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Messages - Cider Apple
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101
« on: October 01, 2018, 05:38 »
I cover the camera mic with duct tape to prevent sound from coming in.
hahaha
102
« on: July 20, 2018, 04:47 »
I think I qualify for the Video part CC as I have met the requirements, have not received a message yet, so maybe in the next few days?
I already bought my Adobe CC Yearly plan so It would be great if I can save the code for renewal next year. Thank you for giving us contributors this perk, since many of us are loyal Adobe customers it is just one more reason to stick with the platform. 
Hi, do u know if you need to upload 300 new clips this year or just have at least 300 in your port? I qualified in the first month if the latter? I'm taking a year off to study and invest in Crypto's so I haven't uploaded 300 new video files this year? BIN that - I just re-read and it said.. or $500 in earnings. Cool!!!
103
« on: July 16, 2018, 13:56 »
I think it's dangerous to all of us to let this go unchallenged. This is a massive commission cut. It's also the breaking of a commitment they made to contributors. To allow them to do that to us with no response except indifference and acceptance is not only bad in the short term, it's terrible for the long term. It means they will cut commissions again in the future. And of course other stock companies are watching - if they see that they can massively reduce commissions without any consequences, they may very well follow suit. It doesn't matter if you only have a few or no sales a month there, this is a big move and extremely damaging for us as the suppliers in this industry.
I'd like to hear if others feel the same. There are options we can explore, such as a collaborative response to Storyblocks and their CEO. They're particularly vulnerable to us shutting down our portfolios in protest because for most people they're such a low earner anyway. I think this is a needed time for us to make a stand for the sake of our long-term health and power in the industry.
This is Fantastic Kevin. I'm well up for doing this. Even if it doesn't effect anything in the end at least I'll sleep better at night for the case of trying.
104
« on: June 15, 2018, 05:01 »
My new video uploads go straight through to approved now. No pending at all. I guessed this was rolled out to everyone? Maybe not?
105
« on: May 13, 2018, 03:02 »
Hi, I totally agree with increasingdifficulty response.
I thought your footage was excellent and how amazingly natural and rugged New Zealand is. (Hoping to visit in a couple of years when the kids are bigger)
You have no worries with your editing skills. You played around with timing shots to the music which I liked.
For stock you shouldn't really need to edit a clip. Just cut the start and end bits for camera shake when you press record. As for colour grading. Yes deffo. I colour grade all my clips.
I could imagine that you could be the go to place for New Zealand extreme / natural / lifestyle shots. If you did this right you could make a lot of money:)
106
« on: May 12, 2018, 02:07 »
I dont know what happen on fotolia but my week was not very good. It is the same for other photo contributor ?
If your rank is dropping, it's you.
If it doesn't, it's Fotolia.
But rank is useless on Fotolia for footage. I can get a $150 video download but it counts the same as a $0.5 photo sale. I never take notice of my rank as I only contribute footage and it's way off the mark. It it went via $$$ that would be a lot better INHO
Back to the original question: I find Fotolia/Adobe inconsistent with sales. Some weeks it's up with Shutterstock and Getty where as other weeks its down. The last month has been particularly good but this week has been a little slow.
$150 video sale on Fotolia? I didn't know it was possible. 
Otherwise, you are right, the rank is useful for contributors with a port made mostly of stills.
FYI, the OP asked the question to photo contributors.
Yeah I've had a couple in the last few months. It must have been some weird kind of extended 4K license? The majority are the $28 ones
107
« on: May 11, 2018, 10:39 »
I dont know what happen on fotolia but my week was not very good. It is the same for other photo contributor ?
If your rank is dropping, it's you.
If it doesn't, it's Fotolia.
But rank is useless on Fotolia for footage. I can get a $150 video download but it counts the same as a $0.5 photo sale. I never take notice of my rank as I only contribute footage and it's way off the mark. It it went via $$$ that would be a lot better INHO Back to the original question: I find Fotolia/Adobe inconsistent with sales. Some weeks it's up with Shutterstock and Getty where as other weeks its down. The last month has been particularly good but this week has been a little slow.
108
« on: April 19, 2018, 05:08 »
Yeah they are putting our content in the Premium access catalogue on Getty. Basically huge content producers pay an annual subscribtion to Getty/istock (which we dont see any of the $$$ from) and it ables them to buy clips for $0.10. I've had some sell for $0.01.
I still get the occasional big $$$$ even though I'm non exclusive so not sure what is going on there.
