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Messages - Simon Brough

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1
I think we can safely say we are at the muddy puddle stage and the hyenas are circling with promises of more "exciting news"  ;D

The phrase "exciting news" now gives me anxiety :(

2
Pond5 / Re: Pond5 has joined Shutterstock
« on: May 11, 2022, 08:36 »
Personally, I'm encouraged to see if a collective marketing spend will improve Pond5 sales - which have been in decline.

3
Pond5 / Pond5 has joined Shutterstock
« on: May 11, 2022, 06:18 »
 :) or  :(

"Over the past fifteen years, Pond5 has become a thriving community of millions of buyers and sellers interacting, transacting, and creating together.
 
We are so grateful that you have made this journey with us. Today, we are thrilled to announce a monumental next step: Pond5 has joined Shutterstock to form an unrivaled creative platform that offers full-service solutions, high-quality content, and applications for brands, businesses, and media companies.
 
Our combined reach is unprecedented in the media licensing industry. Together, Pond5 and Shutterstock will bring your work to tens of millions of creatives around the world for use in feature films, video games, advertising campaigns, and much, much more.
 
Additionally, Pond5 and Shutterstock partner with the biggest companies in the world - including Google, Meta, Apple, Adobe, Microsoft, and Bytedance - with a combined user base in the billions.
 
The future is very bright and your work is destined for greatness!
 
You do not need to do anything differently - your content remains on Pond5 and, if you also contribute to Shutterstock, your content will continue to be licensable there. You should continue to upload new content as you would typically across both platforms. Finally, your payouts from both marketplaces will continue on their usual schedule.
 
As you may be aware, Pond5 and Shutterstock have very similar, but not identical, Contributor Agreements. We have no immediate plans to amend our Contributor Agreement (or any of the terms of use of our marketplace), nor does Shutterstock.
 
You will undoubtedly have questions in the coming weeks and months. As always, my team and I are here to help. Learn more on our Help Center or contact us at [email protected] and well respond promptly.
 
We have an exciting road ahead of us, and were thankful to move forward side-by-side with you.
 
Sincerely,
Tom Crary, CEO"

FAQs - https://help.pond5.com/hc/en-us/sections/6126870297229

4
Shutterstock.com / Re: SS annual plan fraud
« on: November 12, 2021, 10:39 »
Shutterstock's Trustpilot reviews are full of frustrating experiences regarding hidden credit card commitments https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.shutterstock.com

5
Pond5 / Re: POND5 Free Collection?
« on: April 22, 2021, 11:39 »
Pretty sure Pond5 have had a free collection since 2015.

6
General Stock Discussion / Re: PhotoShelter equivalent for video?!
« on: November 26, 2020, 11:07 »
You can go totally on your own using a Wordpress site with either WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads plugins to sell your files. This way all the earnings are yours. But so is the backend management and the SEO!

7
Just a thought, maybe the designer has passed away. Probably better to sell off a portfolio - rather than have someone manage it posthumously.

Agreed, past earnings can't be an indicator for final price but, as an 'auction', could end up being a fairly substantial inheritance.

Your scenario is as good as any I can imagine.

Soooooo many questions, soooooo little interest.

Speculation on the OP, yes, but it does beg the question - what are we leaving behind and how can our families make the most of it when we're gone? I could see a portfolio sale tidying assets up quite nicely, when the time comes.

8
Just a thought, maybe the designer has passed away. Probably better to sell off a portfolio - rather than have someone manage it posthumously.

Agreed, past earnings can't be an indicator for final price but, as an 'auction', could end up being a fairly substantial inheritance.

9
Seems less and less legit, the more you read it!

10

Well heck, that is extremely kind of you. Thanks for that Simon, you truly made my day.

-Mat

You're most welcome, Mat. :) Your valued contributions here are helping (new and old!) content producers hugely.

11
It has to be said, Adobe Stock has demonstrated a very clear commitment to the relationship with, and welfare of, its content providers - something which is both refreshing and deeply heartening, especially during this horrendous year.

The rest of the microstock mega-marketplaces should take a good long look, in all honesty.

Personally, AS has provided some much needed light during these dark times and I'm especially grateful for the help and industry transparency Mat Hayward has given to these boards.

The artists on these forums are trying to make a living, dealing largely with impersonal corporate entities - many of which are taking our earnings and laughing all the way to the bank. Here's to direct and meaningful conversations with the people who ultimately make a difference to our livelihoods. This does not go unnoticed or unappreciated, Mat.

12
Envato / Re: Royalty free in envato?
« on: November 19, 2020, 18:01 »
Uploading to Envato with any content (be it photo, video, audio, graphics...) will be a test of your mettle. The reviewers are extremely judgemental and patronising, in a frustratingly subjective way. If the reviewer doesn't like the look of your stuff it's flat rejected - regardless of whether it's 'commercially' appealing. The sales were worth the effort several years ago, not so much today, unfortunately.

BTW their RF licensing is the most convoluted of them all - buyers do not read the small print here!

Let's see what the new CEO has in store - oh, dear - shouldn't have said that!

13
Shutterstock.com / Re: The attitude of a real capitalist
« on: June 23, 2020, 18:14 »
#TakeYourContentAndGo seems a very apt social tag for Shutterstock at this moment in time.

