Author Topic: Pond5 launches The Public Domain Project (Read 55747 times)

objowl · « **Reply #1 on:** January 20, 2015, 12:53 »

More exciting news, I can't take any more!

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #2 on:** January 20, 2015, 12:55 »

Quote from: objowl on January 20, 2015, 12:53

More exciting news, I can't take any more!

Another exciting news....
Warning - Media available in the public domain in the U.S. isn’t necessarily categorized as public in other countries!

P5 PD disclaimer starts: "To the best of our knowledge, this Content is in the public domain..."

Mantis · « **Reply #3 on:** January 20, 2015, 12:56 »

All this does is add to the conditioning of people to demand free images. It is nothing more than a move that will further cheapen the imagery market and take microstock into a new low.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #4 on:** January 20, 2015, 13:12 »

Quote from: Mantis on January 20, 2015, 12:56

All this does is add to the conditioning of people to demand free images. It is nothing more than a move that will further cheapen the imagery market and take microstock into a new low.

so true... but why would P5 care about that

more signups for P5 = more numbers to show off to the VCs = more funding to get and join top tier millionaire club

Would folks who downloaded these free clips actually buy something afterwards?... that's the Q :-)

p.s. meanwhile ... "This helps tell our story," CEO said. "We know there's been a lot of activity in the sector, but we think this project will help let people know that we're the good guys." *Crain's NY Business

Shelma1 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 20, 2015, 13:17 »

It's truly mind-boggling that after the negative reactions to recent "exciting news," agencies still aren't thinking before they post here. Know your audience!!!

pancaketom · « **Reply #6 on:** January 20, 2015, 14:34 »

so can we take this material and then upload them back to p5 to sell? (perhaps with some subtle change?)

Nikovsk · « **Reply #7 on:** January 20, 2015, 14:51 »

It's like a fruit vendor offering free fruits... not a very smart move.

Tror · « **Reply #8 on:** January 20, 2015, 15:15 »

....this is what should have been announced:

Pond5 launches ....
• Automatic Video size conversion - no more need to convert and encode manually and then send support mails for joining all those files just to be able to offer Footage to a broader audience of buyers!
• Minimum price of 20 $ for HD in order to protect the market and profits for Artists as well as Pond5
• Site redesign! We realized that every now and then a fresh look may attract more buyers and we invested as well in the structure of the navigation to facilitate clients and contributors experience.....

Jonathan · « **Reply #9 on:** January 20, 2015, 15:39 »

- 4K video auto down conversion is coming.

- The current minimum price for HD video is $10. Recently, we raised the minimum price for music from $5 to $15. We'll be paying attention to how this affects our market, and if it makes sense to apply the same type of change to other formats, like video, we'll certainly consider it. It's in Pond5's interests to help everyone sell more.
- We're always working on new designs for the site. We launched V2 just two or so years ago, and there will eventually be a V3 (and hopefully a V4, and a V5...) We're always happy to hear your feedback on the site's design so we can take that into account.

I understand how some sellers could be worried that the Public Domain project might cannibalize their sales. That's a valid concern, and a natural reaction. But please, rest assured, Pond5 has poured a lot of time and resources into this project, and we did that because we are very confident that the end result will be more sales for everyone.

This project holds the essence of many of Pond5's ideals. We've always believed that public domain content is great by virtue of not having any copyright restrictions. We believe in the idea that public domain content should be free and accessible for the world, but that hasn't been the way it's worked up until now. Previously, if you wanted to get some PD content, you would have to go to the Library of Congress or another archive and search through hall after hall of old reels that were organized with an archaic system that only people who were trained in could possibly use to find anything at all. Or alternatively, you would have to pay someone else to do that research for you, sometimes for hundreds of dollars an hour. We want to change that with this project!

We did previously accept some of this kind of content from some artists at Pond5, though we no longer do. In order to submit public domain content to Pond5 today, you need to make sufficient edits/changes to the content such that you've added value and created a new piece. We've had this policy in place for many months now.

We've always believed that all public domain content should be free and easily accessible for everyone, but we've never had the resources to make our vision a reality until now. This is why we used to accept this kind of content, because accepting it was the best way to make it available to media makers. But Pond5 has grown up a lot in the last few years, and we're big enough now to make this dream a reality.