Number of sales is the largest but $$$ is 2nd best for me. Still pays the mortgage every month so I can't pull out. I've just slowed down my uploading.
109
« on: April 19, 2018, 05:02 »
Me too, exactly the same. The first couple of clips get stuck on a continuous loop. It's driving me nuts and really slowing things down. I can't upload to pond5 overnight as it will just upload the first 2 clips.
It seems to be worse for 4K than HD. Sometimes HD can go straight through.
Not sure what to do but I've had it for the best part of 6 months...
I'm on a Mac by the way. What about you?
110
« on: April 19, 2018, 03:38 »
Hay Chris, it really depends on what you want out of your stock portfolio? If you want monthly sales then you need way more clips. You only have 300+- so you will get dry months with little consistency.
If you want to do this as a career and not a hobby then you have kind of answered your own questions. Definitely don't lower your prices as they are too low at the moment IMO.
You should concentrate on content - for 360 we want to experience the environment. You need more interesting things going on. Place the camera on things, get a little movement. Think unique niches.
Also film way more HD-4K content. That's the bread and butter at the moment. Get friends and family to model for you. Don't be afraid to experiment with camera angles and camera movement.
It's a long road but sure is worth it when you get there.
Good luck:)
111
« on: March 03, 2018, 14:28 »
Been there for a while. It has good and bad points. As soon as files get older than a month or 2 sales dramatically go down. Only new sales sell well (uploaded within a month).
You have to keep uploading fresh content to get the regular sales.
Before this thread new motion graphic or video clip was in a 1-10 clip waiting list.
Now the waiting list is 350+
Wow this thread has driven more contributors so sales will become less and less.
112
« on: February 27, 2018, 18:24 »
I did some, some years ago and the main sites did except it. I think you have to add a certain keyword and title for what I remember like vertical or something?
I only tried this to test the waters and haven't as yet sold any. To be honest the subject matter wasn't particularly interesting.
I see a lot of it on Stocksy - probably the only place really?
Not sure what video sales are like on stocksy?
113
« on: February 27, 2018, 18:18 »
There are some fees. Bitcoin being the largest but some coins are free and others very cheap (litecoin) compared to the swift system. I disagree that they are not currencies - checkout litepay ... https://www.litepay.us/ or bitpay ... https://bitpay.com/Cryptos are moving fast... will be mainstream in a few years (although no one will probably realize they are using XRP / BTC / LTC etc as it will be used back-end within the nations currency $ etc.
114
« on: February 27, 2018, 16:33 »
Thanks Qwerty although I disagree with the importance that this could bring. It kind of makes sense to me. We live and work in a digital ecosystem. Everything we do is digital - we just need to transfer to digital money now.
Think about it. We take digital photos/videos. Upload them. Sell them. All with a push of a button. I don't even need to leave the house as I have a home studio.
They could become one of the first large industries to integrate crypto as payment and this would bring loads of advertising and media attention to the micro stock world (arguably it would also be an amazing investment opportunity).
I just think the industry we are in could really easily accept crypto. It would always be an option too so not compulsory?
115
« on: February 27, 2018, 16:13 »
Hi all - I think the title says it all. Notice I say when and not if...
Love it or hate it crypto is here to stay and instead of being payed in dollars into paypal to exchange it to pounds to then buy crypto in dollars again (which I've been doing) and loosing a fortune on fees. When will our royalties be payed out in crypto?
It would be amazing to get the top cryptos as payment each month as an option.
What do you think? When's it coming?
116
« on: January 20, 2018, 12:09 »
Almost bedtime on the 20th in my part of the world.
It's definitely the 20th on the west coast of North America.
But still no stats.
Mamma mia, be quiet, one or two days more will surely not change your life
Yeah but that's not the point. A contract is a contract and we should have them by the 20th. Anything later is just not good enough in my eyes.
117
« on: December 04, 2017, 17:19 »
In my ESP profile section, the number of sales in "downloads year to date" suddenly took a 30% jump this afternoon. This has never happened to me before, so I'm pretty suspicious that these aren't legitimate sales.
Under the "if it seems too good to be true..." rule, I'm presuming these will all be sales for fractions of a cent, if they are not actually a mistake that will later be reversed.
Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know what's happening here? I vaguely recall something like this being mentioned in another thread but I can't find it now.
Unfortunately they have made adjustments to our totals from a bug a few months back where we didn't get the correct amounts. My video sales have also had a big jump in the last hour but ist's not sales, it's just the adjustment.
