Still a newbie, maybe doing a big mistake but guess every
opinion and decision deserves a space to be talked.

I understand that professionals here cannot take that risk.

But for the rest of us. The "small fish" as they say.

So, you did go exclusively video uploading to Pond5.

If YES would you like to share your reasons?

Mine was zero sales to other two agencies plus their (lots of) rejections.
I did it understanding that I am not an exclusive artist or something but
just accepting an exclusive uploading and distributing agreement
with the benefit to set my prices and some possible perks as an exclusive uploader.

I am a long time professional and going forward all of my new material will be Exclusive to Pond5. Reasons are simple. The industry is headed to the penny market so if we don't value our work nobody else will!! buyers will look for the best they can find of the cheapest and that is why you need exclusive files! Getty is still in business because of their exclusive collection. Pricing is fair and I am thrilled that the agency is honoring my hard work! This is a long game friends but if you value your work and don't want all your sales to be $1.50 or less then this is the path you might want to consider. Having worked in this field close to 15 years I know which agencies will treat you best on Pond5 is at the top for that!

What will happen when in 1-3-5 years Pond5 will sell for the same $1.50? But you won't be able to get an additional income from anywhere else and lose all the positions in searches?
Exclusivity is such a short term "win".

Quote from: jjneff on March 24, 2019, 06:28

Getty is still in business because of their exclusive collection

Exactly, this is Pond5 who needs this to market against Getty, it has nothing to do with "agency is honoring my hard work". This sounds so naive, sorry.

And the next step to "win against Getty" for them will be another "Premium access", and they will shower you with promises again, because "this is the only way to go", because the evil Getty does it...

And doing all that for just 60%... this is unbelievable

Unbelievable is that you call it just 60%, that's 400% better than Getty.  Nobody knows what the future holds at Pond5, but you can hazard a reasonable guess that Istock, shutterstock and most of the rest will only go one way and with it your prices on Pond5 if you stay independent..

Unbelievable is that you call it just 60%, that's 400% better than Getty.  Nobody knows what the future holds at Pond5, but you can hazard a reasonable guess that Istock, shutterstock and most of the rest will only go one way and with it your prices on Pond5 it you stay independent..

It is just 60% for your total dependance on one single company, which isn't even a market leader... and as you say: "Nobody knows what the future holds at Pond5".

+ you will still compete with other exclusives and non-exclusive for customers. What percentage of customers shop on Pond5 in comparison with whole stock market? (no need to answer)

It is really better for us, non-exclusive, if more people will go exclusive. So I'm not here to change anyone's mind.

It's just a friendly advice, since I'm right now, at this very moment, experincing all the consequences of my choice to go exclusive years ago.

I guess I will resort to begging people to not go Exclusive! Works for me.

It seemed that you was "building a community" and I was watching your videos on YT and will continue to. But it seems there won't be any community anymore, since there will be only Pond5 left to discuss for you.
Sadly, I will miss your point of view.

And it is strange that you won't give any reasonable explanation of why is it better to go exclusive, except: "I am a long time professional" and "I do what is best for me".
Here are many long time professionals and we all do what is the best for us, but it is great to have a discussion with examples and some thoughtful rationale.

Please keep in mind I still have thousands of clips online and will let the community know how that is going. I also curate for several artist through BlackBox which is also non-exclusive! I will serve and help any artist no matter where they submit because good stock is good stock no matter where you submit it. My goal is to provide people with tools to shoot high end stock. Now for me this step is important because I see my work going for less and less and have no control over my pricing. I actually loved being Exclusive at Getty until they broke all their promises, I am aware that Pond5 could do the same but after talking to them a while and working with them the past few years I feel that I need more control over my work in the future and it is very motivating to me to get 60% it is a mental boost for me to keep at it. It also saves me time so I can focus more on shooting and use uploading to one site. Over the years my production has suffered because I have upload to so many different sites. I am here to support any video artist and hey if you are making a killing on SS or any other platform them stay there. Pond5 is my top earner so that is why I am focusing there for me. Thank-you for watching my youtube channel!! don't worry it will not become a Pond5 only channel the world is much to big for that! It will be focused on helping you succeed in video!

Thank you for your insights. Well, that would be great if Pond5 would somehow become an exception, indeed.

Best of luck to you, George. I've decided to go the middle way, and created a second account with Pond5 so I can market some work there as exclusive, and some as non-exclusive. For those who asked for rationale, this is mine:

First, as far as I can tell, Pond5 is not Getty. Their culture, their management team, everything. They aren't a bunch of bankers up to their eyebrows in debt working to exploit 'assets'. Quoting here from last week's letter from Pond5's CEO: "Pond5 was founded on the principle of providing artists with control over the pricing of their content and equitably sharing royalties earned from licensing that content. We are proud to say that we will never waver from these founding principles, even as we adapt to evolving market conditions." I think they're the real deal. I was burned by Getty in recent years and didn't think I'd ever go exclusive again, but if there's any chance of reversing the race to the bottom and shutting out Getty's PA scheme, I'm all in.

