Ounique... what the hell?!

[Xstr8guy]

I've been holding my tongue for a long time, but what the hell is going on over there? Since the beginning of this year they have had 5 content updates. They used to update twice a week... now we are lucky to get ANYTHING in a month.

Is another content broker picking up their slack? Are photographers selling their photos elsewhere? Is Ounique getting out of the content business? Everyone's buddy , Don Mike, left Ounique and now they appear to be in limbo.

This is alarming to me, especially since Ounique is THE premier content broker for gay content. And they are virtually the only broker to sell something other than twinks.

[Dzinerbear]

Yes, it's very concerning. Any other content brokers out there paying attention? Pardon the pun, but there's a hole that needs to be filled.

Dzinerbear

[KarenJ]

You know, I hadn't been paying attention, but now you say it, I miss those Ounique update emails...

I too hope things are OK there. I did worry a bit when Don left...

[JustMe]

Greetings:

I've noticed in the past 6 months that this seems to be an industry-wide trend, not simply an Ounique one.

I was going through my bookmarks of content brokers the other day planning on hunting down some new things to buy up. Not only did very few of them have any updates, many of them were just flat out gone all together...

[longboardjim]

One Of The Good Things About Being A Photographer!..."Option To Sell" , Most "Content-Providers" Are "Dependent" Upon Photographers And When The "Well" Runs Dry! , They Die!
I'd Like To Say It's "Unfortunate" But Most Likely The Content Provider "Screwed-Over" The Photographer One Time Too Many And The Photographer No Longer Has Dealings With Them...I'm Just Guessing!
If There Is One Thing I Have Learned In This Buisness And That Is To Be "Involved" As Much As Possible In It ( From Production To Completion )
That Way You Are Not "Dependent" Upon Someone Else , Or Make Sure You Have A " Plan-B "!

Sincerely ~ Not Bitter..Just A Bitch!

[basschick]

longboardjim - ounique is great for photographers unless something has changed very radically.

i figure the new guy is the reason for less updates. don worked there for years - the new guy is probably still getting up to speed. he also hasn't gotten back in touch with me regarding an exchange...

[longboardjim]

I'm Sure It's A "Management-Issue" ( Don! , Probably Took The Damn Executive Washroom Keys! At "Q"

Sincerely ~ Screw Me Once! , Shame On You...Screw Me Twice! , Shame On Me!

[jIgG]

i wouldn't be surprised if less photogs are giving content to brokers.

why let them have it and make half when you can do it yourself and get all the dough.

that's not to say content brokers are bad, it works for some people.

[basschick]

i know this one!

most of the photographers don't have much traffic. ounique has many thousands of regular buyers. i know people who sell there, and they make enough more sales at ounique to make it worth it.

i wouldn't be surprised if less photogs are giving content to brokers.

why let them have it and make half when you can do it yourself and get all the dough.

that's not to say content brokers are bad, it works for some people.

[Paul Markham]

So many different answers here, but here might be a few.

The content business has changed completely in the last 18 months and it could be the reason for the lack of updates.

1) All the free content floating around, simply meant less sales for content producers. The result was the demise of many.

2) The market has gone up in terms of quality some are simply unable to produce it.

3) Ounique used to insist on brokering exclusive content, there is more money for the producer in giving it to 5 brokers rather than 1

4) Gay is a small niche, with the problems many content producers faced last year it could of simply become unprofitable to shoot it. We did some solo boy sets, sales were 1/3 of what solo girls sales were. It's simply not worth shooting them.

Our business is in the teens market is still going strong, in fact sales are climbing and we are updating weekly. Just not doing gay.

Content is KING, because someone has to go out and produce it. The traffic is there and while we produce the content it will always be there.

[Xstr8guy]

Thanks for your POV Paul. It's nice to hear from another broker about the situation.

I'm not going to get into the whole "gay is not a niche" argument, especially since you are not interested in brokering gay content. That's really too bad because with Ounique fading away, it would be a good time to steal some of the male content photographers away from them. Just a thought

[DigitalJay]

What about Maxpixels? You couldn't ask for better quality, and if you think it's a twink only site, you haven't dug around enough. Can't you all just bug the shit out of Randy to get some major diversity into his studio? He has to know the market is there.

[Xstr8guy]

Oh, I've dug around on Maxpixels and I have a few things that I like... but most of it just doesn't work for my niches.

[DennisK]

If you are also talking about single guys, we have done quite a lot of updates lately. If you are interested you can go over here:

http://www.photorama.nl/shop/index.p...name=&x=43&y=8

If you are only interested in hardcore gay content, I am sorry, but I can not help you further.

Cya,
Dennis (icq: 108483386)
dennisk@photorama.nl

[zentz]

maxpixels :teach: