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Messages - derek

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626
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 12, 2017, 11:40 »
None of this makes any sense at all. How do you explain the incredible drop of exactly 50% straight down the line and almost to the penny hitting everyone I know that joined about 10 years back and all with commercial high-value portfolios including myself of course.

No not a conspiracy but certainly the search is manipulated killing off many contributors and aiding some other sections.

I was looking at July sales today and holy cow.  I will be lucky to make $300-$400 this month, compared to my normal three times that. Today I am at a under $150.  I would give exact numbers but we are not allowed to share real data from SS.  But you get the point.  In June they changed something in the search and, well, you can do the math. I will be 66% down from my norm. Norm=last several years (except for a few search changes that adjusted back to "normal").
How are you doing on other sites? Personally I seem to be experiencing a similar slowdown/crash nearly everywhere. Certainly since May my SS sales have fallen markedly.

Youre right! but not everywhere. I see a rise at DT and DP but at nonbe of the main three.
I have had a rise at DT but my sales there are so few I think its a quirk.....Fotolia off a cliff at the moment....but it may average out.

I know DT is a strange place it can be dead for ages then suddenly comes droves of sales then dead again. Strange.

627
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 12, 2017, 04:40 »
I didnt say new stuff sold well I said that if you re-upload an image with new data the search will of course treat it as a new image and all of a sudden it starts selling!

628
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 11, 2017, 23:31 »
BEAT the system??? Back in April I thought theres got to be a way to beat this crappy search etc so here is what I did. I picked 10 shots that had at least sold a few times each one I then deleted these and waited about a week and then re-uploaded these 10 shots re-arranging the keywords with new title/description and guess what. A few started to get almost immediate downloads and still is.
In the middle of June I did the same thing and with the same results!

So this seemed to work for me but of course there is no guarantee and since they constantly change the search it could be a bit of a hit and miss. The search dont know the age of a contributor and possibly give any new files a preference before old ones.

btw these 20 shots I experimented with are still selling much better then my old ones even better then the ones with thousands of downloads.

629
Adobe Stock / Re: Adobe?? deadly quiet!
« on: July 11, 2017, 13:20 »
Funny isnt it but it seems most problems and weird stuff comes from the two biggest ones SS and Adobe and very similar oddities. I recon when such a giant like Adobe/FT can't get it right messing with the search and so on well then it has to be something very wrong with the people over there.

SS can somehow be excused since its run by bean-counters and goggle-eyed clerks but Adobe is all creatives and there really isnt any excuse for crappy earnings etc.

630
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 11, 2017, 06:24 »
None of this makes any sense at all. How do you explain the incredible drop of exactly 50% straight down the line and almost to the penny hitting everyone I know that joined about 10 years back and all with commercial high-value portfolios including myself of course.

No not a conspiracy but certainly the search is manipulated killing off many contributors and aiding some other sections.

I was looking at July sales today and holy cow.  I will be lucky to make $300-$400 this month, compared to my normal three times that. Today I am at a under $150.  I would give exact numbers but we are not allowed to share real data from SS.  But you get the point.  In June they changed something in the search and, well, you can do the math. I will be 66% down from my norm. Norm=last several years (except for a few search changes that adjusted back to "normal").
How are you doing on other sites? Personally I seem to be experiencing a similar slowdown/crash nearly everywhere. Certainly since May my SS sales have fallen markedly.

Youre right! but not everywhere. I see a rise at DT and DP but at nonbe of the main three.

631
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 11, 2017, 01:26 »
Same here^^. However I am beginning to believe there are other forces at play here. Think about it all the old staff is gone. I spoke to an x-employee whom I have known long before he joined SS goes all the way back to the Image-Bank and there are tons of crap going on in that company with lots of internal problems all the time. I suppose when the beancounters took over the first thing they changed was the searches/algorithms in order to make a quick financial kill.
Its quite obvious listening to him thay dont give a * about the company or its members or contributors.
They are also struggling like mad with their Offset not producing half of what was expected.


