Author Topic: Is this January especially low for you? (Read 13385 times)

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #50 on:** January 27, 2020, 07:27 »

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2020, 06:27

And pond5 also has a subs program with over 400 000 files, but unlike Getty, artists never know the sales volume or for how low they sell.

https://www.pond5.com/membership

$19.90 per clip if you have a monthly membership. Contributor gets 40-60% of that.

$8.32 per clip if you have an annual membership.

But, as you say, we have no way of knowing what the custom deals are.

But an estimated guess would be an average buyer price of $10-15 per download (let's say $12.50), so if you make $100, you probably had around 20 downloads if you're non-exclusive.

cobalt · « **Reply #51 on:** January 27, 2020, 07:37 »

I haven‘t uploaded to istock in years and the few videos I have there get sold for 60 cents but also for 300 dollars. The latter is rare but happens.

Their video port is much smaller than any other agency, but they have some professional shooters too who seem to be happy with the mix they get.

It is the same with photos. I know a non exclusive photo artists who keeps boasting how he makes over 3000 dollars only from istock. So of course he keeps uploading there, inspite of te 15% royalty and the measly 2 cent sales.

But pond5 has by var the largest video portfolio. Everytime I look for content I find the best selection there.

A huge number of artist are exclusive to pond5.

So I really donˋt understand the very abrupt downfall. It was strongest, when many people took them up on the exclusive offer and deleted their high quality ports elsewhere.

Now these exclusives are stuck and I am sure many regret it.

Not on ss and adobe, if I upload more, I have more sales. At least for me that is not broken.

Also pond5 plays tictactoe with my prices which drives me nuts. The ability to set your own price was one of their main attractions.

Maybe it annoys the customers to0, they plan a project and when they want to buy find that all the prices have changed.

Also: let‘s blame all the other guys...is not a very promising strategy IMO.

But I am happy with SS, they are very consistent, even though I have huge upload gaps.

cobalt · « **Reply #52 on:** January 27, 2020, 16:37 »

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on January 27, 2020, 07:27

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2020, 06:27
And pond5 also has a subs program with over 400 000 files, but unlike Getty, artists never know the sales volume or for how low they sell.

https://www.pond5.com/membership

$19.90 per clip if you have a monthly membership. Contributor gets 40-60% of that.

$8.32 per clip if you have an annual membership.

But, as you say, we have no way of knowing what the custom deals are.

But an estimated guess would be an average buyer price of $10-15 per download (let's say $12.50), so if you make $100, you probably had around 20 downloads if you're non-exclusive.

From what I heard, the membership content is „rented“ from the artists for a fixed price every month and they do not get 40-60%.

They also don‘t see how often their files sell in membership.

Otherwise it would be very easy to just allow all artist to opt in their portfolios for membership, if they wanted to.

So your files might be selling thousands of times...or not at all...but you donˋt see the sales result.

Perhaps that has changed, I don‘t know. But at least when it came out it was a „we rent it for a low fixed price“ thing.

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #53 on:** January 28, 2020, 14:27 »

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2020, 16:37

Perhaps that has changed, I don‘t know. But at least when it came out it was a „we rent it for a low fixed price“ thing.

Yes, this has indeed changed. But you are right, it used to be a low guaranteed return. Not anymore.

See my post above for current numbers, and download number estimates.

qunamax · « **Reply #54 on:** January 28, 2020, 15:27 »

It was kinda low until, predictably, they (SS and/or buyers) went into rush mode to top up my standard monthly quota as the month is coming to it's end. So same as any month for years.
I only hope that bumping up my numbers will also bump up the quota. So far no luck, I might need to be faster than time (SS assets rise).

wordplanet · « **Reply #55 on:** January 28, 2020, 15:47 »

A rare decent month on microstock for me, SS started with sales on Jan 1 and after an extended license on the 3rd and it's been pretty steady, more OD's than I've seen in a long while. Passed last January's total by mid-month. Easy to compare year over year with the new layout. Adobe has been strong too, only a few dollars shy of SS.

I increased my portfolios significantly at both sites in the last 3 months of the year, and kept adding in January - (good at Adobe, obnoxious rejections at SS). New photos and illustrations (uploaded in the last few months) are selling at both, and some photos uploaded earlier in 2019 are starting to get some legs.

