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Messages - Evaristo tenscadisto
Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 ... 10
1
« on: June 01, 2025, 10:08 »
I had a $6.56 and a $54 sales on pond5 today from Global Market Earnings.
I hope pond5 can soon go back to regular sales.
I dont like to take away hope, but the outlook seems quite different when I look at the available statistics and how P5 is operating right now. P5 now sets the pricing for your footage, although you can still submit suggestions. Theyve simplified pricing to just two tiers: $39 or $119 (with exceptions for major players like Reuters, etc.). So anything you previously priced at $85 or less before the new contract in January is automatically downgraded to $39. Anything priced above $86 is pushed up to $119. This is really bad for usand likely bad for them too. Especially considering they had been recommending pricing around $59$79 over the past few years. Let me give you a real example from my experience: I have a clip that used to be priced at $65. It sold multiple times, generating hundreds in revenue for both me and P5, with the old 60/40 revenue split. Now that same clip is priced at $39. They always apply a discount, so the actual sale price ends up being $34. From there, the Net License Revenue (NLR) is calculated by subtracting any discounts and Legal Guarantee fees, and then applying VATusually 23.5%. That brings it down to about $26. With the new 40% artist share for exclusive contributors, I now receive only $10.50 per sale. To summarize: Before the new contract (exclusive): From a $65 sale, I received $30, and P5 got $20 after NLR. Now (under the new contract, still exclusive): I get $10.50, and P5 gets $16. Ok.... but did this change bring more sales? No. In fact, sales have dropped by about 27% over the past four months, compared to my average over the past three years. But maybe this can be also explained by an increase of 2 million clips in last 120 days. Like i said... I dont like to take away hope, but the outlook seems quite different...
2
« on: May 09, 2025, 10:59 »
At the end of last year, when Pond5 announced the changes to exclusive ratesfrom 60% to 40%and dataset earningsfrom 60% to 20%I estimated here in the forum that the actual loss would be at least 50% of my monthly income.
I was wrong. Its significantly morecloser to a 63% drop. So for every $1,000 I used to earn in 2024, I now make around $370.
In my case, Ive already lost thousands in just the first four months.
But this is all a matter of perspectivewhats bad for me may be good for other contributors, and likely is. Otherwise, how can we explain the fact that Pond5 adds half a million new clips every month?
Most of the new contributors seem to come from Eastern Europe, Russia, and Asiausually from Bangladesh or Indiawith some portfolios containing over 100,000 clips.
3
« on: May 01, 2025, 12:55 »
Congrats! Most of videos i watch on youtube people don't even show their face. Also some of these "no face" youtubers have millions of subscribers with tens of millions of viewers. All the best for your channel! 
4
« on: April 24, 2025, 06:49 »
The only reason that other agencies offering unlimited downloads must have gained a substantial market share is because there are both clients and, more importantly, creators who are willing to sell large volumes at very low prices. Naturally, this also opened the door for bad actors to constantly upload stolen content. But I believe the problem goes beyond that...
AI has created new dynamics. In my view, platforms like Sora and Runtime ML have already surpassed Midjourney in many aspects. Content production has not only become incredibly cheap but also overwhelmingly abundant. The microstock business model is undergoing a significant transformation contributors are increasingly selling fewer assets to actual end users through platforms like Shutterstock, Getty, or Adobe, and instead are indirectly feeding AI systems for shockingly low compensation.
In Europe, starting May 27th, Meta is preparing to use image, audio, and text data from Facebook, Instagram, and even WhatsApp group conversations to train its AI models. As you can imagine, the goal will eventually be to monetize this learning output by selling it to third parties.
So, its not just about competition in the unlimited download model among rival agencies it's also about the fierce race to access and dominate the emerging AI markets, where traditional pricing models are being completely undermined.
In this new era of AI-driven information, the new oil is content data and metadata for machine learning or attention, meaning eyeballs and audience engagement.
In my opinion, it makes more and more sense to move away from creating content for microstock platforms and instead focus on producing original content while building an audience on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and others. The real value now lies in being paid through direct or indirect advertising, rather than relying on small sales through traditional microstock models.
