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Messages - sharpshot

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76
I'd like to see a site using steem.  Zero fees appeals to me.  Smart Media Tokens will be around in a few months, that might make it easier to have a stock site using steem.  I like steem because I've been using steemit for a few months, the crypto version of reddit and that uses the steem blockchain.  It has the largest number of transactions and seems to run smoothly most of the time https://www.blocktivity.info/

I know most people can't see what all the fuss is about with blockchain and cryptocurrency right now but I have the same feeling I had in the 90's, when most people didn't understand the internet.

77
Adobe Stock / Re: Update your 2014 tax form
« on: January 03, 2018, 12:26 »
It seems crazy that we don't get a reminder by email, I'm sure some people will get caught out by this.

78
I just wish I had bought some more under 5K just 8 weeks ago :)

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i participated in warmpictures too - biggest problem was no sales and Dan eventually had to close it down -- today the problem would be even harder - with google images  it's near impossible to get any individual noticed, so most potential users would never even be aware a co-op site existed!  what google doesnt capture would be swamped by the agencies.  the market is now mature, and a new site is not going to bee able to survive without a radical new thinking -

s
That's not my experience of warmpictures.  There was a surprising amount of sales, considering how small the site was.  I'm sure Dan could of kept it going but he found he was spending too much time on it and symbiostock came along, so there was another option.

82
There are other sites I use that pay 50% and have reasonable sales, like Pond5 and Alamy.  I don't believe the profit margins are that tight, if you sell enough.

Isn't some of that expected? Some sites sell video better, photos better or illustration better. Not saying that as an excuse because GL has probably been selling photos long enough that everybody knows they are there. Still, I chuckle a little when I see P5 in the top 4. I like P5 too, but it isn't the strongest seller for illustration. Alamy either, but they seem to be slowly finding their footing.
I would expect GL to at least keep up with MostPhotos and Stockfresh.  They pay 50% as well and I get a trickle of sales with them.  I've even sold more this year on FeaturePics  than GL and they've never sold much.

83
....PS: A couple weeks of pausing marketing campaigns is really not a big deal.  We don't have a $50mm marketing budget that we evenly spread through 365 days a year.  We test, collect data, make optimization, and continue testing.
I'm sorry of you think I'm being too negative but I'd rather tell you what I think than lie about it.  Was it really only a couple of weeks pausing the marketing?  It seemed like many months passed by when you mentioned that you were focusing on the new site layout.  Perhaps I got that wrong as well but I'm sure my memory isn't that bad.  It's great that you pay us a decent percentage but I'm getting a nice percentage of zero sales and that's not good.  There are other sites I use that pay 50% and have reasonable sales, like Pond5 and Alamy.  I don't believe the profit margins are that tight, if you sell enough.

The bit about the english was a joke.  The man in the video is a comedian.  I know the British sense of humour doesn't always work in other countries but I couldn't care less.  (That was a joke as well).  My english isn't that good, I just find that video funny.  I do wish you well with GL but I'm not going to be enthusiastic when I keep getting zero sales months.

84
I think they forgot the No.1 priority, keeping enough buyers to make it worth contributors uploading.  The old site seemed fine to me, they could of spent money marketing while working on the new site design.  Now, like many other sites, it looks nice but isn't frequented by enough buyers.

It's silly to say we "forgot" that buyers are crucial to the business, as that is a given.  It's a lot easier said than done when competing with companies who are spending tens of thousands of dollars a day (if not more), and the average lifetime value of a buyer is dramatically higher.

There's a lot more than throwing marketing dollars that goes into converting visitors into paying members.  We are working on this every day, and we are finding obstacles that we have to overcome.

For those who don't think we're worth uploading to, you're welcome to your opinion.  At no point did we set unrealistic expectations for the members of MSG here.  We said from day one this is going to be a long process, and one in which we are working towards.  We receive significant amounts of uploads each day, and we review images each day.  Unlike our competitors with hundreds or thousands of employees, we're a couple of people doing everything.  We of course want to earn everybody's business, and attract more buyers, and there are things we are working on to do that. 

