or 

"Over the past fifteen years, Pond5 has become a thriving community of millions of buyers and sellers interacting, transacting, and creating together.
 
We are so grateful that you have made this journey with us. Today, we are thrilled to announce a monumental next step: Pond5 has joined Shutterstock to form an unrivaled creative platform that offers full-service solutions, high-quality content, and applications for brands, businesses, and media companies.
 
Our combined reach is unprecedented in the media licensing industry. Together, Pond5 and Shutterstock will bring your work to tens of millions of creatives around the world for use in feature films, video games, advertising campaigns, and much, much more.
 
Additionally, Pond5 and Shutterstock partner with the biggest companies in the world - including Google, Meta, Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, and Bytedance - with a combined user base in the billions.
 
The future is very bright and your work is destined for greatness!
 
You do not need to do anything differently - your content remains on Pond5 and, if you also contribute to Shutterstock, your content will continue to be licensable there. You should continue to upload new content as you would typically across both platforms. Finally, your payouts from both marketplaces will continue on their usual schedule.
 
As you may be aware, Pond5 and Shutterstock have very similar, but not identical, Contributor Agreements. We have no immediate plans to amend our Contributor Agreement (or any of the terms of use of our marketplace), nor does Shutterstock.
 
You will undoubtedly have questions in the coming weeks and months. As always, my team and I are here to help. Learn more on our Help Center or contact us at [email protected] and we�ll respond promptly.
 
We have an exciting road ahead of us, and we�re thankful to move forward side-by-side with you.
 
Sincerely,
Tom Crary, CEO"

FAQs - https://help.pond5.com/hc/en-us/sections/6126870297229

That�s some �exciting� news from the industry 🤦‍♂️
Wonder how this will effect p5/Adobe partnership?

edit

Great.

Yep . that makes two of us. don't want to deal with shitterstock artist's abuse on any level If they bring their stupid rules to P5 I will also go again to greener pastures. I am sorry as I really liked P5. A disgrace this news

If Pond5 ends up following the same commission schedule as Shitterstock, I will drop them as fast as I dropped Shitterstock the first time. I'll get to break up with them twice.

And now from SS:
To our creative community:

I am excited to announce Shutterstock�s acquisition of Pond5, a leading video-centric content marketplace with a mission to create world-class storytellers. Pond5 is a trusted partner for many filmmakers, media organizations and marketers worldwide due to its award-winning tools, including patented Visual Search for video, and it's easy-to-use platform. Through this acquisition, Shutterstock will not only gain a world class platform and tools, but will also expand its marketplace to include more customers and contributors than ever before.

For now, Shutterstock and Pond5 will continue to operate as separate distribution platforms. This means there will be no operational changes for our valued contributor networks on either Shutterstock or Pond5.

Together, Shutterstock and Pond5 will continue to find new ways to bring value to our creative communities, whether it be through education, submission support or data and insights.

Thank you for being a valued part of Shutterstock�s growth and evolution! We look forward to continuing on this journey with you.

Jon
Interim CEO, Shutterstock

Ok.
So I will close my pond5 account now as well.

Closed shutterstock when only 10 cent sales were coming in.
Now expecting pond5 videos will be sold for peanuts I�m opting out there as well.

Luckily Adobe is doing very well for me. So hopfully Adobe sales will increase instead even more.

Yep . that makes two of us. don't want to deal with shitterstock artist's abuse on any level If they bring their stupid rules to P5 I will also go again to greener pastures. I am sorry as I really liked P5. A disgrace this news

Quote from: wollwerth on May 11, 2022, 07:49

If Pond5 ends up following the same commission schedule as Shitterstock, I will drop them as fast as I dropped Shitterstock the first time. I'll get to break up with them twice.

Yeah, I'm exclusive with Pond5 right now and making decent money with them. Would be shame if ST ruined another company.

At least this time - in contrast to the announcement of the new revenue structure at shutterstock - they have saved themselves the trouble of making the contributors believe that this merger could also bring financial advantages. From my point of view, this is a good indication of where the journey is headed.

Buying off competition. I just hope pond5 won't share Bigstock's fate. Also we have a very weird situation where part of pond5 content is available on Alamy so Shutterstock is de facto an Alamy partner 

https://blog.pond5.com/14237-pond5-launches-global-partner-program-with-adobe-stock-integration/

and AdobeStock.

I can see one massive monopoly/cartel looming ahead.

Slightly off topic, but what happened about the 'collective' type group of contributors who were promised good things (in the  long term) from selling photos on Pond5 etc?

