I have been a Stocksubmitter user for quite some time but the recent price increase has me look for other solutions to upload my videos. I have tried now Xpiks and although it has great features it work quite worse than Stocksubmitter to upload videos and so far I will not use it as the workflow is much slower than with Stocksubmitter for some glitches or parts that are not well implemented. The good and bad for both programs

PRICE:

Her Xpiks smashes Stocksubmitter. For just 35$ you have unlimited uploads vs many hundreds of dollars if you contribute with a big amount of files.

USER INTERFACE

Both are good and quite easy to grasp once you use them for a day. As I am used to StockSubmitter I like this one more as you have to jump less through windows and tabs. The important information is all in one main tab as opposite from Xpiks where you have to jump around more.
The look of Xpiks is much more modern vs the SS one that looks dated but as I said I prefer usability than looks

SUPPORT:

Stocksubmitter is much faster in this. You also pay much more for the program use so this is to be expected. It is also in chat form that is much more usable than the email Xpiks offers

UPLOAD and SUBMIT:

Here Stocksubmitter trumps Xpiks for video. I am uploading videos to 2 agencies nowadays: Adobe and Pond 5 . Uploading with Xpiks to Adobe was crawling slow, totally unusable and I tried many times at different days. Uploads to Pond5 had many failures too and although the speed was good I had to manually upload many times until all the vidos went through. I think something is not right with their Sftp implementation.
On the contrary StockSubmiter works as a charm, very rarely you get a failed upload. Speed with P5 is lightning fast and Adobe half the speed than P5 but still much much faster than Xpiks. None of the programs uploads as fast as when I use Filezilla Pro, with a symmetric 1 GBs/s upload fiber speed I upload dozens of Prores videos in a few minutes. That is uasully 20-50 Gb per batch upload.

SUBMIT:

No hassles with stocksubmitter. You upload and forget. No CSV exports/imports. Once you upload those all the metadata is submitted in an effective way.
With Xpiks although submission is not supported directly from the program in the case of Adobe Stock and P5 is does not matter that much because the program is able to embed titles, descriptions and keywords to videos for Adobe and P5. I don't know how it gets done as I thought that video has not the IPTC capabilities of still images but when you go to those two agencies the metadata written on the program is there. So that is truly great.

KEYWORDING:

Both programs have truly great tools to keyword. I would rate them A++. From within the program you have options to autokeywords or get similar images and pick up the best keywords.

VIDEO PLAY of files:

Perfect with stocksubmitter. You double click on the thumbnail and your predetermined video file player plays the video files
In Xpiks that is not possible in my case. You double click on the video and nothing happens. Only for this glitch I would discard Xpiks to manage videofiles. I have contacted support but unfortunately the solution they gave me  a solution (enter in administrator mode or normal mode) did not fix the problem and said it was more something on my PC. Seems this problems does not affect StockSubmitter

Conclusion:

It is great to have options to upload to many agencies at once, as it saves you tons of time. I have been using SS for a long time and it works great. But recent price hikes and the dwindling stock incomes is beginning to make this an expensive solution. On the contrary, Xpiks is much more affordable and if it would work correctly with videos I would jump on it in a heartbeat because it is much cheaper. But the slow upload and inability to play my video files from within the program makes me stay with Stocksubmitter for the time being.  I will keep an eye on Xpiks because if in the future those glitches get solved I will definitely make the jump because the money saving is huge with that alternative.

As I said in the tittle, this is my experience with both program that might be different to others. I could not find a good comparison on Youtube or here, so I wrote this so that others have some information before deciding, although both programs can be tried out for free and this is always the best path to know if a program suits your needs or not.

Hello:

Does anybody use XPIKs to submit video to agencies. How is the upload process with metadata. Until now I have used StockSubmitter and it is an amazing program , no doubt about that. The speed you can rearrange metadata, ability to open the videos, no need to deal with CSV etc. But it is becoming too expensive for me. So I am looking for a cheaper solution. Is XPIKS easy on videos. Does the export import function work without any need to arrange anything by my side. i rather do not want to mess around with CSV files. If it is simply an export and then import (and it respects the keyword order for Adobe) then I might try it out.

