I think that what they are saying is that they will take their money pool (a mysterious amount based on something - trust us) and spread it out based on some cryptic formula based on how often your assets are used - probably not evenly - so a use of a template might count more than the use of an image - but they won't tell us how they decide.


What is different in this announcement is that they are using more usages to decide how to split up the pool - so this might be good for you if you had usages that weren't previously counted towards the $ you got, but if you don't, it will be bad for you because the total pool is not going up but it will be sliced thinner and more slices will go to someone else. It gives them more flexibility to pay more for content they want (and thus pay less for content they already have).

They didn't say it, but I suspect that the recent big drop in earnings is because they decided to reward template usages more - at the expense of image usages. Good for template designers, bad for image creators.  This new change will allow them even more ability to reward one type of content, and since the total pool will not go up that means they will take that money from some other type of content. It is not transparent in the least, and subject to change at their whim too (which seems to be the case for all of the sites to some extent).


If this means that they pay for applies and usages that could be good for us, if it means there are a bunch of other usages that aren't from our images that they are also paying for it could be bad. I suspect we will just get a payment from them every month just like before. It will continue to drop, and we won't have any idea how they really calculated it.

I think that like most trends demand will drop a bit for the images that look AI generated. Sort of like the overdone HDR images when they first came out - for a while they were everywhere, now not so much - but they are still out there and still sold. In a bit AI looking images won't be very popular, but they won't be what AI is churning out at that point.

AI generated images are just starting to get to the point where you can't really identify them, and things are moving fast. When you can't tell (and lets face it - when you can't tell, they will end up in nearly all the stock libraries whether they are allowed or not) then there will be no way to avoid them.

I think what will spell the end of stock sales will be when the AI programs that the people are using to create content just make the images to go along with that content. There will still be sales, but way less than now.

in the I don't really trust them category, I suspect at some point they will change the TOS to allow them to use the data from these files if you are opted in or not - or more likely say that the TOS has allowed them to do that all along. There really should be a way to see and delete these files.

It would be nice if we could edit the metadata to make them do weird things to training sets.

Can you only have a bare minimum of perhaps very generic keywords and then add the rest after the images are in your port? probably not worth the effort, but a pretty sleazy move by SS.

SS used to have a tool that told you how often search terms were used over time - for instance you could see when seasonal searches ramped up and compare 2 or three synonyms to see what was used most often in searches. It was incredibly useful, so of course they got rid of it.

DT shows what terms were used to find the images sold. It is often misleading because original search terms do not always reflect a search that clicks on similar images or images from the same port. Sometimes searches are very explicit, but more often they are just one or 2 words.

I do wish the sites did more to limit spam - either intentional or unintentional (for example DT pulls words out of the description and puts them in the keywords and also splits 2 or more word keywords into single words leading to unintentional spam.)

I think the advice to put what is in the image in the keywords starting with the most important words is basic and good advice. It would be useful for the sites to say what people search for when they want isolated or cutout (or whatever the search term is) images. Same for top down, or flat lay, or copyspace or negative space or whatever.

AI reviewing is no better than AI production.

I remember one time a while ago (some time after 2015 but before 2020) trying to figure out how many pics I had at 123RF and only about half of them showed up in search. I think they fixed that eventually, but really ever since they promised a doubling of sales (when they cut our take significantly) they have just been going downhill. They are a shadow of their former self, and I should probably just figure out how to delete my port and close it.

Don't even get me started on their pathetic contributor portal - so many problems with it.

Quote from: cobalt on July 20, 2023, 01:01

Eventually pond5 and ss will merge.

What will happen then?

Customers want a one stop shop with the same price for everything.

Maybe a year, maybe 3 years, but it is coming.

Or did ss put out a statement protecting the current p5 system for at least 10 years? Or 5? Or 1?

If SS puts out a legally binding statement, I would agree that having a lot of exclusive content at 60% is a good idea.

But p5 is now SS, so what will the new owners do?

Adding a link to pond5 is in principle a good thing, but obviously customers will want to use their ss plans to download freely on p5.

eta

Do you see p5 heavily promoting their exclusive plan with 60% royalty?

If they wanted to dominate the market, they would very heavily promote that. Also put out legally binding statements, that this will not change.

But I don�t see them doing that.

You are promoting a vision the company it self is not promoting.

Pond5 actually is promoting contributors to become Exclusive.
https://www.pond5.com/sell-stock-footage

You have very little experience selling on Pond5 and also selling stock videos.  So, I don't take your opinion seriously to be honest in regard to stock videos.

I don't think Shutterstock will just make Pond5 into Shutterstock.  I think Shutterstock will keep Pond5's own business model as it is.  Having 2 totally different business model generating revenue is their strength.

Perhaps it makes more sense to look at what SS did to Bigstock and SS as a likely future for P5 rather than hoping they will do what you think would be best.

Well they are training their database with consent from contributors, on the assumption that contributors are abiding by the rules. I won't link to an individual, and this is part of a larger set, but I found this vector of an elephant today.

This is clearly AI created, (which Shutterstock don't allow), and then autotraced as a vector, (which Shutterstock don't allow). On top of this, the keywords were spam, (which Shutterstock don't allow) - light, girl, woman, people, happy, person, sky, silhouette.

If AI is being trained on this two trunked elephant, with two and a half legs and a tusk coming out of his backside, then we are all screwed.

or maybe the people depending on AI are screwed

Not that it would or could happen, but I wonder how this would all legally play out if all the contributors deleted their ports today. I wouldn't be surprised if SS would keep the data finding some weasel wording in the TOS to keep it.

Maybe the AI reviewers give preference to the AI submitters and those are preferred by the AI buyers. I for one welcome our AI overlords.

Quote from: cascoly on June 26, 2023, 19:57

Quote from: MadPhotos on June 26, 2023, 10:38

Got paid today, simlar amount in numbers  as i got paid last time... Yet thanks to getting paid in $ now in EU i basically recived 100� less....

do i understand correctly?  they paid you $5/image but you were expecting 5� /image?

No you didn't, what I'm saying is its in dollar now for all so for  same amount photos sold i lost value. Yes, yes you in US and you don't see problem but i don't pay bills in dollars and my sells are 80% local sales in EU and customers don't pay in dollar either. I don't mind if customer pay in dollar and commission is in dollar but if customer pay in � or �. Trying understand how it is done. Do EU customers pay equivalent of dolar value? We getting commission Right? Again UK and EU customers don't pay in dollars. My question then is, are prices of subscriptions are 1:1 between countries or it always equals to value of "1$" after convertion?

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

you got paid a bonus in the past because you were paid in a different currency. Now you don't get that bonus anymore. That is unfortunate for you, but not something everyone else who didn't get that bonus is going to get all bent out of shape about.

I once schemed about how to sign up for Fotolia in GB so I would get paid in pounds which was a substantial bonus at the time. I didn't go through with it though.