5
« on: April 04, 2025, 04:04 »
SSTK Stock closed yesterday at 16,32$! Ouch
I maybe not be right but I think Shutterstock went public on 2012 ...
i believe it was something like $17 per share.
6
« on: March 26, 2025, 18:22 »
Hi, Just read the email of new account creation policy. "To ensure the security of our platform and maintain our Account and Submission Guidelines., weve introduced phone verification for new Adobe Stock Contributor accounts.security of our platform and maintain our Account and Submission Guidelines." What secure guarantees adobe offer for phone verification? Are this in line with private data protection EU policy? No need to answer.... Please allow me this joke, let all new contributors put hijack phone numbers from adobe employees - that will be fun to watch 
7
« on: January 03, 2025, 14:09 »
I stopped uploading 4K, 8K, and 10K content in 2023 due to the high costs associated with rendering time, upload time, and hard disk space. This decision applies not only to videos but especially to my 3D work.
In 2024, I had hundreds of HD sales, fewer than 20 sales in 4K, and only 2 in 8K. Last January, I purchased a 10TB drive, and I still have nearly 2TB of free space remaining.
I will probably continue to film some things in 4K but I will definitely use HD for rendering 3d works and only upload everything in HD.
8
« on: December 28, 2024, 18:59 »
This year 2024 I had Firefly bonus on Adobe in September, dataset earnings on Pond5 in April and November, and contributor funds on Shutterstock in January, March and May. Now the agencies have effectively 'trained' (copied) the assets for their programs they no longer need to keep paying contributors. One small $ step for contributor, one giant $$$$$$$$$$ leap for microstock agencies.
Well you need to retrain each time you upgrade your model. If you change algorithms you need to do machine learning again, again and again to get better results. I did not tried yet but i think there is something like time-frame window to use this "dataset content" (content and metadata). Also Shuttertock/pond5 uses Databricks Marketplace since June 2024 to sell for machine learning. Databricks Marketplace is an open marketplace that enables you to share and exchange data assets such as tabular datasets, volumes, notebooks, and AI models across clouds, regions, and platforms. (read: https://www.databricks.com/blog/shutterstocks-content-datasets-now-databricks-marketplace) Anyway my guess is SSTK/P5 uses probably something like Databricks Clean Rooms and after a while you need to pay extra. These so called "clean rooms are a privacy-safe environment for sharing and joining data between organizations, challenges and solutions for safeguarding data, key partnership integrations, industry use cases, and best practices.
9
« on: December 23, 2024, 19:51 »
been a reviewer on a one of the big 5 for almost 3 years.... The one and only fair site out there is SS..
"Fair" and "SSTK" used on same sentence makes me wonder more doubts than certainties... Anyway, don't get me wrong but why do you leave from reviewer job? Were they fair enough to you to the point that make you leave? Or did you leave because you want to be more fair to yourself and found out that you could do better and more fair in any other place?
10
« on: December 21, 2024, 15:13 »
I still can't understand the pond5 pricing system. One of the last 2 videos sold was 4k, the other was HD.
The price I found appropriate for 4K was $50. But it was sold for $16. I was also paid a $6.40 commission. For HD video, I set the price I found appropriate as $25. It was sold for $22.50. And I was paid a $8.97 commission.
In my participant portal, I set the video price as $50, but if I want to buy it, it appears as $16. So why do I set my own prices for videos?
I set a price of $89 for 4k and $49 for HD for all the videos I recently uploaded. But on the video purchase screen, it appears as $60 for 4K and $48 for HD.
I am a participant from Turkey. And I open the purchase screen with a Turkish IP. Could it be that the purchase prices change automatically depending on the country?
A city under the stars HD $22.42 Global Market Earnings $22.42 $8.97
A time lapse close up of a half moon moving across the black dark night sky. 4K $16 Individual License 20240102 $16 $6.40
well.... since August 2024 they can price whatever they want. Read contract agreement "we will have sole discretion to adjust the price of any Content to (A) maximize your overall revenue performance, (B) align with our tiered pricing model, or (C) comply with our minimum pricing guidelines;" So you can set a price BUT it's only a suggestion, as they say... " Video pricing on Pond5 is dynamic and may change over time. When submitting prices, please provide suggestions to help us determine the optimal list price for your clips".
