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Messages - PCDMedia

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1
In the past 2-3 years Alamy has told it's own contributors at least twice that Alamy planned to soon open video footage submissions to them.  Hasn't happened yet.

In that time they've added video from PA Media Alamy's parent organization and just recently they've partnered with and added 14m clips from depositphotos.  These are in addition to the Pond5 footage.

I guess they don't want to add the workload of QC checking their own contributor's video submissions to their photo submissions QC overhead.



2
General Stock Discussion / Re: best agencies
« on: January 15, 2024, 15:59 »
It looks like there are going to be big changes at Pond5.

Would you care to elaborate or just speculation?

3
Yuri gave great examples of how he works, how they do their research and how extensive and authentic the post production is. For instance with tech images that show overlayed computer code, they actually have code written by real software people.

When they do team sports images, they actually design the team clothes specifically for the shooting, they work with a lot of authentic locations etcit is very, very impressive how much attention to detail goes into his work.

I wonder what his annual production costs were to generate all his microstock photos and clips? 

4
Adobe Stock / Re: RAW will soon need a different GPU
« on: September 30, 2023, 17:44 »
Check for a GPU manfufactuer's firmware update.  Might help.

5
Pond5 / Re: Pond5 Sales slump.
« on: September 30, 2023, 17:36 »
HD, IMO, is all but dead and it's up to you to invest in new equipment and start submitting 4K clips if you expect to "enjoy" success in a similar way that you did when HD was popular.

I submit mostly 4K myself.   With that said there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that HD continues to be very popular. I suspect on P5 that a larger percentage of footage sales are HD vs 4K and that will likely continue for some time. 

How/where is most video media consumed?  On small HD screens - smart phones, tablets, computer monitors, and most TV's with 4K TVs gaining but not getting full traction with the bulk of TV consumers as industry had hoped.  HD works just fine on the small screen real estate devices that are so ubiquitous.

6
"Pond5 Exclusive artists still have complete control over their pricing on Pond5."

I wonder for how much longer will non exclusive contributors will be able to set their own prices on P5.

We must be realistic believing we have complete control over our P5 pricing - Exclusive or not.

The P5 Contributor Agreement section 3.a.i.  has the onerous clause that states:

"we (P5) will have sole discretion to adjust the price of any Content to maximize your overall revenue performance or comply with our minimum pricing guidelines;"


7
In short, if an P5 exclusive Contributor upload to SS he will be held hostage to the prices SS wants on both platforms despite being exclusive in P5 and will receive much less in terms of RPD.

Actually that does not appear to be the case.  The P5 Contributor agreement section for Exclusives specifically excludes SS and its companies as Other Marketplaces subject to the P5 price matching.

8
This email does not explain how my exclusive contents are priced in SS. That question must be addressed directly.

Per the email P5 Exclusives obtain a regular SS contributor account -

Then P5's email states:  "Shutterstock contributors will earn royalties for Shutterstock sales according to their regular terms and payout schedules."

There's no extra royalty for P5 exclusive content on SS.

9
I am sure many people will do this, send the best work only to p5, the outtakes or weaker files can have a double life.

IMO within stock agency site offerings only buyers can determine what is the "best" work  - not the video/photo producer.  It can be surprising what stock videos/photos are licensed.

To me this announcement makes no sense and is based only on a dubious lure of an "opportunity to expand your reach" and dilutes the premise of having Exclusive content on one platform.


 


10
I had several hundred images on Fine Art America for a few years.  Had 1-2 sales.

FAA's search engine algorithm heavily favors their long-time members with very large portfolios (commercial galleries, etc.) that dominant sales.   Those trying to get started have a really hard time trying to gain any traction as a result.

Waste of time with no meaningful results for effort expended so closed my account.