If this is not possible, I would rather not lose time and bad uploaded video files to agencies if it does not work with this type of files. Their guide is not that explanatory about on how to upload video files.

Anyone using it for video? Your input would be appreciated.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/26/shutterstock_getty_openai_dall_e/

Getty and Shutterstock will not need any more content of nobody in 2 or 3 years. They will scrap the content they have the same way as Getty showed the door to all RM photographers and their content providers or Shutterstock showed the door to all that did not accept their pennies.

Now not even pennies will be on the table. Time to move up that 85% to 100% share

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/man-ray-photo-christies-auction-intl-scli/index.html

The original print of the masterpiece, widely considered to be Man Ray's most famous work, is expected to fetch between $5-7 million when it goes under the hammer at Christie's in May -- the highest estimate for a single photograph in auction history, according to the auction house.

If Man Ray would see what the market of photography has become. People shouting in utter happiness because Getty or SS sold their images for 10 cents 

Hello:

This morning I was running a test. If I search with my Shutterstock and account name on Shutterstock many of my deactivated videos months ago are visible on google and you can click on them and purchase them on the Shutterstock page.

As a chat window opens for customer service I asked why they are still selling my content if deactivated from the site. The only answer I got was that this was not the right forum and I should contact Shutterstock support.

So it seems they are selling the content even if deactivated. I wonder if they have a clause in their contract that they can do so and they rely on google searches to circumvent the deactivation. I wonder also where the money goes. i haven't had a report of a sale for months. So it is really suspicious that all the content is available for sale but "no sales happen".

Maybe that's the reason they really don't care much about deactivations. I wonder if it is also happening to you. Because if that would be the case a huge class lawsuit would be in order.

The stock industry is consolidating faster than I thought only a few years ago. I think most players are irrelevant already that were still on the radar not so long ago.

Small players are already totally wiped out and sending anything to them is a huge waste of time and an opportunity that your content lands in the wrong hands. Middle tier have also mostly slipped down. Alamy 123RF, Dreamstine,Envato,Deposit are a shadow of what they were and in a few years will join the low ballers if they aren't already.

Now the "big players" that are competing as hard as never before even if it means for some of them trumping their relationship with contributors:

The 800 pound gorilla has shrunk to a baboon with a red and ugly ...... Still on the top list but falling every month. I remember when the exclusive number was around 300 (earning rating on the right). Very soon that number will be under 1 agency where you don't need to be exclusive. Their 15% has made many people loose interest. Less content less buyers.

Shutterstock: Well they lost their leadership a few months ago and will keep falling. Many demotivated people have already abandoned them and this trend will persist. Thy still have a lot of content but others are taking the throne fast.

Pond5: They are only a player in video but I think they will be part of the leadership group in this area for a while. I wish they could get stronger and also make a dent in the image department as I think they are by far the most fair agency to contributors.

Adobe: Climbing steadily and killing competition slowly but without merci. I think they are the ones that could turn the whole market upside down if they wanted killing all competitors in a few years. Make file exclusivity happen (50-55%) accept editorial, and start footage subs and Shutter and Istock would be history very fast. A couple of years and they would be gone. Getty/Istock probably bankrupt.

Other more selective or niche players like the few RM or premium agencies left will still survive offering specialized content that is not available on the micros.

In any case if Adobe does not make major mistakes it will be king of the hill by far in 2 or 3 years.

That's how I see it. The post pandemic world is changing many variables so I could be wrong but it will be interesting to see the final check mate when it happens.

One of the best features beside obviously the forum is that little poll results on the right. It has lots of limitations but it is a light beacon in the dark and even if the results are dependent on every's portfolio I think they are a good guidance on what is going on. For example right now P5 is in 4th position (gaining terrain) Adobe leader (gaining) Shutter 2ond(trending down) and Istock maintaining ground (non exclusive) in third position for a long time.
Then we have the numbers of Exclusives interesting for me as I still am in the stills department or how premium agencies like Stocksy are doing (I wish more contributors would post about that).

