oleskalashnik

I've got a strange hunch. Why did Shutterstock cancel the exam and begin to take the visual crap? If I were a greedy capitalist, I would do so only in one case. If I (the owner) had someone suggested buying up the entire Shutterstock base, without looking at the quality of the files. It's like a bying a waste paper or scrap metal - BY WEIGHT. At 1 dollar per file, for example. Accordingly, a database containing 30 million files costs $ 30 million, and a database of 320 million files is already $ 320 million. It will be fun if this stupid conjecture is true.

The specifics of the microstock market is such that a flagship necessarily appears on it. And contributors upload their files to the site number 1, first of all. The rest of the microstock is a passive trailer in the wake. If all microstock sites decide: “let someone else pay well, and we'll take advantage of that by grabbing cheap copies of files” (and no one wants to be the flagship), then the whole market will simply lose good authors. Quality will can only be found in outdated content. So the future lies with a strong company that does its business not only through the sale of microstock files (and it means that a company can afford a small margin). The future company will enable professionals to work on exclusive terms, amateur content will be passed through a strict quality filter, but in the end it will pay a higher fee than other microstock sites. Shutterstock no longer wants to be the flagship. Well, okay. Let's see who will take on this respected function.

Meanwile the new CEO is silent and waiting. He thinks that he is dealing with a short burst of anger, and that authors will adapt to the imposed conditions. He did not understand that protesting photographers, videographers and artists simply gave him the last chance to eliminate his mistake. The big boss don't understand that after this deafening protest, a quiet, time-stretched but massive outflow of contributors will begin. Just because a dealing with SS became unprofitable for them.

That's smart delay.

Yes, two weeks was enough to understand: the management of the office (first of all, their 'magical' Stan) really destroys the entire system. They had different options to reduce payments for authors. For example, Shutterstock could do this almost imperceptibly, in several stages. Or he could push quarrel people with each other, using different conditions of cooperation. Or, finally, Shutterstock could halve all the earnings - cruelly, but honestly. But. Shutterstock's bosses behave so deceitfully and unprofessionally that they angered everyone: beginners, experienced ones, singles, studio participants, hobbies and full timers. No “laws of the market" or "interests of capital" can explain this. Either headless amateurs or ... vile and cold-blooded liquidators of the business act by such methods.

What surprises you? Shutterstock appropriated not only the right to manage our money, but also took the exclusive right to express sympathy for the black people.

But they are big enough to get stuck under their own stupid weight and then simply rot.

Shutterstock's interaction with the studios is what interests me. Let's imagine the real motives of the 'damned capitalists'. But let's don't think about their banal greed and / or preparation of the SS for sale. Suppose they want this business to develop under their supervision. So. In fact, a conditions were created under which it became unprofitable for the authors to work with Shutterstock. It is known that most contributors think in not 'stock style'. Many of us shoot / draw under impression of the tops. And many of us catch a trend when it is already at the end. That is, lot of authors are ineffective. And to babysit with them is unprofitable. It is also known that studios are acting specifically for the creation of 'stock style' content. This is already a business for them. Studios track trends and make clear plans. They form the staff and distribute a functions. They provide a basic quality control and quickly lay off untalented or lazy employees. So, where to go authors who did not have time to build up a large portfolio, and who are still full of energy and hope? The answer is obvious: their path leads to microstock studios. Just studios will be able to quickly gain 5-6 levels at the beginning of each year. Just the studios have a margin of safety in order to consistently pay the authors, due to the fact that they have large portfolios at once on several stock sites. If my suspicion is true, then Shutterstock will send a special offer to the owners of studio portfolios in the near future. And this offer will contain higher interest rates and new warranties. Let the Shutterstock bosses explain why they need all these hide and seek tricky games. Talk to us openly! Nothing personal, it's just business.

Blah-blah-blah. You act like a spokesperson of Shutterstock. There are too many honest witnesses who talked about real falling their earnings, so that you could call them 'alarmists'. And now tell us: where is official opinion of Shutterstock members? Where is feedback? They are keeping silence.

We understand that Shutterstock's leadership foresaw this wave of indignation. But the bosses are mistaken if they think that contributors will get tired of getting angry and offended, and they will continue to upload content. It’s not about offense at all. The fact is that now it has become unprofitable for authors to collaborate with Shutterstock.

Under the new structure, I have been assigned level 5. And I do not understand why at the same time my earnings fell by 40%. What the hell? It turns out that the size of our earnings is not affected by our efforts and talents, but only by the way Shutterstock manages his subscription plans. Stan Pavlovsky, just keep in mind: you will NOT receive new high-quality pics and videos because of your greed! And your earnings structure is a fraud.

If Shutterstock, on the contrary, increased the earning size for authors, this would be a signal to investors that he is doing well and his business is very stable. The fact, at now other stock providers got a real opportunity to enter into competition with Shutterstock. They will no longer limp behind in his wake, without a chance of success. Because now tens of thousands authors will turn their heads in all directions, in anticipation of more favorable conditions. I'm sure that within a year some of microstock providers will develop new profitable terms and will begin to expand database with fresh high-quality content.

Sales will increase if Shutterstock lowers the cost of the subscription, but this is not enough. It should be convenient for customers to search for suitable content, but in popular niches they see a lot of monotonous similar files and cheap replications (hidden plagiarism). This means that SS's huge image collection must be cleaned, as Hercules did with the Augean stables.

Kate you should tell your smart boss this: 1. If Shutterstock really needs fresh and high-quality content, company must pay an increased reward for new files. If you want so much to implement small earnings, apply it to old content that was uploaded a few years ago. 2. Levels will become a good motivation only if you make it final multipliers. High levels should significantly increase earnings, in two, three times. This is the real motivation, not a pittance of few cents. 3. If you want to keep good authors who supply expensive content, you should also use multipliers for high-quality styles. Your boss should understand that photographs taken with the participation of professional models have more serious prime cost than simple travel photographs taken with a smartphone. This is also true for videos with hired actors. Finally, graceful vector graphics in an engraving style and in a realistic style (using gradient meshes) are more labor-intensive than a simple flat style. No good authors means no good profit. 4. When you do all this, be sure to return the exam for new participants, restore the high standard of quality and hire dozens of professional inspectors who can see the difference between stylish content and cheap useless crap. If you don’t do this, your microstock business will gone...

I believe that the new boss is completely unaware of the specifics of microstock activities. He does not understand that this is a real profession, not a hobby for authors. He does not understand that customers need relevant high-quality images. They do not need a giant pile of images in which to get lost! Perhaps the new CEO thinks he is saving Shutterstock from stagnation or bankruptcy, but in fact he ruins this business right now.