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Messages - Cider Apple

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101
VideoBlocks / Re: Video review taking ages
« on: June 15, 2018, 05:01 »
My new video uploads go straight through to approved now. No pending at all. I guessed this was rolled out to everyone? Maybe not?

102
Hi, I totally agree with increasingdifficulty response.

I thought your footage was excellent and how amazingly natural and rugged New Zealand is. (Hoping to visit in a couple of years when the kids are bigger)
You have no worries with your editing skills. You played around with timing shots to the music which I liked.

For stock you shouldn't really need to edit a clip. Just cut the start and end bits for camera shake when you press record. As for colour grading. Yes deffo. I colour grade all my clips.

I could imagine that you could be the go to place for New Zealand extreme / natural / lifestyle shots. If you did this right you could make a lot of money:)

103
Adobe Stock / Re: Poor $ week on fotolia
« on: May 12, 2018, 02:07 »
I dont know what happen on fotolia but my week was not very good. It is the same for other photo contributor ?

If your rank is dropping, it's you.
If it doesn't, it's Fotolia.

But rank is useless on Fotolia for footage. I can get a $150 video download but it counts the same as a $0.5 photo sale. I never take notice of my rank as I only contribute footage and it's way off the mark. It it went via $$$ that would be a lot better INHO

Back to the original question: I find Fotolia/Adobe inconsistent with sales. Some weeks it's up with Shutterstock and Getty where as other weeks its down. The last month has been particularly good but this week has been a little slow.

$150 video sale on Fotolia? I didn't know it was possible.  :o

Otherwise, you are right, the rank is useful for contributors with a port made mostly of stills.

FYI, the OP asked the question to photo contributors.
Yeah I've had a couple in the last few months. It must have been some weird kind of extended 4K license? The majority are the $28 ones

104
Adobe Stock / Re: Poor $ week on fotolia
« on: May 11, 2018, 10:39 »
I dont know what happen on fotolia but my week was not very good. It is the same for other photo contributor ?

If your rank is dropping, it's you.
If it doesn't, it's Fotolia.

But rank is useless on Fotolia for footage. I can get a $150 video download but it counts the same as a $0.5 photo sale. I never take notice of my rank as I only contribute footage and it's way off the mark. It it went via $$$ that would be a lot better INHO

Back to the original question: I find Fotolia/Adobe inconsistent with sales. Some weeks it's up with Shutterstock and Getty where as other weeks its down. The last month has been particularly good but this week has been a little slow.

105
General Stock Discussion / Re: iStock is "stealing" my videos
« on: April 19, 2018, 05:08 »
Yeah they are putting our content in the Premium access catalogue on Getty. Basically huge content producers pay an annual subscribtion to Getty/istock (which we dont see any of the $$$ from) and it ables them to buy clips for $0.10. I've had some sell for $0.01.

I still get the occasional big $$$$ even though I'm non exclusive so not sure what is going on there.

Number of sales is the largest but $$$ is 2nd best for me. Still pays the mortgage every month so I can't pull out. I've just slowed down my uploading.

106
Pond5 / Re: Can not FTP to Pond5
« on: April 19, 2018, 05:02 »
Me too, exactly the same. The first couple of clips get stuck on a continuous loop. It's driving me nuts and really slowing things down. I can't upload to pond5 overnight as it will just upload the first 2 clips.

It seems to be worse for 4K than HD. Sometimes HD can go straight through.

Not sure what to do but I've had it for the best part of 6 months...

I'm on a Mac by the way. What about you?

107
General - Stock Video / Re: Low point again
« on: April 19, 2018, 03:38 »
Hay Chris, it really depends on what you want out of your stock portfolio? If you want monthly sales then you need way more clips. You only have 300+- so you will get dry months with little consistency.

If you want to do this as a career and not a hobby then you have kind of answered your own questions. Definitely don't lower your prices as they are too low at the moment IMO.

You should concentrate on content - for 360 we want to experience the environment. You need more interesting things going on. Place the camera on things, get a little movement. Think unique niches.

Also film way more HD-4K content. That's the bread and butter at the moment. Get friends and family to model for you. Don't be afraid to experiment with camera angles and camera movement.

It's a long road but sure is worth it when you get there.

Good luck:)

108
General Stock Discussion / Re: Motion Array
« on: March 03, 2018, 14:28 »
Been there for a while. It has good and bad points. As soon as files get older than a month or 2 sales dramatically go down. Only new sales sell well (uploaded within a month).
You have to keep uploading fresh content to get the regular sales.

