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Messages - Brightontl
Pages: 1 ... 25 26 27 28 29 [30] 31 32 33 34 35 ... 38
726
« on: May 12, 2017, 12:40 »
Thanks Mat,
keep going with the good work!
I didn't know that royalties for video increase with rank.
I thought it was for still images only
727
« on: May 08, 2017, 11:20 »
I'm running a maxed out late 2013 15" MacBook Pro and it works well with 4k.
No doubt you would get higher specs for the money with a PC, but I've always been a Mac user (since the 80s with a break of two years) and I don't see myself going to Windows. MacOS X is just a different world and a joy to use.
I had a Windows laptop for 2 years and I'd rather not go back to that...
Also, if you have trouble editing footage, convert it to ProRes and you'll find it's much faster and easier to edit than h264.
I agree that years ago Mac system was much, much better, but these days frankly I don't see any advantage (apart from Prores). As others have said, on windows you get the same power for half the price and many more choices
728
« on: May 03, 2017, 13:17 »
Besides the number of downloads dropped in April, the average sale for video used to be $25 with a good deal of much higher sales.
In the last 5 weeks the average sale has dropped to $17 (unlucky number in Italy...) and no big sales anymore
729
« on: May 03, 2017, 09:17 »
Yes, April has been a total disaster and May so far is ghost town.
SS has always been by far my best performing (almost exclusively video).
I have only been around for two years, so I was constantly increasing until April.
For such a sudden disaster there must be some reasons
730
« on: May 02, 2017, 04:42 »
I don't think its search algorithms its more simple the current flood of new images means its very hard to anything new to get noticed and start to climb the ratings. The only way this could change is a stricter review policy or a reduction of contributors bored with low returns.....
For me and regarding video only it definitely is a change in algorithms. As I said, last year I had about 3-4 weeks of selling just the same one file over and over followed by 3-4 weeks of selling all sort of files, including new ones. And so on and so forth. This year they have forgotten to action the switch and we have been stuck for 4 months on "old files only" mode. I am not saying that I am complaining, as sales are decent. But it is a bit frustrating selling always the same one file out of 2,000
731
« on: May 02, 2017, 02:38 »
I only do video.
In the last 4 months SS has been stuck in "Old best sellers files only". I have 2.000 files, but over 95% of my sales come from just one file.
Last year this mode was on for about 3-4 weeks, then it would switch to a situation where all sort of files would be selling.
Very annoying for people like me who have been in this game for less than 2 years. Not too bad I suppose for older artists, who have many well-established files.
It is kind of funny though: every time I have a sale in SS I say: "it cannot be that file again". And indeed it is always that one
732
« on: May 01, 2017, 09:18 »
After a good February and BME in March, April was an absolute horror.
I do video only.
SS for several months has been in old-files-only mode: 95% of my sales came from just a single file.
FT and P5 very bad too. I wonder if this is due to the new partnership program and disruptions due to mirroring P5 files on Adobe platform.
Easter was in the middle of the month and this probably affected sales
733
« on: April 29, 2017, 08:25 »
How to delete tattoo?
Learn to get really good with Photoshop and the Healing Brush. It depends on the size and location of the tattoo, and whether or not it is partially covered by clothing or anything else. Small tattoos on relatively even areas of skin are pretty easy to remove with software; things get harder from there. Better to position the model so the tattoo doesn't show if you can do that, or cover it with clothing. Or pick a model who doesn't have them; that's my preferred solution.
Thanks, I am ACE in Photoshop so I believe I can do it... I meant how to delete a tattoo in real life :-) It was supposed to be a joke
734
« on: April 28, 2017, 14:12 »
How to delete tattoo?
735
« on: April 26, 2017, 13:04 »
I went to the Ska festival in London with some friends visiting from Italy.
Great fun!
736
« on: April 23, 2017, 05:16 »
There's plenty of evidence of sales manipulation on SS.
Really?
So how do they do it? Seriously. What method could they use to manipulate sales?
I experience constantly manipulation and not only by SS. I am not saying it is necessarily a bad thing and I am not complaining about because I have decent sales and maybe this manipulation is useful for us. I do video only (very few still images and I only started it very recently). As I said previously out of 2,000 clips in my portfolio, this year (last 4 months) over 90% of sales come from a single file. I have been in this game less than two years, so I have only one file very well positioned in SS (over 100 downloads), artists with a longer track record probably have sales coming from several well established files when the algorithm is in this mode. Also every months I have about 10 days in a row when I do not get one single sale, then in the other 20 I get plenty. Last year I used to get a few weeks like now, when only one file sells, but then some other weeks I was selling a very broad number of files, including new ones. Why they would do it? They have often said that they do not want customers to find constantly the sames files on top of the popular search, and maybe they are right. How would they do it? Extremely easy: in the algorithm put something like: IF artist(x) has > x sales in the last x days THEN shut door I do not pay much attention to still image sales, but now that I checked it tend to be the same amount every week day, but it is too soon to tell, as my portfolio is very small for photos
737
« on: April 22, 2017, 10:08 »
I submitted a few clips to VH and they are still sitting in the queue.
