Dear Exclusive Artist,

This July, we will begin a short-term test on new price tiers for HD and 4K clips to simplify purchasing and appeal to buyers with frequent licensing needs.

We continually test and improve our marketplace to offer buyers the best possible experience and drive increased content licensing. These include pricing tests, which have historically excluded your Exclusive content. However, to see the full effects of this change, we feel that it�s critical to include Exclusive content in this experiment.

One of our primary missions at Pond5 is to help our artists thrive. Our success is dependent on your success. As the royalty-free stock licensing market changes, more competitors emerge, including several offering unlimited subscriptions at low prices. We must consider adjusting our pricing model to meet the needs of today�s buyers.

You are not required to take any action, and we will keep you informed of any long-term changes planned as a result of this test. If you have any questions, please don�t hesitate to contact our Support team at [email protected].

Thank you, as always, for being a valued part of our community.

We could simply delete the exclusive clips and re-upload them as non-exclusive to Pond and any other agency.
For someone like me, with only a small number of exclusive clips, this approach is practical.
These exclusive clips might sell only once, and that sale could happen during this forced price drop, which could effectively be breaching the exclusivity agreement.
If they sell even once at the lower price, they lose the advantage of the higher tier pricing.
Therefore, I'll delete them and distribute them to all platforms, including Pond, as non-exclusive clips.

How can Pond5 compete with so many other agencies offering base subscription prices. I haven't had one sale on Pond5 since June 6 and while I'm not a volume seller on Pond5 I do get quite regular sales, usually. I feel the whole stock market is under pressure now, even Adobe Stock is showing signs of slowing which together with other agencies falling sales is indicative of a broad marketplace slowdown.

a) The marketplace is not slowing down. The "ai companies" that have done massive theft & stolen other people's work so they can "blend" it and try and pass it off as their own, are ramping up their efforts.
b) The content is still unique enough on Pond5 that people do like purchasing there. Different licensing rights - and the fact - even though the "ai" companies are mass producing "ai" stuff - some companies prefer authentic over the fake blended content. (For various reasons, including authenticity and being able to state it is an authentic video product without fake content).

Is this the beginning of the end of the artist setting their prices on P5?

For a business to survive, it must remain competitive in an evolving market. I understand pond5's decision to offer lower prices in order to stay competitive against other agencies.

Dear Exclusive Artist,

This July, we will begin a short-term test on new price tiers for HD and 4K clips to simplify purchasing and appeal to buyers with frequent licensing needs.

We continually test and improve our marketplace to offer buyers the best possible experience and drive increased content licensing. These include pricing tests, which have historically excluded your Exclusive content. However, to see the full effects of this change, we feel that it�s critical to include Exclusive content in this experiment.

One of our primary missions at Pond5 is to help our artists thrive. Our success is dependent on your success. As the royalty-free stock licensing market changes, more competitors emerge, including several offering unlimited subscriptions at low prices. We must consider adjusting our pricing model to meet the needs of today�s buyers.

You are not required to take any action, and we will keep you informed of any long-term changes planned as a result of this test. If you have any questions, please don�t hesitate to contact our Support team at [email protected].

Thank you, as always, for being a valued part of our community.

The Shutterstock influence. We all knew something that would devalue our content was forthcoming the day we learned that SS bought them.  And what they are testing is a cheap-ass sub model.  Get ready for $2 royalties.

They have enough non exclusive content that can be offered at nano pricing. It is the same content the competition has.

The exclusive content makes pond5 stand out.

No reason to throw it away,

Reading on FB a contributor with 37000 exclusive clips on Pond5 said in a discussion on the OP message he will likely be suspending all of it and getting out of stock entirely. Thought this was an interesting comment from someone with a well developed port.

Seems to me that getting out of stock all together and removing a portfolio is poking oneself in the eye.    Just leave the portfolio to produce whatever it can under new plans but stop investing in creating new content if it doesn't make business sense to continue to do so.     

Unless you have other options for that portfolio and then it would make sense to remove it.

Quote from: WendyT on July 05, 2024, 17:57

Quote from: PCDMedia on July 05, 2024, 10:57

Seems to me that getting out of stock all together and removing a portfolio is poking oneself in the eye.    Just leave the portfolio to produce whatever it can under new plans but stop investing in creating new content if it doesn't make business sense to continue to do so.     

Unless you have other options for that portfolio and then it would make sense to remove it.

Says he is going to go independent as the technology enables it now (I assume this means something like his own website but not sure). I can understand the frustration with building an exclusive portfolio of 37000 clips and then come Shutterstock with its controlling influence begin tampering with exclusive ports. But surely had to see that coming sooner or later. I'd never go exclusive with them or any agency for that matter.

The now ex-CEO of Pond5 was in a YouTube Pond5 video about the time P5 was starting their Exclusive program.  In that video he convincingly made the case that becoming a Pond5 Exclusive contributor was an effective way to counteract some buyers shopping around various stock sites to get the lowest price for a clip.   

He claimed that Pond5 sales teams encountered the price shoppers everyday.    Whether that was true or not is open to speculation.  But many including myself listened - it sounded good at the time for that and other reasons. 

Selling your own stuff on your own site is a sweet siren song.  But the 800# gorilla in the room is not the footage or the platform - but driving large volumes of potential buyer web traffic to your site.  It's not a case of "If I build it - they will come".

I deleted all my thousands clips in Shutterstock and Istock. I will do the sane when I see therelation becomes abusive like with the mentioned two sites.