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Messages - Uncle Pete

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1
So I exported a video from Sony Movie Studio and uploaded it to SS. I was also planning to upload the same file to AS and P5 but I got an "unsupported file" error on SS. And this has me puzzled. It's an mp4 video and has a frame rate of 25fps. According to VLC, it has the h264 codec and it's also an MPEG-4 video. And apparently, both SS and AS accept MPEG-4 videos. The codec information in VLC also mentions AVC (part 10) and avc1. I thought that surely, a video with those specs would be acceptable but I don't know much about AVC. Would anyone have any ideas on why I'm get an "unsupported file" error for this video file on SS?

Maybe someone will see the original question, instead of the way the thread went off topic and no one is answering what you needed help with. Sorry I don't know Sony software or why this would happen.

Good Luck!


2
Pond5 / Re: My Pond5 Download Trend
« on: June 03, 2025, 15:47 »
Pond5 is definitely not dead. We might also have a surprise dataset payout in September. I certainly hope so !

Wait for the merger to be completed, we could see some changes that make P5 virtually dead to us. Getty doesn't just leave things as they are, they make changes, the disable content, especially if it competes directly with Getty content.

Remember all those agencies that iStock and Getty bought years ago. When the money wasn't coming in the way they wanted, Getty killed them. I'm not making a prediction of destruction and despair, but from the past and from what content Getty removed from iStock, it's possible that Getty could eliminate Pond5 and Bigstock completely.

Too many duplicate files that are already from the same people, on Getty and iStock, why bother sorting through all of that for duplicates. What about review policies and content standards, what's included, what's not? How about Getty CV?

I'm not going to hold out for anything good in the future, after the merger, and I won't be surprised if this means the end to everything Pond 5.

3
Shutterstock.com / Re: Contributor fund dropped.
« on: May 29, 2025, 10:19 »


They don't use it, it's not accessible, the files are still stored, in case we change our mind. Because of that, I left Data licensing active and anything that gets reviewed and put into that, I delete immediately. Tricky how they did that, keeping a catalog, in case we change our mind, We can't delete or see the content unless we opt in.


Yes, and the reason you cannot delete or see the content is because Shutterstock WANTS you to have to opt in to see and delete the content.
A fraction of a second is literally all an AI needs to grab your image and use it for training. Once you delete it, it is already too late and the damage is done. It might not be used for future customers, but it will 100% be used to train Shutterstocks own AI, even if it was just in the data licensing catalogue for a second.

If it wasn't so, Shutterstock would let us see and delete content from there even if we were not opted in. It was a deliberate choice to make it that way.
Everyone who does not want their content to be used for data licensing, but opted in just to delete the content, is playing right into Shutterstock's hands.

Yup! Correct. I have to Opt in, and as soon as something goes into data licensing, I have to delete it. They make it difficult.

But it's still funny how they worded it, in case we change our mind in the future, like it's some benefit or feature. Any reasonable system, would allow us to delete, without being Opted In. My answer is no, never. If it's not for license, it's not for data use.

4
I think that Uncle Pete went over to the dark side with his appraisal of Adobe :)
We can't save everyone. Let's take a minute and mourn for him.

Thank you for the condolences.  ;D

Funny how I can write an entire message, about how Adobe has raised the requirements for the free, made it harder to get accepted and then mentioned they still earn the most FOR ME, 33% (yes I know some SS fans, love the dimes and annual reset, and others are so happy with 15%) which brings out the negative people to attack the earnings part and not the point that Adobe is making it harder to get the free subscription, especially with the review roulette.

Where does it say that for 2024 we need 7k downloads for the full creative suite?

Here:  https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/royalty-details.html 

Whether Mat was our friend, and what happened to him after he moved on is separate discussion. But things were infinitely better while he was here.  Most will probably agree with this. 

Agree. I think from Mat's perspective, he was promoted. Adobe paid him to be the contributor advocate, now he's on the review team.

As for Alamy, yes, it's becoming the best for earnings, because the Microstock earnings, based on low pay and volume, has become low pay and low downloads. Alamy, one DL can equal a year of DT and IS combined. One DL can equal months of SS or Adobe. And I'm not saying just that one a year, big one, there are still $12, $24 and $48 commissions for single sales.

I'm waiting for the merger of SS and Getty, which will bring more change.

5
Shutterstock.com / Re: Contributor fund dropped.
« on: May 28, 2025, 14:52 »
I opted out. No weird rejections anymore for data licensing and everything comes directly into my 'normal' portfolio..
I think a very good decision.

