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Messages - gcrook

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126
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 17, 2015, 14:05 »
Quote
I have just checked and my clips are still for sale on their website despite sending several emails asking for them to be removed and my account closed.

When you share information and experiences like these...

Quote
I think other contributors should know who they are dealing with and #BoycottDissolve
You dont need to add things like these.Everyone gets the message.

er. . . are you actually telling me what I should and should not say?
. . . and you're also speaking for 'everyone' - now that's impressive.

No not at all,but if you feel the need to twist what im saying, and furthermore accuse me of telling you what to say,then i have to respond.

First of all you have the right to express yourself in whatever way you want, im not suggesting to you what to say.
Im stating my opinion on what i consider constructive dialogue and it's within the context of this discussion.
You on the other hand by posting #boycottdissolve are taking this discussion out of context and making this into a cause.

Second im not speaking for "everyone" .You are, and in a very awkward way.
Im only saying that im confident that people who read can judge whether they can take action against dissolve or not without having someone telling them what to do.
Pretty much the opposite of what you are doing here (even if indirectly).This is not a political rally but a discussion.Learn the difference.

127
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 17, 2015, 12:39 »
I mean, if you sign up with a completly new, untested agency for 5 years, you need to accept your share of responsibility for the risk you took with that commitment.


You have a point about personal responsibility (to an extend) but this sounds a bit like protestantism.You dont need to "accept" any share of responsibility because quite simply the playing field in general isn't level.
The realization of it is what matters and the decision in participating in it cannot be judged by a moral standpoint.


128
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 17, 2015, 12:22 »
Quote
I have just checked and my clips are still for sale on their website despite sending several emails asking for them to be removed and my account closed.

When you share information and experiences like these...

Quote
I think other contributors should know who they are dealing with and #BoycottDissolve
You dont need to add things like these.Everyone gets the message.

129
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 17, 2015, 10:32 »
He/she's right. actually.Urging others to boycott dissolve like this is not the way to deal with these issues.More so when you are accusing them of things that they haven't even done (saying things such as they will lower all prices to 29usd).
They could perhaps even sue you if they wanted and rightly so,they would then appear vindicated in the public eye and we would all look silly.
If you have something personal and truthful to share about them or something interesting to discuss about this matter like everyone has done here and in the other thread then go ahead,thats your public responsibility in my opinion, not hashtagging.

There are not many things one can do in these circumstances other that discussing in public and act according to what his own dignity dictates.
If i delete my clips there eventually, it's not a boycott, but a personal freedom that may or may not set an example.But it's far from a cause that we all share and it shouldn't be perceived as such.

130
Had huge issues uploading there that started around April.These past 2 months i havent uploaded much but it is working for me and speeds are what they should be.
Only issue remaining is the broken thumbnails which given the nature of the contributor panel makes certain types of clips (different versions of same clips etc) very difficult to fill in.

131
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 15, 2015, 09:31 »
According to the contract and also the public faq on their website commissions are always 30% for indie,only prices can change.
Having said that i know of some people who have negotiated (or tried to negotiate) their contracts for more than 30% but i haven't heard of anyone who started with less than that from the get go.
Some info on this would be nice.
But still,30% of cheap is cheap.

132
Mine are already at $49 as of yesterday.
At 35% thats all they get.
On a site like Dissolve's it further penalizes those contributors who haven't placed their clips with a lower priced site. If I'm a good boy, my clips will remain for sale at $80 right next to the clips selling for $49 ??

That sure makes me feel special. Every time they make a move it looks worse. Whack-a-Mole strategy.

Exactly.
Which makes the RM prices there (150+ if i recall) look even more out of place not to mention the huge elephant in the roomthat is the exclusivity pricing.299 for HD and 499 for 4K!
I wonder really,if they price exclusive clips that ridiculously high why all this rush to price everything else at 49 not to mention 79?
Do exclusive clips even make sales there,that is one of the questions i would really like to be answered at some point.
Because if they do i cant even describe the massive surrealism.

133
That's pretty much the deal Aaron mentioned days ago.
You are then supposed to email Dissolve notifying them of any further clips you put on Videoblocks.

Yes but to be honest i didnt believe until the last minute that they would go forward with it actually sending mails to existing contributors telling them to report where they sell their clips and for how much just to prevent them getting their clips slashed at a lower price.
Well done dissolve im staggered by the audacity.



134
Just received an email from Dissolve telling me they are lowering my clip prices next week to $49.

There were a couple of options. One is I can send them a list of all the clips in my collection that aren't available for $49 elsewhere (you gotta be kidding me, I'm not spending my time doing that) and they will only change those prices.

