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Messages - VB inc

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126
I think i've said this before but i'll say it again. I tend to think if the country can monetize off its content creators in the form of taxes and such, they will have laws that will protect or enforce copyright holders/violators. I don't think china has laws protecting content creators because china doesn't benefit from it... yet

127
So, you guys prefer the agencies that pay you 30% after all rather than 100%?  Give them a chance.  You can easily delete your clips if you want.  People find a way to complain at anything!!
You need to be really careful.
Once you've uploaded content anywhere, you really have very little control over what they do with it, even if you delete them from the main site or close your account.
I was bitten this way back in 35mm days, and of course, misappropriation of submitted files is so much easier in the digital age.

Sure, I'm probably over-cautious now; but if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. We all have a duty to ourselves to do 'due diligence'. Ask ALL the questions, question the answers, make sure it rings true.
E.g. Stocktal. They sent shills over here, couldn't answer the questions, and where are they now?

How do we know that all 'our' full size files we find on scam sites haven't been sold to them by agencies people uploading to what they thought were genuine start-ups?

I read too many comments on this forum of people willing to try all these start up sites in hopes of getting something back. I agree with your genuine concern and I don't trust any of these sites. They just want to make money with content they haven't created themselves and its amazing to me how easily people give it to them.
Think about it people... Some might start a site with genuine intentions in the beginning (they always want to make money tho) to help other artists out. What if that venture fails? And most ventures will fail... If there is a way for them to monetize on the content they received like lets say getting $10,000 one time deal to sell to a 3rd party all the thousands of images they have at their disposal, how many would have the moral compass to say no to that and just face that their months of work went into getting nothing. They will find a way to make excuses for giving away other peoples work that they never ever met in life... WAKE UP and stop giving your work away to strangers who owes you nothing.

128
nice tutorial! I must say i really like your logo with the CID creating that box. best of luck on your sales from your site.

129
Oh and to contribute to this thread, the sales have been getting better and better every month for me.

130
Record month

+290% from May 2013
+155% from April 2014

It helps that I had two sales that must've been ELs of some sort (huge earnings per each clip)

Those are nice numbers.  I'm curious how long you've been at this, and how your portfolio increased during the same periods.

In general, I think it's only relative newcomers to microstock that can see growth like this.  If you started just a year or two ago, and today you have several times the port size of the year you're comparing, then huge increases are the norm.

But once you've been at this five years or more, growth typically falls to zero, or into negative territory.  It becomes impossible to keep your head above the tide of new competitors flooding the market, and you start realizing that growth is unsustainable.

Does any microstock veteran have a different experience?

Does this mean you finally hit the wall?
You talked about producing images in niche subject matter and what not to avoid the wall for the past few years. It seems like your experiencing a slow down of sorts.

131
Site Related / Re: A big cheers for ...
« on: May 22, 2014, 12:58 »
its nice to open a thread here and see it as a 100% positive thread.

132
iStockPhoto.com / Re: 100% Royalty Day May 14, 2014
« on: May 08, 2014, 16:24 »
im sure they will tinker w the best match that day to favor getty content ;)

133
sold my shares a day after the getty announcement. I more than doubled my investment so im happy. I would entertain the thought of buying shares again soon if i think it will rally back

134
Off Topic / Re: What's Wrong With Anonymous?
« on: March 21, 2014, 00:30 »
i tend to think anonymous is truer indicator of who you are as a person than a person with their real identity online. People with their real identity tend to be on their best behavior.... Now is that really you?

135
Frankly, i don't think too highly of Jon Oringer. I couldnt go past 2 mins of that video as i think he was a tech geek with drive at the right place and the right time. His face reminds me of a weasel. I don't even consider him a photographer. I remember reading something in the lines of he took over 10,000 snapshots or something like that himself the first year.

When i was thinking about leaving exclusivity at istock, I remember asking one of the SS employee over the phone how much does a successful designer make at SS and he told me "some designers even make a couple of hundred a week!" Like that was supposed to impress me. At least at istock back then, lots of people made an actual living contributing to one site. thats when the woo-yeahs were all over the place b4 bruce cashed out good.

SS is a successful company and the best contributors are only making hundreds per week? That is just sad. Its sad because SS top suppliers are probably getting paid half as much as their newest hire with his pimply face fetching coffee...  exploitation or capitalism or both...

I guess it really is a love hate relationship between me and SS. * you for bringing in all the buyers with your cheap sub prices. The content quality has gotten way better than when you introduced your subscription price model of your 10,0000 snap shots. Im waiting till i get enough of my own stuff to open my own online shop to stop supplying you...

136
Shutterstock.com / SS SOD sales
« on: March 19, 2014, 15:28 »
It seems to me that i have been getting more and more SODs on SS recently. Is this a trend that people are seeing? I would like to think this is happening more often due to SS getting more and more buyers from new markets. Do you think your SOD sales have improved the last few weeks/months? Mine is clearly over 15% from previous months so i just want to know if its good timing for me right now or generally happening.

137
...
Use images properly acquired through a free or paid "Clip-art" service.
...

I tend to think a lot of these "free clip art" sites are doing it with stolen images just to get traffic on their site.

