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Author Topic: The membership program is a disaster for contributors.  (Read 28675 times)

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« Reply #25 on: May 24, 2016, 18:59 »
+4
Well guys, you are probably right: p5 have killed this market.
So it is over, let's all get a job at Mc Donalds. I just thought that the video clip market coud have kept us going for another few years and slowly decade.
Instead it has been stubbed on the back by the new p5 management.
Can I just wish that p5 will suffer a very slow and utterly painful death?
« Last Edit: May 25, 2016, 01:53 by Brightontl »


« Reply #26 on: May 24, 2016, 19:38 »
+2
Well guys, you are probably right: p5 (can I call them the fuckers or p5?) have killed this market.
So it is over, let's all get a job at Mc Donalds. I just thought that the video clip market coud have kept us going for another few years and slowly decade.
Instead it has been stubbed on the back by the new p5 management.
Can I just wish that p5 will suffer a very slow and utterly painful death?


How about Wendy's?  Burger King?

« Reply #27 on: May 25, 2016, 03:40 »
0
Well guys, you are probably right: p5 have killed this market.
So it is over, let's all get a job at Mc Donalds. I just thought that the video clip market coud have kept us going for another few years and slowly decade.
Instead it has been stubbed on the back by the new p5 management.
Can I just wish that p5 will suffer a very slow and utterly painful death?

Before you blame the new management, let's not forget that ex CEO is still there working as "Executive Chairman", meaning old management is still there telling current management what to do but with much much thicker wallets than before!  8)
« Last Edit: May 26, 2016, 18:19 by KnowYourOnions »

« Reply #28 on: May 25, 2016, 04:05 »
+3
my video sales have dropped significantly on P5, i am not in the member program

« Reply #29 on: May 25, 2016, 04:10 »
+1
Well guys, you are probably right: p5 (can I call them the fuckers or p5?) have killed this market.
So it is over, let's all get a job at Mc Donalds. I just thought that the video clip market coud have kept us going for another few years and slowly decade.
Instead it has been stubbed on the back by the new p5 management.
Can I just wish that p5 will suffer a very slow and utterly painful death?


How about Wendy's?  Burger King?

Sorry, both those establishments have a full complement of staff due to applications from RM "macro" photographers 5 years ago - who are now living happy and fulfilling lives flipping burghers after microstock takeover. 
Microstockers complaining about microstock prices - I just love this business.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2016, 07:05 by Pablito »

SquirrelPower

« Reply #30 on: May 25, 2016, 07:37 »
0

Before you blame new management, let's not forget that ex CEO is still there working as "Executive Chairman", meaning old management is still there telling current management what to do but with much much ticker wallets than before!  8)
[/quote]

Question:  What then do you think they need to do in order to increase sales?  Just going through your posts it's clear you, like many are not happy with Pond5 and presumably because your sales are low.  What would you do to change that if you ran the company?.


SquirrelPower

« Reply #31 on: May 25, 2016, 07:51 »
+1
I am not so sure it's the membership program that's killed sales.  Could it be the new slower website that doesn't work on mobile?, SEO problems?, other?.

Videoblocks has a massive collection for their membership program and charges what around $99 for a year of unlimited downloads?, Pond5 charges a lot more per month for a lot fewer downloads from  a lot smaller library.  I just can't believe that many buyers would pay so much more to be members of pond 5 when they can get so much more content for so much less at Videoblocks.

And videoblocks hasn't killed the market yet, I am sure they have taken a huge bite out of it though, you have to have something very unique to sell that is not in membership these days.

At the end of the day I do agree that we are done, this is happening to every worker in every industry these days, tech jobs by the thousands being outsourced to India, manufacturing to Mexico, taxi driving to Uber, it goes on and on and no job is safe including ours and for those joking about fast food jobs, no joke, they are automating as well an laying off workers.  Currently they are automating the ordering system, you tap and place our order at a touch screen and pay with credit card and the kitchen makes your order, all but one of the cash jobs is gone in the restaurants that have converted, next comes automating the kitchen.

So it's no surprise that the big companies in this industry want to put us out of work.


