mp3jrick
JayMSY wrote :
But i feel the longtime Smashvidz users are getting hosed. :(
I know people who had the grandfathered $30/mo plan. Now it is $20/mo for "membership" and then purchase credits.$129 for 200 credits. One video with multiple edits only uses 1 credit, but still right now the new merger feels like the longtime supporters are getting the short end of the stick.
There are other plans but the one i mentioned is the highest with the most value.
I know people who had the grandfathered $30/mo plan. Now it is $20/mo for "membership" and then purchase credits.$129 for 200 credits. One video with multiple edits only uses 1 credit, but still right now the new merger feels like the longtime supporters are getting the short end of the stick.
There are other plans but the one i mentioned is the highest with the most value.
I have to say, that the new service is going to take a little time to get used to.
For years I've been a SV user, from the beginning actually.
Prior to that, we had some options that I detested both in content and costs.
For years I did battle with agencies explaining the need for intros and tracks without the story line breaks, along with the need to be able to download rather than rip dvd's and tag and so on. All I got for a reply was "licensing issues prevent this", well fine c u L8rt bye.
So SV was the first to answer that and they got my attention and loyalty from that point on.
I did find myself coming up a bit short in other genres, which became a bit of a nagging problem.
The positive side of this is that the limited content that SV had, is now fixed with the merge with Screenplay Vj Pro.
All we had for options before were the original tracks which typically included long story line intros, with story line breaks in the middle and cold endings which for those who mix was nothing but grief.
These came at a cost around $300 per year per series or $25 or $30 per month depending on payment plans.
At any cost, not sure where the worth lies if you toss more than half of it, do you?
Now the biggest factor is this, filtering tracks takes TIME, time nobody has to waste. Second being tracks you pay for and will never play.
Make sure you factor in the filtering time and the actual tracks you receive per month when evaluating the cost and value of this new service.
Probably would be a good idea to find out how many tracks per year you download before comparing the payment methods.
The monthly base includes 5 complimentary downloads also, not just an empty fee that is charged.
Typically you were spending $300 for Hot Video per year, compared to the Diamond package @.65 per track that is the equivalent of 195 base tracks (plus 5 for the base membership) including the options of the single/clean/dirty versions all for the same credit.
I've been averaging 20-30 tracks per month from SV historically, so basing this cost analysis on the diamond package is reaching far imo, but thats my average for a base line example.
Another favorite of mine is Snipz, there are shorter edits that feature the intro, verse, chorus and outro for those who like quick mixing one verse/chorus. This is somewhat of an exclusive feature I have found I really like.
I honestly feel that if you are a VJ who has been paying for other services and not using the net or file sharing sites or illegal methods, this is a much better option that satisfies the VJ needs to the letter.
Posted Sat 10 Mar 12 @ 9:47 am
J-Snip
The initial shock has worn off and i have thought out my strategy.
Since the credits never expire i am doing the top tier but probably only do membership every other month.
In the past i downloaded most (no dubstep/latin) and did.my own filtering before moving the files to the vj drive. Just 2
fridays ago i did am.inventory of a few folders containing files i have never played since i started with smash. 770 got deleted! By filtering on the front ejdnbefore using the credis this will certainly cut.down on the filler and the filtering time will be the same since i was doing it anyway.
The cost is.partially the issue.but in the end, for me, it jjust increases the write-offs.
Pardon the typos...replied to this via phone.
Since the credits never expire i am doing the top tier but probably only do membership every other month.
In the past i downloaded most (no dubstep/latin) and did.my own filtering before moving the files to the vj drive. Just 2
fridays ago i did am.inventory of a few folders containing files i have never played since i started with smash. 770 got deleted! By filtering on the front ejdnbefore using the credis this will certainly cut.down on the filler and the filtering time will be the same since i was doing it anyway.
The cost is.partially the issue.but in the end, for me, it jjust increases the write-offs.
Pardon the typos...replied to this via phone.
Posted Sat 10 Mar 12 @ 1:50 pm
mp3jrick
These guys have really thought things out, and will listen to options users suggest.
One convenient thing is the ability to load directly from the preview window to the dl list, and the option to batch download saves loads of time not to mention you can select and save and if your dl gets interrupted it will resume from where it left off.
I have also found their content threshold pretty tight when sticking to xtends and snipz, that consistency is my top priority when doing schools.
The preview 30 second timer is being looked into, its not a simple thing when it involves thousands of members, but its going to be a monster when complete.
One variable may be artist production, as it is now it can't get any slower.