I was starting to wonder if the effort I'd made on those two sites since October was worthwhile, and right now it looks like it's starting to pay off. But stock can be so fickle. Last year on Alamy, for example, by June I was less than $35 shy of what I'd earned in all of 2018, and then the second half of the year was the slowest ever there, with many sales in the single digits.

Anyway, those two sites are up for me, but others are down from last January so far. Most months I still earn less on SS with 500 images than I did back in 2010-12 with a little over 100, so having a decent month is all relative. But I'm hopeful that I won't see the big year on year drop on ss that I saw from 2018 to 2019, when my overall income there fell a whopping 43%** With their current hit or miss rejections these days (my last 20 images were all rejected - wrongly - but it's not worth my time to fight them - they're all available on Adobe), I'm frustrated with ss, and am expecting Adobe to overtake them as my best micro site this year. As poor as my second half of the year was at Alamy, it beat out all the micros. Direct licenses were my best single source of stock photo income. Guess I know where I should put my efforts.

**Edited because, instead of looking at my notes, I did the math, and did it wrong, somehow coming up with a 73% drop, which seemed really insane. As I was organizing my numbers (excel) spreadsheets from last year, I looked hard at the numbers again and realized my ss income dropped by less than 1/2. So. I went back and did the math correctly this time. A 43% drop is still awful, just not as awful.

cobalt · « **Reply #56 on:** January 28, 2020, 16:42 »

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on January 28, 2020, 14:27

Quote from: cobalt on January 27, 2020, 16:37
Perhaps that has changed, I don‘t know. But at least when it came out it was a „we rent it for a low fixed price“ thing.

Yes, this has indeed changed. But you are right, it used to be a low guaranteed return. Not anymore.

See my post above for current numbers, and download number estimates.

That is good to hear. Then it would be interesting if they would allow all artist to opt in content of their choice to the pond5 subs plan.

Because having files in membership gives much greater visibility, customers can even exclude all non membership content from their search.

So there is a small group of „chosen“ people who are bei preferred over others, which is not good for the community.

I would certainly opt in lower selling content to help raise overall visibility of my port.

Or give me the option to cut my prices.

It is very bizarre that they say they will cut your prices if you sell on sites they do not like with lower prices, but allow the membership content to be priced much, much lower than their own minimum.

It just adds to the overall confusion on pond5.

Mimi the Cat · « **Reply #57 on:** January 28, 2020, 17:19 »

Unless a miracle happens SS will finally be at number two position instead of one.

January sales qty is as usual however revenue has dropped 50% and is the lowest now since 2014 due to the lack of ODD's & SOD's

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #58 on:** January 29, 2020, 08:34 »

Quote from: cobalt on January 28, 2020, 16:42

That is good to hear. Then it would be interesting if they would allow all artist to opt in content of their choice to the pond5 subs plan.

Well, I see artists reporting lower membership revenue than before the change, so I don't know if it's necessarily "good".

Anyway, you're a bit late to the party, since next month all membership content will automatically go to the new, this time unlimited, subscription site.

I don't know if they will keep the current membership plan as is, or if the new site will simply replace it. Time will tell.

wds · « **Reply #59 on:** January 29, 2020, 08:56 »

Quote from: Bad Robot on January 28, 2020, 17:19

Unless a miracle happens SS will finally be at number two position instead of one.

January sales qty is as usual however revenue has dropped 50% and is the lowest now since 2014 due to the lack of ODD's & SOD's

Yes....whole lot of 38-cent'rs!...really hurts $$$!!....does that hurt SS revenues as well? (lack of SOD's)

Asthebelltolls · « **Reply #60 on:** January 29, 2020, 15:00 »

From my perspective the real damage came in the form of HD sales which has, for the most part, dropped off the cliff. And visiting the SS site its no wonder. The emphasis is on 4K. The first few pages are always saturated with 4K clips with a few HD clips scattered in the pack. The transition from HD to 4K is hurting SS more than other top agencies, IMO.

yougogirl · « **Reply #61 on:** January 30, 2020, 09:07 »

Not at all. So far, it’s #3 in all time sales months.

Snow · « **Reply #62 on:** January 31, 2020, 09:03 »

I was going to focus more on Adobe Stock but 1 sale on Jan 29, 1 sale on Jan 30 and 1 sale on Jan 31. That's on 2k port with images and videos. I mean common they really must think we're a bunch of fools and we are in a way for putting up with all this.