We are very confident that this is going to be a massive boon for everyone at Pond5, including all of our artists. This is the first time in history that such a large collection of public domain content has been made easily available for free to the whole world, in seven different languages! It's going to draw lots and lots of traffic to the site. More traffic means more buyers, and more buyers means more sales.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2015, 15:48 »

And yet, after years and years, you're unable to stop the system from changing all my titles and keywords to lower case.

fmarsicano · « **Reply #12 on:** January 20, 2015, 15:57 »

- 4K video auto down conversion is coming.

What about 1080p down conversion? Still the market for 4k is probably 5% of 1080p and 720p why not thinking about now like all the other agencies do? They all down convert our clips why doesn't Pond5? Could you please Johnatan tell me one reason please

Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #13 on:** January 20, 2015, 16:04 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on January 20, 2015, 15:48

And yet, after years and years, you're unable to stop the system from changing all my titles and keywords to lower case.

These guys had been around over 8 years... with this kind of speed solving basics, we all might be dead when they finally achieve their goals.

Mantis · « **Reply #14 on:** January 20, 2015, 16:11 »

Quote from: Jonathan on January 20, 2015, 15:39

- 4K video auto down conversion is coming.
- The current minimum price for HD video is $10. Recently, we raised the minimum price for music from $5 to $15. We'll be paying attention to how this affects our market, and if it makes sense to apply the same type of change to other formats, like video, we'll certainly consider it. It's in Pond5's interests to help everyone sell more.
- We're always working on new designs for the site. We launched V2 just two or so years ago, and there will eventually be a V3 (and hopefully a V4, and a V5...) We're always happy to hear your feedback on the site's design so we can take that into account.

I understand how some sellers could be worried that the Public Domain project might cannibalize their sales. That's a valid concern, and a natural reaction. But please, rest assured, Pond5 has poured a lot of time and resources into this project, and we did that because we are very confident that the end result will be more sales for everyone.

This project holds the essence of many of Pond5's ideals. We've always believed that public domain content is great by virtue of not having any copyright restrictions. We believe in the idea that public domain content should be free and accessible for the world, but that hasn't been the way it's worked up until now. Previously, if you wanted to get some PD content, you would have to go to the Library of Congress or another archive and search through hall after hall of old reels that were organized with an archaic system that only people who were trained in could possibly use to find anything at all. Or alternatively, you would have to pay someone else to do that research for you, sometimes for hundreds of dollars an hour. We want to change that with this project!

We did previously accept some of this kind of content from some artists at Pond5, though we no longer do. In order to submit public domain content to Pond5 today, you need to make sufficient edits/changes to the content such that you've added value and created a new piece. We've had this policy in place for many months now.

We've always believed that all public domain content should be free and easily accessible for everyone, but we've never had the resources to make our vision a reality until now. This is why we used to accept this kind of content, because accepting it was the best way to make it available to media makers. But Pond5 has grown up a lot in the last few years, and we're big enough now to make this dream a reality.

We are very confident that this is going to be a massive boon for everyone at Pond5, including all of our artists. This is the first time in history that such a large collection of public domain content has been made easily available for free to the whole world, in seven different languages! It's going to draw lots and lots of traffic to the site. More traffic means more buyers, and more buyers means more sales.

First bold. Make it $30 minimum please.

Second bold. You are missing the point. You are conditioning content users to expect free....free....free... And so on. The larger that collection gets the more that expectation grows. Yea there might be some cannibalization, but i am far more concerned about your strategy to breed demand for more free content. This is the direction most agencies are going with their commission slashing and now the one agency left i liked the most has put in its second nail in the growth coffin. The first nail is $10 hd clips.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #17 on:** January 20, 2015, 16:32 »

Quote from: Jonathan on January 20, 2015, 16:23

I'm not a business annalist, and I won't pretend to be. I'm saying that we're confident that the public domain project will bring in buyers and sales for everyone because experts with more years of experience than I am old have looked at the numbers and stats, and their experience and analysis tells them that this is a great move for everyone. I absolutely believe that.

clip to watch on bs metrics - http://vooza.com/videos/crap-metrics/

Ariene · « **Reply #18 on:** January 20, 2015, 16:36 »

Nevermind, deleted

MarcvsTvllivs · « **Reply #19 on:** January 20, 2015, 16:44 »

How about the "our contributor console doesn't strip out capital letters" project? How's that coming along?

MarcvsTvllivs · « **Reply #21 on:** January 20, 2015, 17:06 »

Quote from: Jonathan on January 20, 2015, 17:04

Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on January 20, 2015, 16:44
How about the "our contributor console doesn't strip out capital letters" project? How's that coming along?

