|
MicrostockGroup Sponsors
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Messages - Asthebelltolls
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 ... 14
76
« on: April 04, 2021, 13:39 »
If you are succesful and talented the US has lots to offer. If you are ill or disabled not so much. For the affluent the US has a great lifestyle.
Yup, if I lived in the US I'd be bankrupt and homeless from medical. I need huge travel insurance just to go (when I used to travel). Lovely place with great people and scenery, but no, I prefer Canada. The idea of being a no-fault car accident away from extreme poverty doesn't appeal.
Not that my country doesn't have its issues of course.
....like deranged, knife wielding lunatics running through shopping malls and "missing women" headlines every second day but, yes, I too prefer Canada.
77
« on: March 20, 2021, 14:44 »
And for me photo income increased year after year since my first submissions to agencies more than 10 years ago. The decline started 3 years ago with reduction in commissions so while my portfolio may increase, my income is down 75% from 3 years ago. Some of that income is, in part, due to the marketplace moving from HD to 4K. I sell far fewer clips than I once did. It's my view that if agencies wanted to make cuts they should have reduced HD and kept images where it was - in the minimum $0.30 - $0.36 range. Videographers/Photographers would have remained motivated to submit images and motivated to upgrade equipment to 4K. 6K digital is just around the corner. How many of us are motivated to once again purchase new equipment for the new marketplace? Especially when we now know agencies are foaming at the mouth to reduce commissions?
78
« on: February 19, 2021, 10:28 »
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/101723-video-levels-early-promotion/
I'd got just under half way to my next level and got a random email. The dashboard shows it too.
...so fully expect SS to realise and remove all the extra revenue in an adjustment...
And me as well but it doesn't seem to change the revenue coming in. Still giving peanuts for clips and nowhere near what it once was! Blessing us with a level increase does not motivate me to start contributing again.
80
« on: February 04, 2021, 21:32 »
Is HD still selling? How much longer before 6k becomes the common demand? It's an expensive venture if you only sell a few clips a month and agencies are paying a few bucks per sale!
81
« on: February 03, 2021, 18:01 »
Lowest $ since february 2015, half of what I made last month and jan 2020 
Yup, same here....Shitterstock didn't just take. They stole.
82
« on: January 27, 2021, 19:45 »
...and an interesting interface that appears to make uploading easier. Almost all my sales with Dreamstime were $1us or more this month and outselling the SS. I also noticed that you can now set your own price on each submitted image. With a minimum payout of 0.38us, Is there anything not to like about DT?
83
« on: January 25, 2021, 20:09 »
Neil Young  just sold the rights to half of his music compositions for $180 million. I'd consider half that and I'll even throw in a few of my best sellers.
84
« on: January 21, 2021, 13:41 »
So far my january on SS is 64% lower than it would have been with the old earning structure 
And the same here. Just about all sales (74) with a $0.10 commission. Gee, thanks SS. Meanwhile Dreamstime is not only outselling the SS but sales are consistently coming in at +$1.00us and higher! More reason to abandon the SS and happy I stopped uploading to Jonnie and his cronies last March.
85
« on: December 16, 2020, 08:47 »
Can you read? https://submit.shutterstock.com/legal/terms?language=en Did you ever read this? Contracts change, they did nothing illegal, you have no class action suit. 18 f Please note that Shutterstock reserves the right to modify these terms at any time in its sole discretion,
And where in the agreement does it state that they will take away 2/3 of your income? Is that your idea of "fair" business practices? And was the agreement the same when contributors signed up 10 years ago? The most prominent statement I recall was the SS stating: " The more you contribute, the more you'll earn" Microsoft recently agreed to a multi-billion dollar settlement when a class action lawsuit claimed that they overcharged consumers during a certain time period. I don't think it would be difficult to convince the courts that the SS and other stock agencies used unfair and unethical business practices when they stripped away 2/3 of their contributor's income. And sweetheart, would you do me a favor? If you're going to vent your anger would you mind directing it at those trying to take away your income/livelihood and not at those trying to create a fair playing field?
86
« on: December 15, 2020, 09:43 »
Go ask a lawyer, free consultation, and find out, there's nothing to sue for or retaliate. They did nothing illegal, none of the above agencies did. They have the right to change the contract. I don't need a lawyer to tell me that " bait and switch" business practices are illegal, at least in my part of the world. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bait-switch.asp....but when there's only a handful of contributors responding to the topic it's pretty obvious that a class action lawsuit isn't worth the time and effort.
87
« on: December 14, 2020, 15:12 »
While empowerment is always desirable, the only real power we have is to choose to accept their terms or leave. Or stay but stop uploading new stuff.
Ok. How about everyone who has images with Bigstock removes all but one of their images? It's owned by the SS. It costs money to keep the company operating yet few of us make any real money contributing to the agency. BTW, and yes, I was one of those who kept my portfolio with the SS but hasn't contributed since the changed rates. Empowerment is protection against unfair business practices.
88
« on: December 14, 2020, 10:13 »
This title make remember me the Dollar Tree Store, in that store all is selling for one dollar! 
