They're looking to hire a senior product manager for "Freestock:"

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=a1c250646253d0e3&from=ja&alid=5746ab99e4b00f6d0c3f007c&rgtk=1bfoqpvtk05224fd

Freestock.com has a logo very reminiscent of Shutterstock's:

https://www.freestock.com/

There was a thread about this 7 years ago: https://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/freestock/

not owned by SS, registered in SF but the website says made with love in NY. it is related to https://www.markmonitor.com.

Registrant Contact Information:
NameDomain Administrator
OrganizationDNStination Inc.
Address3450 Sacramento Street, Suite 405
CitySan Francisco
State / ProvinceCA
Postal Code94118
CountryUS
Phone+1.4155319335
Fax+1.4155319336
Email

Administrative Contact Information:
NameDomain Administrator
OrganizationDNStination Inc.
Address3450 Sacramento Street, Suite 405
CitySan Francisco
State / ProvinceCA
Postal Code94118
CountryUS
Phone+1.4155319335
Fax+1.4155319336
Email

Technical Contact Information:
NameDomain Administrator
OrganizationDNStination Inc.
Address3450 Sacramento Street, Suite 405
CitySan Francisco
State / ProvinceCA
Postal Code94118
CountryUS
Phone+1.4155319335
Fax+1.4155319336
Email


edit: just read the other comment that this was already live 7 years ago and owned by SS

I imagine the business model is going to be to lure people in with the hope of free images, and people will search the site, find a few crappy free images, but many much nicer ones that can be bought on Shutterstock and/or BigStock.   There are a bunch of small players already doing this as affiliates, so SS probably figured they can beat those little guys and bring more paying customers under the SS tent.

If that's the plan, it could be good for us.  If not, I'm curious to learn what SS is thinking.

I imagine the business model is going to be to lure people in with the hope of free images, and people will search the site, find a few crappy free images, but many much nicer ones that can be bought on Shutterstock and/or BigStock.   There are a bunch of small players already doing this as affiliates, so SS probably figured they can beat those little guys and bring more paying customers under the SS tent.

If that's the plan, it could be good for us.  If not, I'm curious to learn what SS is thinking.

I don't think it would make a difference for us. Just make SS more money by saving them the affiliate fee.

Sounds like something similar to this offering from Videoblocks and it looks like it's just a lure to drive traffic to the real site and in that case nothing wrong at all.

https://www.stockfootageforfree.com/

In doing a Google keywords/Adwords search the the other day I found that stock footage FREE comes up #1 so I can see the traditional paid services simply using that to drive traffic to the paid sites.  Everyone wants video and photos for free and they are capitalizing on that.

Well, ether they're ramping things up by hiring a product manager, or that person will have the world's easiest job running a nothing site. Maybe I should apply. Ha ha. Easier than running the uploading hamster wheel that results in less money every month.

Quote from: Stockvideo99 on May 11, 2017, 09:39

Sounds like something similar to this offering from Videoblocks and it looks like it's just a lure to drive traffic to the real site and in that case nothing wrong at all.

https://www.stockfootageforfree.com/

In doing a Google keywords/Adwords search the the other day I found that stock footage FREE comes up #1 so I can see the traditional paid services simply using that to drive traffic to the paid sites.  Everyone wants video and photos for free and they are capitalizing on that.

So if they can't make money the honest way, they are going to try and bait and switch people. 

What is dishonest about that? They're not scamming anyone are they?