Author Topic: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0 (Read 124739 times)

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #350 on:** May 28, 2020, 05:51 »

Quote from: pics2 on May 28, 2020, 05:42

“The new structure is designed to address market changes while creating fair opportunities for all contributors. It rewards content creators for producing quality work that is fresh, relevant and currently in-demand by our customers,”
It is obvious that they are lying because their search engine is not designed to promote new content, it's been a while.

Also doesn't make sense with regards to the January reset. Rolling 12 months would make a lot more sense if this was the actual goal.

microlock · « **Reply #351 on:** May 28, 2020, 07:53 »

It's getting easy to upload these days. Just two agencies left for my part, Adobe Stock and Pond5. I have a huge collection of uniq aerials shots on high end equipment like Red/Alexa from helicopter and drone + Inspire 2 with Zenmuse X7. If the choice stands between "iStock-prices" at $0,3 for a video clip or not selling them as stock, I won't sell them as stock, not worth the upload/tag time at all. So my last video upload to Shutterstock was of April 2020, iStock is now two years since I stoppet uploading to.

gnirtS · « **Reply #352 on:** May 28, 2020, 08:03 »

I not bothered just a little surprised to see it thats all.

Im banned from the SS forum anyway. I thought they'd hidden all my posts (as they threatened to).

angelawaye · « **Reply #353 on:** May 28, 2020, 09:12 »

Quote from: TommyBoy on May 28, 2020, 04:39

I’m appalled by all this.

I can’t really afford to disable my portfolio, but I will do if it may help enact some kind of change.

It’s currently hard to be hopeful, but this feels like the last stand.

I can't really afford to disable my portfolio (especially during this time) but I'm going to. We need to act collectively to be heard.

cobalt · « **Reply #354 on:** May 28, 2020, 09:39 »

The whole „Reset to Zero“ value every New Year is the most drastic and radical change I have ever seen in the entire stock industry.

Don‘t we have journalists in the community? This extremist measure is affecting 1.2 million creative artists worldwide.

If the new management team has no ethical problems treating us this way, perhaps a few critical articles can help them to „reconsider the artists point of view“?

I posted the following in the SS forums, but doubt anyone from management will read this.

After all such a shockingly negative announcent should have come directly from the CEO himself.

„ I humbly suggest the CEO and the entire management team take their own medicine and every January first have their salaries reset to an absolute minimum monthly value.

Then, as the revenue starts to grow over time, their salaries can slowly claw themselves back into the regular contract pay value.

And of course just a few months later, they happily start again at the bottom with every new year.

How „motivating and fair“ will this compensation system be for themselves and any employees??

The reset to zero value for all portfolios at New Year is exactly this...completely hypocritical and destructive and in the times of corona just cruel.

For many artists the regular income from SS is an essential part of their income, that pays the running costs for studio rent, software and all production.

Our rent, our insurance costs etc do not vanish in January. They are the same as they are in December.

I hope the new CEO does not make the mistake many new people make, believing that 1.2 million contributors makes individual contributors insignificant.

„Crowd sourced“ does not mean equal production value evenly distributed across the entire community. We are not upload robots.

It means an open plattforms where individuals can easily rise to the top.

And all contributors are deeply networked and will not simply accept to have their income crashed every January for accounting tricks of new management.

Maybe read up on what happened with Hyperstock and DPC from Fotolia.

The Upload streams of relevant content are pretty frickle, SS is not alone in this world.

So I hope they understand that contributors are equal and essential business partners in a crazy world and not upload bots with no soul or a calculator.“

Rage · « **Reply #355 on:** May 28, 2020, 09:42 »

Quote from: Visualab on May 27, 2020, 19:15

The stock submitters coalition already has over 330 members and represents a portfolio of over 2 million items. Join the cause and help make a difference. https://forms.gle/cEN6kAjcqyqtUbBj9

If you joined it but did not receive the email I just sent out then go back in and fill it out one more time. The first ten people it didn't collect emails.