Secondly, some of us might be making more in total today from P5 + SS, etc. than from P5 exclusive, but as prices fall for non-exclusive content - which they surely will - this could change.

Finally, there's all the time saved not having to upload to 3-4 outlets. I'd much rather spend my time shooting, and I'm pretty sure I could easily produce 30% more if I only had to upload to one place.

There are many things I like about this offer:

* 60% royalty from Pond5: Wow, that is like the 'good old days'!! Isn't that what The Image Bank paid once upon a time?
* Pond5's resolve to hold the line on pricing
* Distribution to Adobe, Vimeo and others without any additional work required on my part
* Assurance that distributors won't undercut P5 price
* Easier release/legal requirements. There's no witness signature for some of the clips I had with Getty, which means I can't upload them to SS and maybe not even to Adobe directly. (It seems Adobe's requirements are changing as they transition from Fotolia.) Pond5 is OK with no witness as long as you can attach an image of the subject.
* Rational editing and good support: working with people who really seem to understand the market and their contributors.
* Refusing to let Getty undervalue my content and lead the entire industry to the bottom (improves my sleep). As the saying goes, we've seen this movie before, and I don't want to watch it again.

I have about 20 clips on iStock and others that are also on P5. Since I can't delete them from iS (another reason not to submit!), but still want to market them, I decided to leave that content 'as is' and set up a second account for exclusive content with Pond5 today. I'm waiting for approval of my ID, but in the meantime have already uploaded my first set of Pond5 exclusive files. This is good quality, but specialized, work that would never sell dozens of times for $10. If I can make a few sales per clip at $79, that works for me.

I understand that we all have unique circumstances, and what's right for one might not be the best for another. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how this plays out and I am especially curious to see how Getty responds.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how this plays out and I am especially curious to see how Getty responds.

Responds to what? That a handful of artists went exclusive on Pond5?

How did SS respond when there was a real wave of going exclusive on IS? When top of the top like Arcurs, Andres and others left?

No one noticed and now they don't even remember they were there.

First, as far as I can tell, Pond5 is not Getty. Their culture, their management team, everything. They aren't a bunch of bankers up to their eyebrows in debt working to exploit 'assets'.

For sure they are not! They've just cutted our % from 50 to 40 But it feels so different! Right?

I'm fascinated how Pond5 was able to brainwash with their: We care about artists. We are not bad guys. And now, give us your money, please. We can even call you on the phone and talk to you, but you will pay for it

I do not understand why so many people think Pond5 is so good.
They just grabbed 20% of our revenue.

And instead of losing trust and treat P5 like they treat us (as a business, nothing else).
They are giving them those 20% and in addition go to work for them full time now (Because they called us on the phone! Yay!) Unbelievable.
It looks like a classic Stockholm syndrome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Stockholm syndrome is a condition which causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity.

It's about us, who can't stand for our money. P5 just copied Alamy in reducing % and offering exclusivity at the same moment.
So not only they get more of our money + they get full time workers with no salary as a bonus!

That's why they are CEOs and we are "poor artists" who are falling for every "we will save you from the evil Getty/market or whatever" promise.
Sadly

I do not understand why so many people think Pond5 is so good.

No good. Nobody cares for (although a newbie allow me to say--->) us.
Like every person or brand customer that wants from you and me more for less.

It is just a "career" decision with many asterisks,
this was and the reason of the thread:
for people who decided fully or partially to do it,
to give some reasons why

A "career" decision that is proved to be toxic for everyone.

We don't want our earnings to be reduced, so what we do?
We go exclusive with the company that has just reduced our earnings to fight against reduced earnings! Bravo!

You might want to wait and check the list of Pond5 exclusives before you make assumptions about the impact this could potentially have. Hotelfoxtrot is more than a handful all by themselves, likely representing more clips at a higher quality than everyone posting on forums about this subject combined. The biggest players don't waste a lot of their time chatting nonsense with know-it-alls in forums, so we are not getting the full picture yet.

I was here, when Arcurs and Andres went exclusive. And not with Pond5, but with a real market leader at that time. Where are they now and how did it affect the market?

A matter of perspective. If you are on the inside, you just got a 20% increase and better price protection.

With the risk of losing it all in 5 years. Even 1,50 sales. Because P5 will follow the market. With or without exclusive collection. Isn't it?

It is really maybe the last chance to make "quick" money. But better save them all then. Because after it all fades, you won't come back that easily.