Yup...got one last February payment.

Pond5 is doing well. I suspect this situation was an anomaly. Try again.

I ended up calling and they answered the phone.

So you might want to try that...

I called them and got an actual person. Said they would fix the issue "within a few hours"

Now we will see if something happens...

Heya,

So I noticed a bunch of ancient "sales" in my ClipDealer interface today (I have almost no files there). I haven't ever been paid by them.

Based on the screenshot...I have had sales, but they set royalty at zero for each transaction.



Anyone know how this works with them.

Thanks!

Easily my best Feb ever.

Yeah, I'll be at NAB for sure.

Have been having some back end issues at MotionElements, and haven't been able to get anyone to respond.

I hope this is just a hiccup.

My second best earner to P5...seems like it is picking up too.

Almost 5,000 mostly 4K files.

Quote from: SuperPhoto on January 18, 2018, 20:14
Hope that helps. What is your website currently? And what type of footage do you focus on?

SuperPhoto thanks for taking the time to respond. Solid stuff. I don't think I can compete with the big stock companies though...the best I can do is try to bring attention to my few items on their shelves.

Your logic is solid though. I agree in principle, just not sure I have the resources in practice.

My site is www.lathepoland.com and I have an array of content topics. This is in part because I get bored with same topic after awhile, and secondly I think of myself as being in the "hook" business. Lots of fish out there maybe they will like one of my hooks.

Quote from: farbled on January 19, 2018, 00:28
Having been a photo buyer at many companies, the vast majority had no idea how to source images (or footage) or could even name more than one (maybe 2) agencies.

Farbled...That is an interesting point. I guess I need to figure out how to get infront of more of those people.

Hi Folks,

Anyone know of any stock media events happening this year?

Here is my revenue breakdown

1) Pond5 = 30%
2) Fotolia/Adobe = 20%
3) ShutterStock = 15%
4) Envato/VideoHive = 15%
5) StoryBlocks = 15%
6) Dissolve = 1%
7) Dreamstime = <1%
8} MotionElements = <1%
9) Depositphotos = <1%
10) Pixta = <1%
11) 123RF = <1%
12) ArtbeatsExpress = <1%

Being self employed, I am often thinking about marketing. My full-time focus is producing stock footage.

"Wait, what?...why do you need to market yourself?" Some may ask. "Don't you have the marketing muscle of companies like Pond5, Shutterstock, Fotolia...etc?"

Well, sorta, they all have featured content and some type of social media marketing. But those efforts are spread across many thousands of users

I don't love the idea of turning over all responsibility for the marketing success of my livelihood to someone else. I would imagine that isn't a business model most people would feel too comfortable with. After all the big stock curation companies don't need each individual stock producer.

The professional stock producer has an interesting market to engage...people that need content so that THEY can make content!

Obviously making pertinent attractive content that buyers are looking for is a critical step...but there is a LOT of stock content to choose from.

How do I (and you) make sure we are giving our few DROPS of content a fighting chance in the OCEAN of stock footage?

Here is what I have done so far:
1) A large (mostly 4K) portfolio of high quality footage
2) Have my portfolio on as many (producing) stock curation sites as possible.
3) Have a website
4) Social media...well a facebook page...does that count?

Here is what I could do better:
1) Make more content.
2) Find more curation sites.
3) Connect directly with buyers. Who? How?
4) Better SEO on my site.
5) More social media sites.

I would love to hear what you have to say?
What obvious things am I missing?
Any input appreciated.

Yes market your work...but as was pointed out you MUST watermark the footage. Otherwise you are actually just giving it away to unscrupulous editors.

