now has a minimum of 50% of a $0.10 sale :) (well for those that signed up before april 2009 still according to t&c 30% of $0.10 for those after april 2009 (t&c still says it is sliding scale of commission with no explanation etc) - however to be fair their subs do go up to a % of $1.33.
But credits still expire after a year :)
-
Control and reselling issue
My opinion on this is simple: Fotolia and Dreamstime are fair businesses that want to make serious money. If they have any partners that don't make money or are doing anything suspicious they're terminating that partnerships because it's not only making you contributors angry, but also them. It's simple as that I think, but I'm usually optimistic and idealistic guy.
Pixmac has to and I'm sure all the other channels of FT and DT have to fully respect the terms and conditions of the original site. So this means you're legally covered in the same way.
As for the control, I completely understand that Fotolia and Dreamstime don't show so much clear info about Pixmac or any other resellers, because contributors would be able to go to those agencies directly and that's not helping either FT and DT. So even that I understand their behavior, I agree that it's not open and clear to you guys. I can promise to keep that in mind and if anything comes to my head (as it did with the one stop idea that's now being copied by other agencies) I'll be making everything possible to have it implemented. But still we're small David and they are Goliathes.
But the question is obviously right. Should I as a contributor get more sales and be more afraid of what's happening inside the agencies or should I build up my own site and try to market my images on my own? Both options have pros and cons.
Portfolios differences
Guys Dirkr and mtkang, this is really strange. I'm going to find out what's behind that, because we should have everything. I'm sending the info to our dev team and will wait for their findings.
And we're doing the duplicates detection based on the small thumbs. So no keyword should harm that. It's some University technology that compares visual data and matches duplicates.
We're taking the prices and sizes from the API and what I've seen was that the set of sizes sometimes don't match to set of sizes on the actual Fotolia/Dreamstime site. I think it's because they have some API partners that need to have exact set of sizes, so any change in API sizes would cause a problem.
As for the prices, you should get your standard revenue as if the image was sold on FT or DT. With the OneStop sales you get also the revenue as if it was sold for less, because what we do is we give the price difference to the customer as a free coupon to buy a credit pack. The idea is: "You can taste Pixmac and if you like it you can get the same price as the credit pack customers get."
We don't change contrast or saturation of the files we get from FT and DT but we make them a bit more colorful and sharp if they're in our direct collection (3-5%). My opinion is that shining apple sells better than the others. It shouldn't be much but for the results I hope it helps.
Contributor credits don't expire
The expiration was changed a few weeks ago for contributors. And yes there's a minimum of $0.10 fee to all contributors if it's sold via subscription. But be sure that our subscription is not too much popular as it only has 230k+ images.
Thank you Sharpshot, Rubyroo and Artemis
Guys, this is really something to thank you for! It's been busy two years here at Pixmac and I'm the one who was fighting a lot to make Pixmac the best site ever and you don't even know how hard it sometimes is. I wish I can tell you everything. But anyway, I'll be here as long as I can and I'll do my best to change the old rule that: "Contributor is never satisfied" to "Contributor likes what Pixmac does" (yes I'm idealistic). Honestly, thank you! If you ever feel bad, write an email to [email protected] or send a DM to http://twitter.com/pixmac (http://twitter.com/pixmac) and I'll be listening.
-
We are all Mac obsessed, drink bucketloads of Starbucks
I'm sorry, but... Oh. My. God. :o
-
We are all Mac obsessed, drink bucketloads of Starbucks
I'm sorry, but... Oh. My. God. :o
Hi Peter :-) I hope you've enjoyed CEPIC as I did and you'll show up some smart ideas on your site! Let's do a Hungarian/Czech cometition game ;-) You guys made a nice site anyway! Good start!
-
We are all Mac obsessed, drink bucketloads of Starbucks
I'm sorry, but... Oh. My. God. :o
Hi Peter :-) I hope you've enjoyed CEPIC as I did and you'll show up some smart ideas on your site! Let's do a Hungarian/Czech cometition game ;-) You guys made a nice site anyway! Good start!
You already won Press release of the year, what else is left for us? :D
-
You already won Press release of the year, what else is left for us? :D
Bucketloads of Starbucks for free in Prague! ;-)
-
^^^It just lets you post a link on twitter to the watermarked image on pixmac. Nothing sinister, other sites do the same. Probably wont generate many sales, I still don't quite get twitter but have been doing a bit of twitting lately :)
Thanks for the info.
-
Concerning the quality of the files, here is a composite cropped from part of a file as it appears on DT Pixmax and Fotolia (I can't help wondering if it was remade for DT). Anyway, the Pixmac version (middle) is the feed from Fotolia (bottom). Look at how muddy the details are in the Pixmac one.
(http://static.picuna.com/photos/s1024/8696.jpg)
It may be useful to degrade comps to prevent them just being used as they are, but doesn't the degradation here go too far? Such heavy blurring seems likely to deter customers and raise doubts about the quality of the files in the agency/by that photographer.
