Will we ever get a raise? Not a question Scott can answer, I know, but that's the only way earnings for individual contributors will grow.

That question was answered with a resounding no. It is in the Answers from Scott thread on the Shutterstock forum.

Terms and conditions you signed 8 years back contained a royalty based on the economy of 8 years back. Everything has gotten more expensive, inflation, but royalties have either been kept the same or reduced. Image pricing has gone down, instead of up. It is very reasonable to ask for a raise. Especially from a company that has raised millions and millions of extra capital through the IPO. The success of the company is shared with share holders, whilst the people who built the company with hard work, loyalty and creativity are being ignored.

+100... I totally agree with this.

We Photographers and Designers work very hard in creating images. We are the pillars of this company. It is very sad to share that benefiting and thinking for shareholders and increasing for IPO price without benefiting contributors are of no use.

A company who is dependent on us has an office in great Empire State Building with a owner Jon Oringer having worth more than a billion dollar. And we are still getting the same.

Yes, due to inflation everything got expensive and we are still at the same position as 8 years back. Raising millions of dollars without thinking for its contributors feels ignored.

I think shutterstock should look from contributors point of view too, not just shutterstock as a business.

Quote from: Skylinehunter on September 06, 2014, 00:16

Hey guys, I'm an Istockphoto exclusive and I just happened to see this thread.  Did you guys have a similar experience like me?    Everything was relatively ok and then June was disappointing, July was good, and then all of a sudden August plunged (worse than June) and it got worse till the end, with the past 2 weeks being some of my worst in years.    August is usually up there with March as my best month of the year, and it was shocking for me to see my worst August since 2011.  If you guys got a similar experience, I'm wondering if its a market issue rather than an agency or individual contributor issue.

You must be fairly unusual to have August as your best month of the year, I don't think I know anyone who would say that.

Maybe if a port consisted mainly of e.g. Thankgiving, Oktoberfest, Sukkoth, Divali, Hallowe'en gereral Autumn imagery etc. (?)
@SLH - many iS togs report sales going down rapidly since April subs were introduced. Did you read the August reports thread where many non-newbies report the same sharp drop even from there, in July.

Back to SS for this thread ...

Anyone here who is self-employed must realize you cannot rely/depend/hope/expect the people you do business with to look after your own interests....and if they fail in that you sell to someone else or you find something else to sell.

I appreciate that may seem too simplistic and unpalatable for many contributors - but this has been a cold hard truth in microstock for years. If you haven't experienced that elsewhere in business then I can understand the degree of umbrage expressed here - but for many I suspect the energy and time wasted trying to bring SS or any other agency into line with their own expectations is more profitably deployed elsewhere.

ah yes...
but it is , to many, better to rant and roar to each other, like those commuters during the bus-strike.
n as soon as the bus arrives, they get in the bus and wish the bus-driver with a nice smile, "oh how r u this luvly morning???"  

If royalties would rise, many more photographers will come, much more images will be uploaded and everyone will earn less. At .25 per download there are 10000 images approved daily. Uploaded probably twice as many. Does anybody consider that?

Yes....About 8 years ago.Also, If that happened the other sites would fold under the weight and all Buyers would come top SS.  maybe? If SS offered a exclusive deal of 50% commission across the board. everyone would flock here in essence killing the competition.

Hmmm, let me see. do I pay 25 cents to people or pay 38 cents to people for basically the same stuff?  Hmmmm...Tough choice. LOL

Hence the name "Penny Stock"

Do you really think, If he knew the answers to our "Real" questions he would say anything? I think Not. Do I blame him?...No. Being a VP anywhere means politics period. My wife has been senior VP of many HUGE Film Companies that do 10 times the money SS does. She never talked to folks under her about company Issues she was Privy to. And they all sign NDA agreements so. Forget it.

Individual drops in sales for groups of people have  been  extremely documented like never before, More threads have been started than I've ever seen in My 10 years. It ain't gonna happen guys, This is all were gonna get. Like it or leave it. your replacement is already submitting.

Maybe thats why Moderators and content division employees/supervisors is a transient Job.

I've seen More folks...Some really Good folks have come and gone than I can remember,  The days When you could feel a personal touch...Thats all gone and ya can't bring that back. Pete is correct on many accounts but...so wrong on many more because he doesn't have the history that some have had with huge commercial ports that used to make huge money.

And until you have the history of what came before, you have little credibility going forward. And my friend pete has a specific Niche and he enjoys it more than the money he makes..

Like I said in another thread. These issues are a virus.....A virus that is separating us. It's to late to think we have the power anymore. We lost it around 2008 when we could and should have done something But the Lure of 38 cents or whatever killed it.

I Blame us and no one else.

Moderation is not the only transient job, the President/COO has moved on to greener pastures.

Shutterstock Announces Yearend Departure of President and COO Thilo Semmelbauer
http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/shutterstock-announces-yearend-departure-of-president-and-coo-thilo-semmelbauer-20140807-01513#ixzz3CjCfeSLF

So far we are starting out better this month than in August. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. Sunday was a no sale day this week but that is the only one so far this month.

So far we are starting out better this month than in August. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens. Sunday was a no sale day this week but that is the only one so far this month.

Almost same experience here - no sales Labor Day & Sunday but otherwise already well ahead of August. Hoping this means sales will be back to normal after a very slow summer.

Total for the last 37 hours is about what I would normally get on a very light Sunday. Yesterday was horrible and today is not much better.

as others mentioned, it is like everyday is a weekend with SS these past months.
and no one still thinks they turned off the switch for older contributors.