Some of our sellers do relatively well and are frequently seeing sales, some see a few sales per month, and of course some see little to no sales.

Giving up control of pricing to our sellers does in fact pose challenges.  We are in the works of pursuing additional purchasing packages that would enable us to control pricing for those packages, while trying to attract the larger buyers out there.  We are treading carefully around this idea, as we need to ensure that our sellers still have control of their pricing, as we believe (and most sellers believe) this is a source of positivity, since you can determine the market value of your images.

As you can imagine, our site attracts people looking for a few images here and there, and only some bigger buyers who buy more frequently.  It always has been the case.  That's the difference between a la carte buying, versus subscription buying.  The larger companies who have significant budgets much rather spend $.12 per image than $1 - $30 per image.   Yet, as a seller, you rather make $0.40 - $16 per download, than $.10 per download. 

Buyers could care less how much a seller is making per image, they only care about how little they can pay per image.  The challenge of paying contributors high commissions, and allowing you to determine your own pricing is one that often discourages buyers.  Unlike the buyers, we do care how much you make per image sale.  So we are trying to find that healthy medium where we ensure high commissions for our sellers, while putting together packages that are attractive for buyers. 

We are also not trying to make massive changes on a whim, and spend a lot of time doing research and planning, before queuing up our developers with new initiatives.

In the near future, you will likely see new buying options for sellers, where the price per image is controlled, and based on the package they chose, will determine the commission you earn.  This would be in addition to the a la carte pricing.  This is not set in stone, but something we are working on and discussing internally.
What I said might be silly but it also seems quite accurate.  I remember you saying that you were spending less on marketing until the new site was done.  I knew that wasn't a good idea because we've seen other sites make the same mistake.  And it should be "couldn't care less", not "could care less". https://youtu.be/om7O0MFkmpw

85
I think they forgot the No.1 priority, keeping enough buyers to make it worth contributors uploading.  The old site seemed fine to me, they could of spent money marketing while working on the new site design.  Now, like many other sites, it looks nice but isn't frequented by enough buyers.

86
The total Cryptocurrency market cap hit 200 billion today.  Still relatively small but the growth is rapid.  Possibly not sustainable but who knows?  I do think people should start taking it more seriously.  It wouldn't be the first time a new technology has been laughed at.  I remember thinking what a stupid name Google was when I first saw it.  I laughed when I heard someone say they had Googled something for the first time.  They haven't done too badly :)
https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/

87
An opinion on the investment, use, and user traction of blockchain type technology. So who is actually going to pay for stock photos using it? Perhaps a few large comp[anies or something. I doubt the small companies, individual newsletter buyers. I doubt the churches. I doubt most any mid-size organization in the near future. I think the buying power per unit is too unstable to be of value. https://gizmodo.com/survey-most-americans-remain-blissfully-unaware-of-the-1820027828
If just the people getting involved with blockchain technology use it, that's an already big and rapidly growing market.  I already see lots of stock images from the sites being used.  As for churches, they just need to exchange their BiblePay coins https://biblepay.org/

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I just don't think it helps promoting sites that are making this unsustainable while having no images from sites like Alamy.  If you change that, I might be more interested.

90
JHopefully a site that's not run by people that are only interested in increasing profits for their

Obviously we need government-run stock agencies.
So you think everything has to either be owned by a few wealthy people that usually have nothing to do with the business or the government?  There's lots of better options.  Have you seen what Stocksy are doing for example
"Our co-op approach
We are an artist-owned cooperative founded on the principles of equality, respect, and fair distribution of profits. Our contributing artists receive 50% of a Standard License Purchase and 75% of an Extended License Purchase and every single co-op member receives a share of the company." https://www.stocksy.com/service/about/

I see, so every member of the co-op is a stockholder. Aren't those the people you say ruin it? Of course in the real world, stockholders enable growth, expansion, advertising, and loan money at their own risk, hoping there will be more profits. If the stockholders of agencies make the same grow and more profitable, then aren't we more profitable because our sales will also grow?

