If pond5 was a place for photos i would already have uploaded a bunch.Let's not kid ourselves here the only reason someone would treat p5 as a stock image site would be if he already had a very good and big collection of commercial photos selling at ss and other sites and would upload and price his best ones at 400 and 500usd in hopes of getting a couple of big sales a month as an added bonus.

To those familiar with pond5's artist's resources every week there are a handful of very high priced sales by producers that propably sell these like hot cakes at other sites and just land 400-500 single sales at p5 every couple of weeks or so.

There are also a few guys mostly doing dslr timelapse who upload select photos priced at 15-25 and get a number of sales, (again) ,as an added bonus.
Too bad i delete my tiffs after i upload a timelapse i might start uploading some photos but i prefer to focus on video.

Quote from: gcrook on June 19, 2015, 06:24

Quote from: Semmick Photo on June 19, 2015, 06:07

In your theory, all US states need to be separate countries too.

In paper the states aren't.
Oh,except Detroit.

I didnt say they were

So ultimately we are arguing whether Europe as a constitution despite it's achievements (and MAJOR screwups) can impose laws as an authority to it's counterparts or whether we would like this to happen more often?
Do we want a truly united Europe with a central head making decisions?(hence the Detroit example). Well thats what the Brussels beaureocrats are fantacising day and night.
We can debate this but the truth is that pretty soon the European structure will crumble (it already has thanks to the stupidity of its leaders) .

In your theory, all US states need to be separate countries too.

In paper the states aren't.
Oh,except Detroit.Michigan.

So every documentarist,news, and camera crew in the world will then need to carry a truckload of paperwork to do a 360 pan at a public place?
And what does your country's constitution say about this?
I've come to realize that EU as an institution can legislate freely,but it all comes down to every indivudual countrys copyright laws.

The day we will lose that priviledge (if we ever do) ,trust me,we wont be bothered about selling photos.The context of this decision will bring far bigger issues regarding personal freedoms to just bother with selling photos and video.

Guys there is already solution for this. Under Action dropdown menu there is "set downconverted price(video)"

Yes but i wasnt talking about the setting prices -which has been fixed like you said- i was talking about the price SEARCH where hd price gets ignored and the higher price of the 4K is the minimum price which shows in the results,again only if one does a price search eliminating lower/upper values.

Do end users prefer 30 fps or the NTSC 29.97 fps standard?

Like you said 29.97 is the standard.
I would say forget the 30p if you have the option and go for true broadcast framerate.It will also be much easier for someone to conform to 23.97 for television film,series, or documentary if needed.

Lower resolution should be the native resolution,or hd for anything higher than that.

I am getting sd and sometimes web resolution downloads at ss,but to be honest everytime this happens i wish i wouldn't sell at all.

I asked them about this and they said no sales then no sales report. I have had no sales since Feb. I'm done with Dissolve. Too much work for too little return.

Yeah i know, if you dont sell then no report,but i will wait until someone else with stable sales and the certainty that April shouldn't have been an exception, posts here.
Doesn't matter anyway,i've uploaded what i pretty much needed to,i dont think i'll resume updating my portfolio there too soon or at all.

I dont really give a * at this point about the major players.I dont consider them,neither friend nor enemies and certainly not rivals or worse yet people that i aspire to become like one.

Of course that doesn't mean that i will be happy when or if they go down,but in the meanwhile the vast majority of people in this business are freelancers,
people who range from barely affording to buy their stuff, cover insurance,bills,expenses etc, and live a lifestyle that usually ranges from "im barely making it" to "i'm relatively comfortable with maybe a few grand in the bank but i still work hard".

So most of them/us can hardly claim that we've got a few hundred k's in the bank to sustain ourselves if everything suddenly collapses.At least i will not have to lay off people
and i consider that an achievent in life in a weird sort of way.
Depends on your philosophy in life i guess.

good luck buying groceries with dollars or euroes once THEIR bubbles burst (which will happen as soon as the madmen at the helm at central banks run out of ideas, or steam, or staying power, and are swamped by the markets). Only then will the jury be in on Bitcoin and Alt coins etc as well.

Bitcoin and other P2P Crypto coins are NOT to be evaluated by their price either, but it is about the concept of transaction-free worldwide transmission of value. And THAT might very well help ANY MICROSTOCKER out there because, if I am not mistaken, they are (quite rightly) whining about excessive fees -- as in 10.1% cuts they have to swallow, see right here on MSG: http://www.microstockgroup.com/videoblocks/transaction-fees/msg0/?topicseen#new -- on top of cut-throat agency commissions and competition and that resulting misery.

This is exactly why Bitcoin and Crypto coins will be interesting for us here!

