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Messages - Charlene
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1
« on: December 02, 2022, 01:28 »
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« on: December 01, 2022, 18:54 »
99.99% of the digital files in Etsy are stolen and resell at Etsy.
And boy, these thieves sold ten of thousands sales per account and each sale is about $3-$5 on average, not to mentioned many of them bundle up and sell it for $20 per download.
Problem is, Etsy pretend to care, but actually they don't and allows the criminal activities to flourish because they earn money from the listing and took a percentage from the sales.
I hope we can setup a class action lawsuit to sue Etsy for this.
3
« on: August 31, 2021, 11:19 »
Shutterstock is also having new policy to stop contributor for using keyword like "diabetic" or "handicapped parking" because it sounds inappropriate.
They want you to use "a person with diabetes" or "accessible parking" now.
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« on: August 12, 2021, 21:52 »
Here is what I found online. Earning breakdown: https://www.creativefabrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Creative-Fabrica-Designer-Documentation.pdfWhat the license can do: https://www.creativefabrica.com/subscription-license/This is what worrying me in this page: Digital End Products Below, you will find examples on how to use your downloads for Digital End Products. A Digital End Product is a product in a digital format that is intended for sale to multiple people (for example a wedding invite template). Creating a logo or a website for 1 client is not considered an end product and is fully covered under this license. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO Use elements to create a new design. For example, you are allowed to use floral elements to create a floral themed wedding template. Create new designs combining multiple downloaded resources and adding items of your own, as long as the new design is flattened and the original items cannot be extracted. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO Create end products that compete with the original product. For example, you cannot bundle multiple designs and sell that as a new product, or simply change basic elements such as color and size and sell that as a new product. You cannot sell in a way that is directly competitive with the original item that you downloaded. For example, you cannot grab a resume template, change the elements and sell it as another resume template. Create a digital product that includes single elements or allows users to extract the elements that you've used (all designs must be flattened). If this is the case, wouldn't it means that a subscriber can RESELL your photo/vector after they modify it? No matter how you look at it, wouldn't this be "dangerous" in a way?
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« on: November 16, 2020, 02:16 »
How to change password at iStock? Can't find the option anywhere  Any help would be appreciated.
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« on: August 17, 2020, 03:59 »
Me too... I didn't get double earnings. I hope they don't break promise and honor their words.
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« on: July 02, 2020, 05:28 »
If it is true that there are more than a million contributors on Shutterstock, only a few thousand of them have disabled their portfolios, most have stopped uploading, and a small portion continue to upload, then disabling the portfolio or suspending the upload is all about self-respect and common sense.
I have referred over 2000 contributors to Shutterstock. Out of these 2000, 90% of them have 0 image. And out of this 10%, only about 2% have over 100 images. And probably only a few of them among these 2000 contributors have over 1000 images. So in conclusion, there's only about 1% of serious contributor out of this 1 million contributors. That work out to be only 10000 contributors that are really serious. Of course, there's still many thousands who are not serious that continue to upload. Shutterstock usually have about 2million new images per week, now it has gone down to 800k. That's a major impact actually. That means more than 50% of contributor are revolting in one way or another. You must also understand that with the scarcity of new good images, SS is now accepting lousy images to fulfill their "quota". And even with that, they only manage to get 800k approved.
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« on: June 18, 2020, 20:03 »
we are able to create content.
someone else is able to work in the interest of their customers: for example LAWYERS.
Why aren't we talking with a great and powerful Lawyer's Studio to work in our interest?
because we aren't unite.
My question would be about: is it LEGAL to put in a contract something "you can't put in place a CLASS ACTION" ? Maybe we could say "mh mh, oooook, but when a lawyer reads it, (s)he says : oh, but this isn't legal, in fact we COULD ... and SHOULD. This is my parcel: are we going on?
:-D
We aren't able to do this, because everyone thinks that this is "communism" or the like ... but we simply are accepting a one-way contract that has a very very very low level of minimums.
Anyone tried to contact a lawyer for class action try?
Raise a fund from contributors. Use the fund to contact a lawyer or more in US. Maybe there's something that commoners like us didn't know about and keep accepting what dishes out at us. SS promised us 15% to 40%, but are we really getting 15% to 40%? They are pocketing the money buyers didn't download. That means SS actually pocketing more than 85%, which means they are exploiting a loophole there. Some good agencies commission model calculate the total download buyer uses, and divide equally among the contributors. If we could win the case here, it means we could win the case over all other agencies who pocketed the unused downloads as well. Is a good fight.