« Reply #32 on: May 25, 2016, 08:33 »
0
Well guys, you are probably right: p5 (can I call them the fuckers or p5?) have killed this market.
So it is over, let's all get a job at Mc Donalds. I just thought that the video clip market coud have kept us going for another few years and slowly decade.
Instead it has been stubbed on the back by the new p5 management.
Can I just wish that p5 will suffer a very slow and utterly painful death?


How about Wendy's?  Burger King?

Sorry, both those establishments have a full complement of staff due to applications from RM "macro" photographers 5 years ago - who are now living happy and fulfilling lives flipping burghers after microstock takeover. 
Microstockers complaining about microstock prices - I just love this business.
And the lunch is free...
Don't worry, we'll keep a place for you :-)

« Reply #33 on: May 25, 2016, 08:48 »
+1
Well guys, you are probably right: p5 (can I call them the fuckers or p5?) have killed this market.
So it is over, let's all get a job at Mc Donalds. I just thought that the video clip market coud have kept us going for another few years and slowly decade.
Instead it has been stubbed on the back by the new p5 management.
Can I just wish that p5 will suffer a very slow and utterly painful death?


How about Wendy's?  Burger King?

Sorry, both those establishments have a full complement of staff due to applications from RM "macro" photographers 5 years ago - who are now living happy and fulfilling lives flipping burghers after microstock takeover. 
Microstockers complaining about microstock prices - I just love this business.
And the lunch is free...
Don't worry, we'll keep a place for you :-)
Cheers mate,... pass the vinegar - I only need a narrow seat as I'm just a shadow of my former self ;-)

« Reply #34 on: May 25, 2016, 11:17 »
0

Cheers mate,... pass the vinegar - I only need a narrow seat as I'm just a shadow of my former self ;-)
[/quote]
Plus, as a bonus, we'll have plenty of chances for video clips of food...

« Reply #35 on: May 25, 2016, 11:33 »
0

Cheers mate,... pass the vinegar - I only need a narrow seat as I'm just a shadow of my former self ;-)
Plus, as a bonus, we'll have plenty of chances for video clips of food...
[/quote]
I'll whisper this 'cos you and I know it - but I don't want it common knowledge fast food sells; it makes you fat but also rich

« Reply #36 on: June 02, 2016, 03:14 »
+2
What we need is a Union! Those agencies do whatever they like without asking those that provide them the content to sell.

« Reply #37 on: June 02, 2016, 03:52 »
0
This thread really makes me laugh. Just because one average performing stock video site is exploring a new market people are jumping on the fear and panic train. The market is not about to burn up beause of a small site like pond5 wishes to explore. Worst case they will just implode.
My Getty sales are as strong as ever - had best month last month with 84 video sales.
Shutterstock is growing rapidly -well above my expectations.

Pond5 is realativly a small player and they can't perform against the likes of Getty and Shutterstock, Adobe too. So they are looking at options.

I'm really sorry for the people who may be reliant on pond5 but seriously they are not a big player in the market. Maybe in your universe but not in reality. Just look at new options and if your content is good it will sell anywhere.

Content is king people, if yours is good then you will be fine.

Now stop panicking and adapt to the situation and move on...

« Reply #38 on: June 02, 2016, 03:54 »
0
Unfortunately for contributors the stock photo/video market is an almost perfect example of supply and demand and increasing ease of entry ......to try and stop  it is a denial of reality best to work out a way of profiting

« Reply #39 on: June 02, 2016, 05:39 »
+3
This thread really makes me laugh. Just because one average performing stock video site is exploring a new market people are jumping on the fear and panic train. The market is not about to burn up beause of a small site like pond5 wishes to explore. Worst case they will just implode.
My Getty sales are as strong as ever - had best month last month with 84 video sales.
Shutterstock is growing rapidly -well above my expectations.

Pond5 is realativly a small player and they can't perform against the likes of Getty and Shutterstock, Adobe too. So they are looking at options.

I'm really sorry for the people who may be reliant on pond5 but seriously they are not a big player in the market. Maybe in your universe but not in reality. Just look at new options and if your content is good it will sell anywhere.