For many sales on new files are non-existent at both Shutterstock and Adobe Stock. Why we still upload new material is beyond me. We might as well ride it out selling nothing but our old files. It doesn't matter if you upload new work, niche, videos, 3D, etc... it all seems to be hidden from the buyers

Those who claim good sales are mostly hobbyists so nothing to go by, sorry. I expect February to be even worse. Why should anything change anyway, we keep uploading with less return so all is well right!

jonbull · « **Reply #63 on:** January 31, 2020, 09:10 »

Quote from: Snow on January 31, 2020, 09:03

I was going to focus more on Adobe Stock but 1 sale on Jan 29, 1 sale on Jan 30 and 1 sale on Jan 31. That's on 2k port with images and videos. I mean common they really must think we're a bunch of fools and we are in a way for putting up with all this.

For many sales on new files are non-existent at both Shutterstock and Adobe Stock. Why we still upload new material is beyond me. We might as well ride it out selling nothing but our old files. It doesn't matter if you upload new work, niche, videos, 3D, etc... it all seems to be hidden from the buyers

Those who claim good sales are mostly hobbyists so nothing to go by, sorry. I expect February to be even worse. Why should anything change anyway, we keep uploading with less return so all is well right!

3 sales make you an hobbyist sorry.

Snow · « **Reply #64 on:** January 31, 2020, 09:21 »

Quote from: jonbull on January 31, 2020, 09:10

Quote from: Snow on January 31, 2020, 09:03
I was going to focus more on Adobe Stock but 1 sale on Jan 29, 1 sale on Jan 30 and 1 sale on Jan 31. That's on 2k port with images and videos. I mean common they really must think we're a bunch of fools and we are in a way for putting up with all this.

For many sales on new files are non-existent at both Shutterstock and Adobe Stock. Why we still upload new material is beyond me. We might as well ride it out selling nothing but our old files. It doesn't matter if you upload new work, niche, videos, 3D, etc... it all seems to be hidden from the buyers

Those who claim good sales are mostly hobbyists so nothing to go by, sorry. I expect February to be even worse. Why should anything change anyway, we keep uploading with less return so all is well right!

3 sales make you an hobbyist sorry.

Exactly! and to think my bestseller has over 9k downloads since 2013 at Shutterstock.

ForrestBrown · « **Reply #65 on:** January 31, 2020, 13:30 »

Quote from: Liorpt on January 18, 2020, 04:32

How would you take these stats?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where are those stats from? I haven't seen that before.

ForrestBrown · « **Reply #66 on:** January 31, 2020, 13:36 »

My January is about 2/3 of normal. Adobe and Pond5 are slow also, hopefully it's just a January thing. I have about 9000 video clips.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #67 on:** January 31, 2020, 13:44 »

Quote from: ForrestBrown on January 31, 2020, 13:30

Quote from: Liorpt on January 18, 2020, 04:32
How would you take these stats?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where are those stats from? I haven't seen that before.

https://www.stockperformer.com/ a pay service that compares your sales to others who pay for the service. I don't think they can read data from companies, only members.

If that's true and only people who pay are included, then being in the top 15% is a good sign for Liorpt?

BigBubba · « **Reply #68 on:** February 02, 2020, 13:13 »

Quote from: Uncle Pete on January 31, 2020, 13:44

Quote from: ForrestBrown on January 31, 2020, 13:30
Quote from: Liorpt on January 18, 2020, 04:32
How would you take these stats?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where are those stats from? I haven't seen that before.

https://www.stockperformer.com/ a pay service that compares your sales to others who pay for the service. I don't think they can read data from companies, only members.

If that's true and only people who pay are included, then being in the top 15% is a good sign for Liorpt?

I think it is, I had an honest emailing with stockperformer and I believe they have a large database.
The way I see it, being in the top 15 is nice, but no one knows what part of the database is video/photo. So, technically if most of the members are photo dudes/girls and I sell 4 clips, no doubt I’ll be at the top.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Author Topic: Is this January especially low for you? (Read 13385 times)

increasingdifficulty

cobalt

cobalt

increasingdifficulty

qunamax

wordplanet

cobalt

Mimi the Cat

increasingdifficulty

wds

Asthebelltolls

yougogirl

Snow

jonbull

Snow

ForrestBrown

ForrestBrown

Uncle Pete

BigBubba

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