Stocksy co-op, where do I sign up?  ::) Oh that's right, it's a private club.

I'd say the answer is start your own co-op which I'd be glad to see and join. Now about expenses, hosting, promotions, IT, accounting and management?
I think there's a huge difference between stockholders that are involved with the site, supplying or buying from it and those that have nothing to do with it, only wanting their investment to grow every year.  Has Shutterstock improved for us since their IPO?  Has Getty improved for us since being taken over by a hedge fund?  Do you really think they aren't much more focused on keeping their investors happy than their contributors?

91
JHopefully a site that's not run by people that are only interested in increasing profits for their

Obviously we need government-run stock agencies.
So you think everything has to either be owned by a few wealthy people that usually have nothing to do with the business or the government?  There's lots of better options.  Have you seen what Stocksy are doing for example
"Our co-op approach
We are an artist-owned cooperative founded on the principles of equality, respect, and fair distribution of profits. Our contributing artists receive 50% of a Standard License Purchase and 75% of an Extended License Purchase and every single co-op member receives a share of the company." https://www.stocksy.com/service/about/

92
My goal is to find the copyright owner and point the buyer to them.

I am a photographer and have been funding PicturEngine for years on my own, and no we are not making a profit.  Hopefully, one day we will.  We only started accepting money last November, anyone before then was and on a free trial.  I have not received a paycheck or compensation since before I shut my agencies down in 2014, and pushing all of my photographers onto the PicturEngine platform to receive 100% of the sale.  I built PicturEngine for all of us because it is the right thing to do, and I believe I have the team to do it. The only shareholders in PicturEngine are friends, family, and dedicated developers.  Our passion and mission is to help photographers from the grassroots up.  Together, we will succeed.

Now with that out of the way.  We are deduping (removing exact duplicates) as fast as we can, always looking for fraudsters in violation of copyright.  If you recall, several years ago we were seeing images listed on PicturEngine as both RM and RF from stock photo sites, we worked with photographers and agencies to clean these up.  Agencies do not have the data to reach across the industry of a billion images to do what we are doing, much less work together to find an amicable solution to the problem.  I decided it was best to work with agencies not against them.  Verifying identity is critical.  We are always looking for mismatches in identity in our search results and when in doubt we don't show the image in our search results (or remove it as soon as we can.)  Our system is not perfect, but I believe PicturEngine is the best shot we've got in the industry for sustainability.   It would be so much easier if all agencies required the copyright owner to use a real name and not a pseudonym.

I was not trying to be critical of any new players in the industry, just sincerely wanted to know the answers to my questions.  If they have a better way, GREAT!  We can work together to find the answers and solve the problems as they come.
I might take you more seriously if your site wasn't pushing Getty, DepositPhotos and similar sites that are treating their contributors so badly.  Your words say one thing but so far your actions seem to go in the opposite direction.  I know we could all pay you to promote our images but then what''s to stop you selling out like many others before you?  I admire the way you keep pushing Picturengine but it still doesn't do it for me.  I'm still looking for something completely different that can't go the same way most of the sites have gone, being for the benefit of a few large investors.

93
I think the idea isn't to stop making money, its to spread the money around people that are actually using the platform.  Now, most of the money from the sites goes to investors that don't have to have anything to do with contributing images or buying image licenses.

94
Justin, how many times have the sites allowed a thief to sell our images for a long time until one of us spots it?    I bet that a lot of them are in, or have been in, your search engine.  It can take a long time to get the images removed when they are reported as well.  Hopefully a site that's not run by people that are only interested in increasing profits for their shareholders would be able to put in place something that makes it harder for image thieves, not easier.  I think it might be a good idea to wait and see what this platform is all about before making assumptions.