So in the last year it seems that again the panorama is shifting but the picture is still not clear enough as the voting poll has some flaws that could be addressed to make it even more accurate.:

1- Distinguish between stills and video. We have agencies like P5 that can be very strong in footage but if many photographers that have no video there give low numbers it can strongly distort the data and value of the number.

2- I am for example exclusive with stills at Getty but not in video. On the months poll I leave the Istock data blank as it would count as non exclusive and distort the data-push it up- ( My income in Istock is quite high I am on 40% and have many E+ images).

3- Size of portfolio is paramount to weight in the importance of the data of any contributor. It is not the same someone with 40.000 still that makes 10k that someone that has 200 stills and makes 25$. As the poll does not ask of portfolio size this is not taken into account.

In any case I have always found this poll a s great feature of this site. it has been criticized multiple times as being misleading, etc but I think that as a guide and improving some points I mentioned it could be even more a valuable tool.

I disabled portfolio before June first and got already a few nice Adobe video sales since them. Just now one for 70$ net. I wonder if with portfolios disabled all those customers that had content in lightboxes and cannot find them search for the other sites to get the file. I am for once glad I took the decision as I was gettying more and more 0.60 video sales and I guess after the new structure thing would be looking really ugly.

I am in the process of moving all my editorial video files to Pond5 exclusive as Adobe does not accept such content yet. Those editorials were only on Shuter and P5 so the transition is easy. With the creative files I still have to decide if they are worth being keps as nonexclusive now that I am not longer distributing footage to Istock and Shutter.

In any case glad that other agencies are picking up and if enough people don't accept the draconian new commissions of Shutterstock and disable / delete the portfolios there another unfair agency will nosedive as the 800 pound gorilla did.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-pavlovsky-ab26181
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934619000011/a2019-8xk_2019x03x13.htm

On April first Jon Oringer stepped down from his leading position in the company created and Stan Pavlovsky was appointed as a new CEO. If you look at the stock graph of Shutterstock in the Nasdaq market you will see that after an initial huge increase in stock value the company has been losing value and shares price has decreased in a continuous way. So what do shareholders ask for........you name it....."Increase value".

How to increase value? There are many ways. One is to grow, sell more content, rise prices, tap new markets. But in this highly competitive markets they tried to increase prices with Offset which has failed miserably and only a tiny fraction of what they thought it would be. Sell more content? The growth days are long over those increases are in sigle digit numbers. Tap new markets? Shutterstock is already global and has presence in the 5 continents.

So what is left? Squeeze their supply chain. Who are those? Us. Has it be done before? For sure, in all the branches of the industry. In traditional sectors this is not that easy because there are unions, strikes, government pressures that don't want physical business shut down,etc. In a globalized economy where the suppliers are scattered all over the world all these does not happen. Suppliers are in the thousands and quickly replaceable, no government will come to rescue anybody as workers are not of any nationality. Unions?....what is that......strikes we will see how powerful the started strike is.

If you look at the Sec filling you will see that his annual salary is 600.000$. Nice but nothing to shoot rockets in the high salaries world of companies CEOs. But here comes the details in his contract......
He additionally will get "meant, Mr. Pavlovsky will be entitled to an annual base salary of $600,000 and an annual cash bonus target of 80% of his base salary, based on the achievement of individual and company performance-based objectives established by our Compensation Committee in connection with the Company's short-term incentive compensation plan and pro-rated for his initial year of service.
It does not stop here.....

Commencement of his employment, Mr. Pavlovsky will receive the following equity awards:
�
An initial grant of restricted stock units (�RSUs�) of the Company�s common stock in an amount equal to the fair market value of $750,000, of which 33% of the RSUs will vest on each of the first and second anniversaries of the grant and 34% will vest on the third anniversary of the grant, subject to Mr. Pavlovsky�s continued employment with the Company.

and......