11
I'm reaching out because I recently joined Pond 5 as a contributor, and I could use some advice. Despite having 900 videos in my portfolio, I haven't made any sales yet. It's been a bit discouraging, to be honest.
If you have any suggestions or tips on improving my chances of making sales on Pond 5, I would greatly appreciate it. Perhaps you've been in a similar situation before and found some strategies that worked for you. Any insights you can offer would be invaluable to me.
Here is my portfolio : https://www.pond5.com/artist/just_necessary
1. There will be very few sales on such a portfolio. Although Venice is promising, it will take a year or more to wait for sales.
2. Video amateur.
3. Buy a tripod and a gimbal, everything is not stable in your frame.
4. Venice is all editorial, and editorial is rarely bought. Understand that stocks are work, you dont need to shoot only the editorial. Or you need post-processing, to blur trademarks, people's faces.
5. Before you shoot something, look at the same Pond5 to see how others have similar shots. Sorting by popular will show you the videos that get the most buys.
6. As a start, it will do. Other sites may have more sales.
7. In your case, 900 videos is about nothing. Bring your portfolio to at least 6,000 videos.
8. Your videos don't have enough tags, add up to 50.

And raise your prices!   $27 USD for a 4K clip is way too low.  Low/lowering footage prices has never been conclusively shown to be effective in attracting/boosting sales.





12
Pond5 / Re: Why is it so painful to upload to Pond5?
« on: July 03, 2023, 12:15 »
I'm having issues all the time with FTP uploading. I'm using Filezilla client, every setting is fine, and my files are keep being uploaded over and over again. It's stuck in an infinite loop. I don't want to upload all my materials one by one, but I'm constantly having issues with batch uploading. I sent a message to the support too, but I haven't got any helpful reply.

Any suggestions?

I had same problem with FileZilla.   Started using WinSCP for FTP'ing to P5.   

No more problem.


13
blvdone, uploading videos only to pond5, in my opinion, is a very bad idea.

There is evidence that buyers shop around agencies for the lowest price.  Why compete with yourself on different platforms that are all too eager to offer buyers the lowest price?

14
If the other 3 billion people on the planet without internet access can ever get online, then even just 0.1 percent (3 million) of these new users who become customers and consumers of stock imagery will boost contributor earnings substantially imho.

And large numbers of them will join the stock media creator "gravy train". 

They'll become new members of crowd-sourced contributors that stock agencies business models exploit.   That will continue to add to the global stock media supply/demand imbalance keeping or driving prices low/lower.

15
The Press Release also has in the last paragraph:

"Vecteezy is one of the fastest growing stock photography marketplaces globally, with millions of vectors, stock photos, and stock videos that are free and safe for personal or commercial use."

Does this imply that SS assets could have the potential to be available free on Vecteezy - even if only a select subset?

16
Alamy.com / Re: Alamy, time to opt out
« on: April 02, 2023, 14:14 »
IMO - opt-out of Distributors sales completely except maybe for a select few.

Alamy's web site is available world-wide. Why rely on an additional middle-man for sales?  The argument that Distributors help local buyers with sales just doesn't hold water IMO.   

For most Alamy contributors I doubt Distributors have any real value add and aren't worth the additional commission cut they take from sales.

17
Zero sales so far this year.

What are you referring to - video or photos, or?

18
Took a quick scan thru medicCastpro's Terms of Use.

Noticed this:
5.5. Each Seller can use 100 GB of free space for uploading files. Any additional space can be purchased from the "Optional" page.

100gb won't go very far when uploading video footage.

19
Alamy.com / Re: Opting out of China in distribution scheme?
« on: September 22, 2022, 11:55 »
Apparently Alamy opened the opt-out window for China distributor sales for a contributor with very low sales commissions based on the below statement that was  posted in their Forum very recently today.  Alamy's Forum has reports from numerous other contributors that have recently experienced the same

Unclear if China distribution opt-out is also currently open to other contributors with recent very low sales commissions from their China distributor sales.


"We're aware that the sales you have seen through distribution have been quite lower than normal this is because of a deal we have made with the distributor in China to secure business away from competitors in that specific market area. This was for images in accounts that were signed up for both Distribution in China and Novel use.

