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Author Topic: Failure Was the Key to My Success - Jon Oringer  (Read 30267 times)

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Semmick Photo

« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2015, 06:52 »
+8
So in an article about one of the biggest successes in stock photography they post a distorted image of the man ! Jaysus, lol.



Boy o boy.

Anyhoo, I failed in a lot of things, but I am still no millionaire/billionaire ;)

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2015, 09:57 »
+6
That was exactly the article I was looking for a few weeks ago, when I paraphrased this quote from Oringer in another thread:

"I never imagined that Shutterstock would provide people in emerging economies with the opportunity to earn a decent living."

shudderstok

« Reply #3 on: April 08, 2015, 12:03 »
+25
the key to his success was to cripple the pricing of imagery and sell images for next to nothing and use the masses to make him rich with a complete disregard for the industry and the suppliers. otherwise known as greed.

« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2015, 12:30 »
+28
Quote from: Jon Oringer
"I never imagined that Shutterstock would provide people in emerging economies with the opportunity to earn a decent living."

Jon conveniently fails to mention that his business was built using assets that were funded and produced by contributor stakeholders living in developed countries. And he does not mention that the success of his company depends on the labor & financial investments which contributors made to assure their own long term financial success.

Jon also fails to mention that he made conscious business decisions to reward the thousands of contributor stakeholders who's investments made it possible for him to create his own wealth and success; with destructive industry moves that continue to devalue the very assets shutterstock relies on to fund and build it's continued success.

By deliberately choosing to lead the race to the bottom with the objective of gaining market share; Jon consciously made industry moves that have made microstock an unsustainable source of income for the very stakeholders who made his financial success, the success of shutterstock and finally a SSTK IPO possible.

Jon escalated the race to the bottom by choosing to sell contributor assets on the open market via an IPO. This business decision made Jon and his new found Wallstreet friends Billionaires and Millionaires, however it is leaving the microstock business and the value of contributor assets in shambles.

Congratulations Shutterstock, onward to make your business model unsustainable for contributors in successive emerging economies.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2015, 22:41 by gbalex »

ultimagina

« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2015, 15:08 »
+9
the key to his success was to cripple the pricing of imagery and sell images for next to nothing and use the masses to make him rich with a complete disregard for the industry and the suppliers. otherwise known as greed.

Everybody is a photographer these days.
The price of the imagery is crippled by the abundance of images. The same thing happens with any other product when the offer exceeds the demand.
The rest is just business.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2015, 15:37 by ultimagaina »

« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2015, 15:22 »
+13
the key to his success was to cripple the pricing of imagery and sell images for next to nothing and use the masses to make him rich with a complete disregard for the industry and the suppliers. otherwise known as greed.

So, he's correct. OUR failure was the key to HIS success. 

« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2015, 17:51 »
+5
Shutterstock came after istock, where I think (I'm not sure) he was a contributor. But Jon's real success has been convincing thousand of artists to sell their works for just some cents. He has been brilliant doing that. Selling is easy if you can offer a mini-price and earn money in the process. 

Tror

« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2015, 18:14 »
+11
I was there 2004, when things started. Jon Oringer just was lucky to be at the right place at the right time. That has nothing to do with him being a genius or whatever. Surely he is a good business man, but most of these success stories, like SS - are just that: be at the right time at the right place. You could see most pages coming a afterwards failing more and more up to Luckyoliver (which was a great site and a good team and they failed). Every page after istock, SS, had less attention and impact.

Personally, I continue with very mixed feelings towards SS. If Bruce had`nt sold istock the landscape today would be a very different one - to the better I assume.

« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2015, 18:50 »
+6
i would take the picture of Jon Oringer, superimpose it with Richard Nixon saying READ MY LIPS...
and then put it in a language everyone understands whether you are german, english, japanese, hindi, chinese, italian.......

like um, i never thought i could get rich like this ... um, just to think that so many photographers out there would be happy earning pennies instead of panhandling

« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2015, 23:20 »
+5
i would take the picture of Jon Oringer, superimpose it with Richard Nixon saying READ MY LIPS...
and then put it in a language everyone understands whether you are german, english, japanese, hindi, chinese, italian.......

like um, i never thought i could get rich like this ... um, just to think that so many photographers out there would be happy earning pennies instead of panhandling


I think it was George Bush Sr. That said read my lips.  Nixon was I am not a crook!

Hobostocker

    This user is banned.
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2015, 00:45 »
+5
Everybody is a photographer these days.
The price of the imagery is crippled by the abundance of images. The same thing happens with any other product when the offer exceeds the demand.
The rest is just business.

that's true only for quantity but for anything else the world is being flooded by an ocean of unkeyworded and uncaptioned and unedited photos that are 100% worthless so there's no reason for us to worry too much not to mention half of them are selfies and people shooting their dog and their girlfriend.