Really? Shutterstock state that you can still get content selected for Data Licensing, regardless of whether you are opted in or out.

"For those opted out of data licensing, the Data Catalog will not be visible, however any content that is not acceptable for the creative Marketplace but is acceptable for data licensing will be marked as such in the Review tab. Shutterstock will retain these review results and this content can be published for data licensing in the event that the contributor elects to opt in to future data deals."

https://support.submit.shutterstock.com/s/article/Shutterstock-Data-Licensing-and-the-Contributor-Fund?language=en_US

They don't use it, it's not accessible, the files are still stored, in case we change our mind. Because of that, I left Data licensing active and anything that gets reviewed and put into that, I delete immediately. Tricky how they did that, keeping a catalog, in case we change our mind, We can't delete or see the content unless we opt in.

Translation, they can't use the images for training, we can't see them, but they are archived.

6
I'm just going to mention in earlier related news:

    If you had between 350 and 6,999 downloads during the 2024 calendar year, you qualified to receive a complimentary code for a one-year plan for Creative Cloud Photography (20GB), Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, or After Effects.

    If you had 7,000 or more downloads in 2024, you qualified to receive a complimentary code for a one-year plan for an Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps.
   
Only Contributors active in 2024 are eligible for the opportunity. To be considered active, you must have uploaded and had approved a minimum of 150 new assets.

350 DLs isn't that terrible, but with the reduced uploads allowed, the review roulette, the mystery similar rejections and whatever else, for some people who are careful and only upload quality images/photos, this will make the CC code, more difficult to achieve.

For you Adobe haters, it's still the site that pays best and makes the most for me. If the fans of dimes and 15% are going to keep cheering, just pay attention to best percentages and most pay, which of the three, SS, IS and AS, Adobe still wins.

ps If reviews are your thing, I have found that aside from some technical bs rejections, for legal reasons, IS is now the most consistent. SS is wacky, but for 10 they seem to be taking anything, anyone throws up at them. Yes ago when reviews were actually looked at, IS was possibly the toughest, but at the same time, the most consistent for what they took and what they refused.

7
Adobe Stock / Re: What's Your Lifetime Position on Adboe?
« on: May 26, 2025, 15:10 »
Nice mix of positions and numbers as we move into June 2025 soon, 82 people have shared their results.  8)

8
Even ChatGPT sayd that 10 dollars for perpetual use is too low  ;D

I thought it said $100.  ;D But really, $10 is too low, and perpetual is "forever". No thanks, I'll take the $4 and have some fun, but no lifetime, giveaway.

9
Adobe Stock / Re: Adobestock Review Time
« on: May 10, 2025, 14:57 »
I have images that have been waiting 9 month for review

You need to use this weeks secret discovery of the trick to passing review. Last week it was don't add a location. Maybe if you say the secret word, you will get passed on to the reviewers, instead of being stabbed by the bots. Maybe you should only upload one image from any series at a time, then rotate what's new. (actually not a bad idea anyway?) Then you will always have single images, nothing similar and always have a fresh image from that set, as long as the supply lasts.

My latest rejection, was very fast. An image was removed because of not meeting guidelines. I removed the logo, trademark, that probably caused the problem. Reminder this image has been approved, sold, and was on AS for ten years. It took less that 24 hours to be rejected, for "Quality".  :( AI reviewed quality rejections are fast. Real reviews take time, depending on what the type and subject of the content.

10
Adobe Stock / Re: What's Your Lifetime Position on Adboe?
« on: April 27, 2025, 14:18 »
pos 6680

You'll be moving up.  8)

11
Adobe Stock / Re: Adobestock Review Time
« on: April 27, 2025, 14:16 »
Here's interesting example, now rejected twice this week.  You guessed - "Quality Reasons".

Otherwise "quality" rejection is not just silly but disrespectful.

This image would likely be rejected due to harsh lighting, overexposure, and a cluttered composition that lacks clear visual focus.

While I have no problems with the quality of the image that was rejected, the AI intake review might have seen shadows. I remember when any shadows were a kiss of death to anything uploaded to SS and some other agencies.

I have had images rejected for focus and artifacts, before they went to, one stupid rejection fits all "quality". The problems were leaves on the ground, a sandy beach, and more recently, a cloudy river, that has reflections of clouds and muddy water.

I still believe AS, when they say every image is reviewed by a human. The catch to that is, some images are rejected, before they are seen by a human. In other words, if it passes the intake review, by the computer and AI, then it's seen by a human. The fast rejections are the computers, no one sees those.