From their forum it appears that waiting time is 5 months now and increasing fast.
You guys sound optimistic about it, but in my opinion this sort of waiting time sound like a death toll, like at Dissolve and 123 RF.
I am talking just about footage, I know that VH does well in other areas.
It looks like small agencies are having a very hard time competing in the video arena
738
« on: April 22, 2017, 05:30 »
I do not know English well.
Yes I have 150 ~ 200 per month Videohive.
And how much do you give Shutterstock for a month besides a hit movie?
I think that 150-200 downloads per month is very good. I certainly don't have that many at SS (not even close)
739
« on: April 22, 2017, 04:44 »
Brightontl And how many monthly downloads do you have with 2000 movies besides this one good movie?
I on videohive as exlusiv I have 1000 movies and downloads for 150 ~ 200 months
I do not know if it is worth to resign from Exlusiv and send to Shutterstock. If I had 50 downloads a month. I think only a few downloads. If they manipulate sales
Sorry I do not understand. Are you saying you have 150 to 200 files downloaded per month at VB? I did not even know one could exclusive there
740
« on: April 22, 2017, 04:42 »
things are truly strange in video sales last month almost best month ever and as for now this month worst month ever how does it work? very very strange
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Same for me: March BME and April absolutely horrible. I believe it has to do with Easter holidays
741
« on: April 22, 2017, 02:24 »
Similar thing here.
What is more, I have a portfolio of nearly 2,000 clips, but this year 95% of my sales have come from one single file (!).
Not that I am complaining because sales are decent, but it is really strange.
Last year I had weeks where sales come from just this file, but also other weeks where I was selling a very broad selection of files, even recent ones. And then every month there was always 10 days without any sales at all.
There is certainly a huge manipulation, but it is not necessarily a bad thing.
I am talking about video only. I also have a tiny portfolio of still images and things there so far look normal, I have sales even when the image has just been posted
742
« on: April 21, 2017, 11:28 »
I don't have one single video clip or photo in my portfolio with people, not even myself.
I am glad I don't
743
« on: April 20, 2017, 10:16 »
Yes, Lightroom is the best way to organise your photos.
Don't make copy of your photos to put in different folders.
You can use collections, one for each agency if you prefer. Your photos will appear in each collection, but the file will exist only once in your drive (big space saving).
Otherwise you can color code each photo, this is the method that I use
How do I add a photo to multiple collections?
I was playing around with it last night and was able to add a photo to one collection. Do I just drag it to another collection?
Yes. Create as many collection as you like and drag photos into the desired collection (one photo can go in several collections)
744
« on: April 20, 2017, 08:42 »
Yes, Lightroom is the best way to organise your photos.
Don't make copy of your photos to put in different folders.
You can use collections, one for each agency if you prefer. Your photos will appear in each collection, but the file will exist only once in your drive (big space saving).
Otherwise you can color code each photo, this is the method that I use
745
« on: April 20, 2017, 04:47 »
Hi Mat,
thank you for sharing valuable info.
I upload from Fotolia website and I find that there is only one thing that makes uploading very time consuming.
That is the need of reordering keywords to have the most important 7 on top. Is that still the way you recommend?
Other than that the uploading is fine to me
746
« on: April 18, 2017, 16:14 »
I believe that YOUR sales have gone down, absolutely.
But I test the search engine very frequently and non-MS files are simply not pushed down in the search results. It's quite easy to test yourself... Only takes a couple of minutes. I mean, there is no mystery to it. Just search "berlin" or anything else and see what happens. I'm not in the MS program and my files are easy to find (logged in and logged out). They mostly even show up before MS files.
Sales and upload date matter.
I have done another test: I have monitored all people in P5 forum who were complaining of poor sales (there were a lot until a couple of months ago) and they were all people not part of the bloody thing (including video-stock-org, who posted just above). On the other end people boosting good sales were all part of the bloody thing. Again, you don't have to believe me, you can always tell me: "please, stop making sense", or "please, don't confuse me with facts"
747
« on: April 18, 2017, 16:07 »
As far as Envato is concerned, I believe that they do most of their business in motion graphics, animations, templates and other weird things that I do not understand, but certainly not in footage.
And anyway I have tried their insane uploading system.
After trying to upload 15 video to their system I get constant nightmares. I wake up every night several times sweating and I have to take all those little green pills that the doctor gave me.
Maybe one day I will be the same me as I was before attempting to upload a file at Videohive, but the doctor tells me I have little chances
748
« on: April 18, 2017, 16:01 »
I respect your point of you and I was with you 100% until P5 started their MS program.
Now things have changed completely.
Don't get me wrong, I really like P5 for a lot of reasons, but their MS has really done a lot of damage.
Videohive is not an issue in the video market: they sell files for very low prices, but volumes are ridiculous: they are not interested in video, they just have 1 reviewer, there is 4-5 months wait for review and they refuse most files as they cannot afford the cost of bandwidth. And anyway I didn't even know they existed until a few weeks ago.
Videoblock is a bit of a nuisance with their weird business model, but their membership collection is very, very poor.