11
« on: December 14, 2024, 14:53 »
Trash their Trustpilot score by leaving countless 1-star reviews.
Their Trustpilot is already bad - 1.2
Just checked it is at 4,7 stars in a scale of 5. keep in mind the reviews can be flagged by pond5.
12
« on: December 12, 2024, 13:53 »
Well... Alamy makes a lot of sense to me since they already act as a P5 distributor in order to extend their video offering. Let's wait and see
13
« on: December 12, 2024, 13:07 »
The real grab is lowering dataset earnings to 20%.
Because according to all their financial statements that is their big future earnings project.
So now they get 100% more on that...
How long until they also take ai?
Do you know what the % of dataset earnings were before the announcement?
Assuming it was 40%/60% respectively
so for exclusive content the drop is even larger
The drop is 20% for non-exclusive and 40% for Exclusive. Basically P5/SSTK is getting 80% of all accounts for dataset earnings starting 15th January. I've just done the math and this will be a cut nearly 50% of total income/year for long term contributors with large portfolios. Let's keep in mind that larger is a portfolio where more a contributor will make from dataset earnings. The best part: it is contributor who makes content/upload/metadata and they cut is 80% for already curator work done + expenses and the justification.... "Given their restricted use rights and narrow license scope, Dataset Earnings will now earn 20%.". In other words ...because Ai is making a lot of money we want 80% cut and doing nothing for what we already done before. The real question that i am thinking of... who SSTK is buying 2025? 
14
« on: December 11, 2024, 19:45 »
So this truly means contributors must not have to provide a minimum of 180 days written notice (by email to [email protected]) of such termination of (the Exclusive Period) like is stated in the current Contributor Agreement. At this point Exclusive Contributors in P5 can change to non-exclusive, exit or upload to other sites too without waiting 180 days.
The current contrib agreement says that - ... "you terminate your enrollment in the Program by providing us with at least 180 days written notice
So IMO that means the 180 days is a minimum period - but can be earlier.
The current contract is in force since 2024-08-22. Note that even if a exclusive contributor change is mind to drop is account on 21st of August 2024 he/she could not comply even with 180 days notice because already a new contract arrived on 12th December 2024. That's why the current contract we don't see a version/update or Amendment. You only see "This agreement is effective as of 2024-08-22" which means the date of celebration of contract and not followed by contract amendment/update.
They sell you the idea of an update but its always a new contract.
I just ask for some legal opinions (good to have family with knowledge of law) between judge and lawyers all of them point out to "breach of contract". They not just change the value structure of copyright works as it is impossible to opt out in 180 days when a "New Contract" starts at 15th January. In other words not possible to comply 6 months of notice when they give 1 month to accept what they call it an "Contract update". So if you do not accept it you don't have to give 180 days. You can delete all your work from today till 14th of January without the need of writing to them since "Breach of contract" was announced by them.
15
« on: December 11, 2024, 17:15 »
Interesting... non-exclusive accounts will only lose 10% while exclusive accounts will lose double which is 20%. It's crystal clear that they want to end the Exclusive in the medium term since roughly 7% does not justify the exclusive account This is not a "Contributor Agreement Update" it is more like a "Breach of Contract of Contributor Agreement" since Pond5 announced today the failure to delivery the percentages agreed for the sale services P5 provides for non-exclusive and exclusive accounts, 40% and 60% respectively, for the copyright works of contributors. In law terms its simply called a "NEW CONTRACT AGREEMENT" but it seems pond5 is trying to sell it like an "Contract Amendment" by using marketing language strategies like "Contributor Agreement Update". It's not. It's simply new contract. A contract amendment is a change, correction, clarification, or deletion of unworthy/invalid aspects to an agreement you have already signed. An amendment leaves your original agreement substantially intact but never when values of services like income, salary, profits are object of change. For example, if you change a worker's salary you have to sign a new contract. But if you just want to change some aspects of services such as dates or working conditions etc. in that case it is a contract amendment. So this truly means contributors must not have to provide a minimum of 180 days written notice (by email to [email protected]) of such termination of (the Exclusive Period) like is stated in the current Contributor Agreement. At this point Exclusive Contributors in P5 can change to non-exclusive, exit or upload to other sites too without waiting 180 days. It's a new contract and "Exciting" Bad one....  . I am slowly removing from P5 to other kind of work avenues.