Emotions aside, I've crunched some numbers and it's clear that average RPD for clips is on freefall at SS. These are the historical stats from my port at SS (average of $12/download since 2019). Perhaps I'll be "lucky" to be earning $4/download on average from next year. Shouldn't be called RPD anymore, should be called RIP.

Meanwhile, Pond5 is holding steady at an average of $29/download since 2019. Even though volumes are 3x less than SS, average net earnings is 7x more per clip sold. 

Links to my respective ports, mainly travel editorials:

SS: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/AlexandreRotenberg/video?rid=1595060
P5: https://www.pond5.com/artist/alexandrerotenberg?tab=footage

Emotions aside, I've crunched some numbers and it's clear that average RPD for clips is on freefall at SS. These are the historical stats from my port at SS (average of $12/download since 2019). Perhaps I'll be "lucky" to be earning $4/download on average from next year. Shouldn't be called RPD anymore, should be called RIP.

Meanwhile, Pond5 is holding steady at an average of $29/download since 2019. Even though volumes are 3x less than SS, average net earnings is 7x more per clip sold. 

Links to my respective ports, mainly travel editorials:

SS: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/AlexandreRotenberg/video?rid=1595060
P5: https://www.pond5.com/artist/alexandrerotenberg?tab=footage

Thank you for the honest information.

4 dollars a download versus 29 dollars on average�how will that work?

This is the reason so many artists left SS.

What is the average on Adobe? Certainly more than 4 dollars.

We will see what happens, but whatever is the average now on SS will probably be the future for pond5.

And now from SS:
To our creative community:

I am excited to announce Shutterstock�s acquisition of Pond5, a leading video-centric content marketplace with a mission to create world-class storytellers. Pond5 is a trusted partner for many filmmakers, media organizations and marketers worldwide due to its award-winning tools, including patented Visual Search for video, and it's easy-to-use platform. Through this acquisition, Shutterstock will not only gain a world class platform and tools, but will also expand its marketplace to include more customers and contributors than ever before.

For now, Shutterstock and Pond5 will continue to operate as separate distribution platforms. This means there will be no operational changes for our valued contributor networks on either Shutterstock or Pond5.

Together, Shutterstock and Pond5 will continue to find new ways to bring value to our creative communities, whether it be through education, submission support or data and insights.

Thank you for being a valued part of Shutterstock�s growth and evolution! We look forward to continuing on this journey with you.

Jon
Interim CEO, Shutterstock

If they are still operating as separate platforms, what was the point SS buying them?

20 years ago I was with The Stock Market photo agency, they were acquire by Corbis.
Then they became Corbis Stock Market.
Then eventually Stock Market was under the Corbis umbrella.
I can just see the same happening here.

Quote from: Brasilnut on May 12, 2022, 09:31

Emotions aside, I've crunched some numbers and it's clear that average RPD for clips is on freefall at SS. These are the historical stats from my port at SS (average of $12/download since 2019). Perhaps I'll be "lucky" to be earning $4/download on average from next year. Shouldn't be called RPD anymore, should be called RIP.

Meanwhile, Pond5 is holding steady at an average of $29/download since 2019. Even though volumes are 3x less than SS, average net earnings is 7x more per clip sold. 

Links to my respective ports, mainly travel editorials:

SS: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/AlexandreRotenberg/video?rid=1595060
P5: https://www.pond5.com/artist/alexandrerotenberg?tab=footage

Thank you for the honest information.

4 dollars a download versus 29 dollars on average�how will that work?

This is the reason so many artists left SS.

What is the average on Adobe? Certainly more than 4 dollars.

We will see what happens, but whatever is the average now on SS will probably be the future for pond5.

I've only ever sold 14 clips on AS. Port size = 425

Average RPI all time = $27

27 dollars is great.

I guess i should upload more to Adobe. Sadly they don�t take editorial.

(And I will keep complaining about that until they do . )

I will still upload to pond5 until I see a real change.

But it shows that being exclusive anywhere is not a good idea.

Pond5 had an iconic brand status. I hope they are allowed to keep their forum.

I echo your sentiment. I have sold video on Adobe,...but yes it would be great if they opened it up to full Editorial for video (and full Editorial for stills as well!)

I am waiting.......yet. When * hit the fun at SS at first, I deactivated and waited to see if they would back out or at least see if they would improve their blatant robbery. They didn't, so I quit and moved all my editorial video to P5 exclusive, while I deleted all the commercial video.

Now the SS nightmare is again at my door. Will see. If they don't change things, I will stay with P5 . If they reduce contributor commission or I start to see dollar sales, I am also out to greener pastures.