632
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 10, 2017, 12:59 »
So that is what is happening to new images, they are treated as spam. Makes sense now...

Yup!  thats it Angela. Spam and it makes sense. Just look at some of the stuff they accept.

633
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 10, 2017, 12:38 »
MG! spot on! eventually they will not prevail on al the generic and garbage they now tend to accept. Contributors will eventually stop uploading commercial quality images, too expensive to produce and too much hassle with releases and everything and then buyers will start going elsewhere. I dont want to mention any names but I know for a fact many buyers who goes to certain RF-agencies prepared to even pay a bit more money for a certain picky they are looking for.

634
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 10, 2017, 11:24 »
None of this makes any sense at all. How do you explain the incredible drop of exactly 50% straight down the line and almost to the penny hitting everyone I know that joined about 10 years back and all with commercial high-value portfolios including myself of course.

No not a conspiracy but certainly the search is manipulated killing off many contributors and aiding some other sections.
I'm still not sure whether you consider SS geniuses for being able to construct such an amazing algorithm or idiots. I reckon if they can  manipulate the internet market like that they should be nominated for the nobel prize for economics. is it exactly 50% over the same period?

Big words, in reality they "manipulate" only with their own search engine to achieve their goals, financially related goals like maximizing profit and non-financial related like fighting against spam.
Btw all our newly uploaded images in compare to older ones are currently treated like a spam by SS search engine until proved otherwise (you have to get some sales to deserve non-spam ranking), which is the main reason why new images are rarely sold since 2016. Exceptions are new contributor's images and images which are very specific.

OK, time for data mining part 2:
Q:What is the reason of capped income?
A:To keep largest possible number of contributors satisfied (with dimes).
FACT: Despite the strong words, 99% percent of contributors will be satisfied with any income no matter how small it is.
COMMENT: Comrade Stalin wasn't stupid at all, he figured it out without computers and fancy search engine algorithms.

p.s. I'm doing just fine with monthly variation of income less than 2% for the last 12 months. May was exception and up because of two huge direct sales at the end of the month (last two days) but June was down for exactly the same percentage, and both combined had variation of less then 1% from monthly average.  This is still good source of income for me, but I'm just a little unsatisfied because I'm not in control of anything anymore if I want to play legally. Just like * casino.

Yep!  that just about sums it all up. Capped earnings the whole charade. Good one! :)

635
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 10, 2017, 00:01 »
None of this makes any sense at all. How do you explain the incredible drop of exactly 50% straight down the line and almost to the penny hitting everyone I know that joined about 10 years back and all with commercial high-value portfolios including myself of course.

No not a conspiracy but certainly the search is manipulated killing off many contributors and aiding some other sections.

636
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: July 08, 2017, 13:05 »
No we dont!  and neither does SS. In fact I recon the SS engineers construct their algorithms after getting zozzled in the Pub! I am sure of it.

637
Shutterstock.com / Re: HOW WAS JUNE?
« on: July 08, 2017, 12:36 »
Realy bad month. With over 15000 vectors, illustration and photos and with over 7 years working this I don't have  $15 in one day! :-(
As they close my ports!!!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Agreeing!  $ 30 per day but used to be 80 plus. Game over!

638
True! an agency is a proper representative and in my opinion the only ones qualifying for being called an agency today are the smaller type of boutique agencies. Microstock is supermarkets and Getty is a deli-supermarket.

639
General Stock Discussion / Re: Is $1000/months a big amount?
« on: July 07, 2017, 01:36 »
At one stage and in the good days IS alone could provide $ 3000 a month with a commercial portfolio of around 3K files. SS until last year could easily do the same. However all things taken into consideration I recon these sort of earnings have well and truly gone down the plughole.

I also find there are far more people looking for a way out of micro or looking for other avenues rather then people trying to get in to micro.

640
Yes I agree^^  Alamy is just bloody terrible when it comes to Rm and not much better with Rf either. Their search etc is a joke. Alamy is ONLY for editorial contributors and their search dont care one bit for creative photography. Sorry but thats the way it is.