138
I just got one for $75.04. woohoo!!! these SOD sales are a pleasant surprise

139
I don't shoot food but does the fork need to be in that picture? If so, I would shoot it at a different angle.

140
Shutterstock.com / Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
« on: March 13, 2014, 14:15 »
As an ex exclusive vector artist i can tell you this. My best selling vector file sells on SS anywhere from 4-8 times a day. it comes up on the 1st position of that search. It really depends on individual portfolios but if your portfolio is bringing you on average over $150 a day on istock, I would still stay exclusive.

Even having said that, I am really glad i dropped my crown last year. I don't need the extra stress caused by GETTY.

I'm sorry, but I have to tell you, it cracks me up seeing you talk about being with SS. It was just a few years ago you were going on about not believing in the subscription model, subscriptions harm the business, etc.

Can I ask what changed your mind?

Who says my mind has been changed? I still dont believe in the subscription model. It trains the buyers into thinking they can get great images at pretty cheap prices. I feel it cheapens creativity in the long run. My kids wont want to get into any type of artistic career because they probably couldn't live off it due to all these little problems created by technology. Does it mean that i have to stay with istock and get abused left and right?

I probably uploaded 1/2 my istock content into SS because i do different type of vectors. I upload vectors i think will sell to the mass market and not the ones i created on which some took over 10 hours to complete. I still do feel like a cheap whore when i do see the .33 cents i get per download. Its not a good feeling, but the other downloads make up for that bad taste in my mouth.

I barely have any files on fotolia and dreamstime. I only submitted my vectors i created between 2008-2010 to SS and don't really create new content for micro. For me, going independent just meant getting out of istock. How are sales at vectorstock for you?

I think the subscription model works for content creators that can create things fast and efficient. But there are so many different ways people work to produce their images and some of them take a long time to make and i feel that those type of imagery shouldnt be offered in the subscription deals because they are only hurting the industry.

141
Shutterstock.com / Re: How are sales going?- Shutterstock
« on: March 13, 2014, 12:18 »
"so assuming an average royalty in the range of 25% - 30% a total contributor revenue of $20 per month for a 100 images portfolio seems to be roughly fitting."

This is a  low amount compared with my IS earnings. Not very encouraging and pretty disappointing. I appreciate it's an average but still.

As an ex exclusive vector artist i can tell you this. My best selling vector file sells on SS anywhere from 4-8 times a day. it comes up on the 1st position of that search. It really depends on individual portfolios but if your portfolio is bringing you on average over $150 a day on istock, I would still stay exclusive.

Even having said that, I am really glad i dropped my crown last year. I don't need the extra stress caused by GETTY.

142
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock New Sub. Model Just Announced!
« on: March 03, 2014, 20:58 »
its like a ghost town in there

143
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock New Sub. Model Just Announced!
« on: March 03, 2014, 20:53 »
let me get some popcorn and go into the istock forums. which i never visit anymore

144
Off Topic / Re: Sales in China
« on: February 24, 2014, 12:25 »
Once there is a substantial amount of intellectual property created by its citizens that the government can tax, i bet we will begin to see some laws regarding intellectual property theft. I would guess within this decade that is a possibility.

145
shares are up 16% this morning to around $96 as i write. Good news for the shareholders at least

146
Stocksy / Re: Stocksy - where are they?
« on: September 18, 2013, 20:43 »
Why is it that some people assume that there is some sort of criteria or a look for stocksy? I think with photography, you really train your eye as well as other things... and that takes time. It's different with everyone on how fast they learn or get better with their trade. Might be that some cant see what is clearer to others.

As a young artist, i was never fully satisfied with my work. I knew something was off but couldn't really nail it down. Only when I got better with experience could i clearly see what the issues were. The same thing happened with type. The more designs i did, i started paying more attention to the font face or the kernings so it stuck out like a sore thumb if the kernings were too tight.

147
Shutterstock.com / Re: SSTK to sell 3M more shares.
« on: September 17, 2013, 18:43 »
is this the reason the shares of stock jumped this week to over $60 a share? Seems like any news whatsoever moves the stock one way or the other.

148
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock windfall?!!
« on: August 30, 2013, 22:56 »
I average $20 per day for the whole month - weekends very few $s - made up over the week. It is fairly consistent and very steadily growing. I'm on about $630 for the month so far, so by my very approximate target it has been a good month. By December I'd like to be $25 per day, or $750 a month.

I know there are monthly fluctuations etc, but as long as there is an upward trend that is fine. End of next year I'd like to be at $35 per month - i.e through the 1k barrier. We'll see - that depends on more factors than there are MSG members!

I am just curious on how many files you have in your port? are they all photos or mixed media?

149
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock Q2 Profit Rises
« on: August 28, 2013, 12:45 »

Funny how the Weekly Top 50 suddenly quit updating after 9 years of working perfectly.  Almost makes you think they do not want us to see who has those top positions now.


It looks like it stopped working around february as one of the images i see is valentines. I have been looking at that from time to time to see if they updated but nope...

150
Illustration - General / Re: How many images a day do you draw?
« on: August 25, 2013, 13:46 »
i guess this question was meant for productive artists as i have been very slow in my submissions lately and avg 1 submission per week  ;D
5-10% of my work time is spent on micro work

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