Content is king people, if yours is good then you will be fine.

Now stop panicking and adapt to the situation and move on...

Been having such a different experience. Pond5 is, and has consistently been, the most profitable stock agency I've worked with over the past 5 + years. Particularly in video. To me, and a lot of other video creators, they are a massive player in the market.

Out of curiosity, what's an average Getty video sale to a contributor? 84 sales in a month sounds pretty good if we're talking $25+ a pop. But if you're seeing just a few dollars a sale, that could mean a substantially different thing. Knowing how little of the actual sales price Getty has traditionally offered it's contributors (15%?!), and the blatant lack of disclosure of their terms and "commission" rates for video on their website, including the deceptive omission of the word "exclusive" from their insincere little cut/paste email invite to their club, I never took them seriously.

Since Getty is an exclusive deal and strict with similars, how is it that you can know that those videos you have there wouldn't be doing just as good or better spread around to P5, SS, FT, VB?

« Reply #40 on: June 02, 2016, 08:47 »
+2
This thread really makes me laugh. Just because one average performing stock video site is exploring a new market people are jumping on the fear and panic train. The market is not about to burn up beause of a small site like pond5 wishes to explore. Worst case they will just implode.
My Getty sales are as strong as ever - had best month last month with 84 video sales.
Shutterstock is growing rapidly -well above my expectations.

Pond5 is realativly a small player and they can't perform against the likes of Getty and Shutterstock, Adobe too. So they are looking at options.

I'm really sorry for the people who may be reliant on pond5 but seriously they are not a big player in the market. Maybe in your universe but not in reality. Just look at new options and if your content is good it will sell anywhere.

Content is king people, if yours is good then you will be fine.

Now stop panicking and adapt to the situation and move on...

Been having such a different experience. Pond5 is, and has consistently been, the most profitable stock agency I've worked with over the past 5 + years. Particularly in video. To me, and a lot of other video creators, they are a massive player in the market.

Out of curiosity, what's an average Getty video sale to a contributor? 84 sales in a month sounds pretty good if we're talking $25+ a pop. But if you're seeing just a few dollars a sale, that could mean a substantially different thing. Knowing how little of the actual sales price Getty has traditionally offered it's contributors (15%?!), and the blatant lack of disclosure of their terms and "commission" rates for video on their website, including the deceptive omission of the word "exclusive" from their insincere little cut/paste email invite to their club, I never took them seriously.

Since Getty is an exclusive deal and strict with similars, how is it that you can know that those videos you have there wouldn't be doing just as good or better spread around to P5, SS, FT, VB?

Getty is by far the biggest earner for me. A typical sale is $80+ some way more than $150 and that's my money after Getty has taken their 80%.
Not all sales are in the typical range tho, some sales can net me $5 as Getty offer some kind of large discounts to the big purchasers.

Getty is still the main power horse for video sales (and images) and thank god for the high clip prices and keeping the market relatively stable. Think what you want about Getty (horrid low % paying co-corporation) but we need the big players to keep prices high and to stabilize the market. My thoughts anyway.

« Reply #41 on: June 02, 2016, 09:38 »
+4
"thank god for the high clip prices and keeping the market relatively stable. Think what you want about Getty (horrid low % paying co-corporation) but we need the big players to keep prices high and to stabilize the market."

Interesting. Considering you could set your own prices on Pond5 to whatever mystery price Getty decides, or even higher, then take 50% of the sales rather than 20% (is it 20%? who knows?) so, not sure how your point makes sense.

Never netted a $5 video sale on Pond5.

I don't know how many times I've read someone saying how awesome their exclusive deal with iStock seemed to them, until they dropped exclusivity and spread their work around and saw their profits go way up from the terrible % they were getting (even for exclusives it's lower than most). There's just no way to say for sure, without simply assuming, that you're getting the best deal when the terms of the exclusivity of your deal prevents you from putting those same clips, or anything even similar, elsewhere to test the waters.