-
I just checked Dreamstime and I'm enrolled in their partner accounts....but I find none of the ones I searched for on Pixmac.
Concerning the quality of the files, here is a composite cropped from part of a file as it appears on DT Pixmax and Fotolia (I can't help wondering if it was remade for DT). Anyway, the Pixmac version (middle) is the feed from Fotolia (bottom). Look at how muddy the details are in the Pixmac one.
([url]http://static.picuna.com/photos/s1024/8696.jpg[/url])
It may be useful to degrade comps to prevent them just being used as they are, but doesn't the degradation here go too far? Such heavy blurring seems likely to deter customers and raise doubts about the quality of the files in the agency/by that photographer.
I agree with him....some of the thumbnails really are bad. You might want to fix that if you expect more sales. I know if I was a buyer I would hesitate if the thumb was that far off. How would I know what it really looked like as a buyer?
-
*giggles*
Nice to know I've been a member there since January 1, 1970. Which is odd since I wasn't born till Feburary 1972 ;)
All of mind are from FT none from DT. Have had no sales through the site at all.
-
Certainly there are contributors that can produce more material for less, but if the only contributors left are the ones at the top, the reduction in choice, variety and overall volume will be palpable. We already see complaints from buyers about the 'samey' quality of much in microstock. I read in this forum yesterday that macrostock has taken a turn upwards for the first time in years, and my guess is that it's because buyers are getting tired of the 'samey-ness' and are prepared to pay a bit more for something different. (Poor results in agency search engines is another major issue for buyers). In micro, the reviewers' guidelines largely won't allow us to stray too far from a strict criteria (with the exception of iStock, who seem to have a greater appreciation for creativity).
I am glad to hear that you don't think prices will go any lower. It'll be interesting to hear what Simon thinks on that point also. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to questions. It's always good to get direct answers from the people at the helm, and is much appreciated.
Hi - Simon here again, I also don't think prices will go any lower (but who can really predict?). I've spent most of my career in mainstream stock photography - I'm new in the microstock arena, but really love it already - but it seems really really tough for all photographers. I love graphic design, I love New Media, I love digital photography. I always hope that prices for good content will go up regardless of whether the content is in RM, RF or microstock or macrostock. Good photography is good photography at the end of the day.
I wonder what will happen in a few years time when you can buy a 40mpix, 50mpix or even 60mpix camera for a few hundred dollars or less? I think Canon and Nikon are coming out soon with a 32mpix camera? or something like that ? Also, technological advancements in 'the cloud'/browser based applications will play a part I am sure.
A friend of mine just finished filming a whole documentary for the Discovery Channel in Africa on a Canon EOS 7D 18pmix stills camera with its high-def video camera ! I asked him 'where's your camera?' - he said 'that's it!'. He used to carry one of those big camera's like they have in news crews !! He told me he paid $3800 for it inc. a lens!
I also hope that new markets will open up for all stock photography - someone told me today that print magazines are making a resurgence because online is opening new opportunities (I dont know if that is true though) Maybe new magazines for things like the ipad will open up demand, or mobile content etc.
Anyways - have a great weekend, and thanks for taking the trouble of giving us feedback.
(someone made a comment about my 'obsessed by Macs and drinking bucketloads of Starbucks' - it made me think ! I've been totally
sucked in by big brands and branding over the years. I've spent too much time in the Advertising agency world !! LOL!!!
best
Simon
-
Hi zager, thanks for the attention, i had posted similar question in dreamstime forum, and their answer is like the partner sites is accessible to all the portfolio but they may had filtered out some images so it is unlikely to have full portfolio, but for my case it is zero image. I don't think i have 100% similar images on dreamstime and fotolia.
anyway, let's know the results and hopefully most images are available for sales as a win-win situation for agency and contributors.
Control and reselling issue
Portfolios differences
Guys Dirkr and mtkang, this is really strange. I'm going to find out what's behind that, because we should have everything. I'm sending the info to our dev team and will wait for their findings.
-
simon again ! here is pixie - the real leader of Pixmac. (just to prove we have an office dog !)
He's actually probably the smartest of all of us !!
He's a ratter - he eats about 3 Ikea stuffed toy rats a week (that's his pay)
;)
-
I'd say:
- LCV
- Incorrect lighting / overexposed
- Focus problems
- Although hard to say with this size, I do believe I see some noise and artefacting
;D ;D ;D
-
Thank you guys (BaldricksTrousers and donding) for commenting on the quality. We've been testing a lot which is the finest and it should be really tuned in our collection. But what I'm sure is not good is the re-saving we do with Fotolia images because what we get is 400px files and double save definitely kills red colors. I'm actively communicating with both supliers to give us better data and better quality service, but it's not always easy.
Thank you Anita Potter to find the 1970's bug. It's fixed already.
