Quote from: angelacat on May 22, 2025, 19:45
Not sure what brought this on Trippy but I did think if my earnings are eaten up by AI, I'd just set up a website, put my stuff on there and hopefully get money from ad rev giving it away.

That is what I did. It's slow going, but working and better than feeding the beasts.

The solution to the endless 'exciting news' and continual screwing is to set up a website and give everything away for free.

Stop the greed.

"Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Moe, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen."

Quote from: Minsc on May 10, 2022, 22:27
Thanks to the incompetent idiots in charge, we're on our way to a recession.

I anticipate that many companies with either start downgrading or cancelling their microstock accounts from sites like SS and AS.

My SS sales has dipped in the last few weeks. Less big sales and less daily downloads.

Just brace yourselves for what's to come and stop supporting people who are economically illiterate.

Right wing troll.

Just noticed SS is posting ads in the admin area.

Left column:
Halls Cough Drops
Fuel Credit Cards
Volkswagen

Is this new?

How many pixel heads can you sell?

I had an online ftp instance on Digital Ocean.

It will no longer communicate with your SFTP.

All settings have been changed as directed by Adobe.

They do not work.

Higher royalties as a group. If they get some top artists, we could all be in the top tier!

What a brilliant idea!

The adobe free collection is just the first step towards 'All You Can Download'.

Get ready for that exciting announcement later next year.

10 years too late.

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 18, 2020, 12:12
So I now see Adobe's press releases everywhere, with people crowing about how Adobe is "democratizing" art by giving away images and footage for free, effectively helping to put tens of thousands of us out of business.

I don't see any press releases about Adobe "democratizing" anything by giving away their software for free, though. Wouldn't that be helpful, if Adobe fought their competitors who make their software available for free by also offering Adobe software for free? I know creatives were really angry that Adobe switched to a yearly subscription, which costs people a lot more.

Weird that Adobe thinks people should pay more for their software and nothing for other people's work.

Adobe manufactures tools for an artist. That does not mean that Adobe is an artist or even understands them.

If they want to help contributors and help people out of poverty. Just raise the royalty rate!

"...making this content available for Free gives the work and the artists greater visibility. The program also supports a need for creative democratization to make high quality content available to all"


Can you imagine a car manufacturer saying that?

Giving photos away for free is not going to attract new customers, it's just going to attract people who don't want to pay for anything.

If Adobe really wants to help and support contributors they should raise the royalty rate. It's as simple as that.

Quote from: mj007 on October 15, 2020, 14:32
To all on this forum. Who is a competitor to Photoshop software. Is their any ?

https://www.gimp.org/

The fact that Adobe are giving away free images has to affect some contributors that could possibly have made a sale not just on Adobe, but on other sites.

How about a royalty increase?
That would be: 'good news'.

The rest is just smoke n mirrors.

Anyone can give our work away for free if you let them.

I see no benefit to contributors at all.

Where's the good news?

Quote from: Horizon on February 29, 2020, 17:38

Quote from: ArenaCreative on February 26, 2020, 17:50
Many of the best businesses are created by someone filling a need they had themselves.  Adobe got on board with the microstock game really late, and they will continue to try and claw at Shutterstock's client base.

Good for Jon.  I appreciate what he did because it gave me a full-time, home-based income over the years.  His vision and platform helped me to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in income for my family.  Show the guy some respect - it's totally his prerogative if he wants to do something else. 

I highly doubt Jon will be reading this thread.  If he does, please know that it's been a fun run while it lasted.

Yes while it lasted thats true. I think for most people its been a somewhat downhill race ever since they went public and thats when the penny pinching started. Everything changed. As far as Adobe I think they treat Fotolia as some sort of a sidekick not too bothered about anyg

Pond5 achieved this over a 5 year period.

I have been with them since they started in 2006. For many years I made a comfortable living with them.

Today I make about 30% of what I used to.

Quote from: rinderart on February 15, 2020, 16:12
I hope sooner than Later. someone will come along and Offer a 50/50 Split and they Better do it soon as Micro as we Know it is going away. Any company who Can't make a profit with 50% of others work Doesn't deserve to be In Business...........Period. Nuff said. Im done.

Companies can make a profit selling other peoples work with a 50/50 split.
The problem is, they all get greedy.

Quote from: Noedelhap on February 16, 2020, 17:03

QuoteHyperstock was conceived as Pond5's answer to the growing number of unlimited download subscription sites that have proliferated over the last year or so. Like it or not, there is now a large buyer base that is only interested in an unlimited content subscription product. No, it is not TV/film or big budget advertisers but a growing group of social/digital producers that produce content frequently but on very tight budgets.

This is so stupid.
It's like saying: "well, people who work a minimum wage job can't afford to buy a Mercedes, so let's give them a Mercedes against a lower price point. Other car salesman are doing the same..."
What car company would ever think like that? It would grossly devalue their product. Sometimes you just have to accept you can't have it all if you're on a tight budget. Why does Pond5 have the desperate need to cater to lower budgets?

My two cents: if you're a content creator, and you can't afford a certain price for footage or photos, then maybe you're just fresh out of luck. Start saving up money, do something else and come back when you have budget. I don't want to sacrifice my livelihood and sell my content for pennies just so you can live your dream life of being a Youtuber. I'm not doing this for charity.

It's called greed.

They have been advertising Hyperstock since October:
https://twitter.com/GetHyperstock/status/1182428245557428224
https://www.facebook.com/pg/hyperstock/posts/

Where are our Sales Reports?

In my mind the content was stolen and they got caught.
Now we have the usual corporate double speak and lies.

Still no apology for using our content without permission.
Still no statement on how the royalty is broken down.

Licensing and Copyright are meaningless in this day and age. It's literally a free for all.

Don't forget Pond5 will take their cut from Hyperstock before you see your 30%.

It's a Win Win just for Pond5.

What's happening at Pond5?
I am non-exclusive with them.
November was my worst month in many years.
This month is looking to be even worse.