Here is an example of what I do:
https://vimeo.com/175116849

LP

Hey Everyone,

As of Jan. 2017 I sold my video production company to focus solely on stock video production . I'm curious if your results with the various stock footage companies are similar to mine. So here is a list of every stock footage site I use ...(or that is on my radar)

I will list them in order of my best revenue for 2017 :

(How many clips I have with that agency in parenthesis)

Top Stock Video Agencies

1) Pond5 - (6,500 clips +/- ) A few hundred clips are part of the membership program. - Great back end - Awesome review times
2) Fotolia/Adobe - (5,000 clips +/- ) Steadily on the rise...might be my #1 for 2018  - So so back end - Good review times
3) ShutterStock - (3,000 clips+/- ) Definitely improved over the years.  Good back end - Good review times
4) Envato/VideoHive - (1,100 clips +/- ) (I know) Consistently becoming more and more difficult to get files approved, still earns though. Terrible back end - Terrible review times
5) StoryBlocks - (5,000 clips +/- ) I had a lot of hope for them, but they seem to be in decline. Okay early in 2017...but crickets for last half.  Great back end - Good review times
6) Dissolve - (2,000 clips +/- ) Not a great earner, only about one or two sales a month.  So so back end - Good review times
7) Dreamstime - (4,000 clips +/-) Less than one sale a month.  So so back end - Good review times
8} MotionElements - (5,000 clips +/-) About two sales a month. I'm rooting for them Great back end - Awesome review times
9) Depositphotos - (4,400 clips +/-) Only about one sale a month. Terrible back end - Terrible review times
10) Pixta - (3,000 clips +/-) Less than one sale a month. Terrible back end - Terrible review times
11) 123RF - (2,300 clips +/-) Only about one sale a month. So so back end - So so review times

Honorable Mention

12) ArtBeatsExpress - (2,100 clips +/-) About two sales a month. I had a lot of hope for these guys - but they will be closing in a couple months Good back end - Good review times

The Rest (Meaning NO SALES)

13) Nimia - (2,500 clips +/-) Pitiful...no sales ever. Terrible back end - Okay review times
14) Wazee Digital (1,000 +/-) No idea. No back end or communication.
15) Ingimage - (3,000 clips +/-) No sales. No back end with actual information.
16) StockFuel - (500 clips +/-) No sales. No back end with actual information.
17) MeaShots - (500 clips +/-) No sales. So so back end - So so review times
18) Clip Dealer - (500 clips +/-) These guys don't respond. No sales. Bad back end - Terrible review times
19) CanStock - (500 clips +/-) These guys don't respond. No sales. Bad back end - Terrible review times
20) Alamy - (1000 clips +/-) These guys don't respond. No sales. Bad back end - Terrible review times
21) iStock - (0 clips) I had an on again off again working relationship with them, really terrible experience.
22) AGE Fotostock - (0 clips) I did the paperwork, but never uploaded files.
23) b-rollstock - (0 clips) I did the paperwork, but never uploaded files.

Who am I missing? Looking to 2018 sales, any other companies/agencies that are worth knowing about?

Thanks!
LP

I came across this site today (Clippn) that handles ingestion, cut, color, upload and ,metadata of raw footage.

Too good to be true? Has anyone worked with them?

They split rev with you 50/50. Which doesn't sound ideal. For example: You sell a clip via Pond5 who already gets half...Clippn gets half of that? 25% revenue isn't great...but you don't have to do ANY of the post production.

Do I understand the Clippn process correctly?

Anyway...thoughts?

LP

The new Pond5 site is up as well as the membership program. It will be interesting to see how much the membership program competes with non-membership footage.

$120

Hi,

For several months I have had 8,600 files sitting on the DepositPhotos server. I need to bulk apply metadata, but I'm not making progress. Uploading a CSV doesn't appear to work (title and categories fail). I thought I had the correct CSV formatting. Any tips?

Thanks,
LP

Hi,

Does anyone have an example ClipDealer CSV for footage? I have asked them, but as usual, communication is slow/non-existent.

...just need the headers really...

Thanks,
LP

I just noticed that the Pond5 logo watermark has changed in clips that I submitted this morning. Hopefully, this is an indication that the "big" new roll-out is coming soon...

LP

Same here...I had two sales last year...currently have 300 files with CC.

That said I have a catalog of nearly 16,000 clips, and cannot get ANYONE at CC to talk to me about hard drive ingestion. I looked them up via Linkedin...and it seems like they are under new management (or lack there of).

LP

Okay...so then the question is...do you do any marketing outside of whatever a curator might do?

I'm curious if anyone uses social media for marketing their catalog? If so, what works?

What are other marketing strategies have you found useful?

Thanks,
Lathe