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Author Topic: New video subscription prices on Shutterstock - The dark days are here  (Read 13906 times)

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« Reply #25 on: April 15, 2020, 11:29 »
+1


« Reply #26 on: April 15, 2020, 11:37 »
+2
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/99836-shutterstock-launches-a-new-footage-subscription-product/
Let's atleast fill this up asking for an opt out of the subscription packs

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Dio

« Reply #27 on: April 15, 2020, 12:27 »
0
By digging at bit deeper into their T&C's for the video subscription plan, it appears it covers the Standard Footage Licence only:

"Standard permissions do not include:

    Television Distribution The standard Shutterstock footage license does not permit for any usage in television shows or commercials. Usage is also prohibited for distribution over any broadcast, cable or satellite.
    Movie Theater Distribution Distribution in movie theaters is not permitted with the standard footage license.
    Over the Top (OTT) Video Distribution Over the top video distribution, or streaming services such as Netflix is not permitted by the standard footage license."


Although not every single client plays by the book and abuses the licensing terms, on the flipside and to give them some credit, SS tends to secure quite a few deals with (I'm assuming) large TV productions and that reflects on video sales.



SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #28 on: April 15, 2020, 12:29 »
+2
People saying this is a good business decision lack any modicum of knowledge how business works. Decisions like this are spasms of a dying company...

Nobody said it's a good business decision, but some of them can understand and accept why the decision is being made. It's important to acknowledge that they're all about the money, so if they're reducing prices then they must be under the impression that by doing so, they'll make more of it. And as the royalty percentage will remain unchanged, anything that makes SS more money will also make their contributors more money. It's not like they had a board meeting and thought... "hey, why don't we try making less money? How cool would that be?! Let's come up with some ideas we can implement to generate less money than we usually do. Dave, run the numbers..."

As for a dying company... sure, their annual revenue increases are slowing considerably, but pretty sure you can't class them as 'dying' until they start having annual decreases.

So yeah, while I'd never insinuate that you lack any modicum of business knowledge... I'm pretty sure you have less than you think you do!

« Reply #29 on: April 15, 2020, 12:57 »
+1
Maybe everybody should do this today (opt out of video) https://www.shutterstock.com/contributorsupport/articles/en_US/kbat02/000006563?q=opting+out+of+sales&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1


It's so sad. And I was just about to go all in on stock video...... :-(

Would a sign pettion be any idea?
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 13:29 by brianholm »

Dio

« Reply #30 on: April 15, 2020, 13:29 »
+2
It's so sad. And I was just about to go all in on stock video...... :-(

Would a sign pettion be any idea?

Right... My best piece advice is that, if you were about to go all in (assuming you're not being sarcastic), then go all in. Then draw your own conclusions later on based on your own results and not on someone else's opinion on your results or their results.

Currently, the SS video subscription does not include Extended/Premium video licenses, only the Standard ones. And to be fair, SS is one of the few agencies (if not the only one at the moment) where it's not that uncommon at all to get between $100 to $300 on a single video sale.

Oddly enough, I don't hear much contributor kerfuffle over the fact that the cameras they shoot with or the machines they edit their imagery on now cost a ludicrously tiny fraction and are dozens of times more powerful when compared with what could be bought not that long ago...

I can only imagine the manufacturers of that gear flocking to forums like these moaning over the fact that you can now buy an entry-level laptop for 150 bucks when they used to retail for 10 times as much in the "good old days", and this is the race to the bottom. Same for ballpoint pens, which must have cost a fortune when they first introduced (somehow a premium commodity with elementary school students in the early 80s) and now cost a dime a dozen.

If you look at 99% of the industries out there, you'll hear the exact same rant against the "race to the bottom": food, electronics, translation, paper, hospitality, you name it. That's just the nature of economics. I rather focus on the tiny bit I can control rather than on what I can't.

All the best with your foray into stock video.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 13:38 by Dio »

marthamarks

« Reply #31 on: April 15, 2020, 15:18 »
+3
you can now buy an entry-level laptop for 150 bucks

I just gotta comment on that.

Last fall, as I was switching from HD video to 4K video, I first bought a new camera that could shoot 4k, then upgraded my 2015 13" Macbook Pro to a brand-new, super-fast, high-capacity 15" machine to handle the immensely bigger files I was producing.

That was not an "entry-level laptop for 150 bucks." More in the range of $4,000 bucks.

I've been delighted with the setup I created for myself last fall. Not at all delighted at having my current and future 4K videos underpriced by SS.