Now you take the top 15 artists and let them drop frequent releases like BEP and you may find yourself getting 50 tracks a month as I have but rarely.
The good thing as you said is the credits do not expire, they roll over. So if we have a bad month or months of releases, that monthly cost factor is zero like we never spent it.
Thats got huge value to me in Dec and Jan when things die.
One convenient thing is the ability to load directly from the preview window to the dl list, and the option to batch download saves loads of time not to mention you can select and save and if your dl gets interrupted it will resume from where it left off.
I have also found their content threshold pretty tight when sticking to xtends and snipz, that consistency is my top priority when doing schools.
The preview 30 second timer is being looked into, its not a simple thing when it involves thousands of members, but its going to be a monster when complete.
One variable may be artist production, as it is now it can't get any slower.
Now you take the top 15 artists and let them drop frequent releases like BEP and you may find yourself getting 50 tracks a month as I have but rarely.
The good thing as you said is the credits do not expire, they roll over. So if we have a bad month or months of releases, that monthly cost factor is zero like we never spent it.
Thats got huge value to me in Dec and Jan when things die.
Posted Sat 10 Mar 12 @ 4:01 pm
Djtimmygatl
maverick77014 wrote :
K definetely will look into that, has anyone ever dealt with idj?
IDJ videos have a logo that look similar to VJ-Pro aka screen play. $60 a month was a bit much for me for what you get in return. Although David the guy that runs it seems to be a great guy.
Posted Wed 21 Mar 12 @ 3:55 pm
J-Snip
wow here you are promoting a $60/mo pool but yet griping about Smashvidz was great and now as a part of Screenplay being $20/mo in another post??? Are you that "David" guy?
Posted Wed 21 Mar 12 @ 3:58 pm
Djtimmygatl
Nope. I just a mobile DJ that is really starting to have a passion for creativity with mixes and videos. I don't promote any music video pool at the moment. I gave David credit because I had some issues and he was quick to resolve. Smashvidz was the only pool I promoted. I'm going to be investing some money in crooklynnclann website. I give VJ-Pro credit for their quality but have no love for VJ-Pro because of a bad experience with $70 of credits expiring and disappearing. Its good to see that VJ-Pro is now rolling over credits and that 1 credit buys all the short, extended and clean and dirty versions. I just said some positive things about VJ-Pro and NO I'm not Doug Howard!
Posted Wed 21 Mar 12 @ 4:27 pm
J-Snip
Ahh. I understand now. Losing those credits would suck!
I had a bad experience with a cd remix company back in 2000. I lost a lot more than $70 and learned a valuable lesson from it and since then I don't buy remix cd "subscriptions" anymore, I buy single issues. Long story short...the remix service in question went under and did not return the money I paid for a year subscription.
I had a bad experience with a cd remix company back in 2000. I lost a lot more than $70 and learned a valuable lesson from it and since then I don't buy remix cd "subscriptions" anymore, I buy single issues. Long story short...the remix service in question went under and did not return the money I paid for a year subscription.
Posted Wed 21 Mar 12 @ 5:54 pm
ClubBusta
dang man you cant afford 20 bucks for top quallity? i had a issue with my account awhile back and vjpro fixed it in minutes and gave me a pile of free credits for the aggravation and all i had to do was call them did you ever try that? and i aint doug howrd either lol but i wish i was lolol
Posted Wed 21 Mar 12 @ 8:07 pm
mp3jrick
And if they did change some things to keep people happy, good for them!
That's what its all about these days.
I would suggest contacting Doug first.
Edit
Better yet, I contacted him on your behalf
You have 70 credits on your acct and all you have to do is log in to access them.
That's what its all about these days.
I would suggest contacting Doug first.
Edit
Better yet, I contacted him on your behalf
You have 70 credits on your acct and all you have to do is log in to access them.
Posted Thu 22 Mar 12 @ 7:02 am
Doug Howard
...you rang? I'm pretty easy to find. Except on chat boards that I don't have time to visit.
alt.... I know who you are and I think you are a little confused. Your account is in fact active and you have 70 credits waiting for you. All you have to do is login to use them. Credits never expire on VJ-Pro. Even before the merger they are always there and never disappear. And we have always been plenty generous with comp credits when a client has an issue for whatever weird reason (Hint: call us at the end of the day, when we are tired. We get really generous when we can't think straight, ha!)
What this seems to boil down to is your objection to paying a $19.99 monthly base subscription fee (which btw, you receive free credits with every time you renew your account). Fact is, any site that gives you an "all you can eat" buffet for the price of a couple of cocktails is clearly operating outside of full license with the record labels. No grey area any longer. Fact. With the RIAA on the warpath now and handing out cease & desists like confetti, the days of people making crap up as they go along.... are over.