The second option is I can request for them to deactivate all my clips so they can be easily reactivated at a later date.

Interestingly enough, at the exact same time I got Dissolve's email I also got a notification of a sale from VideoBlocks. I profited over $47 dollars from the single clip sold at VB! With Dissolve's new pricing I would have received just $14.70

It seems pretty clear to me who I would rather support.

Let me get this straight.
They offered you a "take it or leave it" kind of deal where all of your clips will be 49 in the next few days unless you point out which of them aren't sold at videoblocks? (sorry i meant 49 "elsewhere")

135
I just checked the Dissolve site and noticed that they have 4K clips priced at $49 and $79

4,468 4K clips at $49
13,109 4K clips at $79

Who are they price matching at these low prices?
I wander if the contributors know?
To be fair with them i just checked and all 4k is still at 199.It's the way their page reports prices of HD-4k clips, showing only the downconverted clip's price.
This is how the prices have been shown since they started downconverting from 4K.
So 4K is still 199 and hd can be 49-79.


136
For now i will at least delete some of my best sellers plus whatever else get slushed to 49,if it gets slushed.
Uploads is a no go for me.
I've come close to becoming bipolar (not in the medical sense apparently) dealing with them,i've already halted my uploads twice there in the short time i've been a contributor
and it's time i put an end to all that.Im fed up honestly and i dont want to spent my time uploading and then regretting it.VB will be the last agency im dealing with in the foreseeable future,lets hope this will not go south.
Also need to print a Christian Bale style t-shirt now that i think about it "Dissolve and I are done professionally" or something like that.


137

I've spoken to George about stuff sometimes other than stock or dissolve and i was talking to a sincere human being, so i would hate for him to come here
just to do damage control and assume the fax machine mantra,because i wouldn't be speaking to him the same way.
He would also not have anything to say other than passing down
the same information Aaron did, just in a different tone,because i  dont think there's much else he could do anyway.

The commissions and prices part is not good news at all.
Do they expect us to get accustomed to living in this new dissolve  "normality" now?
Apparently they are but this can only go downhill from now on given the eagerness and speed in which they decide these things.

Closing or halting the account should be a given,i actually didn't believe that a few emails wouldn't do it.
Im very confused and disappointed by them.Not because i was expecting big things but because when you are a new and promising agency there's always the
hope that they will think outside the box and combine the collective experience in a more positive way,for them and for us.
Looks live i wont be living this "fantacy" but even expressing it makes me feel better.

138
what majority said on this subject
http://www.microstockgroup.com/pond5/pond5-launches-the-public-domain-project/


Yeah so?Is this forum a court where majorities overrule minorities?


no, the link I posted is where P5 announced the news and where more ppl expressed their thoughts.
 :-)


Yeah i know what this is, im asking you something very specific though since you feel the need to interject saying "here's what the majority says"
Any thoughts of your own on this thread about why public library poses a threat to your sales?
Because i can't seem to find how mine are affected.
i wish i knew, i would have something new to bitch about in their forums.
Enlighten me if you will.

140
I still cant fathom how video professions can feel threatened from archive footage.
Archived footage is not just conveying an idea or a message but the social and chronological context in which this action is taking place.So it's very specific by nature.
Meaning that unless you produce very accurate representations of an era (and even then i doubt if it's relevant) then you have no reason to feel that you are losing sales from scanned 8-16mm b/w film.
Im afraid of losing sales too but not from archived footage.
Can we please stop chasing dragons?

141
Shutterstock.com / Re: Asian Sales
« on: August 06, 2015, 16:15 »
Sometimes im getting the odd sale in Japan,but i wouldn't know if it were true because 90% of my sales report from the exact same place.
The rest from Europe, although i know this isnt the case, i seem to have 30-50% of my sales coming from USA given my monthly tax deductions.

142
Shutterstock.com / Re: are we entering dead season?
« on: August 06, 2015, 11:55 »
Thats what happens when companies start behaving like financial institutions.We've seen similar examples in the past decades and we know how they end.

All their future desisions are driven according to how they want to appeal to the "markers" and as you have already guessed the ground beneath us will be shaking once again.
It's not like stock agencies produce anything anyway.They create growth and that's it.

I'll be expecting more "hey,good news everyone" as time goes by.

143

Quote
Well I can say that customers don't mind paying $79

Last time i sold a clip for less that 79 was two and a half months ago at the "other site".

144
After they clawed back some of my May Royalties in June due to some corporate deal gone awry, leaving me owing them money (yeah right), they jumped to the bottom of my list. Now this bizarre move - I don't expect them to rise to the top, for sure. They seem to be in that phase where they feel contributors are expendable.  That's so 2009...