You're the second person to mention that. Maybe I'm out of the loop. Could you elaborate on that for me? You can do that here if you like, or you can email me directly too: [email protected]

For as long as I can remember, all of our keywords have always been all lowercase. I'm not sure what impact the case of the letters could have on anything though...? If it's a big concern, I'll be happy to bring it up with the team, or at the least I could find out why we do it that way.

It's not about keywords. Pond5 converts the descriptions and titles to all lower case, which is a pain to fix.

cobalt · « **Reply #23 on:** January 20, 2015, 17:48 »

Actually I think to offer public domain clips in addition to all the regular content is useful for buyers, you become the one stop shop for everything.

It might also help balance a raise for HD video

But the best news is that downsizing for 4k is coming. The sooner the better.

PixelBytes · « **Reply #24 on:** January 20, 2015, 18:08 »

Unbelievable the amount of disasters announced in the past week, and the amount of horse carp corporate double speak thrown out to justify it. Just fracking amazing.

Please stop piddling on me and telling me its raining.

Red Dove · « **Reply #25 on:** January 20, 2015, 18:35 »

I can see the old retail loss leader sales hook at work here with OLD being the operative word. This is the equivalent of my local supermarket proffering free bits of cheese and pineapple on a stick or slices of stale pork pie on a plate as a means of drumming up more business. Rubbish.

asmai · « **Reply #26 on:** January 20, 2015, 19:02 »

Quote from: cobalt on January 20, 2015, 17:48

Actually I think to offer public domain clips in addition to all the regular content is useful for buyers, you become the one stop shop for everything.

It might also help balance a raise for HD video

But the best news is that downsizing for 4k is coming. The sooner the better.

I have to agree, public domain are already free out there, pond5 does not make them free, they just collect them in one place for producers. Public domain clips are NO competition to our clips, they are of much lower quality but of historical value. They are in fact complement to our clips. This makes pond5 one-stop shop for producers who need both historical clips and modern clips.

And, from my own experience, many people looking for free stuffs actually end up buying. I have buyers who came to my site searching for "free illustrations" (my site turned up because of the "royalty free") and ended up paying hundreds dollars. I also have many buyers coming from my free site where i give a small collection at small size for free. Some others wrote to ask for free images and after i said no they bought the images.

It's a business decision of Pond5 , and it does not involve undercutting contributors, i dont see any reason to be so negative. And personally, i think it's a smart move. Pond 5 is solidly my second earner and they have been fair. I will continue to support them.

No Free Lunch · « **Reply #27 on:** January 20, 2015, 22:08 »

Once the deal is completed they will announce more 'exciting' news-

"We just upgraded our office to make our board members more comfortable and gave them all a nice pay raise! Thanks Contributors for working so hard for us. "

I would say I feel like a prostitute but they at least get paid for their services- I am more like a cheap whore getting nothing...

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #28 on:** January 21, 2015, 01:49 »

Quote from: Red Dove on January 20, 2015, 18:35

I can see the old retail loss leader sales hook at work here with OLD being the operative word. This is the equivalent of my local supermarket proffering free bits of cheese and pineapple on a stick or slices of stale pork pie on a plate as a means of drumming up more business. Rubbish.

+10

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #29 on:** January 21, 2015, 06:14 »

Quote from: No Free Lunch on January 20, 2015, 22:08

Once the deal is completed they will announce more 'exciting' news-

"We just upgraded our office to make our board members more comfortable and gave them all a nice pay raise! Thanks Contributors for working so hard for us. "

I would say I feel like a prostitute but they at least get paid for their services- I am more like a cheap whore getting nothing...

Oops...good guys just did it!

"The New York-based company saw revenues of $19 million in 2014, up from $12 million in 2013, and has relocated to 30,000 square feet of swanky new office space in Manhattan’s posh SoHo neighborhood. It’s also been on a bit of a hiring push, adding a VP of finance in October and looking for marketing and operations executives."
*TechCrunch on 20/1 - Pond5 Issues 80,000 Free Media Assets With The Launch Of Its Public Domain Project

"While Mr. Bennett acknowledged that his industry is in a time of transition, he hopes the Public Domain Project will help the company distinguish itself in the marketplace.
"This helps tell our story," he said. "We know there's been a lot of activity in the sector, but we think this project will help let people know that we're the good guys."
*Crain's NY Business on 20/1 - Pond5 launches free stock-footage archives

Julied83 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 21, 2015, 08:19 »

I know english, but I don't understand anything about this public domain thing announcement.
Anybody french here can explain me ?