Hobostocker

    This user is banned.
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2015, 00:49 »
+9
"I never imagined that Shutterstock would provide people in emerging economies with the opportunity to earn a decent living."

hahaha it sounds like an admission that ONLY in the third world a contributor could ever survive with his shutterstock's earnings.

Hobostocker

    This user is banned.
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2015, 01:02 »
+2
I was there 2004, when things started. Jon Oringer just was lucky to be at the right place at the right time. That has nothing to do with him being a genius or whatever.

at the time the ONLY factor that made SS stand out from the crowd were the SUBS.

Subs have been popular in the news wire industry since forever so Oringer has pretty much nothing to claim he invented himself ...




« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2015, 02:55 »
+3
Failure is my middle name

ultimagina

« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2015, 06:30 »
+1
Everybody is a photographer these days.
The price of the imagery is crippled by the abundance of images. The same thing happens with any other product when the offer exceeds the demand.
The rest is just business.

that's true only for quantity but for anything else the world is being flooded by an ocean of unkeyworded and uncaptioned and unedited photos that are 100% worthless so there's no reason for us to worry too much not to mention half of them are selfies and people shooting their dog and their girlfriend.

No, I'm not talking about selfies. "Photography" is nowadays the most popular last name on FB. A lot of members of this family are ready to work for free in exchange for "fame".

Look at the evergrowing number of contributors and photos offered by the agencies.
This is what drives the price of all photos down.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2015, 07:46 by ultimagaina »

« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2015, 09:50 »
+6
This is happening in every industry. Everything has been devalued, the minute companies found out they can have things built for cheaper in third world countries and still charge the same if not more, they all jumped aboard, and those who resisted at first didn't have much of a choice later as they needed to stay competitive. Things are bleak now, but those third world countries now seem to have money coming in that was never there before and even their rates are going up...eventually the cheap labor will no longer be in the third world countries...you cannot blame just one person, it started out as greed and became a race to stay competitive. Now is a time that creativity is more important than knowledge of the tools.

The bubble will burst....just a matter of when.


« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2015, 10:24 »
+5
Everybody is a photographer these days.
The price of the imagery is crippled by the abundance of images. The same thing happens with any other product when the offer exceeds the demand.
The rest is just business.


that's true only for quantity but for anything else the world is being flooded by an ocean of unkeyworded and uncaptioned and unedited photos that are 100% worthless so there's no reason for us to worry too much not to mention half of them are selfies and people shooting their dog and their girlfriend.


No, I'm not talking about selfies. "Photography" is nowadays the most popular last name on FB. A lot of members of this family are ready to work for free in exchange for "fame".

Look at the evergrowing number of contributors and photos offered by the agencies.
This is what drives the price of all photos down.


Musical instruments have gotten cheaper too.  Anyone can buy an electronic keyboard for a few dollars.   This hasn't created a vast oversupply of capable musicians.

Yes there are too many people trying to sell too many photos,  but a large part of what happened to stock was a middleman gaining control of a market and taking all the profit out of it for suppliers.   In economics, the remedy for this is called disintermediation:
   
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disintermediation
« Last Edit: April 09, 2015, 10:29 by stockastic »

« Reply #18 on: April 09, 2015, 11:50 »
+3
This is happening in every industry. Everything has been devalued, the minute companies found out they can have things built for cheaper in third world countries and still charge the same if not more, they all jumped aboard, and those who resisted at first didn't have much of a choice later as they needed to stay competitive. Things are bleak now, but those third world countries now seem to have money coming in that was never there before and even their rates are going up...eventually the cheap labor will no longer be in the third world countries...you cannot blame just one person, it started out as greed and became a race to stay competitive. Now is a time that creativity is more important than knowledge of the tools.

The bubble will burst....just a matter of when.

Well said!

ALL agencies are the same. Their leaders have the same goal as Jon, to become rich.
Everything else is just PR to make their filthy affairs look cool.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2015, 01:55 by KnowYourOnions »

ultimagina

« Reply #19 on: April 09, 2015, 13:56 »
+4
Everybody is a photographer these days.
The price of the imagery is crippled by the abundance of images. The same thing happens with any other product when the offer exceeds the demand.
The rest is just business.


that's true only for quantity but for anything else the world is being flooded by an ocean of unkeyworded and uncaptioned and unedited photos that are 100% worthless so there's no reason for us to worry too much not to mention half of them are selfies and people shooting their dog and their girlfriend.


No, I'm not talking about selfies. "Photography" is nowadays the most popular last name on FB. A lot of members of this family are ready to work for free in exchange for "fame".

Look at the evergrowing number of contributors and photos offered by the agencies.
This is what drives the price of all photos down.


Musical instruments have gotten cheaper too.  Anyone can buy an electronic keyboard for a few dollars.   This hasn't created a vast oversupply of capable musicians.