We realise that once the commission has been taken into account, it has meant that the amount owed to you is very small. Therefore, were giving you the option to opt out of distribution in China and/or novel use early to avoid any future low sales. If you wish to opt-out of distribution in China, and novel use now (before April) please let us know."

20
Alamy.com / Re: Alamy sale for 7 cents
« on: July 13, 2022, 14:40 »
I opted out of all distributor sales all around the world. Had no 7 cent sales anymore. I am still getting $3 and $5 sales, though. Im at 250 for this month before my cut.
Same here.  I opted out of Alamy's entire Distribution scheme years ago.  If I've missed a few "penny stock" sales due to being opted-out so be it.   I managed to make the threshold to the new contract's Gold level this year with a small portfolio and no Distribution sales so it doesn't appear to have hurt me much if any being opted-out of their Distribution deals.

Alamy's web site is available to anyone, anytime. and anywhere with internet service.  BS about Distributor's "local" assistance and language barriers etc. IMO is just that - BS.   For me their skim and low prices is just not worth the paltry returns to contributors.

21
Pond5 / Re: Pond5 has joined Shutterstock
« on: June 08, 2022, 09:51 »
Just take a look at how much the top 20 on P5 meant to SS when buying the site.

SS/P5 did not want to p.o. the big contributors - likely the big aggregators and agencies with 10s-100s thousands of assets on P5 and thus more leverage.

That Top 20 likely has a different P5 contract compared to the rest of the contributors.

22
Pond5 / Pond5 footage subscription
« on: June 07, 2022, 11:44 »
P5 announced new subscriptions including footage today.

"FOOTAGE PLUS SUBSCRIPTION

An all-in-one solution for projects that demand an extensive variety of footage plus a mix of multimedia assets.

10 Downloads/Month. Choose from:
Selection of 4.2M HD & 4K videos
All 1.5M music tracks
All 1.7M sound effects
Selection of over 12M images, 3D models, AE templates

Only $199/month!"

No doubt this was inevitable given recent P5 purchase by SS and it didn't take long for the shoe to drop.

"Selection of 4.2M..." clips puts about 15% of P5 footage in the subscription pool.  For now...



23
Unmentioned in this thread is the agencies on-going marketing to attract new creators.

Siren-song advertising to "Make money in your spare time with your camera!" and "create residual income that keeps on paying!" etc.   

New and unwary creators eagerly sign up in droves with enticing visions and expectations of easy money to join the agency-created gravy train fairy-tale. 

They upload new material to replenish agencies with "fresh" content - some of it good some not.  Regardless it feeds the agencies libraries as they continue to attract new creators to replace the ones who've grown disillusioned with "penny stock" creator payments.

24
Adobe Stock / Re: Very Angry After Adobe Stock
« on: May 21, 2022, 14:20 »
[
So why don't they raise prices like many other industries do? If the main players do that....would solve a lot of problems.

Because they are deathly afraid if they raise prices their cheap out buyers will run to another agency with cheaper pricing and they would loose some market share.  It's a death spiral. 

If more than one agency raised prices they would be hauled into court or before Congress and accused of "price fixing".   8)

25
Adobe Stock / Re: Very Angry After Adobe Stock
« on: May 21, 2022, 09:33 »
There is Always a higher level of greed with stock agencies

Stock agencies are "for profit" businesses. Nothing wrong with being in business for profit.  Greed is part of increasing business stockholder value, and executive/staff and asset creator/supplier compensation. It's a major driver of their business models.  Greed no doubt plays it's part - as it does in many aspects of business and life.

It's become glaringly obvious in recent years that stock agencies organic growth has stagnated.

That's why agencies consolidate and gobble up competitors, spread and share creator assets across competing platforms, and drive asset pricing down with subscription and bundled asset schemes to untenable levels for asset creators.  All attempts to grab more market share.

It's apparently the only methods they have left to drive growth in the industry.

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