Even if we aren't a fan of DPC, is it really beneficial to try and force our Agency selling our photos to spend unnecessary cash??  It seems a bit backwards and that we are forgetting that they are indeed our agency.

... ducks for cover...

I'd say the technical standards allow a much larger room for play than Shutterstock or iStock or other micros.  Stocksy seems more about capturing an aesthetic or feeling than fulfilling an arbitrary set of technical standards.

example: an image can have noise or be a bit blurry if it contributes to the feel of the image.

A big pile of posts were removed from this thread.

One reason was the cat fight taking place and the other for discussing other members is a negative tone.

Has anyone tested out StockHub?  I just saw the post on MyStockPhoto.

In three years, I will be turning 70 and will have Alzheimers. In fact, I already forgot what I was going to say.

Oh yeah, I remember. I saw three or four posts predict the death of small sites like Cutcaster. I doubt it. Put yourself in John's place. The bulk of your cost was building the site, probably. Even if it starts to make less and less revenue, why close it? Just stop investing in promotion and cut back on reviewing new images (as Kelly at GL did for a while as I recall). Even if you are only bringing in say $1000 per day from your current inventory, why shut down if that pays your expenses and leaves you some profit? Even a bit of StockXpert is still running.  So I wouldn't be surprised if the little guys are with us 3 yrs from now.

Yes, good point.  If anyone closes (or rather gets purchased by someone else) it will probably be one of the top 6 sites that have considerable expenses and a large staff.

On the flip side however, there is still a lot of customer support and work to keep the site alive and healthy, not to mention reviews and answering contributor emails .  If a site has minimal income I think it would be most profitable to close the doors.

PantherMedia launches Premium Collection
�   Handpicked collection of royalty free images from limited number of producers
�   Niche images for eccentric design requirements

Munich, 4th of June 2014. The royalty free stockphoto agency PantherMedia (http://www.panthermedia.net) adds a handpicked collection of fancy images to its archive of more than 28 million images.

The Premium Collection is composed of special interest images like architecture, food, ecology and sustainability as well as people and lifestlye. Only a handful of producers were nominated to contribute to this collection, and only the best images from their archive were selected for the submission.

This Collection is geared towards a small circle of customers with a need for extremely high quality images. �These are rare and eccentric images that will only be chosen for exclusive projects�, explains Johanna Knauer, responsible art director at PantherMedia. �It is not only the extremely costly production and intentional focus on special interest topics that differentiate these images from our archive, but the mostly fresh and modern picture language, far away from the classic commercial imagery�. Consequently, the licensing fee is set apart from the microstock licensing fees. All images are available on invoice or via credits, but not within a subscription plan.

�The launch of our Premium Collection is a logical step in our consequent mission to serve the customer, not only in terms of quality of images, but also in quality of service�, remarks Robert Walters, CEO of PantherMedia. �All of our images are on a very high qualitative level, but in terms of niches and exclusivity we are now offering our customers fresh and exalted images as an alternative.� Selected photographers from the PantherMedia community may contribute exclusive images to this Premium Collection in future.

I was impressed by Pond5 and how their raised Royalites on pixmac when they purchased them.   I am also impressed by Envato and PhotoDune and their other sites.  Their exclusives royalty is super great.  Their non-exclusive rate isn't the best but I really like their mindset and have a lot more trust in their direction and 'mission' than most any other agency.

sorry Tyler but was I the one offending other members? all my posts were removed

I removed a lot of posts that were off topic and quotes of those posts

@Leaf
thanks for your private message where you informed me that you deleted one post out of this thread.
May i ask what post it was and why you think that it is "offtopic"?

As far as i see this thread is not only about the new "business model" - it is about the general question if DT is trustworthy or not.
And if i try to get an answer from achilles why DT still sells our images although even an attorney has been hired it is definitely not "offtopi" because it shows the level of "trust" DT deserves.

Of course i realized that you are one of just few who claims for understanding against DT in this thread.
May i ask with all the given respect if there is a closer relation between you and DT than you have with other agencies?