Adobe's growing disrespect towards quality contributors was clear when they announced the limits for the 2024 bonus code for their software - rewarding AI spammers instead of quality content providers. I think no one should expect to be treated with respect by Adobe and thus you should act accordingly. Make plans what you will do when it's time to leave Adobe (or when you will be let go by Adobe) and work towards it.

I agree with your viewpoint, except the part about making a choice to leave. As long as they keep selling and sending me money, I'll leave my images. The other two, the current disrespect and the possibility that they could let some people go, are to be watched.

12
Adobe Stock / Re: Sudden downfall in downloads
« on: April 25, 2025, 11:14 »
Pattern and concept in many places is still derivative.  It doesnt need to use any part of it.

Thats why "in the style of" is causing so many issues currently.

Pattern and concept can't be copy protected.

You're right, in the style of should have been banned and prevented, from the start, that's infringing on a name and artists personal identity. Style might be questionable as you can't protect Art Deco or  Abstract, or Modernist. Lets say primitive for an example, anyone can do that. But you can't have AI making Grandma Moses Primitive.

Back to the bottom line, the machine learning doesn't use any portion of any specific image, it learns what a banana looks like and the possible colors, and creates a new image. The computer is trained on 10,000 bananas (as an example) is trained on the possible variations, and when someone types in the prompt using the word banana, the machine has a pattern that has been learned.

You can't copyright knowledge or facts.

13
Adobe Stock / Re: Sudden downfall in downloads
« on: April 24, 2025, 12:18 »
Training a machine with images, and then the machine creates new images, without using any part of the training image, is not a breach of copyright.

That's under the derivative works clauses in many countries. They don't have to use actual content. Information or knowledge obtained is derivative.

They are not derivatives, they are whole new creations. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) or diffusion models are used to learn patterns and concepts. Then the machine makes a new image, that does not use any portion or detail of any training image. Information or knowledge is not a derivative any more than knowing that water freezes at 32F or 0C is. A fact is a fact. Machine learning, is taught, not copying.

If the dumber "AI" systems, use bits and pieces of actual images, to make a new product, that's would be a derivative and can't be defended in any way.


ps the above message from Richard shows a quote tagged as me, and I didn't write "That's under the derivative works clauses in many countries. They don't have to use actual content. Information or knowledge obtained is derivative."

14
Look at it this way: winter holiday content uploaded now has a lot less competition.

And the buyers looking now are the really interesting ones, that might also have a bigger enterprise budget or perhaps would buy with an extended license.

6 weeks before the event there is a lot more competition and it is hard to be seen.

Also true possibilities. Another part of the last minutes buyers is, they are smaller and late, because they aren't organized. I'll guess that means, tiny value, not as many. Big budgets plan in advance, not the last minute rush.

I'm still on the same page with you that the best way to control uploads and have a presence is a constant flow, as soon as they are completed. Some every week or if there aren't that many, one a week. Stay in front, and if there's an outside chance that someone ever looks at similar or others by this artist, there might be some benefit.

15
Shutterstock.com / Re: New Unlimited Download Model
« on: April 23, 2025, 12:16 »
Wondering if anybody who is in for this model would like to share the earnings or they are available only by the end of the month?

According to the email it doesnt go live until next month but looks like they lied about that.
Given the revenue share model they mentioned i dont see how they can do anything other than declare it monthly once they know how much it brought in during that period.  I can see an IS style 2 month lag while payments are calcuated.

Sounds about right. Revenue sharing, moving to an IS ESP format, we might see a download but won't know what we made, for a month.

Just another way to pay us less than they already do.

16
Adobe Stock / Re: Adobestock Uploads
« on: April 23, 2025, 12:11 »
Maybe Adobe should fix contributor interface due to "Quality Reasons" ;=)



17
Adobe Stock / Re: Sudden downfall in downloads
« on: April 23, 2025, 12:04 »
Question is if AI takes over and artists, creatives, bloggers etc are no longer seeing financial reward, or very little reward why would anyone upload anything of value to the internet.  AI companies must have thought this one through, do they really think people are just going to work for free or something. 

Sorry to be harsh but they sound like a self entitled bunch, lobbying governments, at least here in Britain, to weaken copyright laws.  Our silly governments are swallowing the line.

IF? That has already happened and we are already to the point of no longer seeing financial reward for our work. People are still uploading to SS for dimes and the reset. People are still trying to sell on Getty for 15%. How could the financial reward be less? (I hate to ask that, maybe it could get worse?)

