Looks interesting.  Surprised Know Your Onions hasn't lambasted them for this yet

Looks interesting.  Surprised Know Your Onions hasn't lambasted them for this yet

Ha ha... you right my friend. 

"The new product will be launched along with a large marketing campaign, a new direct sales team and a website rebranding."
God help us all! They didn't fix the basics, yet heading towards more complicated matters.... we will pray! 

BUT For this one I raise the glass or two. It was about the time for him to * GO!
http://www.microstockdiaries.com/tom-bennett-out-of-pond5.html

No actual info on what it pays, aside from the minimum.  I'm not sells my videos to net $.50 each, I'll tell you that.

Congrats to Pond5 for coming up with an innovative, unique way to kill video microstock. I don't think it will take longer than a year or two for us to look back and see this as the pivotal change that ruined things.

Forgive my pessimism if I prove to be incorrect (which I would definitely love to be).

I think the VB model is far more damaging than what P5 is planning

Unfortunately i agree too and furthermore i believe (and i REALLY hope to be proven wrong) that the subs model will further drive p5 marketplaces down.
How this will go down will depend on the size and quality of the subs library,but given the fact that a lot of people might endorse the subs program due to the stable monthly income i have reasons to be very pessimistic.

I don't see a big  problem because we don't have to give clips to the subs program.  It will work like VB, if you have something that isn't in the subs program, people will pay for it.  Anyone without any unique content is screwed but that's going to happen anyway.

VB's prices may be low (for HD) but they are the same for all clips in the marketplace, so everyone is competing on the same terms more or less.
At p5 one can sell 4K for 30usd if he wishes,which is already happening ,big time,and the cheap subs program will propably, "suggest",that they need to price as low as possible.

Given the 4K--> downconverted hd price search bug at pond5,this could be a recipe for disaster.
But it will depend on the quality (and size and versatility) of the subs marketplace.If it's really aimed for those who need a few "mediocre" clips for a mediocre/cheap project then it wont be so bad.Until i see the marketplace i cant tell.

What high prices has exactly been ss pushing lately?Dont tell me about the occasional 40 ,85 or even the 115usd hd sale because my rpd (which is low enough as it is) there is getting lower and lower every month.

P.S This topic is about video not stills.

You have to be invited to participate.Doesn't hurt to ask them i guess.

    -----DISCLAIMER-----------

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR (based on a rather cryptic forum discussion so dont lash out on me for speaking out):

In an early discussion over at the p5 forums i think the subs price was divided between  2 tiers a low one and a high one.
Both roughly under 8 usd ,one was like 3-4,but take this with a grain of salt,i can't even remember how long ago this was discussed let alone the pricing details,plus things might have changed,so i speculate based on what i know.

Also the selection of clips to be used for the subs is (i think) handled by the p5 stuff (perhaps this explains the 2+ months curation period?) so if anyone thinks he will give them 500 junk clips that aren't selling to make a profit is in for a shock,since a specific selection will make it in the program.
You can only opt clips out not in.I dont know if this selection has happened noone is speaking openly so we dont know how many clips are in or if they are quality clips.Also all clips to be selected are new clips i think August 2015 and on.

Other than that no one knows for sure or isn't telling.
I believe (given the VERY little i know) that everyone participating is slowly digging his own grave,but to be honest i understand one's decision.

At least -if p5 wants to impose a vb model- they pay the contributors for these,so why aren't the usual trolls cheering?

I was thinking of photos mostly. I haven�t uploaded many photos on pond5, because they don�t really sell photos. But if there is base payment, just to keep images up, I wouldn�t mind uploading what I have.

For videos, it makes sense if they take a hand picked selection. There is no point in paying a flat fee for everything.

It is a very different approach, renting the content instead of buying the rights outright.

They have always been fair with us, so I am really curious what they are coming up with.

How many times have they had this problem? And compared to the dramas at other agencies, this is a simple nuisance that i am sure they will want to correct.

Otherwise, they are just handing Shutterstock the total lead on all editorial content forever.

No matter how you slice it, the end game is a means to cheaper content and lower royalties. And the go to logic will be volume.  VB has an edge just because of the 100% commish.  But P5 will most likely retain the 50% cut so if they want to complete with VB they will have to offer a subscription of about the same price, meaning we would get 50% of the $49....ASSUMING this is the way it works.  I suspect we would lose the ability to price our own content on the SUB model because P5 would need to retain control over the value proposition offered to customers. Otherwise subscription prices will be all over the place and if they offer my work at 50% less, I would price it 50% more, so they will almost definitely have controlled pricing on the sub side. So I don't see this as good.  If they pay you .50 cents a month for 100 of your videos, great, you make $50 a month, but stand to lose far more. You end up much closer to the Dissolve model where they force price content to $49 if on other sites like VB and then pay you 30%.