Shelma1 · « **Reply #31 on:** January 21, 2015, 08:21 »

Once again I'll make the case that having nice office space in SoHo is a good thing, since they'll hopefully be inviting clients and potential clients into the space and they're located near a lot of NY video editors who are potential buyers. And editors have very cool office space.

However, I would have preferred they spend a portion of the profits from contributors' work on hiring a larger sales staff to sell that work, rather than using it to pay staff to make clips of public domain footage.

I don't know...I just get the feeling they're tossing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, like iS. If they'd said editors were clamoring for vintage footage and this would generate tons of traffic, and backed it up with research that shows the increased traffic would result in an increase in sales, then maybe...

Tror · « **Reply #32 on:** January 21, 2015, 08:44 »

Quote from: Jonathan on January 20, 2015, 15:39

- 4K video auto down conversion is coming.
- The current minimum price for HD video is $10. Recently, we raised the minimum price for music from $5 to $15. We'll be paying attention to how this affects our market, and if it makes sense to apply the same type of change to other formats, like video, we'll certainly consider it. It's in Pond5's interests to help everyone sell more.
- We're always working on new designs for the site. We launched V2 just two or so years ago, and there will eventually be a V3 (and hopefully a V4, and a V5...) We're always happy to hear your feedback on the site's design so we can take that into account.

Thanks for clarifying Jonathan! Especially the 4K conversion bit is good news. As well as any open communication to us. Many of us just love pond5, so please pardon us if we get emotional when we see delays or missing features on the site which are critical to attract buyers or maintain good business.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #33 on:** January 21, 2015, 09:01 »

Quote from: Shelma1 on January 21, 2015, 08:21

Once again I'll make the case that having nice office space in SoHo is a good thing, since they'll hopefully be inviting clients and potential clients into the space and they're located near a lot of NY video editors who are potential buyers. And editors have very cool office space.

However, I would have preferred they spend a portion of the profits from contributors' work on hiring a larger sales staff to sell that work, rather than using it to pay staff to make clips of public domain footage.

I don't know...I just get the feeling they're tossing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, like iS. If they'd said editors were clamoring for vintage footage and this would generate tons of traffic, and backed it up with research that shows the increased traffic would result in an increase in sales, then maybe...

BS Metrics video to watch - http://vooza.com/videos/crap-metrics/
:-)

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #35 on:** January 21, 2015, 11:16 »

Quote from: Jonathan on January 21, 2015, 10:58

Quote from: SSContributor on January 21, 2015, 09:01

BS Metrics video to watch - http://vooza.com/videos/crap-metrics/
:-)

I think your link may be broken, I get a 404 error when I try to access it. I'd love to see the video if you have a working link.

Try this one - www.facebook.com/govooza/posts/581698011961783

or go to vooza.com and find "Bull*hit metrics" video

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #37 on:** January 21, 2015, 17:23 »

Quote from: Jonathan on January 21, 2015, 11:24

Quote from: SSContributor on January 21, 2015, 11:16

Try this one - www.facebook.com/govooza/posts/581698011961783

or go to vooza.com and find "Bull*hit metrics" video

Ah! That did the trick, thank you

Hah! That was great! I'll have to check out more of their videos.

I am so glad you like it, Jonathan.

Have a question for VP of finance, even though I know this is not really our business, but curious to know how does he justifies spending on such a huge swanky space in Soho when only 20 employees sit in 30,000 square feet office, considering rest of P5 staff actually live out of NY? If we do the math right, that's like 1500 square feet per person, no!!!

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #40 on:** January 21, 2015, 17:52 »

Quote from: Jonathan on January 21, 2015, 17:37

Quote from: SSContributor on January 21, 2015, 17:23

I am so glad you like it, Jonathan.

Have a question for VP of finance, even though I know this is not really our business, but curious to know how does he justifies spending on such a huge swanky space in Soho when only 20 employees sit in 30,000 square feet office, considering rest of P5 staff actually live out of NY? If we do the math right, that's like 1500 square feet per person, no!!!

I'm not sure where you're getting your number from, but we have many more than 20 employees in either of our offices these days. Pond5 only had about 30 or so employees when I started here a few years ago, and we were in a smaller space then, but we're well over 100 employees today, and we're still growing. That's why we moved into a larger space.