"AI" is nothing more than the most open and large scale copyright breach in human history and shoved into a database.
Every single generated AI image is effectively copyright theft as the models were all trained to various extents on media without permission.

Ultimately Adobes gamble seems dull.  NOW people are buying AI from stock.  It wont be long until they just make their own from a prompt in whatever editor they're using and have no further need to buy anything so that market vanishes.

Diminishes not vanishes.

The judges and juries and courts of the world, will decide if it's a breach of copyright, not artists who have a personal interest in the use and decision. Using public domain images, without permission isn't copyright breach. Training a machine with images, and then the machine creates new images, without using any part of the training image, is not a breach of copyright.

If you use a thesaurus, or dictionary, to learn what a word means or how to use it, is that a breach of copyright? Having a machine look at an image and learn is the same thing.

No I don't use AI, no I don't like it or what's happened to the photo market, but that won't make me ignore the facts or the laws behind how the images are used, just because I don't like machine learning.

Adobe is jumping in, just like all the rest. It's "The next big thing" and here we are. Let me mention Kodak, and how digital is just a novelty, film is always going to be better. Remember Blockbuster, who could have bought Netflix, but they didn't think digital or streaming was a threat. So why would Adobe, just sit and watch as the AI market booms, without taking a part and making a profit?

18
steady drip starting 6-9 months before.

you might get most of the actual downloads in the holiday season, but the decisions are often made several months in advance.

there are some last minute buyers, but anything you expect to have over 100 dl or over 1000 should be uploaded many, many months earlier

if you are new to holiday images, it can also take several seasons before you get regular buyers. there is a lot of competition and on some agencies it took me at least 3 seasons, before holiday images became regular and good sellers.

All of the above are true, especially if someone believes that they have to play the system, to somehow overcome competition.

The steady drip is the best answer.

Your other points, while good, just prove that we can't predict. Last minute buyers, don't care if we uploaded in July or December. If it's the Winter holidays, or calendars, October is too late. And the last point is also true. Sometimes it takes a couple of years for an image to "suddenly" catch fire. There are just far too many variables, out of our control, to spend time over analyzing and trying to find something that can make a difference, that everyone else or natural uploads aren't already doing. I get Christmas downloads in August.

Steady Drip, stay in the game. Holding back images, for the perfect time, is a guarantee that they can't be seen and can't be sold. We would have to guess the date that the buyer for the image, wanted it for a project, and that is totally unpredictable.

19
Shutterstock.com / Re: New Unlimited Download Model
« on: April 22, 2025, 11:25 »
Guessing Shutterstock jumped the gun...

https://www.shutterstock.com/unlimited now has a 404.  Anyone screenshot it before it went?

Sure thing and better than that. I just got this email:

    

Unlimited downloads. Just $19/month.
   
     
 
Introducing Unlimited downloads! A brand new, budget-friendly subscription built to give you more flexibility, more content, and more reasons to come back.

Whatever the project, our new collection of 50+ million high-quality images, video clips, and music tracks offers the assets you need at a price thats hard to resist.
   
     
Get Unlimited
   https://www.shutterstock.com/discover/unlimited?sfmc_id=14547313&subscriber_key=sstk-109388320&utm_campaign=EcomSSTK_D_GTM_Unlimited_InactiveUsers_V1_202504&utm_id=187045&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sstkemail



I don't think it's dead yet?

"The plan comes with unlimited downloads, but in order to be able to fairly pay Contributors for your use of their original Content, we limit daily downloads to 100 assets."


20
Shutterstock.com / Re: New Unlimited Download Model
« on: April 22, 2025, 10:25 »
.
It's strange that getty allowed shutterstock to do this.

Getty has no say. Nothing has been signed. The way it's looking I can see them pulling out as they're offering way over the odds for a company that may not exist in a year or 2.
Waiting to pick off the carcass seems more sensible.

That's ridiculous to say nothing has been signed. These deals are on paper before they are announced. They don't just change their minds. They entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine.

https://newsroom.gettyimages.com/en/getty-images/getty-images-and-shutterstock-to-merge-creating-a-premier-visual-content-company#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%2C%20January%207%2C%202025%20%E2%80%93%20Getty%20Images,equals%20transaction%2C%20creating%20a%20premier%20visual%20content%20company.

Nothing has been finalised, nothing has been side, regulators havent even begun to start.  There'll also be get out clauses for unforseen changes to the business conditions.

They've agreed to a deal in principle.  Thats it.  Plenty fall through after this stage.

