What would compel you to sell your footage

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Hi everyone,

Many of you have experience in distributing your content through stock footage sites like Shutterstock and Pond 5. As you may be aware, I am building a platform that focuses exclusively on high quality exotic aerial content; and I absolutely intend on shaking things up in the stock imagery industry.

For those of you who currently sell through stock sites, I would like to know what elements you would like to see improved in the overall experience in order to wow you.

Which components are really critical to you?

For example:

- flexibility to opt out whenever you want?
- ability to add/remove content at will?
- receiving a higher % for each sale made (the industry standard is 25%-40%)
- not being locked in for 1-3 years
- knowing quickly if your footage is approved or not
- etc.

Your feedback will help me as I do final tweaks to the user experience.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Cheers

Patrice
 
Ok perhaps I rephrase the question:

- What would compel you enough to start selling your footage through a distribution platform?

This is essential feedback that will allow me to finalise this project. I believe to have nailed down a compelling offer for artists and content creators (of which I am part), but hearing it from you first hand is better.

Any thoughts?
 
In addition to the things you posted, here's few things off the top of my head:

- Easy uploading.
- Quick review and acceptance process.
- Well organized and searchable database (uses tags input by uploaders - should have a long pull-down box of suggested tags to help)
- Closed forum for approved uploaders to share tips and tricks. Could also be used by admin to request certain types of shots that are being asked for.
- Weekly or monthly "feature shots" shown prominently on the front page.

I'm curious - I would expect selling my footage this way would put me in violation of FAA rules since I don't have a 333 exemption. Is this correct?
 
In addition to the things you posted, here's few things off the top of my head:

- Easy uploading.
- Quick review and acceptance process.
- Well organized and searchable database (uses tags input by uploaders - should have a long pull-down box of suggested tags to help)
- Closed forum for approved uploaders to share tips and tricks. Could also be used by admin to request certain types of shots that are being asked for.
- Weekly or monthly "feature shots" shown prominently on the front page.

I'm curious - I would expect selling my footage this way would put me in violation of FAA rules since I don't have a 333 exemption. Is this correct?

Thanks for your feedback. Based on what you said, I think we nailed down all of the points, aside from the closed forum which I believe is a very igneous idea which I will incorporate on future phases.

Everything else is there, and more. Things such as:

- complete flexibility to add/remove content at will
- no long term commitments
- pricing set by the artist, not the platform
- up to 70% of sale price going back to artist (this is earth shattering in the stock industry)

Now, with regards to your question ... I have no idea. It is a valid point, but all I can say is that I am based out of Hong Kong and as a result I don't know what rules and regulations apply for people in the USA. We would simply be acting as the intermediary between content creators and customers worldwide and as such anyone posting content would need to accept the terms and conditions which include the mention that all footage was obtained legally and in respect of all local and/or international laws.

As an example, if I take a great underwater shot of a whale while I am on holidays in Mauritius and someone wants to buy it, not sure how regulators could intervene here.

Anyhow, I would invite you to look into our distribution platform and provide feedback. We are in testing phase right now and would be looking for a few people to test the systems to make sure everything is working smoothly.

The site is : www.aerial-entertainment-studios.com

Would like to get feedback on the overall user experience.

Cheers

Patrice
 
- up to 70% of sale price going back to artist (this is earth shattering in the stock industry)

That's great, and personally has been the biggest turnoff with the "big guys". As someone who's made his living as a graphic artist, the idea of doing all the work just to have someone else make the lion's share of the profits turns me off. I once had a guy offer to take one of my photos, have prints made up, handle sales, and offer me a generous 5% of the sales. I told him to take a hike! I'd rather make nothing from my photography than allow someone else to walk away with 95% of whatever it made.

I'll definitely keep an eye on your site/service.
 
That's great, and personally has been the biggest turnoff with the "big guys". As someone who's made his living as a graphic artist, the idea of doing all the work just to have someone else make the lion's share of the profits turns me off. I once had a guy offer to take one of my photos, have prints made up, handle sales, and offer me a generous 5% of the sales. I told him to take a hike! I'd rather make nothing from my photography than allow someone else to walk away with 95% of whatever it made.

I'll definitely keep an eye on your site/service.
That's exactly what triggered me to invest massively in the development of this platform. I was approached by Shutterstock and other platforms, and they were offering me 30% of revenues. I did all the work, so why would I only get 30%???? I didn't get it, and quite frankly, I don't know how the stock industry came up with their pricing model, but it doesn't make sense to me.

Listen, I'm in testing phase right now on the site and would love to get some feedback on the user experience. I am also looking for 'testers' who can submit footage for approval (preview files) so that I can test the curating process.

Anyone interested, drop me a line at [email protected]
Or [email protected]

Cheers

Patrice
 
In addition to the things you posted, here's few things off the top of my head:

- Easy uploading.
- Quick review and acceptance process.
- Well organized and searchable database (uses tags input by uploaders - should have a long pull-down box of suggested tags to help)
- Closed forum for approved uploaders to share tips and tricks. Could also be used by admin to request certain types of shots that are being asked for.
- Weekly or monthly "feature shots" shown prominently on the front page.

I'm curious - I would expect selling my footage this way would put me in violation of FAA rules since I don't have a 333 exemption. Is this correct?
Hi again,

I'd like to get your thoughts on the concept of the closed forum. How would you exactly see this working and what additional value would that bring to you as a content creator or customer.

I think it's a really good idea, but would need to understand a bit more the concept you had in mind.

Cheers
 
Once a video is selected to be part of the archive, you would get an invite to be part of the closed, login only forum. Here, the professionals could talk shop out of earshot of the customers, per se.
 
Once a video is selected to be part of the archive, you would get an invite to be part of the closed, login only forum. Here, the professionals could talk shop out of earshot of the customers, per se.
Ok I like it. Will incorporate in future phases.

Anyone also with suggestions?
 

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