First, if anyone forgot - storyblocks/videoblocks already proved to be dishonest. They promised "100% earnings for authors" - then only a couple years later - said "meh, we only feel like doing 50-50". So remember that.

Moving on. Reading a few posts - seemed a couple people weren't sure about the math - so decided to make this post. Just in case anyone missed this -

POINT #1 - 60% is NOT of their TOTAL revenue, but rather an ARBITRARY random number they pick out of thin air

the "membership pool" is NOT "60%" of storyblocks ENTIRE membership base. They make about $30 million+ year.
It is NOT a portion of that.

RATHER. It is some arbitrary number they pick out of the air to decide what to split amongst authors. RIGHT in their text, it says:
"Instead of members paying for clips a la carte in the Marketplace, they pay for a subscription to access content in our Member Library. We then create a Member Library Earnings pool, which we divide among all contributors who participate in the program based on how much of their content is downloaded."

So out of that $30 million, maybe they pick $50,000 to split amonst all authors. Maybe less. Maybe more. Chances are - they are
will use simple math to figure out what is the bare minimum they can pay people to get them to participate. But its REALLY important
to note, the 60% is NOT part of that "$30 million" in revenue.

POINT #2 - Test market versus ACTUAL market

Their "test" market, and the actual number of users that participate will see COMPLETELY different earnings.

Using easy to understand numbers, Let's say, they've decided to be ultra greedy (proven), and ultra cheap, to split $50,000
amongst authors.

In the test group, they have 10 people. Site wide (educated guess) - they have 10,000+ contributors.

In the test: $50,000/10 = $5,000 per author. (for simplicity, assuming everyone had an equal # of downloads, so equal pay).

Let's say only 10% of the 10,000 contributors sign up (1000 authors).

Now, $50,000/1000 = $50 per author.

But wait! There is more! They have decided only 60% of those funds will be distributed. (Maybe for internal accounting, they've
decided they need a 40%'management' fee for the arbitrary pool funds they set). So $50 * 60% = $30/author.

ANDDDDDDD... of course, if they "feel" it is too little, or too much, they can of course at ANY time adjust the member amount.

POINT #3 - Canabalizing your other sales (maybe a TINY bit more money @ storyblocks - but a LOT LESS everywhere else)

It's already been happening for quite sometime when subscription type models were introduced - but why help storyblocks speed
up the process?

IF they actual did become "THE" "go-to" place for video (they alreayd have a HUGE membership of 150,000+ - but there are still
people on other sites like shutterstock/pond5/etc). But if you take your GOOD videos - and upload here - many will migrate
FROM pond5/shutterstock/etc - and just go to storyblocks/videoblocks. So that means 'byebye' larger sales @ pond5/shutterstock,etc
and welcome to $0.000000000000000001 sales @ storyblocks!

POINT #4 - More of your "stolen" content on the web

It's one thing for someone to "individually" pay $25/clip - and then "resell" it on the web. It's a lot of work, plus costs money.

BUT - if you like the idea of your ENTIRE PORTFOLIO being RESOLD by random individuals on the internet, or given away for free
as "warez" - then this is the way to go! Many individuals have something called "scrapers" - which basically download 1000's and
1000's of clips in hours, or even minutes - and then allows them to re-package it on the web.

And not only will it be incredibly difficult for you to control that, but it will most likely affect ANY kind of LONG term sales you COULD
have had...

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

a) DON'T PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROGRAM.
b) SHARE THIS WITH OTHER ARTISTS IN WEB FORUMS/EMAIL/FACEBOOK GROUPS
c) "optionally" tell storyblocks what a crappy deal this is and you don't like it. (Unlikely they care, because they didn't last time
people complained. And they might even decide to terminate your account, because they don't like complainers. But, if it makes you feel better, you can).

Quote from: SuperPhoto on July 09, 2019, 12:12

POINT #1 - 60% is NOT of their TOTAL revenue, but rather an ARBITRARY random number they pick out of thin air

the "membership pool" is NOT "60%" of storyblocks ENTIRE membership base. They make about $30 million+ year.
It is NOT a portion of that.

RATHER. It is some arbitrary number they pick out of the air to decide what to split amongst authors. RIGHT in their text, it says:
"Instead of members paying for clips a la carte in the Marketplace, they pay for a subscription to access content in our Member Library. We then create a Member Library Earnings pool, which we divide among all contributors who participate in the program based on how much of their content is downloaded."

So out of that $30 million, maybe they pick $50,000 to split amonst all authors. Maybe less. Maybe more. Chances are - they are
will use simple math to figure out what is the bare minimum they can pay people to get them to participate. But its REALLY important
to note, the 60% is NOT part of that "$30 million" in revenue.

I think this bit's wrong. Sure, the wording isn't exactly the best, but I'm pretty sure the 'we create a member library earnings pool' refers to the amount of money that's left after they've taken their 40%. I.e. the 60% is the pool. If it doesn't mean that, then why would they leave out the 60% cut part? As it stands, there's nothing in the description about that, so it gives the impression they distribute 100% of the earnings pool. The only thing that would make their description accurate would be if the pool is the 60%. I mean, I could be wrong... but you just seem super certain without any kind of supporting evidence other than your interpretation of a couple of sentences.

