Heya,

So I noticed a bunch of ancient "sales" in my ClipDealer interface today (I have almost no files there). I haven't ever been paid by them.

Based on the screenshot...I have had sales, but they set royalty at zero for each transaction.



Anyone know how this works with them.

Thanks!

Hi Folks,

Anyone know of any stock media events happening this year?

Being self employed, I am often thinking about marketing. My full-time focus is producing stock footage.

"Wait, what?...why do you need to market yourself?" Some may ask. "Don't you have the marketing muscle of companies like Pond5, Shutterstock, Fotolia...etc?"

Well, sorta, they all have featured content and some type of social media marketing. But those efforts are spread across many thousands of users

I don't love the idea of turning over all responsibility for the marketing success of my livelihood to someone else. I would imagine that isn't a business model most people would feel too comfortable with. After all the big stock curation companies don't need each individual stock producer.

The professional stock producer has an interesting market to engage...people that need content so that THEY can make content!

Obviously making pertinent attractive content that buyers are looking for is a critical step...but there is a LOT of stock content to choose from.

How do I (and you) make sure we are giving our few DROPS of content a fighting chance in the OCEAN of stock footage?

Here is what I have done so far:
1) A large (mostly 4K) portfolio of high quality footage
2) Have my portfolio on as many (producing) stock curation sites as possible.
3) Have a website
4) Social media...well a facebook page...does that count?

Here is what I could do better:
1) Make more content.
2) Find more curation sites.
3) Connect directly with buyers. Who? How?
4) Better SEO on my site.
5) More social media sites.

I would love to hear what you have to say?
What obvious things am I missing?
Any input appreciated.

Hey Everyone,

As of Jan. 2017 I sold my video production company to focus solely on stock video production . I'm curious if your results with the various stock footage companies are similar to mine. So here is a list of every stock footage site I use ...(or that is on my radar)

I will list them in order of my best revenue for 2017 :

(How many clips I have with that agency in parenthesis)

Top Stock Video Agencies

1) Pond5 - (6,500 clips +/- ) A few hundred clips are part of the membership program. - Great back end - Awesome review times
2) Fotolia/Adobe - (5,000 clips +/- ) Steadily on the rise...might be my #1 for 2018  - So so back end - Good review times
3) ShutterStock - (3,000 clips+/- ) Definitely improved over the years.  Good back end - Good review times
4) Envato/VideoHive - (1,100 clips +/- ) (I know) Consistently becoming more and more difficult to get files approved, still earns though. Terrible back end - Terrible review times
5) StoryBlocks - (5,000 clips +/- ) I had a lot of hope for them, but they seem to be in decline. Okay early in 2017...but crickets for last half.  Great back end - Good review times
6) Dissolve - (2,000 clips +/- ) Not a great earner, only about one or two sales a month.  So so back end - Good review times
7) Dreamstime - (4,000 clips +/-) Less than one sale a month.  So so back end - Good review times
8} MotionElements - (5,000 clips +/-) About two sales a month. I'm rooting for them Great back end - Awesome review times
9) Depositphotos - (4,400 clips +/-) Only about one sale a month. Terrible back end - Terrible review times
10) Pixta - (3,000 clips +/-) Less than one sale a month. Terrible back end - Terrible review times
11) 123RF - (2,300 clips +/-) Only about one sale a month. So so back end - So so review times

Honorable Mention

12) ArtBeatsExpress - (2,100 clips +/-) About two sales a month. I had a lot of hope for these guys - but they will be closing in a couple months Good back end - Good review times

The Rest (Meaning NO SALES)

13) Nimia - (2,500 clips +/-) Pitiful...no sales ever. Terrible back end - Okay review times
14) Wazee Digital (1,000 +/-) No idea. No back end or communication.
15) Ingimage - (3,000 clips +/-) No sales. No back end with actual information.
16) StockFuel - (500 clips +/-) No sales. No back end with actual information.
17) MeaShots - (500 clips +/-) No sales. So so back end - So so review times
18) Clip Dealer - (500 clips +/-) These guys don't respond. No sales. Bad back end - Terrible review times
19) CanStock - (500 clips +/-) These guys don't respond. No sales. Bad back end - Terrible review times
20) Alamy - (1000 clips +/-) These guys don't respond. No sales. Bad back end - Terrible review times
21) iStock - (0 clips) I had an on again off again working relationship with them, really terrible experience.
22) AGE Fotostock - (0 clips) I did the paperwork, but never uploaded files.
23) b-rollstock - (0 clips) I did the paperwork, but never uploaded files.

Who am I missing? Looking to 2018 sales, any other companies/agencies that are worth knowing about?

Thanks!
LP

I came across this site today (Clippn) that handles ingestion, cut, color, upload and ,metadata of raw footage.

Too good to be true? Has anyone worked with them?

They split rev with you 50/50. Which doesn't sound ideal. For example: You sell a clip via Pond5 who already gets half...Clippn gets half of that? 25% revenue isn't great...but you don't have to do ANY of the post production.

Do I understand the Clippn process correctly?

Anyway...thoughts?

LP

The new Pond5 site is up as well as the membership program. It will be interesting to see how much the membership program competes with non-membership footage.

Hi,

For several months I have had 8,600 files sitting on the DepositPhotos server. I need to bulk apply metadata, but I'm not making progress. Uploading a CSV doesn't appear to work (title and categories fail). I thought I had the correct CSV formatting. Any tips?

Thanks,
LP

Hi,

Does anyone have an example ClipDealer CSV for footage? I have asked them, but as usual, communication is slow/non-existent.

...just need the headers really...

Thanks,
LP

I just noticed that the Pond5 logo watermark has changed in clips that I submitted this morning. Hopefully, this is an indication that the "big" new roll-out is coming soon...

LP

I'm curious if anyone uses social media for marketing their catalog? If so, what works?

What are other marketing strategies have you found useful?

Thanks,
Lathe