We need to group up, maybe this discord server is a good way https://discord.gg/KucrDuy

Things to do
- Sign petition
- Downvote apps and leave a scathing review
- Tweet it with influencers/publication /adobe mentioned
- send Angry mail to SS

Sent from my HD1901 using Tapatalk

Horizon · « **Reply #356 on:** May 28, 2020, 09:52 »

Adobe! well here is a golden opportunity for them to play for first place so drop all skewed algorithm's and go for it!..but they won't they will probably not even realize the chance they have. Too close to home I recon.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #357 on:** May 28, 2020, 10:03 »

Quote from: WaterView on May 27, 2020, 21:45

Well, I am disappointed in Shutterstock and wrote them and told them so. I got a reply from someone who couldn't write best english and explained to me that because of the pandemic things were difficult. And, that maybe once things get better they will increase contributors payments/income. Sounds like the government saying, now that this crises has occurred we shall substitute these liberties just for a little while to be SAFER. HA! How much of our liberties have come back? Will we ever increase our income on Shutterstock again, or will they keep making it smaller? And, eventually become another extinct dinosaur? Too bad the founder stepped down, Looks like S#!+ moved in.

This is too rare to let it go without comment. One of their special contributors, who answers unofficially from no actual corporate backing, says "maybe once things get better they will increase contributors payments/income" Ha Ha Ha! Maybe we'll all get... doesn't matter what, that line was total blind follower BS.

Anyone else who supports this move, I'll remind you, that no agency ever has actually increased our earnings, without taking away some levels or other means of earning. (exception: Adobe removed and adjusted levels, which in general benefited all of us except people with the highest possible FT rank. Even Emeralds got a boost, contrary to what some might claim.)

Quote from: pics2 on May 28, 2020, 05:42

“The new structure is designed to address market changes while creating fair opportunities for all contributors. It rewards content creators for producing quality work that is fresh, relevant and currently in-demand by our customers,”
It is ~~obvious that they are lying~~ because their search engine is not designed to promote new content, it's been a while.

Sorry if your personal opinion is not supported by the real facts. New content has always been pushed to the front of the searches. Just go look next time you upload something. That doesn't mean that new will get downloads, or stay in front, as long as it once did, but, New Content is placed very favorably to give it a chance. The search is designed to promote new content.

There are many other reasons and issues, that cause new content to drop down the pages and into the pits of oblivion.

For those suggesting rolling rates? Not a bad idea. Only thing is, when we had the least downloads, lets say January, we'd make more and then after our rates had dropped and the Spring earnings come in, we'd be paid the least. In other words, we'd make more for the lower download months and less for the higher download months.

No I don't like the reset idea at all. But I don't like the IS quotas that changed every year and reset. Mostly, the rewards based on earnings, not number of downloads, was a good fair system. Now what we get is some half baked, based on downloads, not income and is terribly flawed. (what we earn for the company doesn't count, just download numbers?) Great if someone only gets subs. Oh but they hedged on that best too, because subs will be percentage based, not what the buyer actually pays.

I don't expect this plan to stay as it is. There are too many holes and flaws.

Quote from: Horizon on May 28, 2020, 09:52

Adobe! well here is a golden opportunity for them to play for first place so drop all skewed algorithm's and go for it!

I like that.

What skewed algorithms? Or did you mean SS search?

Mantis · « **Reply #358 on:** May 28, 2020, 11:01 »

Aside from the obvious money grab we contributors will only see our current tier of a short period of time, perhaps a month or two. They are making a calculated move that there are plenty of images in the face of contributor defection. They have just made a move that will force everyone else to respond in kind....

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #359 on:** May 28, 2020, 11:14 »

I mentioned in an earlier post that dpReview and PetaPixel had run stories on Shutterstock's announced change. For anyone on twitter who wants to retweet those stories with their own comment, here are links to the twitter posts on those articles:

https://twitter.com/petapixel/status/1265739822468980737

https://twitter.com/PhotogNews/status/1265737422161113088

Also, Shutterstock has posted a sickeningly "concerned" tweet saying they know we're concerned. You could comment (as others have) on that too

"We understand our community is concerned about the new contributor earnings structure. We hear you and your feedback is important to us.
Please share any questions or concerns with our contributor support team via [email protected] and
@ShutterstockReq"

https://twitter.com/Shutterstock/status/1266003999960043521

Another article published in Australia

https://www.insideimaging.com.au/2020/pay-cut-for-shutterstock-photographers/

obj owl · « **Reply #360 on:** May 28, 2020, 11:34 »

Quote from: Horizon on May 28, 2020, 09:52

Adobe! well here is a golden opportunity for them to play for first place so drop all skewed algorithm's and go for it!..but they won't they will probably not even realize the chance they have. Too close to home I recon.