Bitcoin & P2P Crypto coins are also a disruptive technology bringing about overall DECENTRALISATION just like the internet itself did when TCP/IP was invented by Tim Berners-Lee. This is all part of our recent and technological history that Microstock itself is only a part (or by-product) of. It all integrates perfectly with underlying internet and "new economy" technology, and Bitcoin does to an even larger extent!

So, yes, Bitcoin & other (selected) Crypto coins (not each and every one of them, of course) will help going "Indie" in more than one way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Total_bitcoins_over_time.png
Im sorry but you dont really understand how currency works and what force drives a currency to function and not crumble down like a paper tower,unlike bitcoin or any other e-coin that will cease existing sooner or later leaving the poor poorer and the rich,richer.And there is an established and rich aristocracy in this so called decentralized currency.In fact bitcoin is such a hideous and dare i say moronic conception that makes even Mario Draghi's euro (talking about currency in terms of politics) look like a socialistic currency,and Obama's trickle down economy seem like it's raining bricks of gold.
I dont read wired a lot, or any of other sites full of technological chiliasts,but i suspect that some of their stupid anarcho-liberal views on the subject have persuaded people that bitcoin is like the david of coins being hit by the goliaths of modern economy.

Care to bet a bitcoin about when the bitcoin bubble will burst?I suggest you try to mine one if you havent one already or just buy one in exchange for usd.Dont worry though.
Either way when you lose the bet and i get the bitcoin you will have lost a lot of money (either by buying or mining) and i will have a nearly worthless and useless algorithm in a wallet on the internet so we both lose.
Too bad silk road is closed.If it was open and bitcoin had any value i would treat you to some wonderfull mushrooms after the bet

Oh well...it's been said a month ago on their own forums - http://www.pond5.com/community?forum=629&thread=43147176&lp=1

Meanwhile P5 is busy promoting free files! -    (super tasteless marketing on display) https://www.facebook.com/pond5/posts/10153315909054777

P5 is no different than the others, top tier included! You give them wings to grow, then they do whatever they want to do but to help you grow too.

Us shouting here doesn't help much. 

Yes im very happy that pond5 forums provide you with excellent footing to promote your agenda (whichever that may be) but i would give you a friendly advice,if you want to
provide evidence and be honest and helpful about how a company mishandles or misbehaves in general,for starters leave your aesthetic taste out of the equation.
It's pointless,irrelevant,childish and sneaky not to say borderline fascist.

Also i would also like you to explain how exactly the very limited in quantity, theme,and context ,old scanned black and white footage has reduced the sales since you know so much about video production.

Your own experiences as a seller with them (if you have any) would be much more relevant and honest,and you wouldn't have to snoop around all the time and quote from a safe distance what other people who choose to come open and literally post in the lions den say.
Maybe they are relevant maybe they are not.
But you certainly aren't,and you are not here to discuss.

Im sad and disgusted at what you are doing in almost every thread about video and im not talking only about pond5.There are so many people in this forum who post their own experiences,and are open about themselves and their work,who literally are the closest to a whistleblower in this industry risking their reputation amongst others,and you literally crap on them by taking relevant and irrelevant things in and out of context,taking advantage of their sadness oranger,and organizing and orchestrating all these in a way so that you can prove what?That you are right about your view of things and life in general?Grow up please.

Oops an edit went down as a quote.

Quote from: gcrook on May 13, 2015, 14:15

Why do you guys seem to think that a footage portfolio can be copied so easily to the point that the sales can be overturned to ones favour?

The sheer volume of copy cat files can completely bury your files in the search results, even if your work is still better quality.

At the moment, there are very, very few videos, it is like with photos in 2004, but once the agencies have 30 million videos and accept 100 000 new clips every week, you will understand the problem of copying and feel the pain and financial loss.

This is why I personally prefer a general "most popular" search results over real download numbers, because it leads people directly to how much money is in that theme. A file can be "most popular" with 2 downloads or with 500, the number gives a clear indication what the copy cat should invest their time and money in.

I agree that with video you need more variety of a scene, but you will feel the pain from copying, it is inevitable.

But like you pointed out, the more unique your themes are, if you have access to special locations, are a medical doctor or can film open heart surgery, you will have less competition.

I understand what you are saying and i dont necessarily disagree,but then again its the same as admitting that everyone is more or less "copying" everyone else which is somewhat true in the sense that i dont imagine anyone living in a cabin and then going out to shoot whatever . he feels like shooting and then uploading without paying attention to the clips circulating around.

Anyway let me give you an example.I have watched over the years a few shots i like.
Actually a lot.
Do you know how many of them did i want to "recreate" ?
Many.
Do you know how many of them did i have the means to recreate?
Very few.
Do you know how many of these few did i find the time to do?
Even less than those few.
Do you know how many came close to the ones i wanted to imitate?
None at all.