That's right....and my last ten RPI images with the SS was $0.23. It should be called the "$0.23 store"  . Dreamstime's RPI is $1.67. Which begs the question, why are people still contributing to the SS? Here's another idea I'm going to toss out there while sticking to the subject of empowering contributors. What about the idea of hiring a legal council? Everyone contributes 1% of their image income to maintain a legal consulting team hired to provide advice when agencies change or alter their legal agreement with contributors. Seven years ago the SS used a "bait and switch" tactic to lure contributors into submitting more images. They told us at the time that the least you would make would be $0.33us a sale and the more you make the higher that base rate would climb. Seven years later they pulled the rug from under every contributing photographer and arbitrarily changed the agreement whereby the base rate is now$0.10us. Legal perhaps for the new contributors signing up - but was the bait and switch tactic legal when contributors signed up long before the change? A legal council would look at those sort of "contract tactics" and let us know if it's legal AND provide legal methods of retaliation. Another idea. Empowerment is essential for every contributor.
89
« on: December 12, 2020, 23:09 »
What works? What doesn't work? Dialogue is good while we collectively
anticipate our next $0.10 commission......
90
« on: December 12, 2020, 15:39 »
The "Contributor's Union" would have their own website whereby they submit
exclusively to that site. They manage and adjust operations based on a collective vote.
Maintaining and controlling the site would be derived from "union dues". If say,
you sell an image for $2.00us, $1.00us goes toward union website operations.
Someone would have to be hired to manage the website. Someone with strong
union background skills. Insuring that "scabs" aren't submitting to other sites would
be a major issue. That, and gaining the initial confidence of contributors that more
money can be made by joining the union.
91
« on: December 11, 2020, 11:30 »
Thank you, Martha for sharing your story. It's a valuable example for us
all that we are more than a collection of funny hashtags. We are real people
who all do a very honorable thing....We capture the fragility and beauty and
essence of life on this beautiful planet. Your deeply poignant story is a
reminder to me that life is a precious gift. A precious gift that I want to capture
and share with others. Thank you, Martha.
92
« on: December 11, 2020, 11:12 »
It is very much the race to the bottom because most contributors accept the terms agencies
give them. And with 8+ million contributors what do they care about you or me? I've said it
before in posts and I'll say it again....The only way we can resolve this problem is for contributors
to create their own agency and collectively go "exclusive". And that's never going to happen
so someday down the road all images and clips will be free to the agencies but "you will retain rights and be given credit".
93
« on: December 08, 2020, 16:56 »
I'm very late coming to this discussion because my husband has been in the hospital (not for Covid, thank God) almost since the thread started. He's not doing well, so obviously my attention is there, not here. Amazing similarities with stock photography, Martha! Wishing both you and your husband a successful passage into 2021....I've always enjoyed the distraction photography provides and submitting to agencies over the years especially when dealing with personal difficulties. As far as nature photography goes, I'd encourage Mynameisnotearl to cruise the net. There's lots of forums specifically geared toward "nature photography"......
94
« on: December 01, 2020, 11:39 »
Can't log in at all today. After a dozen Captcha things I have given up. Twice. Anybody else got this?
Yup. Me too.
95
« on: October 20, 2020, 13:50 »
Thanks for the info. It looks like a war that will last for years.
I have always watched over my privacy and intimacy, anonymity has been my reference for years. Now that I'm going to move on to the other side, to websites, associating contributors, Google is my new best friend.
They are the owners of the planet.
An interesting statement that pretty well sums up the decline of modern civilization.
96
« on: October 15, 2020, 08:09 »
Just another example of why we have to start our own agency and stop contributing to agencies that ignore the amount of effort we put into our work.
97
« on: October 08, 2020, 13:17 »
Way back in the 1840's when Marconi invented the first digital camera I started uploading to Dreamstime, 123RF and Depositphoto. Ever since, almost since day one, I started selling a cow grazing in the meadow. Nice shot. A little different. Low angle and close. The image has sold steadily ever since. Never a big 3 or 4 digit sale but consistently throughout the years (yes, even during the Civil War  ). All told, a little over $2000 and still counting. Second on the list was close on a special electric pavement saw. About $1500.
98
« on: September 26, 2020, 09:50 »
Speaking of payout, this will mark the first time in 9 years that I've been with the SS that I won't reach payout in one month. Dreamstime was the first agency I joined way back in 2009 and its always been very consistent and predictable. Feathers never ruffled. Always judging my images in the same consistent way it did since day one. Not a big seller but with 10,000+ images payouts are now consistently 4 times a year.....No surprises or radical changes. That works for me.
99
« on: September 18, 2020, 09:19 »
SS video clip sale for $0.77. Really. Are clips now joining the SS photo mantra....Fill your pockets, boys! They will take anything!
100
« on: August 29, 2020, 10:29 »
And just out of curiosity, Mat, any idea what the ratio of "pictures taken to pictures displayed" was? When I'm out cycling I usually come home with about 100 images taken. From there approximately 5 are submitted to agencies. It would also be interesting to learn what kind of gear you're using. Regardless, thanks for sharing!
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9 ... 14
|
Sponsors
Microstock Poll Results
Sponsors
|
Show Posts