Adobe will be under a lot of pressure if Shutterstock and Istock have a discounting war to regain market share. Just not letting them do it with your content will ease the burden a touch on Adobe.

Symbiostock Official · « **Reply #361 on:** May 28, 2020, 11:56 »

The economic logic is as follows:

Rather than reward long term earners, reset the competition to be yearly based on the assumption that there will always be a new flock of contributors that easily replace those disenchanted veterans that produce less.

This is advantageous to SS because each download a veteran earns costs them more money than a download a new contributor earns. So this is similar to firing long term employees who are earning more money in favor of new blood who will have to work their way to a higher wage, resetting the process every year.

They are certainly allowed to do this, but we would have thought they are already earning enough by keeping nearly 85% of everything. Unfortunate turn of events, and this is extremely unfair to contributors who have built up their portfolio of sales for a number of years.

mj007 · « **Reply #362 on:** May 28, 2020, 12:17 »

The only thing that SS will cares about is their Wall Street Stock price. I urge everyone to send stores/reports to ever business news outlet. Such as CNN,CNBC,Investors Daily,Fox Business,Wall Street Report and the other 1000 business reports. Just send links of these Microstockgroup post. No business wants to see their name in a negative way in any business report. Post stories/post on Linkedin. If SS dose this and I only have to assume they will do it. All the other stock sites will follow and reduce their rates to contributors. The other stock sites have nothing to lose but gain more of your revenue.

Desintegrator · « **Reply #363 on:** May 28, 2020, 12:28 »

Quote from: mj007 on May 28, 2020, 12:17

The only thing that SS will cares about is their Wall Street Stock price. I urge everyone to send stores/reports to ever business news outlet. Such as CNN,CNBC,Investors Daily,Fox Business,Wall Street Report and the other 1000 business reports. Just send links of these Microstockgroup post. No business wants to see their name in a negative way in any business report. Post stories/post on Linkedin. If SS dose this and I only have to assume they will do it. All the other stock sites will follow and reduce their rates to contributors. The other stock sites have nothing to lose but gain more of your revenue.

Would be great to see some articles along the lines of "Desperate move from Shutterstock to squeeze its supply chain"... Unfortunatally i don't have any contacts to help spreading such news, but if anyone has, go on by all means!

Or even better: Shutterstock stepping on the path that killed IStock

marthamarks · « **Reply #364 on:** May 28, 2020, 13:18 »

Quote from: Desintegrator on May 28, 2020, 12:28

Or even better: Shutterstock stepping on the path that killed IStock

That's a great message. Especially because (I suspect) it's true!

DallasP · « **Reply #365 on:** May 28, 2020, 13:35 »

bahahaha. They're going to send me my $12.53 and deactivate my ... ~100 crappy vectors.

mj007 · « **Reply #366 on:** May 28, 2020, 13:51 »

Here is a way to beat SS. Unfortunately I have not the intellect to design this . As a group setup a new site, with free images. Yes free images, might as well be free if SS and the other sites go with this new model. Hard to beat free. Not even the evil SS can beat free. You have a site that is just like every other site with the difference all images/videos are free. To get a free image you have to listen to a 30-60 second add . Just like the adds on youtube. The difference you can't rush are turn off the add. At the end of the advertisement you get a unique number/code for one free picture or video that day. You can get as many pictures per day as you listen to different adds and get different codes.The codes are only good per image per 24 hours. The the payout which I guess is small , you get an advertising fee for showing the add. No this most likely won't get you more money than the slims at SS but free is hard to beat. No sure what those adds pay but I am guessing 20 to 40 cents each. You could also charge a yearly fee like Costco dose, maybe 29 bucks a year to make a little more revenue.

aprott · « **Reply #367 on:** May 28, 2020, 14:56 »

Quote from: mj007 on May 28, 2020, 13:51

Here is a way to beat SS. Unfortunately I have not the intellect to design this . As a group setup a new site, with free images. Yes free images, might as well be free if SS and the other sites go with this new model. Hard to beat free. Not even the evil SS can beat free. You have a site that is just like every other site with the difference all images/videos are free. To get a free image you have to listen to a 30-60 second add . Just like the adds on youtube. The difference you can't rush are turn off the add. At the end of the advertisement you get a unique number/code for one free picture or video that day. You can get as many pictures per day as you listen to different adds and get different codes.The codes are only good per image per 24 hours. The the payout which I guess is small , you get an advertising fee for showing the add. No this most likely won't get you more money than the slims at SS but free is hard to beat. No sure what those adds pay but I am guessing 20 to 40 cents each. You could also charge a yearly fee like Costco dose, maybe 29 bucks a year to make a little more revenue.