An initial grant of performance stock units (�PSUs�) of the Company�s common stock in an amount equal to $1,500,000. The PSUs will vest, if at all, over a three-year performance and service period based on achievement of targets determined by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors.

Well now you understand why his actions. There is a lot to be made in his first year as CEO and the following 3 years. He will make whatever it takes to increase value and nice quarterly numbers so he can cash in his fat bonuses, even if he destroys long term value. The same happened before at Getty but with a Private Equity Fund. Inflate revenue short term at all costs even if you are destroying the company in the long term.

This is the corporate world friends. We are nothing but numbers. Our problems to make months end are non of his interest.

Let�s see how this all pans out but it does not look good. We are too scattered, have different interests and goals and such a fragmented tribe has all to lose. Julius Cesar knew these thousands of years ago and this has not changed a comma nowadays.

Only wanted to point out the reasons and motives of such action. I will take a stance even if I am not convinced that it will stop the juggernaut. But again I walked away once of such a move and will again if necessary. There are still options out there although they are getting fewer and fewer.

I am going back and forth in my decision to leave Istock as an exclusive image distributor. I am already video non exclusive since two years ago so now the decision is about images. With around 20k images at Istock I know that leaving exclusivity opens a lot of questions that with the vision and experience of some of you, specially if you have taken the same step could be of important value into which direction I should go.

I have to say that I left briefly exclusivity 4 or 5 years ago and I was not convinced at that time of the benefits of non exclusivity but I was trying only for 3 months before going back to the crown. Panorama has massively changed in the stock industry , for the worse although at Getty/Istock specially as the earning ratings reflect on the polls. At one time the exclusive value was close to 500, now only 72. All agencies have gone down but not so quickly and by that large amount.

When I left exclusivity I think the only agencies worth of my time were Shutter Adobe (At that time Fotolia), 123RF and Envato. Dreamstime I never supplied because the 6 month clause if I ever wanted back to exclusivity I could not afford this clause. Deposit I did supply them but sales where not so good and the reputation was and is still also not very good. Bigstock Canstock and other minor agencies one I wanted to try were just a huge waste of my time.

In 2012 my rpi per image was 3-4$/month (36-48$ year/image). In 2020 it is 0.20-0.30$ / month . I know rpi has fallen very hard across all the industry but I wonder what the monthly rpi per image as a non exclusive photographer (no video taken into consideration).

If the rpi would be the same the decision to leave the crown is not that easy. Yes you have your eggs in multiple baskets but again it is more work to supply and follow more agencies. You are more exposed to image abuse. I mean piracy , with many model released images misuse of one of those is more difficult to track down as if you supply one agency, etc, etc. But also being in many apart from spreading risk you can upload things that are not accepted at Getty the list has gone bigger and bigger. No retouched models, no graffitis even if they are 2 pixels in the final image etc.

So on average what is your monthly rpi as a non exclusive?. I am specially interested if you do this full time like me and if you have model shoots in your portfolio. I understand that having more a food,travel, nature, animals portfolio will provide you with a much lower rpi.

Thank you in advance if any of you want to share this rpi. It might help me and others that think it is time to leave Gettys love behind........

Hello:

I am having a lot of problems uploading to Motionelements using Stocksubmitter at this time. This great tool is really a time saver for my other sites but with this agency it is not working. I get many upload/submission errors and it is a headache to track what is uploaded/submitted as many files that appear to be in a particular status never reach that status when I check the agency, or never even appear there.

Anybody facing similar problems with Stocksubmitter/MotionElements?. I have uploaded directly(ftp filezilla) some files that never went through stock submitter(even with many repeated attempts) and they were online at first try, so there has to be something between both that is causing the problems.

Hope anyone can share their experiences uploading and submitting to this agency through SS and if you are having the same problems.....

Interesting article in Photoshelter when the use of stock photography does not represent reality and why users of it should try harder to get the right image.

https://blog.photoshelter.com/2018/03/betsy-devoss-tweet-says-as-much-stock-photography-as-it-does-about-her-ignorance/