Picture doesn't look good at all. We all know what a Crook Oringer is. The new appointment on board of a second hand car salesman does not point to an encouraging direction.

Quote from: Stock4Me on May 14, 2022, 09:12

Quote from: Cider Apple on May 11, 2022, 08:42

I can see this partnership in the future being just one massive subscription site. Thats where all this is heading.

A massive collection of subscription agencies that pay us almost nothing. SS will take P5 into the sewer along with their own business.

I think you have it. For a stock to be interesting to investors, the company must be growing and diversifying. This makes SSTK look better. Nothing in any of this makes me think we'll make more money or P5 will be better for being sold to SSTK. This is all about SSTK stock and values.

You make sense. However, at least from what I see, dollars AND downloads are slipping at SS relative to AS and iS....so it doesn't seem they are  doing so great from a trend perspective.

Is this finalized? Can anything be done by writing the SEC ?

I am curious - What do you think you could possibly write the SEC in this case?

Well, I think that SS has figured it out...when you pay peanuts, you get monkey material and the only way forward is to acquire decent material from others (Pond 5)....until it's suppliers are no longer prepared to provide new/professional material for the lack of reward being given....and then you have to acquire again until you run out of targets.
SS offers me no incentive to upload new material and I haven't for 2 years now. If enough others think the same way, then SS is a dying bizz which is (unfortunately) deserved.

Because of low price share of income of big platforms my guess is that, slowly, this market will be following the trends of other markets. Just like Amazon, Etsy or Skillshare contributors, i see a lot of them migrate to personal websites. The old stuff is still in those platforms but new is not.

Buyers will always follow the new stuff.

Markets are always evolving....probably this will be the future: using a few old eggs in big platforms and link the rest to your website with new fresh stuff. 

if they shutter pond5, they will start making restrictions on buying and selling to get people to move to shutterstock

so if you see pond5 start to have new restrictions added to make your life more difficult, you will know why

Very sad day,  my guess is they will operate it as an independent business but start to cut commissions and restrict exclusive royalties to tiers in order to extract the highest possible profit.  Say goodbye to the way things are now...  The black hole swallows another star.   I am wondering if uploading exclusive content on Pond5 still makes sense going forward? 

Emeric Le Bars, one of the largest contributors at Pond5, just published an insightful interview with Pond5 CEO, Tom Crary discussing the recent acquisition of Pond5 by Shutterstock.

https://youtu.be/HBFk3rAqz-E

Interesting, but how many times have we heard "everything is staying the same for now...."

These types of conversations are always kabuki theatre. We all know how the system works yet we ask CEOs etc. for assurances about this that and the other like their word has any bearing. SS is going to do whatever they want to squeeze as much profit as possible out of P5 and their content. Whatever �reassurances� this guy gives about what�s coming down the line mean literally nothing. Take a look at Bruce�s takes when Getty was buying out IS.

@Brasilnut - Thanks for posting the video. Great interview!
Are you Brazilian?

Thanks Emeric!

I am!

Tamb�m sou

why would SS close P5 when they havent done so w other acquisitions? P5 is no longer a competitor, but now an additional source of income and potential buyers

Ok, I'll rephrase my original thought.

SS bought P5 to acquire P5's customers.

In the end, the result will be the same.

Thanks for contacting us with your inquiry.
 
We understand you would prefer not to participate in our newly announced subscription plans.
 
Please note that customers will continue to have the option of licensing tracks a la carte - and that�s what we expect most Buyers to do. Subscriptions allow us to compete for those customers with frequent licensing needs. Our Buyers have told us time and time again that subscription products are often exactly what they are looking for. We are very confident that subscriptions will significantly increase licensing activity in our marketplace and increase artist earnings by volume.
 
It's important to share that subscription sales are in addition to normal Pond5 Marketplace sales. Artists will soon be able to see their subscription earnings in their My Financials on the 1st of every month. Those earnings will be for all their subscription downloads in the previous month.
 
We would love for you to take advantage of this new and exciting opportunity for Artists and our larger creative community. Please note, participation is not optional, and if you chose to remove your catalogue with us we will politely assist you with next steps for an account closure.
 
Thank you for reaching out and If you need any further assistance, please let us know. We're always happy to help.
 
All the best,
Wesley
Customer Care & Compliance Manager

Time to hit the road, Gumroad, that is. Videohive is also very lucrative all of a sudden,
Creative Market could be good too...
It's like playing cat and a mouse game,
They drop, we leave to other markets, they'll buy the other markets, we will ALWAYS find a way
to avoid selling ourselves for cheap. They live in denial, so be it.