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« on: June 07, 2020, 05:27 »
If the new structure can earn you more money, then why Shutterstock want to do it? Your data sample is so small that it is totally irrelevant. Even a Level 6 will have a dip of 20-30% at least.
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« on: June 06, 2020, 01:08 »
For all these years, Dreamstime have not reduce our royalties as well.
Dreamstime cut royalties at least 2 times as far as I remember.
I remember the outrage in their forums.
Based on this history they will cut royalties again.
My bad for not knowing this. But still, Dreamstime is the only agency that stands up to Google. The rest just concede.
12
« on: June 06, 2020, 00:02 »
Dreamstime used to be the highest RPD agency. I used to get big sales from Dreamstime, but it plummeted somewhere in year 2015. My sales drop 1/3 and never recovered. I think 123rf, Canstockphoto, and others plummeted as well during that time and never recovered as well till this day. To save their own skin, 123rf implemented the new royalty structure which cut our commission greatly. Canstockphoto also increase vector price from $10 to $12, but still continue to pay vector artist $5 commission, instead of $6, and keep quiet about it. The reason why Dreamstime (and other agencies) plummeted was because of this. https://www.shutterstock.com/press/12352However, Dreamstime continue to keep its promise to us. Dreamstime is perhaps, the truly honest and trustworthy one. As far as I know, they have not took our commission underhand through fishy affiliation programs. For all these years, Dreamstime have not reduce our royalties as well. So, I kind of love Dreamstime even though my earnings has dropped 3-4 times over the years. Many contributors leave Dreamstime because the agency is no longer giving good return and focus on Shutterstock, instead. Dreamstime (and a couple of other agencies) are a victim of Google search ranking manipulation that favors Shutterstock and Getty. For facts, please read the below: https://casetext.com/case/dreamstimecom-llc-v-google-llchttps://legalnewsline.com/stories/512617650-google-unsuccessful-in-escaping-monopoly-lawsuit-over-stock-photo-search-results
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« on: June 05, 2020, 06:44 »
I've said it before - I don't think Shutterstock cares about people leaving. They have a database with 325.718.566 (!!!) images, more than anyone could possibly ever need. Their database has shrunk by around one million images since the announcement of the new payment structure. One million might sound a lot at first, but really is just 0.3% of their database, so nothing at all to them. The number of images added weekly stays constant.
The Earth has 7.594 billion people. And in 6 months there's 6,727,484 cases of Covid-19. And you think nobody is worry? Shutterstock has 300million files. And in 5 days 1million files are gone. And you think Shutterstock is not worry? This effect can snowball. One contributor will affect another. And if the momentum goes on, it will be out of control. The number of new images added are still constant because these are files/productions that have been created weeks before 1st June. People may upload these final batch and slowdown their production. With such drastic cut, all contributors will slow down production due to demoralization with wait-and-see-approach. So, I expect new files will slow down by coming weeks.
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« on: June 04, 2020, 08:00 »
The original idea is to have a webpage with all our contact details and portfolio link readily available for the public.
Having the top 5000 is just an ideal concept, but it doesn't matter because at the end, we only want this list to be made public, to open up opportunities for ourselves.
Take a look at m-rank.net. It keep tracks of at least the first few thousands top vector artist. They actually know who are the top already and have the record of almost all artists. They just don't have their contact details. By being hardworking and do a lot of digging, I am pretty sure one can come up with the list of contact details of each of them.
15
« on: June 03, 2020, 04:31 »
After seeing all the 0.10 cent streak, I think big studio producer are set to lose the most money among us.
From a steady $0.38 to a steady $0.10, it is a lost of 73%.
If you are only earning $0.25 before this and getting a $0.10 now, you are only losing 60%.
Before we see these $0.10 to $0.20 streak, we've always thought that a Level 6 could cover it back with bigger sales, but it seems that bigger sales could be far less than we thought. And so, being a Level 1 or Level 6 doesn't make much difference since we are getting these much of $0.10.
Big studio producer have invested a lot (in models, equipment, etc) and they may have not cover back all these yet. This sudden cut is too drastic, and big studio should be the one that get the most impact.
However, this is only the 3rd day, so we may have not see the full picture yet.
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« on: June 02, 2020, 00:29 »
I am a Level 6 and I estimate it will takes me 6 months to reach Level 6 again after reset.