16
« on: December 06, 2024, 13:46 »
Maybe Off Topic but maybe no, my short AI video about Vikings long ship building. I know, AI video is not big news but I like to hear from You what do You think?
It is our next big competition or just other new tools?
https://youtu.be/NyUu8WWmle0?si=s85NSBIJHP7yPAJN
Great job with the prompt! Regarding your question, as these technologies continue to evolve, it's important to consider the relationship between spectators (consumers) and these types of films. Just as some people dislike watching older filmsespecially those in black and white or with dated special effectsthere is a growing discomfort among audiences toward AI-generated films. While visually creative, AI films often lack emotional depth, compelling drama (no significant plot points), strong direction, or a clear moral concept. Increasingly, I've observed that audiences seem to favor films, series, or even soap operas with stronger storytelling over those that rely heavily on spectacular visuals or special effects. When it comes to AI, its ease of production has led to a flood of short films on platforms like YouTube (and lets not even get started on TikTok). These range from conceptual experiments to fully produced films, complete with voiceovers. Personally, I find AI-generated documentaries still rather dull. However, AI films about cooking recipes can sometimes be amusing. Especially when they showcase new foods when they are cutting it like onions-garlic, coriander-lettuce, or, my favorite, pumpkin-watermelon. Eheheh!
17
« on: December 01, 2024, 13:59 »
My speed when ftp'ing clips to Pond5 is around 4.5 mb/sec.
This is not enough. And this is probably when you are loading only 1 file. If you are loading 10 files at the same time, the speed of loading one file will probably be much lower.
I see, so 1Gb/sec internet doesn't solve the problem.
It's strange that your upload speed is only 35. My upload speed on 100 Mb internet is about the same.
I rarely upload 1 clip at a time. Usually ftp upload in batches of 5-10 video files or more. Files sizes typically 200-600 mb for each file.
The 4.5 mb/sec is the typical speed consistently shown by my FTP s/w when uploading batches of video clips.
At least in the US throttled upload speeds are not uncommon depending on the ISP. My ISP is a cable TV provider that also provides internet services over their copper cable TV system. At present my area has no other choices that can provide any decent speed.
The 4.5 mb/sec ftp upload works ok. 1 gb/35mb is the fastest available in my neighborhood at present - so until a fiber ISP is available in my neighborhood it's the best available we got.
Is it US? I live in Europe... here we have with fiber 1g download and 400mb upload + 5g unlimited for smartphone. Still when i upload to P5 sometimes it takes a minute or two to upload 6 videos of 400-600mb.
18
« on: October 07, 2024, 02:43 »
Previously, it was simpler to understand how transfers worked.
Pond5 was just a US-based company, and we used Payoneer to transfer payments to our bank.
Now, things are becoming a bit confusing. Pond5 Ireland is paying EU contributors not in euros, the currency of Ireland and the EU, but in US dollars.
It's a bit odd when you consider two Irish friendsone an employee of Pond5 Ireland and the other a contributorboth doing business with Pond5 in Ireland but being paid in different currencies.
What's even more confusing is that if Pond5 Ireland sells assets from EU contributors within the EU, the transactions are made in euros.
So, why cant EU contributors also be paid in euros, especially since theyre dealing with an Irish company.
In Europe we buy/sell footage through P5 in Euros, P5 Ireland pays EU employees in euros. Only EU contributors cannot receive directly in Euros. We have to pay extra 3% for income transfers plus exchange rate.