Fact is, from what we can see, the only people getting "hosed" here are the illegal sites and the knuckleheads who sell hard drives on Craig's List, and who are avoiding the mailman when he shows up with registered letters. We have made it so easy now to get what you want, when you want it, legitimately, and at price packages that in some cases run pennies per video asset, that there frankly is no need to dig through cat litter boxes looking for gems that don't smell. While admittedly a few of these sites have some occasional great editors, who turn out some pretty cool content once and awhile (by the way guys, we're hiring), the majority of these ass-hats are selling you ripped YouTube clips, or assets that are stolen from legitimate distributors with the ID chyron cut out. That looks really pro-level on a screen... and the audio?... wow, it would make a dogs ears bleed. A thief is a thief, and there is no "street cred" in that any longer. And make no mistake, this is the exact same type of scumbag who tries to beat you out of gigs with a hard drive full of stolen music by lowballing your pay scale into the basement to the club owners. No difference whatsoever. Think about that next time you get "that call" from a club owner explaining how you won't be needed next week. And, these are also the same clowns who perpetuate the long held belief by the record label's biz affairs departments that no "in the field" DJ can be trusted to behave like a professional. A belief that I have spent years fighting with the labels about.
The overwhelming response to this merger, and the new features and content we are offering has been hands down loudly applauded and supported by both of our sets of collective users. And we are receiving a ton of new registrations daily from new users that have never even been with either service previously. And we are only getting started. More features and assets are on the way, and we are on it now. And if you take the time to call us, we can probably show you ways to utilize the new system so much to your advantage that you may actually be paying less than you were previously on your monthly music budget. There are plenty of ways to work our new system now. But by NOT contacting us, and repeating over and over and over and over how you are unhappy, in every single thread involving a music video service on a third party manufacturer's board... frankly.... its generally an indication that you're probably working for a competitor who is feeling a major pinch over this beast that we've created. But that's still okay. Because when they're gone, we'd still like to hear from you. We will always be hiring new editors. No hard feelings at all.
Back to work. See everyone at the next SmashVision Video Conference in Vegas... if not sooner.
alt.... I know who you are and I think you are a little confused. Your account is in fact active and you have 70 credits waiting for you. All you have to do is login to use them. Credits never expire on VJ-Pro. Even before the merger they are always there and never disappear. And we have always been plenty generous with comp credits when a client has an issue for whatever weird reason (Hint: call us at the end of the day, when we are tired. We get really generous when we can't think straight, ha!)
What this seems to boil down to is your objection to paying a $19.99 monthly base subscription fee (which btw, you receive free credits with every time you renew your account). Fact is, any site that gives you an "all you can eat" buffet for the price of a couple of cocktails is clearly operating outside of full license with the record labels. No grey area any longer. Fact. With the RIAA on the warpath now and handing out cease & desists like confetti, the days of people making crap up as they go along.... are over.
Fact is, from what we can see, the only people getting "hosed" here are the illegal sites and the knuckleheads who sell hard drives on Craig's List, and who are avoiding the mailman when he shows up with registered letters. We have made it so easy now to get what you want, when you want it, legitimately, and at price packages that in some cases run pennies per video asset, that there frankly is no need to dig through cat litter boxes looking for gems that don't smell. While admittedly a few of these sites have some occasional great editors, who turn out some pretty cool content once and awhile (by the way guys, we're hiring), the majority of these ass-hats are selling you ripped YouTube clips, or assets that are stolen from legitimate distributors with the ID chyron cut out. That looks really pro-level on a screen... and the audio?... wow, it would make a dogs ears bleed. A thief is a thief, and there is no "street cred" in that any longer. And make no mistake, this is the exact same type of scumbag who tries to beat you out of gigs with a hard drive full of stolen music by lowballing your pay scale into the basement to the club owners. No difference whatsoever. Think about that next time you get "that call" from a club owner explaining how you won't be needed next week. And, these are also the same clowns who perpetuate the long held belief by the record label's biz affairs departments that no "in the field" DJ can be trusted to behave like a professional. A belief that I have spent years fighting with the labels about.
