pond5 now takes 65% of sales?

I have been offering music for 15 years. I was at 7 providers. 4 of them do not exist anymore, the rest was taken over by the big players. 15-20% per sale for musicians. Too bad that p5 now also chooses this path. I hope you have more luck.

return move 50% https://www.pond5.com/ru/stock-footage/113926797/sunset.html

@MYKOLANEMAZANYI what is the percentage for footage?

This place had the perfect chance to capitalize off the bad experience of good authors with the other royalty free markets... And just like that they kill the vibe and shoot all the contributors in the back...
Greed is a hell of a drug, mates!

Pond5 just told you that you don't matter. Raise your prices 60% and you will be making what you were. This will decrease sales and Pond5 will either go out of business or appreciate the fact that we have been building their inventory and reputation for them. Other choice: take down your songs now, and put them out of business immediately. They don't mind putting you out of business.

Don't forget to put in a star rating of one. There is no zero.

Just deleted all my tracks. I'm out. I'm sure P5 won't care that someone like me is gone since I only had a handful old non-ex tracks here anyway but it's the principle of the thing. I'm not going to participate in an unfair deal. I hope others walk away also.

Great to see so many composers I respect posting about this. My understanding is that video contributors now get 40% for non-exclusive and 60% for exclusive. Why didn't they offer composers THAT deal? They found the most insulting way to tell us how little we're valued. I'm packing my boxes, organizing my metadata and files and getting ready to ship out the first time I see a 65% cut taken from one of my tracks.

I might not pull my tracks out for now, but I have increased the price of all my tracks around 60%. Even if I sell something after this, I'm going to feel like I'm being robbed. 65% for what exactly? All profits for the middleman.

Just don't upload any more tracks (I know some composers will, which is very sad). Start looking elsewhere.

Copy of what I just posted in the "About Sales" thread:

Seriously, what the f....?!

Pond5 telling us less than 2 weeks in advance that they go against EVERYTHING they stood for in the agreement and take 65% of our income here?? And hiding this fact in an email promoting Pond5 Publishing as it were nothing?

“Beginning September 3rd, 2019, contributors to our Music and Sound Effects offerings will begin collecting 35% of the license revenue their content generates through Pond5. “

Let’s look a little closer at this email..

“Historically, collecting performance royalties can be a difficult, time-consuming, and costly process.” Yes, if you do it yourself, that’s why P.R.O.’s exist and do the whole thing for you FREE OF CHARGE.

“More importantly, it can be very challenging for a rights holder to obtain the details required to collect accurate performance royalties (including identifying the end user for a given musical work and where the work was broadcast).“
Only if you hide the licensee’s information. No one I’m aware of but Pond5 does this.

“You will keep all of your writer and publisher performance royalties, less a standard admin fee from the publisher share to cover our expenses.”
If you want a fee from the publisher share, you should earn it by acting like an actual publisher. I’ve still personally never seen ANY active promotion of the audio here on Pond5. It’s always just visual content, on all social platforms.

“We will make every effort to ensure that buyers file cue sheets and provide relevant information for public broadcasts on film and TV.”
That would have been your job in the first place.

“You are not required to license exclusively through Pond5 in order to participate in Pond5 Publishing.”
We don’t even have the option to license exclusively through Pond5, only video contributors do, and many don’t seem that happy so far..

“We will help you sign up as a writer with a performing rights organisation if you are not already (…).”
Who needs help with this? A child could do it on its own..


I really like Pond5, for various reasons. And I sell licenses here pretty much every single day. Well, except this month, but it’s summer..
But you keep erasing every single factor why artists choose/chose to sell their media on your platform. Those decisions are short-sighted. If you lose the trust of the people providing the content by devaluing their work, your business is worth nothing and you certainly won’t “align with an extremely competitive landscape”.

I could provide detailed arguments why this is the case, but I won’t take the time for this. Your executives should be able to see the problematic on their own, otherwise you’re doomed anyway, at least in the long-term. We are the sole reason you exist. If you want to end up being a low-quality platform, providing shabby content by beginner hobbyists, you’re on the right track.

I thought you are better than this, I really did.