P5 MS collection is excellent. I have browsed it zillions of times. They started it as a leader in the video market. so they could choose excellent files with a very broad collection covering most of customer's needs.
Yes, they said they have chosen clips with less than two sales, but that is extremely easy to overcome. You know that at P5 it takes several months for a file to start selling, so if you choose a new file... Or else you choose a slightly different take from an excellent shooting and you get a clip that has not yet sold, but is just as good as a best seller.
At the moment I have 5 times more sales at SS than P5, and 3 times more sales at FT than at P5. I am not part of the bloody MS so I am heavily penalised in the search engine.
At SS I do get the occasional $6 or $8 sale, but they are quite rare, most of them are aver $20 and sometimes over $100 for whatever reason.
As I said I am pretty much sure that the P5 MS is absorbing not only 70-80% of previous P5 sales, but also an important part of sales from other agencies and P5 scheme is the only one that doesn't give the artist even a sniff of the money collected (at least as far as I know)
I think you've claimed that the P5 search is affected by the MS program it 20 times already, and it's still not true. It may have affected overall sales, but NOT the search.
And just so you know, Envato (VideoHive) is a multi-million dollar business with profits higher than Shutterstock, and most likely P5, Fotolia and the rest. They can afford to pay for footage storage.
I started at P5 about 2 years ago and I was having decent sales, constantly increasing as my portfolio increased. I was having about a dozen sales per month, not a lot but better than a punch in the eye (as my sister would say). Then the bloody MS started in May 2016. After that I did not have a single sale for about 8 months, my portfolio became practically invisible, not a single view for the same period. Than a couple of months ago there was a very heated discussion in P5 forum about people in the MS being incredibly pushed up in the search engine. After that a moderator in P5 came up saying: we don't do this sort of thing. After that, as magic, my sales went up and I had an excellent month of March. This is my genuine experience, you can believe it or not. All I can do is to tell you what happen to me, you are free to think what you want
749
« on: April 18, 2017, 14:19 »
Have any of you ever actually done real searches for content on Pond5, comparing regular results to the membership clips? Because if you did, you'd notice that it's not very extensive and not "very high quality" or inclusive of the best options by a long shot. One piece of criteria for inclusion was that the clips had to be a poor sellers to begin with, did ya know that? I do not participate in the program so cannot comment further, but I can say that when searching for clips relevant to mine, I do not feel the slightest bit threatened by the competition of the membership options. These "loads" of lost sales are pure imagination.
Considering Shutterstock, Videoblocks, Fotolia (and everywhere else for that matter) already had subscription programs in place, doesn't it make more sense to speculate that Pond5 was responding the them, not the other way around? This latest action is just Shutterstock taking it further and squeezing more profit for their shareholder reports and to pay for their unnecessarily lavish real estate needs.
Disheartening how the reaction for some is being "glad" that Shutterstock is lowering their price and not anger and resistance to all price drops like this by any company. So many pessimists around here believe the trend is ultimately going downward, but instead of kicking and screaming and making it at least uncomfortable for them to marginalize our livelihoods, you choose to lay down and justify it.
I respect your point of you and I was with you 100% until P5 started their MS program. Now things have changed completely. Don't get me wrong, I really like P5 for a lot of reasons, but their MS has really done a lot of damage. Videohive is not an issue in the video market: they sell files for very low prices, but volumes are ridiculous: they are not interested in video, they just have 1 reviewer, there is 4-5 months wait for review and they refuse most files as they cannot afford the cost of bandwidth. And anyway I didn't even know they existed until a few weeks ago. Videoblock is a bit of a nuisance with their weird business model, but their membership collection is very, very poor. P5 MS collection is excellent. I have browsed it zillions of times. They started it as a leader in the video market. so they could choose excellent files with a very broad collection covering most of customer's needs. Yes, they said they have chosen clips with less than two sales, but that is extremely easy to overcome. You know that at P5 it takes several months for a file to start selling, so if you choose a new file... Or else you choose a slightly different take from an excellent shooting and you get a clip that has not yet sold, but is just as good as a best seller. At the moment I have 5 times more sales at SS than P5, and 3 times more sales at FT than at P5. I am not part of the bloody MS so I am heavily penalised in the search engine. At SS I do get the occasional $6 or $8 sale, but they are quite rare, most of them are aver $20 and sometimes over $100 for whatever reason. As I said I am pretty much sure that the P5 MS is absorbing not only 70-80% of previous P5 sales, but also an important part of sales from other agencies and P5 scheme is the only one that doesn't give the artist even a sniff of the money collected (at least as far as I know)
750
« on: April 18, 2017, 08:02 »
Isnt this the result of the pond5 membership program? they are offering files extremly cheap, incuding lots of very high quality files. So of course SS has to offer something.
I wish Adobe was stronger with video sales, would be great to have a strong third player in the market.
Totally agree: P5 membership hurts the video market big time. SS and FT had to respond (FT has not done it yet). And I am glad they are doing it: at least from SS sales we do get something, while in P5 membership artists get absolutely nothing, just loads of sales stolen from us
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