I think investors aren't too confident in Getty as the partner. SSTK is up to $16.50 now, but right after the dividend was paid for SSTK, the stock took a dive.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/getty-images-shutterstock-receive-second-211500894.html

Getty Images and Shutterstock intend to continue working cooperatively with the DOJ and other non-US regulators to obtain regulatory clearance for the proposed merger as expeditiously as possible. The proposed transaction remains subject to Shutterstock stockholder approval as well as other customary closing conditions.

Both parties continue to expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2025.


I didn't expect this to happen as fast as some other people predicted. We might be looking at October or later, before the deal becomes official and then it will take time for changes to the structure of the business.

21
Adobe Stock / Re: Sudden downfall in downloads
« on: April 21, 2025, 13:50 »
easter holidays in many countries. schools and businesses closed.

If he doesn't have any easter content that would be a plausible reason.

But I believe that Adobe also had some major ranking algorithm shifts.

Oh good, maybe my images will be favored now. If one shift causes people to go down, the same shift will cause others to go up. It's impossible to have "everyone" going down.

Otherwise seasonal changes are the best answer. Whether that means holidays, seasonal demands that change, or new competition. Much better than the old blame the algorithm. That's getting stale for an easy answer to falling sales.

Maybe they adjusted the fake pay quotas for everyone? Ask some people here and they will say, it's all rigged. Then there are the others who say, it's just luck.  ::)

22
Site Related / Re: Site Speed
« on: April 21, 2025, 13:38 »
There's something else going on. The General says 1 member and 200 guests viewing the board. This one says, 1 member and 3 guests. Someone or something is monitoring and taking up the speed, slowing down the whole forum.

"https://www.microstockgroup.com/forum/#c1 might have a temporary problem or it could have moved.

Error code: 522

    The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments."

Maybe there's a way for Leaf to block the bots? Unless it's some kind of attack? How many of these guests are real people? They are all reading the General Board, not the rest.

1 Member and 124 Guests are viewing this board. May 3rd
4 Members and 187 Guests are viewing this board. May 7th

Something is wrong or someone is attacking the forum.
Off Topic = 2 Members and 45 Guests are viewing this board.

Others, for example?
Generated AI = 1 Member and 0 Guests are viewing this board.
Site Related = 1 Member and 3 Guests are viewing this board.
Shutterstock = 1 Member and 38 Guests are viewing this board.


23
Adobe Stock / Re: Files being removed from port
« on: April 13, 2025, 12:39 »
One for similar, which is very possible, one for guidelines. Here's the guideline offender. A wide panorama image. Maybe the size or the format?



 :o


24
iStockPhoto.com / Getty promoting iStock
« on: April 11, 2025, 11:58 »
Mostly about going exclusive and Customer Content briefs. But it did pop up on Firefox as something I may be interested in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-kesETgdC0

Do you want to earn money quicker selling stock imagery?
Getty Images Creative 5.59K subscribers
256 views  Premiered 95 minutes ago
Getty Images - Quick Tips 33: Earn quicker by selling stock imagery this way  ::) ;D

25
Shutterstock.com / Re: New Unlimited Download Model
« on: April 10, 2025, 13:14 »

Its a full circle for me.  I started out with most on Alamy/macrostock and RM.  Then migrated to the RF/Microstock model.

Now im seriously considering doing the same and retreating back to that.  Although to be fair, AS is still growing well for me currently.

And I would also like to go back to Macrostock or Midstock. But does it sell?

On Alamy, my historical average for 910 downloads is $7.52 net (about 20% are RM exclusive) vs SS's 39,000 downloads at an average of 60cents.

40x less volumes for 12x the price but then Alamy sells mainly editorial and no real point sending them generic commercial micro shots. 

At the end of the day, for me, it's more about taking back control of our assets and retaining some dignity.
 

Speaking for myself, I don't know what dignity there is to retain after I sold out to Microstock. A little late to take back anything, after it's out in the wild. New images, yes, that's possible.

You're right about Alamy, and people will argue, the volume isn't there. But last year, and Alamy is down, I made more on Alamy than P5, DT, IS and all of the minor sites I distributed to on Wirestock, all added together!. Selling out for pennies is just as desperate for any last money and this terrible plan from SSTK.

I suppose it's difficult to say goodbye to DT and P5. I spent time uploading, now that's just residual. Mostly, I'm waiting for the "Next Big Thing"  ;) Which is the merger of IS and SS, to see what happens.

Im also thinking of just contributing to Adobe and Alamy.  Seems most agencies now pays pennies anyway.

I think that's a good plan to be considering. They don't care if we leave, we don't get paid for the effort. What's the loss?

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