EDITED TO ADD: I just opted out of video on SS. Will continue to let Adobe and Pond 5 have them. They've mostly been selling on those outlets anyway, not on SS.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 15:27 by marthamarks »

« Reply #32 on: April 15, 2020, 15:33 »
0
How do you opt out of videos?

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Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #33 on: April 15, 2020, 15:45 »
+3
It's so sad. And I was just about to go all in on stock video...... :-(

Would a sign pettion be any idea?

Right... My best piece advice is that, if you were about to go all in (assuming you're not being sarcastic), then go all in. Then draw your own conclusions later on based on your own results and not on someone else's opinion on your results or their results.

Currently, the SS video subscription does not include Extended/Premium video licenses, only the Standard ones. And to be fair, SS is one of the few agencies (if not the only one at the moment) where it's not that uncommon at all to get between $100 to $300 on a single video sale.

Oddly enough, I don't hear much contributor kerfuffle over the fact that the cameras they shoot with or the machines they edit their imagery on now cost a ludicrously tiny fraction and are dozens of times more powerful when compared with what could be bought not that long ago...

I can only imagine the manufacturers of that gear flocking to forums like these moaning over the fact that you can now buy an entry-level laptop for 150 bucks when they used to retail for 10 times as much in the "good old days", and this is the race to the bottom. Same for ballpoint pens, which must have cost a fortune when they first introduced (somehow a premium commodity with elementary school students in the early 80s) and now cost a dime a dozen.

If you look at 99% of the industries out there, you'll hear the exact same rant against the "race to the bottom": food, electronics, translation, paper, hospitality, you name it. That's just the nature of economics. I rather focus on the tiny bit I can control rather than on what I can't.

All the best with your foray into stock video.

For the subject in general, not at you:

Here's the simple economics of stock photos and microstock that seem ts to elude people. When there are 1,000 people with good equipment and skills, producing a limited supply of stock images or video, the prices are higher. When there are 10,000 making good images, in the studio and running like a business, there's still some money to be made. When there are millions people, producing good or better images and video, the price of that commodity will drop.

Simple competition drives the race to the bottom. SS can't hold prices and stay in business against the entire market, by digging in their heels and saying, "we will not lower our prices" because the people who buy the images will say, "see ya, we're going somewhere else." In which case, yes SS would be as dumb and dead and stupid as Blockbuster or Kodak.

Anyone know how long it's been since IBM made a PC? They saw the market and the lack of profit and dropped out.

Change or perish. Sure it sucks to be us, investing in equipment, thinking, shooting, time editing / uploading and believing that we'd have a residual income. Problem is that was based on a false assumption that 1,000,000 new people wouldn't just jump in and do the same things or replace us.

So I'll say this flat out. If anyone has determined, personally, they can't make a profit within the existing system, this would be the time to find something else. Adapt or keep losing until there's nothing left to lose.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2020, 09:05 by Uncle Pete »

Uncle Pete

  • Great Place by a Great Lake - My Home Port
« Reply #34 on: April 15, 2020, 15:46 »
+2
How do you opt out of videos?

Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk

Really, one guy posted it three times now. LOL  ;D

« Reply #35 on: April 15, 2020, 16:29 »
+3
And as the royalty percentage will remain unchanged, anything that makes SS more money will also make their contributors more money.

Wrong. Subscribers often will not max out their downloads, but SS still makes their money on the subscription fee while contributors get their income cut by roughly 85% per DL. You're missing the obvious - SS chose to make more money at the direct expense of contributors.

This is a huge step downward in the race to the bottom. At $3 a DL, we lose incentive to hire models and take the time to create great content. Certainly there's no sense that agencies are trying to make this a sustainable business for the long term.

If I see a big dip in revenue because of this, then I'll only upload simple content on SS that I think is worth $3. All my good content I'll submit only to better agencies. If other agencies chase SS to the bottom, it may reach a point where's it no longer worth it to generate content specifically for stock.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 17:58 by KevinM »

« Reply #36 on: April 15, 2020, 16:53 »
+2
Maybe now it would be a good time for Pond 5 to go back to giving 50 % on contributors for non-exclusive videos. They could present it as a response to the contributors demand. You asked, we listened! At least for some time, some would only upload there, or not to Shutterstock. Regardless of that, Shutterstock might now just get straight out of the camera videos, with minimal post process, just in H.264. No more ProRes. Maybe this time they will be finally right to reject for focus and noise! You upload the clip as is in a minute, just trim start-end, they accept or reject and we move on to the next one. Fast-food prices get fast-food plastic taste. At the same time, you send your other processed clips to the rest ones, to protect your investment in camera, computer equipment and get some decent earnings.

