I had heard of ClusterShot before, but they were still working on “must have” features of the site. I don’t mind supporting new “agents” as long as it’s not a huge waste of time for me. So with that, the upload process has to be easy. When I looked at them before, they still had a long way to go on the upload process.
I checked them out again a few days ago after reading they recently added a lot of new features. I was happy to find most of the new features focused on ease of use for the artist. I created an account and started uploading. Yes, it was easy. I tried out many of the upload tools to finally decide on using WebDAV. Once I had that going, I just left it running in the background; easy.
ClusterShot’s approach is different. Most stock photo agencies take your images and they do the rest. That’s great and all, except you get stuck with the short end of the stick with profit (and the short end can be really short!). At ClusterShot, they create and run the site; you create, upload, and market your images. That’s not to say you will not get sales other ways, but the focus is to allow YOU to sell your images. In turn, you get to keep 88% of the sale.
So the question is, with the rise and fall of almost all new stock photo agencies, will they make it? Will 12% be enough to keep everything running and the people on top happy? Time will tell. Personally, I hope they do. They do have a PRO subscription for $20 a year that adds a lot of extra features. That may help their survival. I like the clean layout, the to the point navigation, and of course the low 12% commission.
I will keep them on the upload list for a while and see what happens. I will also use them as my main portfolio site for sells from my website(s) and stock clients. I will update everyone on my progress when/if there is any. Currently I have about 750 images uploaded.
Anyone else using ClusterShot? If so, what do you think? Any experiences?
I’ve been using ClusterShot since they started and, from a photographer’s perspective, like the site. As you note, uploading is easy and managing your images is straightforward. I’m funneling license enquiries from my main site there and have a pro account which allows me to limit searches to only my shots as well as offering me a “storefront”.
One the negative side, I get the impression that the site doesn’t get a lot of traffic compared to the other large stock agencies. I’ve sold 3 times more images from a catalog of a couple of dozen on Getty in 3 months than I have from a catalog of 350 on Clustershot over 10 months, for example. I would really like to be able to hook the Clustershot account into Google Analytics to get some feel for the traffic, though – currently there’s no statistics available as far as I am aware.
I figure ClusterShot will mainly be just a checkout system. It would be nice for it to become a powerhouse stock site, but probably not.
Getty is a monster, and sells very well. The problem is you don’t pick them, they pick you. It’s that locked down traditional mindset that helped bring microstock to where it is today.
I figure if I want sales from ClusterShot, I will have to send them there. Which I have, and it seems to be working fine.
I have had a few more sales at ClusterShot, and even more offers. It seems like traffic to the site is picking up well.