Announcing New Music/Music & SFX Subscriptions

Hey folks,

I wanted to share an announcement regarding our new subscription product for those who may have missed it in their inbox.

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We are thrilled to announce that we are launching two new subscriptions! Beginning June 7, customers will be able to purchase a Music Subscription or a Music & Sound Effects Subscription on Pond5.

Customers will continue to have the option of licensing tracks individually, which we expect most to do, but subscriptions allow us to compete for those customers with frequent licensing needs (such as YouTube creators, social media marketers, and podcasters). We are very confident that subscriptions will significantly increase licensing activity in our marketplace and increase artist earnings.

We will automatically include all music tracks and sound effects in the marketplace—both preexisting and new uploads—in our subscriptions. This content will also be added to our current Membership collection, rebranded as “Footage Plus.” All subscriptions will offer ten downloads per month with monthly or annual commitments.

Your royalty rates and the Contributor Agreement will remain unchanged. Pond5 Artists can now earn through traditional marketplace sales, our Refer & Earn program, and Pond5 subscriptions. Subscription commissions will appear in the My Financials section of the user Dashboard along with your a la carte and referral earnings. You’ll be able to view any items purchased through a subscription under a new Subscription Downloads tab.

These new subscriptions are essential to Pond5’s future—we can now compete far more effectively for customers with recurring licensing needs. By acquiring these customers and consolidating their licensing activity within our marketplace, we can increase earnings for our artist community.

For more information, visit our Contributor Portal or contact us at support@pond5.com.

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As always, we appreciate every one of you in our artist community, and we're looking forward to the future with you all! If you have any questions and/or want to continue the dialogue, shoot us a message any time.

Please, don't change anything in the footage selling system. Don't try to fix something that work good. No "great news" or "opportunities" or anythings. PLEASE.

Will i be able to opt out?

Well that didn't take long. Footage will be next.

My main image agency have done this and they also disguised it as a benefit to contributors, increasing earnings potential, etc.. No, it is not a benefit in any way. The only winners here are the share holders of SS. All this "we're so thrilled to announce" and "joining the Shutterstock family" is insulting.

SS buying out Pond5 is NOT a positive move for contributors. Not many people with knowledge of the stock industry have anything positive to say about SS, for good reason. They have been leaders in the demise of the stock industry and they buy out competition to ensure their future monopoly.

Shares (wall streey stocks) of SS (and therefore Pond5) are now less than half of what they used to be. Maybe I am going to sell my camera and buy SSTK. I am going to become one of those infamous share holders.
This is absolutely not a recommendation.

How does the revenue split work under the subscription model?

@roughcoast great question and it’s quite insulting that contributors haven’t been provided with this information but have automatically been opted into the subscription scheme.

when do we get to view are earnings from this? I just have a question mark from June