You mean 81 employees scattered around the world, no?
I was talking about NY based employees only that occupy 30,000 square feet.
How many folks are NY based then?

I just read this via PRNewsWire - http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pond5-launches-the-public-domain-project-with-80000-free-media-clips-300022538.html

"Based in New York, with offices in Geneva(?), Switzerland, and Prague, Czech Republic, Pond5 recently raised $61 million from Accel Partners and Stripes Group. It currently employs a global team of 81 people."
CONTACT: J.J. Colao, 646-820-1708, [email protected]
SOURCE Pond5

Well...about 30,000 square feet....here is the source
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/20/pond5-issues-80000-free-media-assets-with-the-launch-of-its-public-domain-project/

"By all accounts, Pond5 has been doing quite well recently. The New York-based company saw revenues of $19 million in 2014, up from $12 million in 2013, and has relocated to 30,000 square feet of swanky new office space in Manhattan’s posh SoHo neighborhood. It’s also been on a bit of a hiring push, adding a VP of finance in October and looking for marketing and operations executives."

You say office is 5000 sq ft only? ... wow, TechCrunch made you 6 times bigger.
Swanky PR!

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #41 on:** January 22, 2015, 04:02 »

Quote from: Shelma1 on January 21, 2015, 08:21

However, I would have preferred they spend a portion of the profits from contributors' work on hiring a larger sales staff to sell that work, rather than using it to pay staff to make clips of public domain footage.

+10

KevinM · « **Reply #42 on:** January 24, 2015, 13:02 »

What a ton of whiny rudeness in this thread. A person comes on to share news that will have NO negative effect on our business (despite irrational comments to the contrary) and half the crowd starts throwing poo. Would you phrase things so rudely if you met face to face? If the answer is yes, your parents didn't raise you right - and I would say that to your face. A few people stated legitimate complaints and questions without being a jerk, but a lot of people posting are just hiding behind a computer to fling insults and talk trash. Threads are a lot better when we raise our conduct above the lowest standard of the internet.

I don't see the Public Domain project as having much effect either way on sales. Historical PD content is so different from modern content they simply don't cover the same needs. And because it's so clearly different and of limited potential, it's irrational to think customers are going to suddenly expect everything to be free. On the plus side, if customers get used to using Pond5 for historical footage, then they'll very likely start using Pond5 for other stock needs, in which case our sales go up. Again, I don't expect a big bleed-over for a sizable uptick in sales, but it's something Pond5 is doing all the work on and it might help sales a bit, so fine.

And +1 to the need for Pond5 to automatically down-size files - please. Glad to hear they're starting that with 4K soon, I need that feature.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #43 on:** January 24, 2015, 13:30 »

I'm not on Pond5, though I was considering it (now I'm not so sure). It disappoints me to see Pond5 advertising the free public domain images/footage in banner ads all over the internet. I do wish they spent that money advertising paid content instead. But maybe I'm wrong and paying to advertise, edit, upload and keyword all that free content will lead to more sales for everyone. I'll be watching for the woo-yays.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #44 on:** January 24, 2015, 17:21 »

Uh Oh ...

CEO Tom Bennett:
"I think the public domain launch helps to underscore the differences," he said. "We're focused on the long term, and focused on providing value to the artists, both the buyers and sellers who are active in the marketplace, and helping empower them as media producers. I think the other guys, pretty much across the board, are focused on short-term profit."

"Employees spent six months preparing the public domain sites, including several trips to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and the long, tedious work of breaking up the clips into searchable segments. Bennett said the initial installment of 80,000 assets is just the first phase, and they'll continue to add to the public domain project."

http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/blog/techflash/2015/01/pond5-bets-free-willbolster-the-fees.html

*Some good points here on how PD free stuff is already killing the search of RF stuff on P5 and mislead the best selling files with free stuff - https://www.pond5.com/community?forum=629&thread=39986639&lp=1

PixelBytes · « **Reply #45 on:** January 24, 2015, 18:10 »

Mr. Onions, your post is making me cry.

nicku · « **Reply #46 on:** January 25, 2015, 15:46 »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries%27_copyright_lengths

Very interesting... regarding Public domain

I do lot of PD but I upload ONLY after lots of documentation and ONLY when I'm 100% that the work is in Public Domain. Most times it's a very tricky job

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #47 on:** January 25, 2015, 16:31 »

Quote from: nicku on January 25, 2015, 15:46

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries%27_copyright_lengths

Very interesting... regarding Public domain

I do lot of PD but I upload ONLY after lots of documentation and ONLY when I'm 100% that the work is in Public Domain. Most times it's a very tricky job

Exactly that!