Think what you want about Getty. They're still greedy, lying thieves. Thank god for honest companies like Pond5 keeping their contributors as equals to the agency and paying us 50%.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2016, 09:42 by Daryl Ray »

« Reply #42 on: June 02, 2016, 09:52 »
0
"thank god for the high clip prices and keeping the market relatively stable. Think what you want about Getty (horrid low % paying co-corporation) but we need the big players to keep prices high and to stabilize the market."

Interesting. Considering you could set your own prices on Pond5 to whatever mystery price Getty decides, or even higher, then take 50% of the sales rather than 20% (is it 20%? who knows?) so, not sure how your point makes sense.

Never netted a $5 video sale on Pond5.

I don't know how many times I've read someone saying how awesome their exclusive deal with iStock seemed to them, until they dropped exclusivity and spread their work around and saw their profits go way up from the terrible % they were getting (even for exclusives it's lower than most). There's just no way to say for sure, without simply assuming, that you're getting the best deal when the terms of the exclusivity of your deal prevents you from putting those same clips, or anything even similar, elsewhere to test the waters.

Think what you want about Getty. They're still greedy, lying thieves. Thank god for honest companies like Pond5 keeping their contributors as equals to the agency and paying us 50%.

 ::)

Pond5 Customer Service email template from April 2016: "...Among other things, were working on a new artists newsletter where well be communicating needs on a regular basis....."

Honest company that never keeps a promise!  ::)
« Last Edit: June 02, 2016, 10:11 by KnowYourOnions »

« Reply #43 on: June 02, 2016, 10:03 »
+4
15-20% for EXCLUSIVE material is a horrible, horrible, shameful even, deal. Even for non-exclusive it is seriously bad.

Surely, Getty is a big player, but I have found that I increase my earnings 4-5 times by spreading out my material. This is also a good safety net for dips and close-downs (hello Revo). You place high in the search engines at some sites, lower on others, but you never know until you try.

In some fields, like selling Wordpress themes at Envato, exclusivity pays off (70% cut, huge customer base), but in most cases it doesn't.

As you said, content is king, which means that good content will most likely sell well everywhere. Which it usually also does, with natural variations.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2016, 10:20 by increasingdifficulty »

« Reply #44 on: June 02, 2016, 10:13 »
+2
"thank god for the high clip prices and keeping the market relatively stable. Think what you want about Getty (horrid low % paying co-corporation) but we need the big players to keep prices high and to stabilize the market."

Interesting. Considering you could set your own prices on Pond5 to whatever mystery price Getty decides, or even higher, then take 50% of the sales rather than 20% (is it 20%? who knows?) so, not sure how your point makes sense.

Never netted a $5 video sale on Pond5.

I don't know how many times I've read someone saying how awesome their exclusive deal with iStock seemed to them, until they dropped exclusivity and spread their work around and saw their profits go way up from the terrible % they were getting (even for exclusives it's lower than most). There's just no way to say for sure, without simply assuming, that you're getting the best deal when the terms of the exclusivity of your deal prevents you from putting those same clips, or anything even similar, elsewhere to test the waters.

Think what you want about Getty. They're still greedy, lying thieves. Thank god for honest companies like Pond5 keeping their contributors as equals to the agency and paying us 50%.

 ::)

I'm someone that actually does appreciate it when contributors are putting on the pressure and keeping their good eye on stock companies, including Pond5. And I don't know what happened with you and Pond5 to harbor such constant resentment and criticism. However, I haven't once read where you actually were able to explain a single thing they've said or done that exposes dishonesty, unfairness to the contributor, or anything as bad as you're trying to make them out to be. Plenty of sarcasm, vague negativity and only getting specific with personal swipes at management. You really do usually just come off as someone with a personal gripe, that is trying to exact "revenge" any way you can from some bad experience you have trouble getting over. Criticism with a little substance might hold more weight.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2016, 10:32 by Daryl Ray »

« Reply #45 on: June 02, 2016, 10:32 »
0
This thread really makes me laugh. Just because one average performing stock video site is exploring a new market people are jumping on the fear and panic train. The market is not about to burn up beause of a small site like pond5 wishes to explore. Worst case they will just implode.
My Getty sales are as strong as ever - had best month last month with 84 video sales.
Shutterstock is growing rapidly -well above my expectations.