« Reply #37 on: April 15, 2020, 18:00 »
+2
It's so sad. And I was just about to go all in on stock video...... :-(

Would a sign pettion be any idea?

Right... My best piece advice is that, if you were about to go all in (assuming you're not being sarcastic), then go all in. Then draw your own conclusions later on based on your own results and not on someone else's opinion on your results or their results.

Currently, the SS video subscription does not include Extended/Premium video licenses, only the Standard ones. And to be fair, SS is one of the few agencies (if not the only one at the moment) where it's not that uncommon at all to get between $100 to $300 on a single video sale.

Oddly enough, I don't hear much contributor kerfuffle over the fact that the cameras they shoot with or the machines they edit their imagery on now cost a ludicrously tiny fraction and are dozens of times more powerful when compared with what could be bought not that long ago...

I can only imagine the manufacturers of that gear flocking to forums like these moaning over the fact that you can now buy an entry-level laptop for 150 bucks when they used to retail for 10 times as much in the "good old days", and this is the race to the bottom. Same for ballpoint pens, which must have cost a fortune when they first introduced (somehow a premium commodity with elementary school students in the early 80s) and now cost a dime a dozen.

If you look at 99% of the industries out there, you'll hear the exact same rant against the "race to the bottom": food, electronics, translation, paper, hospitality, you name it. That's just the nature of economics. I rather focus on the tiny bit I can control rather than on what I can't.

All the best with your foray into stock video.

camera pc and other gears are just a small part of the process....actors need to be payed...time to set up a scene remains the same...location price is still there...
my first thought was i'm not going to hire actors or rent a location anymore,and i guess i'm not the only one...it doens't worth anymore to invest money with such low price....

« Reply #38 on: April 15, 2020, 23:56 »
+1
If enough people decide to buy something similar for a much higher price... then it's very likely that people will people decide to buy something similar for a much higher price? Erm... yeah, I guess so!

No, they don't get to decide, because there is no similar content like that left. That's why I said "if enough people do it".

Shutterstock at the moment has 18 million clips online. My portfolio contains about 25k clips. If 100 people like me decide to pull out our portfolio, that's 2.5 million clips. That's 13.8% of their whole library. Just in the hands of 100 people like myself.

It's not that hard to imagine what would happen if instead of a 100 people, 1000 people do it.

But it won't happen because you'll always have contributors from low income countries uploading and even ramping up production to fill in the gap left by an exodus. But then you'll have IndiaUkranieRussiaStock with $3 per 4k clip, with all the western producers and their assets on sites that pay them western prices.  It's just too bad we can't organize ourselves properly.

Btw, I'd immediately pull my portfolio if I were a part of such an union. Ideally, upon joining the union you'd have no say - the whole union pulls out.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2020, 00:16 by spike »

Horizon

    This user is banned.
« Reply #39 on: April 16, 2020, 00:52 »
+3
Maybe everybody should do this today (opt out of video) https://www.shutterstock.com/contributorsupport/articles/en_US/kbat02/000006563?q=opting+out+of+sales&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1


It's so sad. And I was just about to go all in on stock video...... :-(

Would a sign pettion be any idea?


Opting out of video?  you bet it would help but only if thousands are doing it. When the shareholders pockets becomes a little bit shallow they start screaming and there would be a very different sound.
Look!   this is not going to improve in any way but instead its going to get worse. Thats my experience after 15 years in this business. There is no remedy.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2020, 00:55 by Horizon »

georgep7

« Reply #40 on: April 16, 2020, 01:58 »
+1
Maybe now it would be a good time for Pond 5 to go back to giving 50 % on contributors for non-exclusive videos. They could present it as a response to the contributors demand. You asked, we listened! At least for some time, some would only upload there, or not to Shutterstock. Regardless of that, Shutterstock might now just get straight out of the camera videos, with minimal post process, just in H.264. No more ProRes. Maybe this time they will be finally right to reject for focus and noise! You upload the clip as is in a minute, just trim start-end, they accept or reject and we move on to the next one. Fast-food prices get fast-food plastic taste. At the same time, you send your other processed clips to the rest ones, to protect your investment in camera, computer equipment and get some decent earnings.

They already give 60% if exclusive there.
I now have to reconsider opting out from them.
What is the reason to submit to SS?
Let's see how Adobe will react and decide.

As a side note I think that all those actions like SS do now, P5 with Hyperstock etc
aim to older files / inactive contributors that will not "know". Active ones will opt out or remove files I guess.