118
« on: December 01, 2017, 04:05 »
It's kind of like a personal thing, to me though there is no point in going exclusive unless you do this part time and can't be bothered with the hassle of uploading to all the main sites.
I started my stock career as an istock exclusive but soon realized that my clips would perform better elsewhere. My clips did OK on istock - always much better on Getty but from around 2014 onwards mine (and other peoples) portfolio's became a little stagnant.
Uploading to all the major sites has been way more beneficial to me than I ever thought.
Are you doing this full time (or want too)?
I'd say don't bother being exclusive - upload everywhere. I'm non exclusive but still get the big sales over on Getty (although my clips have gone off the site) It must be Premium Access although for some reason some of them still bay $500+ instead of the majority of $5 or less.
Getting your wife to start her own portfolio (although it's yours) sounds like it could get a little confusing and istock might not be a massive fan of it?
119
« on: November 30, 2017, 10:50 »
Real nice work Brightonti,
It's like a day in the life around Brighton.
Really like your portfolio too, like all the time-lapses in and around the UK. You've got a true filmmakers eye.
120
« on: November 30, 2017, 10:38 »
Thanks everyone, really good views.
I think the video market is a rapidly growing sector and I've seen my sales more than double in this last year alone. Portfolio of over 6000 clips, been in this game since 2011.
I've been doing this full time now for 3 years so trying out new ideas.
I just see the likes of storyblocks as a multi million dollar site and all it is, is about 10 of us to join together to create a cool and modern site. I take it that it's a little hard work, but nothing is free in life.
I don't know too much about other startup sites. Symbiostock seemed like millions of websites trying to link to each other which I really didn't get? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Again I feel video is a growing area which has room for a contributor led co-op.
Not sure how many video contributor visit here?
121
« on: November 29, 2017, 14:41 »
Thanks niktol.
I must be naive then as I don't see any major issues? Contributors with sizable good content are sitting on little goldmines. If we join them up to make a decent portfolio, all chuck in a decent amount of money (but not ridiculous) to get it off the ground. Then spread the word in creative and manageable ways, then surly it's worth a go?
Are any other video contributors out their thinking the same as me or am I on my todd?
The vast majority of people here are jaded. Many tried to go alone and failed, myself included. I know a few of people who made it on their own, but they are not exactly stock material. Some of them are rather unconventional fellows, they won't work in a "team". Nor what I call "a normal person" would be able to follow their path.
That's exactly my point. Get 10/20 like minded people together with strong content and pull all the money and resources together - the outcome must be more favorable than trying it alone? I think the jaded majority on here is due to years of seeing profit margins getting squeezed until there's no hope left. It's not their fault, just what the industry have persuaded them to think.
122
« on: November 29, 2017, 14:36 »
Who will you hire to run an agency for a tiny $40,000 salary...and a huge part of that budget goes to building the site? How will you pay the salaries of the people needed to keep the site running? How will you budget for marketing? Same questions anyone starting a stock site will need to answer.
Hi Shelma, no I was thinking of $40,000 to set up the website. That was just pulled out of thin air BTW. We would have to start off small and the 10/20 contributors would keep the site going. Although after it's set up I was thinking it would be fairly self-sufficient.
123
« on: November 29, 2017, 14:00 »
Thanks niktol.
I must be naive then as I don't see any major issues? Contributors with sizable good content are sitting on little goldmines. If we join them up to make a decent portfolio, all chuck in a decent amount of money (but not ridiculous) to get it off the ground. Then spread the word in creative and manageable ways, then surly it's worth a go?
Are any other video contributors out their thinking the same as me or am I on my todd?
124
« on: November 29, 2017, 13:34 »
Thanks for your input Jo Ann.
Yes it's the business side of things that collaterally within the group we would need to discuss and get right. I've got loads of ideas and I'm sure other people have too - so it would be tricky but not impossible? I'm open to see the bigger picture and open new ways of thinking too so it would have to be a collective collaboration.
I wansn't thinking of exclusivity BTW. A place where we could market our own material. As a buyer when I buy clips I hate the thought that the stock agencies get most of the money. I would prefer to buy from a contributor owned site any day of the week. I know I have more knowledge than an ordinary buyer as I'm also a contributor but I'm sure most people would agree.
I think something big and (fair) needs to be done in our industry and maybe this could be a way to do it?
125
« on: November 29, 2017, 11:32 »
But it will be our stuff. I get the think about getting people to agree. But keep it simple and I'm sure everyone will want whatever is best as it could be huge?
I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but what is? (I'm surer that's a song lyric?)
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