But looking at my stats as a Level 6 now, I could immediately sees that this is going nowhere. There's definitely no increase even for a Level 6 so the email about rewarding performing contributor is quite a "lie".
I can imagine how much less I will be getting after the reset.
So, from now on, I will be removing links from my sites and directing those links to much higher RPD sites like Adobe Stock. I will be directing my customers to other sites. I will also halt uploads.
17
« on: June 01, 2020, 21:41 »
Dear Mat Hayward of Adobe Stock, Can you explain the step by step guide on how to create an affiliate link to direct customer to my portfolio at Adobe Stock? I have registered and have successfully verified my site through https://www.adobe.com/affiliates.html However, now that I am inside the affiliate consoles, I cannot find what to do and how to do it. It is very complex compares to other referral/affiliate program. All I need is an affiliate link to direct customers from my website to my portfolio at Adobe Stock. Please help.
18
« on: June 01, 2020, 03:58 »
Not surprising. Trust me, they will implement it one way or another. They just delay it for a bit, let the fire calm down first, and strike it while you guys are sleeping.
Remember they implement the new vector upload method? 100% objection at their forum. They delayed it for a month or so, and implement it anyway at the end.
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« on: May 31, 2020, 21:13 »
I hate to be pessimistic and wish you all the best, but after so many attempts throughout the years I don't think we'll ever be able to unionize (or create our own contributor-owned agency for that matter).
How many times before has this idea been suggested? "Someone" should create a site, "someone" should be the leader, "someone" should do this or that... And in the end, nothing happens because nobody has the necessary skills, the willpower, the money or the time to see it through. Let alone the power to convince people to join. Face it, we're almost all independent artists, be it photographers, videographers, illustrators or animators. We all enjoy the creative and entrepreneurial freedom (well, don't you?) and nobody likes to be told what to think, how to vote, who to follow. We may think alike on big issues like pay cuts or copyright infringement, but we don't run a business together. Each and every artist needs to make an independent business decision, because we all have our own personal priorities and reasons.
...And that's why I think a union will never be a reality.
Yes, I agree with your thinking totally. The reason we don't have a leader is because it is too risky to be one (stock agencies will kick you out if you start a "rebellion"). There is also no reward for being the leader. There is also no time for him/her to become one as we are all too occupied with content production. So, this person cannot be a microstock contributor. He needs to be a businessman/techie/opportunist. If he/she is able to gather the top 5000 email list and details, then he can sell this list to new emerging stock agencies for $5000 for the information. This money will be his/her incentives to gather the list and we all should allow ourselves to join in and not feeling jealous/envy.
20
« on: May 28, 2020, 20:39 »
To start a Microstock Union so that we don't get bullied by stock agencies.
I cannot do it. You cannot do it. We cannot do it.
However, here's what we can do.
Someone should create a site, and start gathering the contact details (email, name, link to portfolio, etc) of the top 5000 microstock artist of photographer, videographer, and vector artist. Lower rank contributors are also welcome to join, however, the priority is the top 5000. We need a leader, raise some funds together to build this site. I will definitely donate to build this union.
Get all of them together under one site so we could easily communicate with each other. We may not defeat Shutterstock today, but this will be a long term strategy to counter future harassment.
With this long list of easily communicable and accessible contributors, new and other stock agencies will be able to contact all of us easily. This way, we will create more channels for ourselves and stop the monopoly by big agencies such as Shutterstock.
We can defeat stock agencies harassment if there's no monopoly.
If Shutterstock give us 15% commission, and other agencies can give us 70% commission for the same package they sell to customer, then we will definitely support the 70% one.
There's many advantages of having a full list of top 5000 contributors contact details. The biggest problem right now is that we are all too unorganized and new emerging agencies are unable to contact us.
Let these new emerging agencies contact us easily so that we can create more competition.
The list of the top 5000 contributors should also be verified as a genuine contributors (and not thieves). That way, new emerging stock agencies could easily approved all the content we submit to them without having to waste their money and resources to review the content.
With this super list, big corporations like Google, Microsoft, Alibaba, Apple, or other big fishes can start another microstock site easier if they wanted to.
Again, the idea is to stop the monopoly by making ourselves accessible.
21
« on: November 17, 2016, 20:53 »
Can we still deactivate photos from iStock site?
If yes, how?
If no, what can we do?
(Please don't ask me to close account, this post has no intention to do that)
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