19
« on: September 06, 2024, 14:57 »
I had 9 sales on Pond5 for yesterday's report totaling nearly $1,000 royalty. That's what I love about Pond5. Although sales have been inconsistent on Pond5 this year, they still deliver occasionally. I'm all exclusive on Pond5 and get 60% royalty on my videos. My RPD was over $100/clip for yesterday's report. On Adobe Stock, Shutterstock and other subscription sites, you only get less than $10/clip for a sale now. That's sad. Yes, buyers pay $149/HD if they can't find the same clip on Adobe Stock, Shutterstock or other subscription or unlimited download sites. They save money using sub and unlimited sites, and spend the rest of their budget on Pond5 for the clips they couldn't find on other sites. Until a few years ago, all stock video buyers used to pay per clip for decent price. So, it's nothing new for them to pay decent price for clips especially for big budget project, production and companies.
Impressive!! Congradulations Blv
20
« on: August 18, 2024, 11:10 »
It's hard to tell for me too at this point Danielvisuals.
According to my stats all i can say is something change in May/Jun. Probably the price test but i am only guessing.
Since then compared to previous months and years, my views have decreased to around 30% (from 10-15K to 2-4K). Interestingly, this decrease is also reflected in sales, resulting in a 70% drop.
So now I kind of having a "back to the future" feeling where my income from sales these last months reminds years of 2016/2017 or even earlier. At that time I had around 5K videos compared to nearly seven times that i got today.
The value aspect is that despite the big sharp drop in sales, the Revenue Per Download (RPD) in P5 has more than doubled. It's nice but to make me decide to invest in new equipment? Pay models? Or in animation, build new 3d models and make 3d renders? Not for microstock. In a Pond of 43 Million assets it is close to ten times more profitable to do a project for a client.
21
« on: August 10, 2024, 14:07 »
I don't think it will be great news but perhaps the usual "exciting" ones that we are used to from SSTK.
I've sent an email and the response was towards: bla bla bla ....stock licensing market evolution.... bla bla bla... more competitors offer low-cost unlimited subscriptions!
That's why.... Bla bla bla... P5 maded some tests and is considering revising their pricing model to better meet the needs of todays buyers.
Furthermore... bla bla bla...they will have 2 tiers. We will be able to select which tier we want to put in sale...
However, upon reviewing the new agreement (effective from August 22, 2024), P5 can choose or adjust the price or tier.
They already have the ability to adjust prices, though the adjustments have often resulted in lower or significantly reduced rates (sometimes less than 10%).
Im curious if the ability to set prices or choose future tiers for contributors is merely a marketing strategy.
According to the agreement, P5 ultimately retains the authority to decide on pricing and tiers.
22
« on: June 16, 2024, 01:28 »
I banned SSTK as a customer and as a contributor since the "happy new year reset button" was implemented.
I hope you can work it out but if not maybe this could be a good solution for you too. all the best!
23
« on: June 10, 2024, 13:43 »
After Effects, Media Encoder, and Premiere now require a login to open. They close by themselves every 20 minutes or so, and you need to log in every time you reopen them. It's incredibly frustrating!
Save frustration and your money. Use Da Vinci for edit. Hitfilm and blender for effects or 2d animations. Unreal engine (like blender) good option for 3d animations. All mentioned are free and very good.
24
« on: May 13, 2024, 13:22 »
Since later 90's that i replace Apple Mac for PC. Less cost, better performance and i could assemble what and how i want it.
I made a mistake of buying an Iphone.. 16 months ago.
- Cannot plug my best headphones,
- Stupid and expensive charge cables,
- I can transfer files from Iphone to PC ...BUT....I have to use Icloud to transfer files from pc to Iphone... why?
- I cannot block an anonymous call from calling me!? This so stupid for a 1200 Iphone. Even an 150 smartphone does that!!
Each topic i had to solve with workarounds. Usability or user-friendly are really not topics for Apple money machine.
I am afraid to say but Apple products are for me a thing to avoid. They are very limited to Apple environment toys.
25
« on: April 20, 2024, 12:04 »
Before you had to mail your work to agencies and costs were huge. When online start things were really profitable: less costs and easier access to clients. Eventually with some luck you could even buy a new camera with a unique single photo.
Nowadays with luck you might get "Mc donalds" type of meal with a photo.
The average price for photos are similar for the recycle prices in Denmark: if you recycle plastic bottles 1 Liter are worth $0.25. Containers less than 1 Liter are $0.10.
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