So you got this "huge corporate deal" thingy too ..
I wonder who else.
Last month I had a 4K return from the previous month that was charged onto me,as well as a number of reduced sales for a total revenue of 20usd each, plus a few more 4K returns because "the client actually wanted hd" which were further discounted as hd.





145
^^ is the contract secret? Surely not.
I see that there is quite a lot of easily-available info about unfair contracts in British Columbia; not so much for Alberta, but those directly affected might like to check this out more closely.
Well I never signed it, so uploading is of no consequence to me. Here you go. It's too big to attach here, so here is a link to Google Drive.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5XjPpZC_ujSfm5NSXZUWGJNakE4TzlUbWFKUXd0UVZNbEVacmszdU4zSVlaMzNPMWFZU1k&usp=sharing

Thanks. As I read through it the terms are certainly in DISSOLVES favor. Tickstock is right, it was my choice to upload there and I certainly have buyers remorse now.

I knew where i was getting into.Of course i never believed that it would happen so fast and without a single shred of shame.
i also suspect that they weren't alone in this desision (not VB) but this is no place for speculation ,and it doesnt really matter in the end.
Im just mentioning it because the thought of it alone bothers me to an extend.
As i said before i find our only means of "defense" to be public disclosure.We may have been screwed completely but others wont.
Thats a form of relief for me anyway.

146
^^ is the contract secret? Surely not.
I see that there is quite a lot of easily-available info about unfair contracts in British Columbia; not so much for Alberta, but those directly affected might like to check this out more closely.

No it propably isnt although i might need to read it more carefully to determine whether breach of confidentiality applies to posting the contract in public.
99% it doesnt but for the time being the affected parties (us,the contributors) already have our contract at hand and we can discuss it here publicly since this is what this place is for.

Others can always ask something specific,although i think that i pretty much explained the "pricing" clause which is what everyone has been interested in.
The other details such as the 5 year period you already know.

If noone else wants to post his contract and there is genuine interest i will post it,unless someone else does.
Until then lets see how this goes.

147
Glad I trusted my instincts and didn't upload there then. Does anyone have a copy of their contract terms that they can post? Without signing up you don't really get access to it.

I can tell you right away that there is something along the lines of "Dissolve may amend product pricing at its discretion at any time for any or all product submitted to Dissolve"
and that by reading the "Term and Termination" section, there are ways that you can terminate your contract by means of a written notice.
"Ceasing to carry business" seems rather nice.There are ways to forcibly terminate your contract if you want to go all out but for the time being i will not post the terms of the contract although you may guess what these might be.

148
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 02, 2015, 14:06 »
Quote

 Has no one in that wealth of experience noticed the need for good relationships??????

There is a good chance that they maintain good relations with a number of their own contributors to the point that they may be taking some of their "advises" a bit too far.
But that is a bit far fetched, i admit.

149
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 02, 2015, 09:36 »
Buyers don't care what royalty rate you're getting if they see the exact same clips for a much lower price they are going to go towards the cheaper site.  It seems to me that you can't have your cake and eat it too, either you support low pricing or not because if it's not Dissolve that lowers prices some or all of the other sites will if cheap sites are taking market share.

So what's your point?That this conversation is futile?That we should all go with it because buyers behave instinctively just like you say?Maybe its in our benefit then?
I think you should stay away from cheaply priced sites if you don't want others to follow.  I've stayed away from VB for exactly that reason.

You are right.Last month ss lowered  price of 4k.Seems like a cheap site to me.Although my commissions there have always been low in average.So cheap for me again.But stable and lots of sales.So now im confused.Is it cheap or expensive?
P5 is cheap.But it can be expensive too.I have decided to be mostly expensive for me and sometimes cheap.It delivers on both.So what should i do?Ditch p5 too?

What i mean is it all comes down to what you are expecting to get from an agency and if you can live with that.
So let me ask you is there any agency in your universe that isn't "cheap"?Because in mine there isnt any.


150
Dissolve / Re: Dissolve price update
« on: August 02, 2015, 09:24 »
Buyers don't care what royalty rate you're getting if they see the exact same clips for a much lower price they are going to go towards the cheaper site.  It seems to me that you can't have your cake and eat it too, either you support low pricing or not because if it's not Dissolve that lowers prices some or all of the other sites will if cheap sites are taking market share.

So what's your point?That this conversation is futile?That we should all go with it because buyers behave instinctively just like you say?Maybe its in our benefit then?


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