« Reply #41 on: April 16, 2020, 02:16 »
0
Again, is there a merit to starting something on change.org to atleast get the people not on these forums riled up?

An opt out would be nice, plus definitely a more detailed understanding of how this subscription will work for contributors. We currently assume we get 30% of price, it could be a fixed value like image subscriptions

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« Reply #42 on: April 16, 2020, 03:09 »
0
Again, is there a merit to starting something on change.org to atleast get the people not on these forums riled up?

An opt out would be nice, plus definitely a more detailed understanding of how this subscription will work for contributors. We currently assume we get 30% of price, it could be a fixed value like image subscriptions

Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk

True but ultimately if the buyer is paying $10 for a 4k clip, no matter what,its unlikely SS are going to give the contributor anything approaching $10...

marthamarks

« Reply #43 on: April 16, 2020, 03:48 »
+1

They already give 60% if exclusive there.
I now have to reconsider opting out from them.
What is the reason to submit to SS?
Let's see how Adobe will react and decide.

I was just having that thought, too.

This move by SS surely does make exclusivity on P5 look more appealing.

Like you, I'll wait a bit and see what, if anything, AS does in response. If nothing, I may nestle all my videos into the P5 basket and see how that goes.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2020, 03:56 by marthamarks »

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #44 on: April 16, 2020, 06:14 »
+2
Shutterstock at the moment has 18 million clips online. My portfolio contains about 25k clips. If 100 people like me decide to pull out our portfolio, that's 2.5 million clips. That's 13.8% of their whole library. Just in the hands of 100 people like myself.

It's not that hard to imagine what would happen if instead of a 100 people, 1000 people do it.

Then Shutterstock would lose 138% of their content? That could happen, but it's also extremely unlikely. How many negative things have been implemented by the different agencies over the years? How many people have left them as a result of it? Have any of the big four ever taken a massive hit to their offering due to people pulling their ports? No. And it'll be no different this time around. Maybe 100 people will leave... that's not the unlikely part... it's that those 100 all have a port of 25K. 100 people leaving is more likely to result in a loss of 25K rather than 2.5m. A drop in the ocean. 

But even if they did... is having 9 million clips going to make that much difference from having 18 million clips? "My God, I only have 750K clips of clouds to choose from rather than 1.5m?! This is an emergency!"

« Reply #45 on: April 16, 2020, 06:16 »
+6
This is from SS forum


"...It was time for Shutterstock to disrupt the market..."
I don't even sell video and I'm still pissed. What a bunch of smug, self-entitled c***s

« Reply #46 on: April 16, 2020, 06:22 »
+2
You have to know that if you email the general SS customer support account, you're probably going to get an answer from just another contributor who is "helping" the support team, and NOT a reply from an official SS employee.


« Reply #47 on: April 16, 2020, 06:27 »
+2
Shutterstock at the moment has 18 million clips online. My portfolio contains about 25k clips. If 100 people like me decide to pull out our portfolio, that's 2.5 million clips. That's 13.8% of their whole library. Just in the hands of 100 people like myself.

It's not that hard to imagine what would happen if instead of a 100 people, 1000 people do it.

Then Shutterstock would lose 138% of their content? That could happen, but it's also extremely unlikely. How many negative things have been implemented by the different agencies over the years? How many people have left them as a result of it? Have any of the big four ever taken a massive hit to their offering due to people pulling their ports? No. And it'll be no different this time around. Maybe 100 people will leave... that's not the unlikely part... it's that those 100 all have a port of 25K. 100 people leaving is more likely to result in a loss of 25K rather than 2.5m. A drop in the ocean. 

But even if they did... is having 9 million clips going to make that much difference from having 18 million clips? "My God, I only have 750K clips of clouds to choose from rather than 1.5m?! This is an emergency!"

Did you stop reading after the part that you quoted? Because immediately afterwards I wrote:

Quote
But it won't happen because you'll always have contributors from low income countries uploading and even ramping up production to fill in the gap left by an exodus.

So you didn't add any new info, were discussing with a strawman, all in the hopes to sound smart or whatever.

Like I said, I know it's not going to happen. Never did I say it will. Go act smug elsewhere.

« Reply #48 on: April 16, 2020, 11:21 »
+13
This thread was severely trimmed after a bunch of nonsense / insulting posts. 

« Reply #49 on: April 16, 2020, 11:23 »
+4
This thread was severely trimmed after a bunch of nonsense / insulting posts.
Thank you!


 

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