Before this thread new motion graphic or video clip was in a 1-10 clip waiting list.
Now the waiting list is 350+

Wow this thread has driven more contributors so sales will become less and less.

109
I did some, some years ago and the main sites did except it. I think you have to add a certain keyword and title for what I remember like vertical or something?
I only tried this to test the waters and haven't as yet sold any. To be honest the subject matter wasn't particularly interesting.
I see a lot of it on Stocksy - probably the only place really?
Not sure what video sales are like on stocksy?

110
There are some fees. Bitcoin being the largest but some coins are free and others very cheap (litecoin) compared to the swift system.

I disagree that they are not currencies - checkout litepay ... https://www.litepay.us/
or bitpay ... https://bitpay.com/

Cryptos are moving fast... will be mainstream in a few years (although no one will probably realize they are using XRP / BTC / LTC etc as it will be used back-end within the nations currency $ etc.

111
Thanks Qwerty although I disagree with the importance that this could bring. It kind of makes sense to me. We live and work in a digital ecosystem. Everything we do is digital - we just need to transfer to digital money now.
Think about it. We take digital photos/videos. Upload them. Sell them. All with a push of a button. I don't even need to leave the house as I have a home studio.

They could become one of the first large industries to integrate crypto as payment and this would bring loads of advertising and media attention to the micro stock world (arguably it would also be an amazing investment opportunity).

I just think the industry we are in could really easily accept crypto. It would always be an option too so not compulsory?

112
Hi all - I think the title says it all. Notice I say when and not if...
Love it or hate it crypto is here to stay and instead of being payed in dollars into paypal to exchange it to pounds to then buy crypto in dollars again (which I've been doing) and loosing a fortune on fees. When will our royalties be payed out in crypto?

It would be amazing to get the top cryptos as payment each month as an option.

What do you think? When's it coming?

113
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Today is almost 21
« on: January 20, 2018, 12:09 »
Almost bedtime on the 20th in my part of the world.

It's definitely the 20th on the west coast of North America.

But still no stats.

Mamma mia, be quiet, one or two days more will surely not change your life

Yeah but that's not the point. A contract is a contract and we should have them by the 20th. Anything later is just not good enough in my eyes.

114
iStockPhoto.com / Re: sudden jump in "downloads year to date"
« on: December 04, 2017, 17:19 »
In my ESP profile section, the number of sales in "downloads year to date" suddenly took a 30% jump this afternoon. This has never happened to me before, so I'm pretty suspicious that these aren't legitimate sales.

Under the "if it seems too good to be true..." rule, I'm presuming these will all be sales for fractions of a cent, if they are not actually a mistake that will later be reversed.

Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know what's happening here? I vaguely recall something like this being mentioned in another thread but I can't find it now.

Unfortunately they have made adjustments to our totals from a bug a few months back where we didn't get the correct amounts. My video sales have also had a big jump in the last hour but ist's not sales, it's just the adjustment.

115
It's kind of like a personal thing, to me though there is no point in going exclusive unless you do this part time and can't be bothered with the hassle of uploading to all the main sites.

I started my stock career as an istock exclusive but soon realized that my clips would perform better elsewhere. My clips did OK on istock - always much better on Getty but from around 2014 onwards mine (and other peoples) portfolio's became a little stagnant.

Uploading to all the major sites has been way more beneficial to me than I ever thought.

Are you doing this full time (or want too)?
I'd say don't bother being exclusive - upload everywhere. I'm non exclusive but still get the big sales over on Getty (although my clips have gone off the site) It must be Premium Access although for some reason some of them still bay $500+ instead of the majority of $5 or less.

Getting your wife to start her own portfolio (although it's yours) sounds like it could get a little confusing and istock might not be a massive fan of it?

116
Real nice work Brightonti,
It's like a day in the life around Brighton.

Really like your portfolio too, like all the time-lapses in and around the UK. You've got a true filmmakers eye.

117
General - Top Sites / Re: Age Old Question
« on: November 30, 2017, 10:38 »
Thanks everyone, really good views.
I think the video market is a rapidly growing sector and I've seen my sales more than double in this last year alone. Portfolio of over 6000 clips, been in this game since 2011.
I've been doing this full time now for 3 years so trying out new ideas.

I just see the likes of storyblocks as a multi million dollar site and all it is, is about 10 of us to join together to create a cool and modern site. I take it that it's a little hard work, but nothing is free in life.

I don't know too much about other startup sites. Symbiostock seemed like millions of websites trying to link to each other which I really didn't get? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Again I feel video is a growing area which has room for a contributor led co-op.
Not sure how many video contributor visit here?

