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General Stock Discussion / Re: So where are we at now?
« on: July 01, 2020, 09:44 »
Don't be fooled.
It seems that Shutterstock is showing images of disabled accounts longer than they used to after they have been disabled. They could now be manipulating the image numbers too.
They changed their system so that the "no 10cents" avatar cannot be shown as you may know, and they are working hard to disguise as if everything-is-normal on the surface..
They are trying to discourage protesters and break our spirit.
You really don't know if an image has been deleted or disabled until you actually buy them.
It seems that quite massive amounts of well selling Russian, Czechoslovakian contributor's illustrations have been disabled but they look as if they are still on sale.
What people are replying above is right. Do what you can.
The situation is different for each person. In the end it will all add up.
Personally I think that vector based illustrators have been hit uncomparably the hardest because they are subscription-optimized merchandise and don't often get ODs.
Especially people that were making around $2K a month and were professional microstockers. Now they can't live on it anymore. (critical situation). But they can't throw away the remaining earnings instantly now either. (disable images or close accounts, that is.) Because they still need that income.
And that's probably why shutterstock chose this timing. Which was in the middle of a pandemic. Because it was the least likely timing to lose money-making contributors. The most vulnerable timing. Bad economy, no jobs, other agencies reviewing processes were halting or really slow. Sales down too. And contributors will likely be quieter because they are too caught up with everyday life. Really evil.
.
Most likely strategy of those contributors would be to not upload , and meanwhile concentrate on making a foothold on other stock agencies and then taking good images first off Shutterstock. It's going to be a long process but it must be done. If you leave your good images at Shutterstock, they will dominate other stock agencies at a lower price. (which will mean Shutterstocks pricing will become the de facto standard. A disaster for the industry)
Now with the new earnings structure Shutterstock can go low as never before.
Now they can dump our images to an new breed of strategic partners and have nothing to lose . They already have the merchandise, the platform (the API),
and one million contributors over many nationalities and languages which is less likely to bundle up,
and they NOW have secured the absolute low cost for the images.
No doubt they have been planning this for a long time.
So it's not going to be reversed easily or in a short amount of time.
Of Course they saw the protest coming.
They were prepared and they probably had calculated estimations of how many contributors at what earnings level would close their accounts and break off.
It has been a month since the earnings structure change, and some people are just starting to notice their unusually low earnings from Shutterstock. This is not a short battle. it will be a long one.
Considering all the consequences above I think we are doing a fairly good job. Were doing good as long as we are providing them with only 10cent class images. That's what they seemed to want, and that's what they will get.
It seems that Shutterstock is showing images of disabled accounts longer than they used to after they have been disabled. They could now be manipulating the image numbers too.
They changed their system so that the "no 10cents" avatar cannot be shown as you may know, and they are working hard to disguise as if everything-is-normal on the surface..
They are trying to discourage protesters and break our spirit.
You really don't know if an image has been deleted or disabled until you actually buy them.
It seems that quite massive amounts of well selling Russian, Czechoslovakian contributor's illustrations have been disabled but they look as if they are still on sale.
What people are replying above is right. Do what you can.
The situation is different for each person. In the end it will all add up.
Personally I think that vector based illustrators have been hit uncomparably the hardest because they are subscription-optimized merchandise and don't often get ODs.
Especially people that were making around $2K a month and were professional microstockers. Now they can't live on it anymore. (critical situation). But they can't throw away the remaining earnings instantly now either. (disable images or close accounts, that is.) Because they still need that income.
And that's probably why shutterstock chose this timing. Which was in the middle of a pandemic. Because it was the least likely timing to lose money-making contributors. The most vulnerable timing. Bad economy, no jobs, other agencies reviewing processes were halting or really slow. Sales down too. And contributors will likely be quieter because they are too caught up with everyday life. Really evil.
.
Most likely strategy of those contributors would be to not upload , and meanwhile concentrate on making a foothold on other stock agencies and then taking good images first off Shutterstock. It's going to be a long process but it must be done. If you leave your good images at Shutterstock, they will dominate other stock agencies at a lower price. (which will mean Shutterstocks pricing will become the de facto standard. A disaster for the industry)
Now with the new earnings structure Shutterstock can go low as never before.
Now they can dump our images to an new breed of strategic partners and have nothing to lose . They already have the merchandise, the platform (the API),
and one million contributors over many nationalities and languages which is less likely to bundle up,
and they NOW have secured the absolute low cost for the images.
No doubt they have been planning this for a long time.
So it's not going to be reversed easily or in a short amount of time.
Of Course they saw the protest coming.
They were prepared and they probably had calculated estimations of how many contributors at what earnings level would close their accounts and break off.
It has been a month since the earnings structure change, and some people are just starting to notice their unusually low earnings from Shutterstock. This is not a short battle. it will be a long one.
Considering all the consequences above I think we are doing a fairly good job. Were doing good as long as we are providing them with only 10cent class images. That's what they seemed to want, and that's what they will get.