Yes there are too many people trying to sell too many photos,  but a large part of what happened to stock was a middleman gaining control of a market and taking all the profit out of it for suppliers.   In economics, the remedy for this is called disintermediation:
   
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disintermediation

Actually the number of musicians has exploded as well:

https://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130529/15560423243/massive-growth-independent-musicians-singers-over-past-decade.shtml

And with subscription services like Spotify, the musicians are in the same position as the photographers.

« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2015, 14:02 »
+1
Everybody is a photographer these days.
The price of the imagery is crippled by the abundance of images. The same thing happens with any other product when the offer exceeds the demand.
The rest is just business.


that's true only for quantity but for anything else the world is being flooded by an ocean of unkeyworded and uncaptioned and unedited photos that are 100% worthless so there's no reason for us to worry too much not to mention half of them are selfies and people shooting their dog and their girlfriend.


No, I'm not talking about selfies. "Photography" is nowadays the most popular last name on FB. A lot of members of this family are ready to work for free in exchange for "fame".

Look at the evergrowing number of contributors and photos offered by the agencies.
This is what drives the price of all photos down.


Musical instruments have gotten cheaper too.  Anyone can buy an electronic keyboard for a few dollars.   This hasn't created a vast oversupply of capable musicians.

Yes there are too many people trying to sell too many photos,  but a large part of what happened to stock was a middleman gaining control of a market and taking all the profit out of it for suppliers.   In economics, the remedy for this is called disintermediation:
   
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disintermediation

Actually the number of musicians has exploded as well:

https://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130529/15560423243/massive-growth-independent-musicians-singers-over-past-decade.shtml

And with subscription services like Spotify, the musicians are in the same position as the photographers.


That's why I said "capable".  Yes, anyone can now record a track and offer it on the web.   "Independent" doesn't necessarily mean "great". 

ultimagina

« Reply #21 on: April 09, 2015, 14:17 »
+3

That's why I said "capable".  Yes, anyone can now record a track and offer it on the web.   "Independent" doesn't necessarily mean "great".

Exactly, but exactly the same goes for the photographers.

Snapping a good photo, now and then, doesn't make you an artists or even a good photographer. But a lot of times this is exactly what some customers want.
The competition among photographers has increased a lot since the explosion smartphones and all those continuous DSLR improvements.
With so many decent photos produced every day, how can you not expect the price of the photo to go down?

Simple economics.

Embrace the trend, adapt to it, or sink slowly.



« Reply #22 on: April 09, 2015, 14:34 »
+2

That's why I said "capable".  Yes, anyone can now record a track and offer it on the web.   "Independent" doesn't necessarily mean "great".

Exactly, but exactly the same goes for the photographers.

Snapping a good photo, now and then, doesn't make you an artists or even a good photographer. But a lot of times this is exactly what some customers want.
The competition among photographers has increased a lot since the explosion smartphones and all those continuous DSLR improvements.
With so many decent photos produced every day, how can you not expect the price of the photo to go down?

Simple economics.

Embrace the trend, adapt to it, or sink slowly.

Sometimes, what people really want is just cheap cr@p. But not always. Go into a big shipping mall, and you'll find one or two "Everything's A Dollar" stores.  In microstock, a couple of middlemen got control of the channel and imposed a simplistic one-size-fits-all business model on the entire market.  It's as if "Everything's A Dollar" bought the Mall of America and evicted everyone else.   

« Last Edit: April 09, 2015, 14:37 by stockastic »

dpimborough

« Reply #23 on: April 09, 2015, 15:01 »
+6
And in all that spew he hardly even mentions the image producers that made him his cash.

Covering up the exploitation and sugar coating it with  "ain't I grand I'm helping those poor saps in the developing world feed their kids"

HEY Jonny Boy I made less than the price of coffee today buddy spare me a dime?

 ::)

ultimagina

« Reply #24 on: April 09, 2015, 15:02 »
+2

That's why I said "capable".  Yes, anyone can now record a track and offer it on the web.   "Independent" doesn't necessarily mean "great".

Exactly, but exactly the same goes for the photographers.

Snapping a good photo, now and then, doesn't make you an artists or even a good photographer. But a lot of times this is exactly what some customers want.
The competition among photographers has increased a lot since the explosion smartphones and all those continuous DSLR improvements.
With so many decent photos produced every day, how can you not expect the price of the photo to go down?

Simple economics.

Embrace the trend, adapt to it, or sink slowly.

Sometimes, what people really want is just cheap cr@p. But not always. Go into a big shipping mall, and you'll find one or two "Everything's A Dollar" stores.  In microstock, a couple of middlemen got control of the channel and imposed a simplistic one-size-fits-all business model on the entire market.  It's as if "Everything's A Dollar" bought the Mall of America and evicted everyone else.

If you don't want the "middle man", stop working with "him".
Fly solo, do your own marketing and selling, if you can do it better and have the time for it.
There are people ready to pay more for quality, indeed.


 

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