At the end of last year, when Pond5 announced the changes to exclusive rates�from 60% to 40%�and dataset earnings�from 60% to 20%�I estimated here in the forum that the actual loss would be at least 50% of my monthly income.

I was wrong. It�s significantly more�closer to a 63% drop. So for every $1,000 I used to earn in 2024, I now make around $370.
In my case, I�ve already lost thousands in just the first four months.

But this is all a matter of perspective�what�s bad for me may be good for other contributors, and likely is. Otherwise, how can we explain the fact that Pond5 adds half a million new clips every month?
Most of the new contributors seem to come from Eastern Europe, Russia, and Asia�usually from Bangladesh or India�with some portfolios containing over 100,000 clips.

My P5 sales are also down significantly. Like depressingly so. I literally remember the day I got the email from Tom Crary saying they were merging with SS. I remember it so well because it was just a horrible thing to read and the feeling of darkness and dread was palpable. In my heart I knew then that P5, which had at one time been an excellent and exceptional agency, was going to be destroyed by all the same terrible policies and practices that plagued SS. I got that email in May of 2022 and so now, three years later, we see that, yes, in fact the sale of P5 to SS was a major disaster and letdown for most (and maybe all) of us. What a shame they couldn't have just kept going like they were. I know the payday was probably very good for the executives- it's understandable. But what a shame for the rest of us.

Evaristo, with typical algorithm changes and SEO shakeups I agree that other contributors can and maybe usually benefit- i.e. the sales just shift to a different contributor. But in this case I think the overall mojo and appeal of P5 as an independent, more selective and higher quality agency and platform overall has subsided and declined, thus leading to a decline in overall traffic and sales across the board. I have no data or figures to support this- it's just my hunch.

I also think the overall uncertainly in the worldwide economy is also a major factor in lower stock sales across the board right now. But even if the macro-economic factors were not in play, I still think P5 would be down simply by virtue of being absorbed by the goons at SS.

As an aside, look at the contributor portal and trends/ideas pages at P5- nothing updated since 2023. And, even worse, they removed all the specialized search queries to see how sales were for a particular clip, contributor, genres, etc. That used to be so valuable. Again, such a shame.

Things always change but this one was truly unfortunate. Crazy that it has been three years now.

Sales have been slower for me overall since April of this year. June was okay but everything else since April has been down significantly. So far October is slow as well. I think the strikes have contributed but I think the bigger issue is the very dim economic environment that most of the world is in. Sales are down in many industries and this has a trickle down effect to marketing and creative aspects. Hopefully it rebounds when economic conditions improve, which I think it will. But it could be a year or more until then, unfortunately.

When I attempt to visit the Nimia site (www.nimia.com) I get a 'down for maintenance' message. It says it's a momentary disruption but this has been the condition for at least most of today. Wondering if anyone has noticed this earlier than today?

Thanks!

I was on Dissolve for 5 years.  Sales were decent, but they really didn't like that a portion of my portfolio was on subscription sites, so they forcibly reduced all my pricing to ridiculously low amounts, despite the fact that many of my Dissolve clips were NOT on other subscription sites.  So when my contract was up (they make you sign a 5-year contract), I didn't renew.  But they did give out the best quality t-shirts at NAB, which I still wear to this day.  Before the price reduction on my clips, I was doing about $500-$1000/mo there.

Just to clarify, if you don't renew do they automatically remove all of your assets and delete your account? And this 5-year contract, does that mean the clips there are exclusive with them?

Thanks.

Nice graphic. It sums up the history very well.