14
Shutterstock.com / Re: Shutterstock Milestones
« on: October 17, 2018, 05:13 »
For those interested in video content growth on Shutterstock, these are the (advertised) total video files, in October, from the last five years:

10/2014   -   2,081,208
10/2015   -   3,326,309  (63% increase)
10/2016   -   5,416,462  (61% increase)
10/2017   -   8,306,500  (65% increase)
10/2018   -   "over 12,000,000" (>69% increase)

(using "https://www.shutterstock.com/video" via https://web.archive.org)

15
A heads-up for people who haven't yet received their code, check your spam folder (perhaps even your trash)!

It sounds obvious, and Mat has already mentioned this, but the code email comes from CompEXT (Subject: Your Creative Cloud Individual Code). IE it's not from Adobe and doesn't mention Adobe in the subject line.

I almost inadvertently sent it into trash!

Fantastic idea BTW :)

16
Alamy.com / Re: Video sales
« on: August 05, 2016, 11:22 »
Back on topic, we uploaded our video library to Alamy in 2012 and had 2 sales that year at $190 each!

Zip all since then, four years ago!

17
New Sites - General / Re: colourbox
« on: August 05, 2016, 10:42 »
Extremely low income from our motion graphics library. Not sure if they've revised their low payment terms recently?

18
General - Stock Video / Re: Motion Elements
« on: August 05, 2016, 10:29 »
Very low sales here for our motion graphics clips.

19
General - Stock Video / Re: Revostock Payments
« on: October 22, 2015, 14:35 »
Around $2K which was requested back in May plus another $1K earnings I hadn't bothered moving into the joke that was the 'withdrawal account'.

Emails are inactive, they've gone into hiding. Does anyone know if they've been declared bankrupt?

Tip for anyone starting up their own marketplace don't spend contributors' money! :P


20
General - Stock Video / Re: Revostock Payments
« on: October 02, 2015, 09:26 »
Yep, can still see it from the Producer Tools dropdown.

http://www.revostock.com/ProducerNews.html

21
General - Stock Video / Re: Revostock Payments
« on: October 02, 2015, 08:05 »
The entire Producer News section seems to be gone, including the post I quoted a few days ago.  :o

Have you deleted your account? Producer News doesn't show up if you're not logged in.

22
General - Stock Video / Re: Revostock Payments
« on: September 18, 2015, 10:40 »
Why on earth would you want to keep your port on REVO when:

1. They CHOOSE to ride the backs of hard working contributors but not give them water
2. They have a proven track record of screwing the contributor for their own inadequacies
3. Their payout system is turned off
2. They do not answer emails requests for an explanation as tho why they aren't paying

And you hanging tight that, while your clips keep selling and they keep 100%, someday they will become honest, ethical business people and all will be rosy after that? Their reputation has already been defined. Seriously, if they walk like a duck, if they quack like a duck............

Our focus right now is to retrieve the substantial monies owed to us.

Despite this lengthy period of unprofessional behaviour, we'd previously enjoyed several years of steady productivity through Revostock.

Whether Revostock can turn itself around and become the marketplace it once was? Only one man has that answer.

23
General - Stock Video / Re: Revostock Payments
« on: September 18, 2015, 04:34 »
I got payed out after some complaining, but it wasn't thousands of dollars. I don't want to delete my clips there just yet, in the (increasingly unlikely) event that they manage to get this going again. But in the meantime, I don't want them to sell my stuff because I won't get paid. Chicken/egg I know.

So instead of deleting all my clips, I'm considering of pricing all my clips as high as possible.  8)

I think you're right about not removing clips (yet).

We've recently cleaned up our portfolio by taking out non-sellers, but not without trepidation. Apart from the time it takes to resubmit, the existence of the files has already permeated the internet, and who knows what deeper links we've inadvertently removed.

Our fear is that removing files may damage web search exposure, albeit short-term.

24
General - Stock Video / Re: Revostock Payments
« on: September 18, 2015, 04:18 »

Currently we're looking to recoup overdue earnings, yet we're still having sales on the site (which means nothing if they're not being paid) so, it's a tricky one to assess. Do you delete your portfolio, having spent so much time uploading, and in the knowledge that Revostock still has a good online presence for buyers?


It's illogical to leave your art at a agency that clearly lacks the ability to pay their contributors.

Removing our portfolio entirely is an option we've considered, obviously but to what end?

"Cutting off your nose to spite your face" everyone loses, I'd say.

25
General - Stock Video / Re: Revostock Payments
« on: September 17, 2015, 18:28 »
Mantis/philipus (and just about every disgruntled Revostock producer) are right about the legality of what Revostock has done. Contributor monies (the designated percentage of each purchase price) should have been set aside and not used for Revostock's financial funds.

It's an unfortunate situation, with such an established provider of video content, that they cannot seem to keep their hands out of the Producers' pot (essentially, this is what has caused the entire downfall).

Our position, being owed thousands of dollars right now, means we've had to begin debt recovery proceedings in attempt to recover loss of earnings before Revostock simply decides to fold.

If it helps anyone else, we were advised to create a record of payments (monthly) and to send a business invoice for the amount due. This, to begin the process of recovery. Post or send with email tracking.

Debt recovery is not a pretty process and is generally only used as a last resort (you'll lose a percentage)  but with no payment since March, no constructive communication from the company (radio silence) and the prospect of a large amount of money disappearing - we've had no choice.

Currently we're looking to recoup overdue earnings, yet we're still having sales on the site (which means nothing if they're not being paid) so, it's a tricky one to assess. Do you delete your portfolio, having spent so much time uploading, and in the knowledge that Revostock still has a good online presence for buyers?

If only they would keep us informed.

Very frustrating.

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