Pond5 is in the process of creating a collection of video clips that can be offered through low priced subscriptions.
It is unclear what the subscription price will be but they will be competing against
Videoblocks that offers a $79 monthly subscription and $99 yearly plan for unlimited downloads. Thus, the price will probably be somewhere in that ballpark.
For the moment participation is by invitation only. Pond5 will screen the clips to determine which ones should be included. Once a clip is chosen there is a 120-day notice period if the contributor later chooses to opt-out.
For video, they will be paying minimum monthly royalties of $0.50 per item for every clip in the collection, regardless of downloads and usage. If the total subscription revenues exceed this minimum rate, the excess will be split 50/50 with contributors, based on item performance.
They may also introduce a similar strategy with photos.
Contributor Benefits
Most contributors have a high percentage of clips that have seldom if ever been downloaded. This could be an opportunity to earn a little revenue from such clips. While not much, it is better than nothing.
Pond5 Risks
Pond5 will have to be very careful in terms of which clips they choose to add to the collection, and how long they allow them to remain. Since there is a guaranteed fixed monthly payout based on the number of clips in the collection Pond5 could easily end up owing more than they take in. This system may require Pond5 to regularly edit the collection, but it could lead to better curated collection than most of the other collections that are focused on adding as many images and clips as possible.
Better curation could benefit to both customers and image creators.