P5 Content License Agreement - http://www.pond5.com/legal/license

8. Public Domain Content.
A work designated on the Website or otherwise by us as being "Public Domain Content" or otherwise as being in the public domain (collectively, "Public Domain Content") is designated as such when we believe that the works is considered under copyright laws of the United States to be in the public domain. However, such work may not be considered to be in the public domain in other counties and notwithstanding the foregoing or anything else in this Agreement, we assume no responsibility whatsoever, and you are solely responsible, for reviewing the Content Information and if necessary confirming that the Public Domain Content is in fact in the public domain in the United States and every other country where it or Works For Distribution including it will be used, copied, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, telecast, displayed or performed or derivative works created based thereon and obtaining any rights that are legally required with regard thereto.
Notwithstanding anything else in this agreement, the restrictions in Sections 4 (c), (e), (f) and (h) and 7 and the warranties in Section 9 (a) and (b) and 10 do not apply to Public Domain Content.
Generally, no releases have been obtained for any Third Party IP or musical, dramatic, choreographic or literary work depicted, performed or contained in Public Domain Content, so to the extent that any Public Domain Content depicts or contains any of the same, it should be considered to be Editorial Content.

If I am correct P5 does not offer the "Limits of Liability". With SS that's US$10,000.00.

MarcvsTvllivs · « **Reply #48 on:** January 31, 2015, 16:17 »

Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on January 20, 2015, 16:44

How about the "our contributor console doesn't strip out capital letters" project? How's that coming along?

O. M. G.

They fixed it.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #49 on:** January 31, 2015, 16:53 »

Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on January 31, 2015, 16:17

Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on January 20, 2015, 16:44
How about the "our contributor console doesn't strip out capital letters" project? How's that coming along?

O. M. G.

They fixed it.

OMG can somebody inform Sean about it?...It took him almost 2 years of begging to get this fixed.
Oh well... then party time totally makes sense!

- http://www.microstockgroup.com/off-topic/how-to-waste-money-on-promoting-free-content/msg406671/?topicseen#new

MarcvsTvllivs · « **Reply #50 on:** January 31, 2015, 17:12 »

Quote from: KnowYourOnions on January 31, 2015, 16:53

Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on January 31, 2015, 16:17
Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on January 20, 2015, 16:44
How about the "our contributor console doesn't strip out capital letters" project? How's that coming along?

O. M. G.

They fixed it.

OMG can somebody inform Sean about it?...It took him almost 2 years of begging to get this fixed.
Party time - http://www.microstockgroup.com/off-topic/how-to-waste-money-on-promoting-free-content/msg406671/?topicseen#new

Haha... indeed. Thanks, Jonathan! Finally someone listened to us.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #51 on:** January 31, 2015, 23:12 »

... must ... find ... defibrillator ... to ...restart heart...

Mantis · « **Reply #52 on:** February 01, 2015, 11:43 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on January 31, 2015, 23:12

... must ... find ... defibrillator ... to ...restart heart...

hahahahahah now that gave me my Sunday chuckle.

stockastic · « **Reply #53 on:** February 01, 2015, 16:59 »

Sorry if I'm being obtuse, but it's hard for me to see how yet more free images, more readily available, will increase sales in the long run. In the short run it may bring business to Pond5 at the expense of other agencies. Once they're all forced to offer PD imagery, any "purchase" of a PD image arguably comes at the expense of a real sale.

Of course eventually the agencies may find legal ways to profit from PD images - say, by making it part of a subscription package. I look forward to the exciting news.

Mantis · « **Reply #54 on:** February 01, 2015, 17:33 »

Quote from: stockastic on February 01, 2015, 16:59

Sorry if I'm being obtuse, but it's hard for me to see how yet more free images, more readily available, will increase sales in the long run. In the short run it may bring business to Pond5 at the expense of other agencies. Once they're all forced to offer PD imagery, any "purchase" of a PD image arguably comes at the expense of a real sale.

Of course eventually the agencies may find legal ways to profit from PD images - say, by making it part of a subscription package. I look forward to the exciting news.