And mtkang, yes I'm sure it should be completely on Pixmac and I'm going to find out where's the problem. The developer that does that part of the site just left to vacation till 28th, so I'll be asking him to find out on next Monday 30th.
And Dirkr, how you can tell that? ;-) I'm the author of that photo and now I'm the exact position as many contributors are ;-) No, I'm joking... it was actually a snapshot for Simon...
Thank you all for the feedback!
-
I wonder any updates on the portfolio issue on pixmac? are all portfolio from dreamstime and fotolia are available through pixmac now? thanks.
Thank you guys (BaldricksTrousers and donding) for commenting on the quality. We've been testing a lot which is the finest and it should be really tuned in our collection. But what I'm sure is not good is the re-saving we do with Fotolia images because what we get is 400px files and double save definitely kills red colors. I'm actively communicating with both supliers to give us better data and better quality service, but it's not always easy.
Thank you Anita Potter to find the 1970's bug. It's fixed already.
And mtkang, yes I'm sure it should be completely on Pixmac and I'm going to find out where's the problem. The developer that does that part of the site just left to vacation till 28th, so I'll be asking him to find out on next Monday 30th.
And Dirkr, how you can tell that? ;-) I'm the author of that photo and now I'm the exact position as many contributors are ;-) No, I'm joking... it was actually a snapshot for Simon...
Thank you all for the feedback!
-
I have never minded my images being on Pixmac. They are a lot more above board than many other "partner" sites. And they are one of the few that you can contact and will actually remove your images if you want.
As others have mentioned, my most recent uploads, over the past month or two, are not yet showing on the site, but hopefully that will be sorted out soon.
I appreciate both Vita and Simon taking the time to post here and listen to contributor concerns. I think most of the worries with the sites come when there is not good dialogue between contributors and site administrators, so thanks for opening up the lines of communication :)
-
hi pixmac,
would like to have some feedback from this issue? since i guess most contributors that opt-in reseller will want to have more sales..thanks!
i check my profile in pixmac recently..still only partial portfolio from fotolia..nothing from dreamstime..
I wonder any updates on the portfolio issue on pixmac? are all portfolio from dreamstime and fotolia are available through pixmac now? thanks.
Thank you guys (BaldricksTrousers and donding) for commenting on the quality. We've been testing a lot which is the finest and it should be really tuned in our collection. But what I'm sure is not good is the re-saving we do with Fotolia images because what we get is 400px files and double save definitely kills red colors. I'm actively communicating with both supliers to give us better data and better quality service, but it's not always easy.
Thank you Anita Potter to find the 1970's bug. It's fixed already.
And mtkang, yes I'm sure it should be completely on Pixmac and I'm going to find out where's the problem. The developer that does that part of the site just left to vacation till 28th, so I'll be asking him to find out on next Monday 30th.
And Dirkr, how you can tell that? ;-) I'm the author of that photo and now I'm the exact position as many contributors are ;-) No, I'm joking... it was actually a snapshot for Simon...
Thank you all for the feedback!
-
just checked to see if my photos are on there. Some are available and have come from fotolia and dreamstime, one I found is credited to another photographer not me. I have sent a message hopefully it is rectified quickly.
edited
Photographer Colossus with 294,045 photos in portfolio. Maybe another agency ? bigstock ??
-
My pictures are not on Pixmac, even though I'm not opted out in DT. Would you recommend uploading directly, or ask them to fix the bug from DT? Is there any hope to reach payout with a tiny port like mine?
-
Half on my DT portfolio is in, not sure where is the other half...
-
just checked to see if my photos are on there. Some are available and have come from fotolia and dreamstime, one I found is credited to another photographer not me. I have sent a message hopefully it is rectified quickly.
edited
Photographer Colossus with 294,045 photos in portfolio. Maybe another agency ? bigstock ??
Good guess! I just checked and I have images from my Bigstock port there -all credited to Colossus. Couldn't find any from my Dreamstime port though ??? Regards, David.
-
1.)
Now, this is weird: on Pixmac I found the same image with two different photographer names/nicks, a weird duplication, because they are both from Fotolia.
http://www.pixmac.com/picture/intercom+system/000021861783 (http://www.pixmac.com/picture/intercom+system/000021861783)
http://www.pixmac.com/picture/intercom+system/000032570629 (http://www.pixmac.com/picture/intercom+system/000032570629)
2.)
Again thanks to you guys here on this forum! Here I heard about Pixmac and did indeed find part of my Dreamstime portfolio there. Wouldn't have learnt this otherwise.
Interesting. Will see what happens. If the payment is fair, I might like the concept. Should upload to Dreamstime again, especially now that iStock shot itself in the knee.
-
I must say I got a response from Pixmac very quickly
Basically Colossus is as I thought another agency that supplies pixmac, they wouldn't confirm where colossus gets their images.
I am sure though that it is via bigstock,
so third hand by the time they get to Pixmac