Pond5 is realativly a small player and they can't perform against the likes of Getty and Shutterstock, Adobe too. So they are looking at options.

I'm really sorry for the people who may be reliant on pond5 but seriously they are not a big player in the market. Maybe in your universe but not in reality. Just look at new options and if your content is good it will sell anywhere.

Content is king people, if yours is good then you will be fine.

Now stop panicking and adapt to the situation and move on...


Do you have to be an exclusive to sell at Getty?  You sell at Getty not iStock, right?  Can anybody sell there or invites only?

« Reply #46 on: June 02, 2016, 11:59 »
+1
"thank god for the high clip prices and keeping the market relatively stable. Think what you want about Getty (horrid low % paying co-corporation) but we need the big players to keep prices high and to stabilize the market."

Interesting. Considering you could set your own prices on Pond5 to whatever mystery price Getty decides, or even higher, then take 50% of the sales rather than 20% (is it 20%? who knows?) so, not sure how your point makes sense.

Never netted a $5 video sale on Pond5.

I don't know how many times I've read someone saying how awesome their exclusive deal with iStock seemed to them, until they dropped exclusivity and spread their work around and saw their profits go way up from the terrible % they were getting (even for exclusives it's lower than most). There's just no way to say for sure, without simply assuming, that you're getting the best deal when the terms of the exclusivity of your deal prevents you from putting those same clips, or anything even similar, elsewhere to test the waters.

Think what you want about Getty. They're still greedy, lying thieves. Thank god for honest companies like Pond5 keeping their contributors as equals to the agency and paying us 50%.

 ::)

I'm someone that actually does appreciate it when contributors are putting on the pressure and keeping their good eye on stock companies, including Pond5. And I don't know what happened with you and Pond5 to harbor such constant resentment and criticism. However, I haven't once read where you actually were able to explain a single thing they've said or done that exposes dishonesty, unfairness to the contributor, or anything as bad as you're trying to make them out to be. Plenty of sarcasm, vague negativity and only getting specific with personal swipes at management. You really do usually just come off as someone with a personal gripe, that is trying to exact "revenge" any way you can from some bad experience you have trouble getting over. Criticism with a little substance might hold more weight.

Sorry are you quoting yourself? and having a conversion between the two you's?

If you're implying me then let me remind you that I've never spoken negative or critisized anything. That's not the way I roll baby!
Think you need to get some facts right!

« Reply #47 on: June 02, 2016, 12:03 »
0



Do you have to be an exclusive to sell at Getty?  You sell at Getty not iStock, right?  Can anybody sell there or invites only?
[/quote]

No you don't need to be exclusive - just clip exclusive and you kind of have to be invited (found). They have many different collections for different types of material. Also if it's RM or RF. I'd send them an email if I were you and send them a link to an online showreel or something. Don't ignore Getty as it has buckets full of potential and you can get incredibly high royalties. RM go for $1000's

« Reply #48 on: June 02, 2016, 12:12 »
0



Do you have to be an exclusive to sell at Getty?  You sell at Getty not iStock, right?  Can anybody sell there or invites only?

No you don't need to be exclusive - just clip exclusive and you kind of have to be invited (found). They have many different collections for different types of material. Also if it's RM or RF. I'd send them an email if I were you and send them a link to an online showreel or something. Don't ignore Getty as it has buckets full of potential and you can get incredibly high royalties. RM go for $1000's
[/quote]


That's a good idea, thanks!  Yes, percentage of royalty doesn't matter.  Only thing that matter is how much we get in $.  If they sell for $1000 and give us 10%, it's $100 royalty per clip which is much higher than SS and others.

« Reply #49 on: June 02, 2016, 12:13 »
+1
You're getting a little confused. I clearly didn't quote you, and wasn't referring to you at all, in that comment. There is a sarcastic emoticon comment in between my comments which you quoted that has since been edited with more text from its author.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2016, 12:16 by Daryl Ray »


 

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