The post that was removed that was off-topic was where you started talking about your personal problems with dreamstime... essentially what you've just posted again.  I suggest you take it up with Dreamstime directly or through your lawyer.  You also have mentioned this in a seperate thread you started and elsewhere.  We don't need to start the discussion in this thread.  This thread, as the subject states, is about the email that Dreamstime sent out and the partnership deal.

I have the same relationship to Dreamstime as I do with the other agencies.. the same relationship that every other contributor has.

Quote from: Achilles on May 29, 2014, 03:22

The email we sent was created by our legal department and our partners'. It's still our email and I won't pass the guilt on someone else: I'm sorry if it doesn't provide the information you want. This is what we were allowed to share. We tried to say more, but this thread is the sad proof that things can't be kept confidential.

Is this deal good? Yes, if it works well, it will be very good. If it doesn't or it's unfair, then it will not be allowed to run any further. If it goes well, everyone gets paid. If it doesn't, then it means the potential was not there, end of story.

How long it will run? Probably a few weeks, maybe more, maybe less. How large it is and why we didn't support it ourselves? Look at the size of our database, envision a larger partnership. Try to put things into perspective.

As for Dreamstime and its royalties. We still award 60% royalties to our exclusives like in day one.

Again, nobody is forcing you to participate. Feel free to opt out if the deal is not for you. Be respectful and you will be respected.

Emailing an "exclusive" offer to everybody and their cousin and then expect that it's kept confidential?

Come on, I would expect a bit more understanding of how communication works.
This is the sad proof, not this thread.

Confidential deals are made in person with a few selected ones, and with proper compensation.

The email we sent was created by our legal department and our partners'. It's still our email and I won't pass the guilt on someone else: I'm sorry if it doesn't provide the information you want. This is what we were allowed to share. We tried to say more, but this thread is the sad proof that things can't be kept confidential.

Is this deal good? Yes, if it works well, it will be very good. If it doesn't or it's unfair, then it will not be allowed to run any further. If it goes well, everyone gets paid. If it doesn't, then it means the potential was not there, end of story.

How long it will run? Probably a few weeks, maybe more, maybe less. How large it is and why we didn't support it ourselves? Look at the size of our database, envision a larger partnership. Try to put things into perspective.

As for Dreamstime and its royalties. We still award 60% royalties to our exclusives like in day one.

Again, nobody is forcing you to participate. Feel free to opt out if the deal is not for you. Be respectful and you will be respected.

Thanks for the update Achilles.  I understand the need for confidentiality and the need to only reveal partial information.  I can't blame anyone for being skeptical though.  We've experienced the google drive deal and microsoft deal, both of which where terribly rotten for contributors.... essentially giving our work away for free for eternity.  The Facebook deal with Shutterstock however, I'm a big fan of.  So I agree partnership deals can be good for everyone.

A couple things put you in a better light.  You warned us BEFORE the deal took place with an email, as apposed to an unseen forum post or nothing at all (what Fotolia and iStock seem to do) and you offered an opt out.  Two very important steps.

So... I'll trust you on this one and leave my images opted in.  If the deal turns out to be 'free images in exchange for "promotion" or free images in exchange for "more traffic to my portfolio" I'll be opting out / deleting images very quickly.  By the sounds of it, the deal will be paid exchange for image use... that is what I am expecting when all the details are laid out.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Let's return to the conversation.  If the thread deteriorates it will be locked.

Personally i'm sort of on the fence about this whole DPC thing.  I'm opted out but not 100% certain it'll stay that way always - especially if they make some changes to DPC such as a higher buy in.

What I'd like to say however is, I'm happy the Fotolia seems to be listening to contributors and that banding together is possible and can show an agency how we feel - but don't make this a witch hunt.  That isn't how we work as a team or support eachother.  If members who are opted in (or out) are listed for ridcule or similar, the post will be removed.  One name has already been removed from a post.

I didn't realize that link to the excel sheet contained the email addresses to people.   Publishing peoples email address online without their consent is not OK for any reason.  I've blocked that link now.

Why is so hard to show both up and down votes? I see that on plenty of forums.

On plenty of forums using SMF? I doubt it because you'd have to code the extension yourself.  It would probably take a day and I'd probably only break a couple things in the process but I simply haven't spent the time to fight my way through it.

I have made it so posts don't hide themselves now though.