Subs was unavoidable at P5. I think nearly every client is on that page now. What I am looking is royalties and fair share. The problem with SS and the reason I am not with them is that they don't share revenue with contributors unless you think 15% or 20% is a fair share for you.

P5 exclusive is 60% now. They might to try to run this down sooner than later so I am sure the exodus will slowly begin again as it did with SS. Those crooks just don't deserve to work with artists.

Does it still make sense to be exclusive if the subscriptions already compete.

I think it is time to go not exclusive and spread the footages everywhere.

Not sure about everywhere, since I got a feeling soon it will be consolidated to one unified market, communist style.
You can already see SS + P5 + Adobe working together with "Global partnership" etc...

What other platform is there where you can set your own prices and opt out of subs?

There will be a lot of demand for such a marketplace.

They will get a lot of content.

The videoworld is well connected, even if the place starts small it will grow quickly if the quality content moves there.

One look at the contract between SS and P5 shows how few content creators really make up the core of saleable content in video (I would argue that it is the case across micro).

People think that because there are tens of thousands of contributors in micro they are all equally disposable. If the top 1000 photographers, 300 illustrators or 50 videographers really stood together they could pretty much demand what they want. Just take a look at how much the top 20 on P5 meant to SS when buying the site.

Anyway, shame there�s no solidarity and it�ll never happen!

Just take a look at how much the top 20 on P5 meant to SS when buying the site.

SS/P5 did not want to p.o. the big contributors - likely the big aggregators and agencies with 10s-100s thousands of assets on P5 and thus more leverage.

That Top 20 likely has a different P5 contract compared to the rest of the contributors.

Where does all this leave Blackbox?

At one time you couldn't move for people recommending them.

But now that SS and Pond5 are joining...

I expect more changes than this subscription deal.

So far, its not a big deal. I spent a bit of time looking through P5 to see if any of mine were in this new subscription deal (searched on some of my most popular stop motions and other types of clips keywords, to see if they were included when filtering by 'subscriptions') and none of them were there. In fact, the ones that were included were not very good quality, imho, and nothing to worry about at this stage.

But I fear, as you say, this could be just the 'soft' start with worse to follow.

Not sure how they are choosing what clips to include in these subscriptions. Are they the old 'membership' ones? I would be very interested to find out.


But on a side note, looking so deeply has its drawbacks. I found one very enthusiastic 'fan' of my work with very little imagination, who has copied my themes, colors, props, and layouts, on multiple items - and like all good 'fans' has spammed them to death.

Ah, the joy of microstock! Don't you just love it.

Useful test Annie!

Looks like my Blackbox content is part of the subs program, but my directly uploaded files are not.

This will be interesting to observe in how it affects results.

If it stays this ways, it could also be an easy way to decide what goes where.

ETA: not all my BB content is available for subs. So maybe it is just a selection. or older content.

Thanks for the feedback, Cobalt. Possibly older content that hasn't sold very well?  Can you see any differences between what is included in the subs, and not. Or is it just age?

I am not sure what I am more upset about at this stage - finding my 'spammer from Serbia' (I have to stop looking at their port because its making me very upset) - or the potential of only getting $7.96/clip from future subs.

I just LOOOOVVVVEEEE these $2.60 video royalties.

Do we have any alternative for editorial videos?

Besides SS and P5 also AS, Depositphotos and G/iStock are seemingly possible via Wirestock.
You can choose these agencies in WS, but I don't know if the videos are really accepted there.
At SS you can theoretically also upload directly, but for me all editorial photos and videos are rejected at the moment.
AS does not directly take editorial videos.
Whether Depositphotos and G/iStock take editorial videos on direct upload, I don't know.

My opinion, it was not a good idea to close your P5 account.
Occasionally there are very low royalties because of special rates, but most of the time it is the promised 60% (exclusive).

As my livelihood does not depend on the stock, I have preferred not to collaborate with companies that I consider exploitative. Right now, I only submit content to Adobe Stock.

Last week, one of my videos is sold in Pond5. List pice $99, sold for $8, my comission $4.87. i removed most of my videos fom Pond5, and i will migrate to another agency. Any offers?

I have preferred not to collaborate with companies that I consider exploitative. Right now, I only submit content to Adobe Stock.

But aren't you also getting $2.80 commissions on AS?  I am.  I don't think these low commission sales are avoidable these days.

I was exclusive on pond5 so I didn't have any other video on Adobe. I'm uploading them now.

Then get prepared for your share of $2.80 and $4.20 commissions.

#cantescape

I count on it. The day that happens, I will have to stop uploading content.