I don't think even Storyblocks would go so far as to have an earnings structure that's based on an amount of money they've just completely made up.

This membership library is a bit unique, since a big part of it consists of clips they have already paid for - so they will absolutely not share all their membership revenue. It has been a fixed pool (just decided by them, yes, as crazy as that sounds, they based it on how much marketplace clips earned at some secret point in time), at least during the testing phase, but who knows how they will calculate the pool from now on. The 60% of what 100% is a mystery, but we can be very sure it's not 60% of their entire subscription revenue, just a small part, either based on the amount of clips vs. buyouts, or simply something they decide.

Again, in short form:

In the testing phase they just decided on a fixed sum of $ so that the beta testers would be happy.

Now, it SOUNDS like they will calculate from the entire subscription pool, and if that is the case, in reality, the portion that actually goes out to this new type of membership content will be quite small since there are so many buyouts already. So, most of the 60% just goes back to them. It's not entirely clear, however...

I would like to see numbers $$ from people who opt in. I know there are some on this forum...

The old numbers mean nothing and the new model hasn't started yet so we will have to wait a couple of months for that I suppose.

Look around you. We're already earning a lot less from everyone else.
The agencies are all playing their little games to screw us over.
What's worse $2 per clip from Shutterstock or the new Storyblocks?

I don't see why the 100% wouldn't be the total subscription revenue.. or why they wouldn't share 60% of the total subscription revenue. Sure, SB have a bunch of content that they already own or have licensed, but in the instances where one of their clips is downloaded rather than a contributor's clip... then it will be treated just as if it was one of your clips or my clips that had been downloaded. So they'll just get the share instead I.e. my clip... I get 60% and SB get 40%. Their clip... SB get 60% and SB get 40%.

So yeah, if all downloads in a month are from SB's existing collection... they'll be sharing 0% of the total subscription revenues. But if all downloads in a month are from member library partners... they'll be sharing 60% of the total subscription revenues. I can't see how else they'd do it without just 'making stuff up'.

That would be the logical way to do it, and hopefully how it is. But they did just make up a number during the testing period, so the positive testimonials and "3x earnings" statements mean absolutely nothing.

...

pps... if you'd like clarification, I suggest logging into your account and clicking "partner program" and reading what is written there. OR, you could always ask them if they are sharing 60% of their "total" revenue. (They aren't, but, if you need triple verification that they aren't, that is a good way to do it).

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on July 09, 2019, 12:49

Quote from: SpaceStockFootage on July 09, 2019, 12:31

Quote from: SuperPhoto on July 09, 2019, 12:12

POINT #1 - 60% is NOT of their TOTAL revenue, but rather an ARBITRARY random number they pick out of thin air

the "membership pool" is NOT "60%" of storyblocks ENTIRE membership base. They make about $30 million+ year.
It is NOT a portion of that.

RATHER. It is some arbitrary number they pick out of the air to decide what to split amongst authors. RIGHT in their text, it says:
"Instead of members paying for clips a la carte in the Marketplace, they pay for a subscription to access content in our Member Library. We then create a Member Library Earnings pool, which we divide among all contributors who participate in the program based on how much of their content is downloaded."

So out of that $30 million, maybe they pick $50,000 to split amonst all authors. Maybe less. Maybe more. Chances are - they are
will use simple math to figure out what is the bare minimum they can pay people to get them to participate. But its REALLY important
to note, the 60% is NOT part of that "$30 million" in revenue.

I think this bit's wrong. Sure, the wording isn't exactly the best, but I'm pretty sure the 'we create a member library earnings pool' refers to the amount of money that's left after they've taken their 40%. I.e. the 60% is the pool. If it doesn't mean that, then why would they leave out the 60% cut part? As it stands, there's nothing in the description about that, so it gives the impression they distribute 100% of the earnings pool. The only thing that would make their description accurate would be if the pool is the 60%. I mean, I could be wrong... but you just seem super certain without any kind of supporting evidence other than your interpretation of a couple of sentences.

I don't think even Storyblocks would go so far as to have an earnings structure that's based on an amount of money they've just completely made up.

This membership library is a bit unique, since a big part of it consists of clips they have already paid for - so they will absolutely not share all their membership revenue...     ...The 60% of what 100% is a mystery, but we can be very sure it's not 60% of their entire subscription revenue, just a small part, either based on the amount of clips vs. buyouts, or simply something they decide.

I don't see why the 100% wouldn't be the total subscription revenue.. or why they wouldn't share 60% of the total subscription revenue. Sure, SB have a bunch of content that they already own or have licensed, but in the instances where one of their clips is downloaded rather than a contributor's clip... then it will be treated just as if it was one of your clips or my clips that had been downloaded. So they'll just get the share instead I.e. my clip... I get 60% and SB get 40%. Their clip... SB get 60% and SB get 40%.

So yeah, if all downloads in a month are from SB's existing collection... they'll be sharing 0% of the total subscription revenues. But if all downloads in a month are from member library partners... they'll be sharing 60% of the total subscription revenues. I can't see how else they'd do it without just 'making stuff up'.

... just saw your files on SB MS... you are not believing us or just doing experiments...?