I agree. That's every micro's go-to statement. Remember Alamy? We're cutting your commissions to 50% to fund the opening of a US office but we expect your sales to go up once we do this. Since then my sales have dropped by 75% and never recovered.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #55 on:** February 01, 2015, 18:09 »

Quote from: stockastic on February 01, 2015, 16:59

Sorry if I'm being obtuse, but it's hard for me to see how yet more free images, more readily available, will increase sales in the long run. In the short run it may bring business to Pond5 at the expense of other agencies. Once they're all forced to offer PD imagery, any "purchase" of a PD image arguably comes at the expense of a real sale.

Of course eventually the agencies may find legal ways to profit from PD images - say, by making it part of a subscription package. I look forward to the exciting news.

This is all a PR stunt in attempt to increase web site traffic. And probably it did increase it and possibly sales jumped a bit for very short time (yet to see that though!).
BUT the question is how many more PR stunts like this they have to organize to be able to constantly keep traffic up and therefore potentially increase sales? And how risky this approach is?

I only wish they invested in promoting our media files as much as they did promote this free offer gig. It's kind of a bad taste to brag so much about public domain free stuff, as our files don't exist!

Jonathan · « **Reply #56 on:** February 18, 2015, 16:50 »

Heya gang,

Indeed, they did fix the metadata problem! One of you kind folks was nice enough to spend some time talking with me in PM, and I was able to get the information I needed so that our team could correct the problem. I wish I could have been around to make the announcement when it went live, but I've spent the past few weeks serving jury duty. I'm a huge fan of Law and Order, so I was kind of excited initially, but it was honestly one of the most boring and patience trying experiences of my life.

I can appreciate why you'd think the PD project is a publicity stunt. And let's be honest, to an extent it is! The whole idea is that we want to do something big and new, that no one else has done before, in order to stand out and get attention. But there's more to it than just that. The PD project also aligns with our company values. We truly believe that public domain content should be free, and there shouldn't be any barriers for artists who just want to create. We're not done with PD, we plan to continue the project, and will continue to add to the archive. We've already been contacted by several very excited owners of private public domain collections, and they're all eager to join us.

I've seen the complaint that Pond5 isn't advertising your uploads enough, and this always confuses me. Surely you don't expect that we would pay for and run advertising campaigns for each individual seller on Pond5, right? But we completely understand that you need ways to get the word out about your wares, especially new items. That's why we added the social media sharing options to our collections feature. You can share collections of your uploads over Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ right from inside Pond5. There are also embed codes on the item pages that you can use to advertise your items. Those codes will allow you to embed our Pond5 previews into your website.

If what you mean is more that we don't advertise Pond5 enough in general though, then I'll see what I can find out about our campaigns if you like. We have a whole marketing department, and a budget for advertising, so I know we are doing those things. But I'm in a different department, so I don't know the details. If you're interested, I'll see what I can find out and what I might be able to share with you all here.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #57 on:** February 19, 2015, 03:46 »

Quote from: Jonathan on February 18, 2015, 16:50

If what you mean is more that we don't advertise Pond5 enough in general though, then I'll see what I can find out about our campaigns if you like. We have a whole marketing department, and a budget for advertising, so I know we are doing those things. But I'm in a different department, so I don't know the details. If you're interested, I'll see what I can find out and what I might be able to share with you all here.

Jonathan, sorry to hear we confused you ... We haven't seen a single campaign promoting our media files in long time! Nobody expects you to advertise us individually - although you obviously have your favorites (!!!) https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153117910329777

So yes, please ask your marketing team why is that...if anything else, out of respect to all of us who helped you get that 30,000 square feet office space in fancy Soho.

As I said above... I found it absolutely tasteless to brag so much about public domain free stuff, as our files don't exist at all.
And not just to brag only, to give awards for its usage too - http://www.mandy.com/1/board2.cfm?v=62891147

PixelBytes · « **Reply #58 on:** February 19, 2015, 14:31 »

Quote from: KnowYourOnions on February 19, 2015, 03:46

Quote from: Jonathan on February 18, 2015, 16:50

If what you mean is more that we don't advertise Pond5 enough in general though, then I'll see what I can find out about our campaigns if you like. We have a whole marketing department, and a budget for advertising, so I know we are doing those things. But I'm in a different department, so I don't know the details. If you're interested, I'll see what I can find out and what I might be able to share with you all here.

Jonathan, sorry to hear we confused you ... We haven't seen a single campaign promoting our media files in long time! Nobody expects you to advertise us individually - although you obviously have your favorites (!!!) https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153117910329777

So yes, please ask your marketing team why is that...if anything else, out of respect to all of us who helped you get that 30,000 square feet office space in fancy Soho.