The overwhelming response to this merger, and the new features and content we are offering has been hands down loudly applauded and supported by both of our sets of collective users. And we are receiving a ton of new registrations daily from new users that have never even been with either service previously. And we are only getting started. More features and assets are on the way, and we are on it now. And if you take the time to call us, we can probably show you ways to utilize the new system so much to your advantage that you may actually be paying less than you were previously on your monthly music budget. There are plenty of ways to work our new system now. But by NOT contacting us, and repeating over and over and over and over how you are unhappy, in every single thread involving a music video service on a third party manufacturer's board... frankly.... its generally an indication that you're probably working for a competitor who is feeling a major pinch over this beast that we've created. But that's still okay. Because when they're gone, we'd still like to hear from you. We will always be hiring new editors. No hard feelings at all.
Back to work. See everyone at the next SmashVision Video Conference in Vegas... if not sooner.
Posted Thu 22 Mar 12 @ 9:33 am
ClubBusta
daaaam! now i really wanna be you so i can type like that lolol!!!!
Posted Thu 22 Mar 12 @ 11:17 am
Djtimmygatl
Doug, I respect your response and give you another try. From what you are saying I was a little confused. No I don't work for another video pool Doug. Really my biggest gripe of the merger is some of the creative remixes I use to download are no longer there, But seeing what you said realizing the iraa and the mpaa are on a war path I might give your service another chance. I would like to see more creative remixes but I understand legally if the some remixed songs are by 2 or 3 different music labels which make it harder. Who knows as you said your at the beginning of a new phase and have alot of new surprises on the way. I was man enough enough to voice an opinion without all the facts earlier and I am man enough to apologize. I should have came to you in the first place.
Posted Thu 22 Mar 12 @ 3:38 pm
Doug Howard
alt... I really appreciate your reply and your professionalism. I wasn't ranting about you in particular so much as I was about the hairballs who denigrate this profession and art form and give all DJ's a bad reputation. Once I get on that track, I'm a loose cannon. Glad your going to give us the opportunity to serve you. Thanks very much for your trust.
Posted Thu 22 Mar 12 @ 4:25 pm
mp3jrick
It may be worth noting that not so long ago, our resources were strict and what we had to mix with had no intros, cold fades and story line intros and breaks that drove me nuts.
I complained for years about it and got "permissions" as the standard reply and things got heated and ugly.
So this forced the majority of serious VJ's to seek other resources that weren't necessarily legal, but made you Dj Hero for the night.
The editors are very good and it seems the content appears overseas first which naturally editors have jumped for, the wrong way.
Then there's the quality issues you have to discover sometimes live.
We used to have to wait a month to get a series on disc, then rip, filter, categorize and back up, now we get releases daily and in all genres, no seriously.
The point of this is we've never had the options we have now and its fully licensed.
To me, my issues have been solved 100%, just more music to review.
I complained for years about it and got "permissions" as the standard reply and things got heated and ugly.
So this forced the majority of serious VJ's to seek other resources that weren't necessarily legal, but made you Dj Hero for the night.
The editors are very good and it seems the content appears overseas first which naturally editors have jumped for, the wrong way.
Then there's the quality issues you have to discover sometimes live.
We used to have to wait a month to get a series on disc, then rip, filter, categorize and back up, now we get releases daily and in all genres, no seriously.
The point of this is we've never had the options we have now and its fully licensed.
To me, my issues have been solved 100%, just more music to review.
Posted Thu 22 Mar 12 @ 4:58 pm
discobrian24
I am really looking into doing this, how convenient!! I could pick and choose what and how much we add for about the same price as Promo Only, but without the filler. Makes me want to find out when our subscription ends now!!
Posted Sat 24 Mar 12 @ 9:06 pm
discobrian24
Rick, do you pay say $165 one time for the credits, then you choose when and what to pay the next time?? I know there is a $20 membership. So say I want to pay that $165, then the next time I may not need that many, can I buy lower amounts as needed??
Posted Sat 24 Mar 12 @ 9:12 pm
mp3jrick
You have a membership fee, it comes with 5 comp downloads.
Once you pick the purchase plan, its like a savings bank, you spend from there and buy more when needed.
Then automatically roll over each month and never expire.
hope that helps
r
Once you pick the purchase plan, its like a savings bank, you spend from there and buy more when needed.
Then automatically roll over each month and never expire.
hope that helps
r
Posted Sun 25 Mar 12 @ 9:24 am
discobrian24
Yea that helps a ton, now just waiting til August to roll around so we can start this!! Thanks!
Posted Sun 25 Mar 12 @ 5:18 pm
syncro22
I recommend http://www.xtendamix.com/
Posted Tue 27 Mar 12 @ 7:03 am
J-Snip
syncro22 wrote :
I recommend http://www.xtendamix.com/
Not for those of us in the US I'm afraid (unless it changed recently).
Posted Tue 27 Mar 12 @ 11:23 am