118
General - Top Sites / Re: Age Old Question
« on: November 29, 2017, 14:41 »
Thanks  niktol.
I must be naive then as I don't see any major issues? Contributors with sizable good content are sitting on little goldmines. If we join them up to make a decent portfolio, all chuck in a decent amount of money (but not ridiculous)  to get it off the ground. Then spread the word in creative and manageable ways, then surly it's worth a go?

Are any other video contributors out their thinking the same as me or am I on my todd?

The vast majority of people here are jaded. Many tried to go alone and failed, myself included.  I know a few of people who made it on their own, but they are not exactly stock material. Some of them are rather unconventional fellows, they won't work in a "team". Nor what I call "a normal person" would be able to follow their path.

That's exactly my point. Get 10/20 like minded people together with strong content and pull all the money and resources together - the outcome must be more favorable than trying it alone?

I think the jaded majority on here is due to years of seeing profit margins getting squeezed until there's no hope left. It's not their fault, just what the industry have persuaded them to think.   

119
General - Top Sites / Re: Age Old Question
« on: November 29, 2017, 14:36 »
Who will you hire to run an agency for a tiny $40,000 salary...and a huge part of that budget goes to building the site? How will you pay the salaries of the people needed to keep the site running? How will you budget for marketing? Same questions anyone starting a stock site will need to answer.

Hi Shelma, no I was thinking of $40,000 to set up the website. That was just pulled out of thin air BTW.
We would have to start off small and the 10/20 contributors would keep the site going. Although after it's set up I was thinking it would be fairly self-sufficient.

120
General - Top Sites / Re: Age Old Question
« on: November 29, 2017, 14:00 »
Thanks  niktol.
I must be naive then as I don't see any major issues? Contributors with sizable good content are sitting on little goldmines. If we join them up to make a decent portfolio, all chuck in a decent amount of money (but not ridiculous)  to get it off the ground. Then spread the word in creative and manageable ways, then surly it's worth a go?

Are any other video contributors out their thinking the same as me or am I on my todd?

121
General - Top Sites / Re: Age Old Question
« on: November 29, 2017, 13:34 »
Thanks for your input Jo Ann.

Yes it's the business side of things that collaterally within the group we would need to discuss and get right. I've got loads of ideas and I'm sure other people have too - so it would be tricky but not impossible? I'm open to see the bigger picture and open new ways of thinking too so it would have to be a collective collaboration.

I wansn't thinking of exclusivity BTW. A place where we could market our own material. As a buyer when I buy clips I hate the thought that the stock agencies get most of the money. I would prefer to buy from a contributor owned site any day of the week. I know I have more knowledge than an ordinary buyer as I'm also a contributor but I'm sure most people would agree.

I think something big and (fair) needs to be done in our industry and maybe this could be a way to do it?

122
General - Top Sites / Re: Age Old Question
« on: November 29, 2017, 11:32 »
But it will be our stuff. I get the think about getting people to agree. But keep it simple and I'm sure everyone will want whatever is best as it could be huge?

I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but what is? (I'm surer that's a song lyric?)

123
General - Top Sites / Age Old Question
« on: November 29, 2017, 11:06 »
Ok, Ok I know this has been asked a million times, but I've really been thinking seriously about it lately and wouldn't mind some thoughts.

This is from a video background (think storyblocks)

So why don't the top 10/20 people on here (including me obviously) with portfolios over 5000 clips start their own site offering it as a membership site so people can download as many clips for a pre-payed amount each month?

If 20 people with 5000 clips join then that's a library of 100,000 clips (storyblocks size)
Not sure what everyone would need to put in to start something like this off? $2000? thats $40,000 to make a simple membership site.
We could start off slow and try to build it up to advertise etc.

Am i naive? I'm just not sure why this hasn't happened already?

I know people on here will be saying we couldn't compete against the likes of shutterstock etc, but word of mouth is the best method surly? We could start off with 10/20 people and then open it up for all and then really compete against the big boys?

What do you guys think?


124
Shutterstock.com / Re: Slow november?
« on: November 11, 2017, 07:03 »
Is anyone else getting late sales?
For a few days now I've been getting little sales in the day then 12pm comes and I go to bed. When I wake in the morning quite a few sales have been added to the previous days  account. It's like they can't figure out what sold until a certain time and then add it to the previous day or something? Never had that before and with the site restructure I'm assuming that it's all related?

125
Newbie Discussion / Re: should I mask iPhone front face
« on: November 06, 2017, 08:16 »
I normally hide mine with my thumb when I'm holding it.

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