As I said above... I found it absolutely tasteless to brag so much about public domain free stuff, as our files don't exist at all.
And not just to brag only, to give awards for its usage too - http://www.mandy.com/1/board2.cfm?v=62891147

Couldn't agree more! Who said we want you to advertise us individually? Johnathan, don't insult our intelligence with such a silly comment.

We want you to advertise your paid content that you built your site with, instead of spending all the advertising budget you got from OUR content promoting FREE content that undercuts our business.

Are you still confused? If you are, you might need medical help.

Konstantin Sutyagin · « **Reply #59 on:** February 21, 2015, 02:54 »

Quote from: PixelBytes on February 19, 2015, 14:31

Couldn't agree more! Who said we want you to advertise us individually? Johnathan, don't insult our intelligence with such a silly comment.

We want you to advertise your paid content that you built your site with, instead of spending all the advertising budget you got from OUR content promoting FREE content that undercuts our business.

Are you still confused? If you are, you might need medical help.

But they do. I often see Pond5 ads banners on Facebook with my own clips in them. Although it's not because they decided to promote my portfolio. It's happening because I've clicked on those particular clips on the Pond5 website earlier, so the system assumed I am a potential buyer.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #60 on:** February 21, 2015, 06:38 »

Quote from: Konstantin Sutyagin on February 21, 2015, 02:54

Quote from: PixelBytes on February 19, 2015, 14:31

Couldn't agree more! Who said we want you to advertise us individually? Johnathan, don't insult our intelligence with such a silly comment.

We want you to advertise your paid content that you built your site with, instead of spending all the advertising budget you got from OUR content promoting FREE content that undercuts our business.

Are you still confused? If you are, you might need medical help.

But they do. I often see Pond5 ads banners on Facebook with my own clips in them. Although it's not because they decided to promote my portfolio. It's happening because I've clicked on those particular clips on the Pond5 website earlier, so the system assumed I am a potential buyer.

If so, that's a money waste!

Today you are more likely to die in a plane crash than click on a banner for a particular campaign.

The average banner ad has a 0.1% clickthrough rate (CTR), and the standard 468x60 banner has a 0.04% CTR.

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/horrifying-display-advertising-stats

AND banner blindness explained

http://andrewchen.co/the-law-of-crappy-clickthroughs/

And if you are looking closely at FB likes on P5 page you will clearly see that likes are paid and not natural. So many Indians, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Brazilians...all paid to click like on P5 posts.

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #61 on:** July 19, 2015, 04:21 »

Quote from: PixelBytes on February 19, 2015, 14:31

Quote from: KnowYourOnions on February 19, 2015, 03:46
Quote from: Jonathan on February 18, 2015, 16:50

If what you mean is more that we don't advertise Pond5 enough in general though, then I'll see what I can find out about our campaigns if you like. We have a whole marketing department, and a budget for advertising, so I know we are doing those things. But I'm in a different department, so I don't know the details. If you're interested, I'll see what I can find out and what I might be able to share with you all here.

Jonathan, sorry to hear we confused you ... We haven't seen a single campaign promoting our media files in long time! Nobody expects you to advertise us individually - although you obviously have your favorites (!!!) https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153117910329777

So yes, please ask your marketing team why is that...if anything else, out of respect to all of us who helped you get that 30,000 square feet office space in fancy Soho.

As I said above... I found it absolutely tasteless to brag so much about public domain free stuff, as our files don't exist at all.
And not just to brag only, to give awards for its usage too - http://www.mandy.com/1/board2.cfm?v=62891147

Couldn't agree more! Who said we want you to advertise us individually? Johnathan, don't insult our intelligence with such a silly comment.

We want you to advertise your paid content that you built your site with, instead of spending all the advertising budget you got from OUR content promoting FREE content that undercuts our business.

Are you still confused? If you are, you might need medical help.

They just love promoting free content

KnowYourOnions · « **Reply #62 on:** July 20, 2015, 22:07 »

And more and more....

https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153498408009777

super tasteless!

PixelBytes · « **Reply #63 on:** July 20, 2015, 22:52 »

Wonderful.

skyfish · « **Reply #64 on:** July 21, 2015, 01:12 »

They just wanted to show that they don't need you anymore. They can live with free stuff and their favorited contributors.
Read their post, where sleng is used.

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