641
Shutterstock.com / Re: HOW WAS JUNE?
« on: July 04, 2017, 13:25 »
Actually with all due respect to newcomers but in a sense its true. Its very hard to judge anything in the stock-photography business unless one been doing it for a few years and at least have a decent seized portfolioit doesnt have to be thousands but at least around the 500 mark.

642
Shutterstock.com / Re: HOW WAS JUNE?
« on: July 04, 2017, 07:57 »
Jon!  this depends entirely on which Rm agencies you are with. If youre with Alamy or Getty then yes I would say its a complete waste of time but if you are with the slightly smaller specialized agencies you can have sales for good money indeed!  they are of course much tougher to get into but they sure as hell can sell!

Then again a buyer who taps into a special agency is of course after a special image and will be aware of that its no cheapo.

643
Shutterstock.com / Re: HOW WAS JUNE?
« on: July 03, 2017, 12:53 »
It's easy to have a BME when you've only been around for a year or two. I've been with Shutterstock now for 12 years, and June was the worst month in 5 years, down 50% from last year. Something is seriously wrong.

Exactly my experience. 50% down.  Over 4,000 assets, mix of video and stills.

Yep! same here close to 6000 files and all commercial files with model releases and everything. Exactly 50% down. If this carries on I will have no choice but to delete my port and stuff them into a macro RF/RM agency where just a couple of sales will make up for it. SS have turned into my third agency as far as earnings it used to be my number one for 8 years.

644
Shutterstock.com / Re: HOW WAS JUNE?
« on: July 03, 2017, 05:14 »
All reports and quarterly crap is of no use to many individual contributors whos portfolios are being totally slaughtered.
Well those reports tell me that if you stop uploading then it should come as no surprise if your earnings fall off a cliff.

Nope!  all that basic logic flies out the window with SS and the reasons why is just too obvious for contributors thats been with them for a long time and who depends on photography for a living.
If you dont depend on it?  well then its a hobby and frankly not very important one way or another.

645
Shutterstock.com / Re: HOW WAS JUNE?
« on: July 03, 2017, 01:00 »
Worst month in 9 years and down with 50%. Its futile to carry on uploading or anything. All reports and quarterly crap is of no use to many individual contributors whos portfolios are being totally slaughtered. I for one have found alternatives to SS but Hey! thats me! others might have totally different experience.

646
Shutterstock.com / Re: A million a week!!
« on: June 27, 2017, 15:31 »
Game over! I stopped uploading three months back no point in adding fuel to a fire. With close to one million added a week and most full-time peoples earnings cut in half I mean what chance have you got?? I have close to 5000 files extremely niched and I am removing certain files putting them up as Rf instead. They can jolly well sit there with all their newcomers etc. Game over.

647
A great image and something I know will fetch good revenue is completely wasted in micro nowadays that is. I much rather put it up as Rm or Rf ( not at Alamy god forbid) but some others. RM's I tend to give to specialized agencies and not the generalists.

648
haha! you can send as many links as you wish they dont care one bit. I have pointed out this around 4 times and not even a reply NADA!  Oh yes I did get one reply telling me how they constantly try to improve the site so obviously they didnt even understand the message.

Since the old staff left or got thrown out and the beancounters moved in they hardly ever reply to any messages and I doubt very much they ever pop in here to have a read. Its not like in the old professional days when they helped out. Nowadays all they have is a modest little forum moderator who seems afraid of everything.

649
Shutterstock.com / Re: June algorithm change?
« on: June 26, 2017, 12:27 »
Actually Jonbull!  that could be true. Istock is really climbing back and it could be that we are watching a change here!  could be that Istock is gaining buyers from agencies such as SS and Adobe etc etc!  just could be?  almost everyone I know is seeing a huge rise in earnings at IS. Something is up thats for sure.

Maybe they have finally realized that looking after independents and long time members is the way to go.

650
There is a clinical word for it: Paranoia!

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