I just read, that you can earn 1,50$ to 7,00$ per 1000 views on Youtube. Doesn't sound too good of a business case.

cobalt · « **Reply #368 on:** May 28, 2020, 15:27 »

I just signed the petition. I will also consider stopping my sales, if there is no response. But I want at least the beginning of June to get some numbers.

But the reset to zero every January, that really has to go.

I hope pond5 and Adobe react and invite us with a statement of reliability and respect.

I have never heard of any agency, or any company, who tells their business partners, every new year we reset you to zero, you have absolutely no value for us.

https://www.change.org/p/shutterstock-object-to-the-decline-in-shutterstock-s-contributor-earnings

This is a really, really sad week, Shutterstock was a very reliable, drama free place.

This kind of money grab in the middle of the corona crisis is unbelievably cruel and heartless.

PigsInSpace · « **Reply #369 on:** May 28, 2020, 15:45 »

How long did Dollar Photo Club last? It’s unfortunately/fortunately before my time, so I’ve only heard about it anecdotally here.

georgep7 · « **Reply #370 on:** May 28, 2020, 15:50 »

Quote

And thank you, Dimco from eastern Europe, Skopje, Macedonia, for expressing it so well.

Offtopic but this was supposed to be North Macedonia.

Macedonia is located in Greece. Haven't you watched the News and the aggrement between our countries?

cobalt · « **Reply #371 on:** May 28, 2020, 16:00 »

Quote from: PigsInSpace on May 28, 2020, 15:45

How long did Dollar Photo Club last? It’s unfortunately/fortunately before my time, so I’ve only heard about it anecdotally here.

Not long, Adobe bought Fotolia and immediately killed the Dollar photo club.

The original problem was that they took all our content without asking us and placed it all on dollar photo.

So there was a HUGE shitstorm and mass deactivations of files and portfolios. I think they lost 15% of all their content in 3 weeks. Millions of files were deactivated. Especially the Russian speaking community was absolutely furious and showed very strong and very painful deactivation commitment and leadership.

Fotolia then backtracked, apologized and offered us an opt out button. Plus for those who decided to keep their content on DPC they paid them an additional bonus on Fotolia itself.

This way there was balance, those who wanted out of dpc could get out, those who didn‘t mind, got something extra.

But the DPC didn‘t succeed and then Adobe closed them down.

Which is why Hyperstock from pond5 brought a deja vue to all of us and contributors pushed for opt outs or to have it killed.

If an agency opens and says we will sell everything for one dollar...they know they will never get good content.

So agencies use sneaky ways to use our files, hoping we won‘t notice or won‘t react.

The „reset to zero“ every January is the most cruel thing I have ever heard of.

Contributors are human beings, not upload slaves.

georgep7 · « **Reply #372 on:** May 28, 2020, 16:06 »

Ok, you got your PetaPixel 15 minutes of fame.
Now, check out the CC0 image use notice on the article and you got why noone except us cares

:/

marthamarks · « **Reply #373 on:** May 28, 2020, 16:08 »

Quote from: DallasP on May 28, 2020, 13:35

bahahaha. They're going to send me my $12.53 and deactivate my ... ~100 crappy vectors.

Will they give a payout if one leaves before reaching the $35 threshold??

I don't believe so.

ArenaCreative · « **Reply #374 on:** May 28, 2020, 16:11 »

Whatever this means for our royalties, they are getting so low nowadays that who the heck even cares... I would encourage anyone who does microstock for a full time living (if that is even possible, in this day and age) to drastically re-think their priorities in life. You have zero control over anything. Find a business model that you have more control over, and pursue that.

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Author Topic: Shutterstock just became iStock 2.0 (Read 124739 times)

Justanotherphotographer

microlock

gnirtS

angelawaye

cobalt

Rage

Horizon

Uncle Pete

Mantis

Jo Ann Snover

obj owl

Symbiostock Official

mj007

Desintegrator

marthamarks

DallasP

mj007

aprott

cobalt

PigsInSpace

georgep7

cobalt

georgep7

marthamarks

ArenaCreative

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