Pond5 Lets Photographers and Videographers Set Their Own Price for Stock Video, Stills, and More

A number of websites offer multimedia content to content creators for their projects through an easy-to-access online portal. But as well as those sites serve the many that use them, they all have one thing in common: they set the price for all content. Letting photographers, videographers, and musicians set the price for their own work, Pond5 is an exception in a set of businesses between which it is increasingly hard to differentiate.

Not all content is created equal. So, it's no surprise that even some pieces of the same types of content cost more to produce than others. Jason Teichman, who recently came to lead Pond5 as CEO, says Pond5 will turn to developing motion content as video consumption continues to grow astronomically. He is especially keen on building out emerging content types such as 360-degree video, drone footage, and virtual reality, as he sees the need for filmmakers to have a better platform from which to sell content that's more expensive to produce.

Drone videos, VR, 360: those aren’t cheap to make. They’re expensive. And [filmmakers] want to set the terms for that. They often come to us first because of that.

 - Jason Teichman, CEO, Pond5

By offering creators the option to set their own prices, Pond5 provides the ability to truly charge what the content is worth. However, Teichman isn't ignorant of the fact that while many creators might understand their content is worth more, they simply don't know how much more. By offering tips and more personalized counseling on pricing in the near future, he hopes to help artists charge ​what they deserve. Curbing underpricing naturally has the mutually beneficial effect of increasing Pond5's revenue, which matches a generous-for-the-industry 50 percent contributor commission. Meanwhile, higher pricing in concert with stringent curation increases the overall quality of the work offered on Pond5 and further helps those looking and willing to pay for outstanding work.

While it is far from the only company offering a similar payout, Pond5 is part of the minority that fairly compensates creators. As sites such as Stocksy and ImageBrief offer high compensation to their photographers, Pond5 manages to stand out from this group by offering a plethora of content types, which combined with flexible price-setting and fair commissions give the company an unmatched feature set for artists and prospective buyers alike.

In addition to building upon what it claims is the world's largest stock video catalog, with 5.7 million videos, Pond5 is focused on building other types of content, including its music, photography, and more unique catalogs, such as those for special effects and 3D modeling. In this sense,  Pond5 is a one-stop shop for those at any stage of content creation.