95
I think the idea is to let people set their own prices, like Pond5 have done successfully with video.  So if you don't want to sell cheap, then you don't need to.

96
I had a good talk with Mike on hangouts.  I'm quite optimistic about this idea and will help the team if I can.  It wont be easy and I'm sure it will take a lot of time but hopefully they will come up with something that will be worth getting involved in.

97
Oh, these internet times are so sweet

Watching people without basic education in economy talking about macroeconomics and monetary policies. Because they read something on the internet written by another moron like them. You guys just make me laugh.

I guess in these sweet internet times, everyone became expert in everything.
Does anyone really understand economics?  I'll give you one of my favourite quotes from an economist.
"The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable."  John Kenneth Galbraith.

98
i used the internet before it was called the internet, when it was a network of decentralised computers connecting universities and yes, the military.

To share information for science but also to get behind the iron curtain and help those fighting for democracy or who lived under totalitarian rule. Give them a aplace to organize themselves and get connected while writing under an alias so they are much harder to track down.

The latter is being undercut these days, by countries who organize cyber attacks or countries that block access with very sophisticated technology and a huge army of tech cyber fighters.

Decentralized crypto currencies are an attempt to get back to the beginning, make a currency independent of national banks and greedy politicians.

But nobody knows how long it will take to have enough trust to be accepted as a mainstream alternative currency to the euro or dollar. And some countries are already trying to have their own national crypto currency...which the state would control...

It is an interesting idea, no question.

But I think unless you can easily buy the cryptos like any other currency via your bank or paypal or amazon pay or apple pay, it will be used by a fringe minority.

For stock customers I still dont really see the advantage. And we dont need a crypto currency to convince buyers to take our files.

But nothing wrong if someone wants to use their time to explore that. i just dont see how it will make us less dependent from the agencies. Customers need a good infrastructure, inspected content and editors who know the latest trend. Somebody has to be there to lead  and have the vision.
Other cryptocurrencies pay for things like that with their own coins.  I think people are coming up with problems that should be resolvable. The biggest problem I see is timing.  This wont work if there isn't a slick platform that offers a viable alternative to the present sites.  There isn't anything I've seen out there yet that makes me think now is the right time.  Hopefully I will be surprised.

99
Others on the China ban list are Facebook, Google, Twitter and YouTube.  Doesn't seem to of done any harm to them.  I don't think it will be easy to ban in a democratic country.

100
The way I see it, bitcoin is just as fiat as government backed currencies. The only difference is decentralization. Right now it it still rather exotic, but the moment bitcoin (or any other similar product) becomes sufficiently trusted, stable and as popular as any local currency, the respective government isn't gonna just say, ah, the hel* with monetary policies, we give up. It's gonna be either criminalized or something similarly drastic is going to happen. So just make sure you sell it 1 hour before that happens.
China banned bitcoin exchanges and a few weeks later, its gone up another $1,000.  I think the only way to ban bitcoin is to turn off the internet, do you think governments can afford to do that?  Monetary policy has been used to delay inevitable problems and is making them worse.  Does anyone really think that governments continuously spending much more than they bring in, printing more and more currency and raising debt ceilings to levels that are astronomical is sustainable in the long term?

Doesn't matter what one thinks, if it's declared illegal, it's illegal. There's gonna be fines and sentences. And police forces to make sure you are where you are supposed to be. Try mess with IRS (I presume you are from the US), and face the consequences sooner or later, doesn't matter what you think about exorbitant income taxes.

You don't have to wait to do something what's considered illegal in your country if you take that Pablo Escobarish stance. There are many opportunities out there, a lot more profitable than stock photography.
I think it would be unenforceable without turning off the entire internet.  Do you think everyone using bitcoin is a tax dodger?  It's easier to track than cash-in-hand, the IRS are probably more keen to see bitcoin succeed, if it reduces people using cash-in-hand.  I'm from the UK and if I make any money from cryptocurrency, it will go on my tax form.

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