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Avatar_17f889c2a71a_64 Distrify and The D-Word announce strategic partnership

Members of The D-Word documentary community can now "sell movies socially" with Distrify. The Distrify player can easily be embedded in film profiles and postings on The D-Word. Further measures are planned to promote members' films to a wider public.

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Peter Gerard
Wed 20 Jul 2011 • Link

Presently it has to be a separate upload to sell a download, however I'm working on a solution to make this easier. Should be ready in a week or so.

Cameron, We've had a number of requests for this and it will be added to the list. We need to work out acceptable pricing for these "tokens" and a usability approach that makes it work smoothly and avoids potential abuse.. You're right that for now you can use YouTube or Vimeo for this kind of thing, but of course the pseudo-streaming offered by those platforms is not as robust for feature films, so we will come up with a solution in time.


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Beth Humpert Dunn
Sat 23 Jul 2011 • Link

Peter, Ben,I've been considering Distrify for the future, but looks like the time is NOW with this great opportunity offered to us here. So I am very glad to hear about this new partnership and look forward to seeing how it develops. It's also good to have the chance to learn more about your vision for Distrify. I have a couple of questions right off the bat. 1. Can the affiliate share be adjusted, if the filmmaker wants to offer them more and is willing to do so by lowering his/her own percentage of return? 2. If the filmmaker has a digital newsletter or email blast for fans, can the Distrify button be used within it? Thanks.


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Peter Gerard
Sun 24 Jul 2011 • Link

Hi Beth,

1. Yes, the filmmaker can offer more (or even ALL) of their percentage as affiliate commission. Distrify always pays the first 5% and the rest comes out of the filmmaker share.

2. We have a handy tool that lets you make an image version of your player so you can embed it in an email blast. You have to link it to the real player, since you cannot embed video in emails. Our partner Edinburgh International Film Festival used one in each of their email newsletters to great effect.


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Beth Humpert Dunn
Mon 25 Jul 2011 • Link

Peter, thanks, that flexibility for affiliate commission is super and also good news abut the tricky tool.

What are your ideas about distribution of a film that is actually a web series? I have been wondering about ways to present a web series that is in post-production now. We could share episodes on YouTube and then offer a DVD of the entire series via Distrify. I am thinking this is the best way to start, because we have to market and build viewership.

To distribute episodes individually, via streaming or download, how best to do that? With the Dsitrify model, we would have to present each episode with a button using a trailer. Or would we? Might there be a way to present a series of short films, with a listing that looks something like an album with individual songs for sale? There are some services out there for music, like Top Spin and partners, but a filmmaker has to make the adaptations, as far as I can tell. I would appreciate hearing your perspective.


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Steve Ladd
Tue 26 Jul 2011 • Link

I'm wondering what the maximum stream capacity is at a given time. I'm working with a producer who may get a huge amount of national and international publicity for his film concentrated in a short period of time. Thanks.


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Peter Gerard
Tue 26 Jul 2011 • Link

In reply to Beth Humpert's post on Mon 25 Jul 2011 :

You can add a number of short videos to one Distrify player. Just keep adding a "new product" and you can add as many videos as you like. Then you just need the one player/preview. You can either sell the shorts individually or group them together as a "package" like a deluxe edition. You can choose to make products "only in a package" or they can be $0.99 each or $5.99 for 10, just like an album. We haven't made a how-to video for this feature yet, but it's all there and some filmmakers are using it to great success. I'll embed an example below (note: this one does not show the packages to Germany, Japan or UK, due to geo-restrictions).

In reply to Steve Ladd's post on Mon 25 Jul 2011 :

Steve, we can handle pretty much any capacity. If you expect some extra publicity, please let us know and we'll boost up our resources, but they should expand dynamically anyway. Please let us know when you expect the extra hype though, and we can join in.


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Beth Humpert Dunn
Tue 2 Aug 2011 • Link

Peter, thanks for the info. Distrify handles the streaming and download of movie files only, is that correct? Sales and fulfillment of physical product are left up to the filmmaker. How are payments handled for these various sales, since you collect and distribute to filmmakers and affiliates?

Have there been customer service issues develop on streaming product, and if so, to whom does a customer go for a solution? Mini example- when I tried to sign up for email on Adventures of Power from the button you embedded above, I had problems. Could not 'continue.' Will try again later. Thanks.


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Peter Gerard
Wed 3 Aug 2011 • Link

We handle all payments through the player, and presently for physical merchandise you get an email notification to fulfil the order. This can also be sent to your fulfilment company, or you can get in touch with us and we can look at deeper integration options. As soon as payments clear to our account you can request a withdrawal from the Income Report on Distrify.

For customer service on streaming and downloads, we handle that for you. If there's a problem with a DVD or other merchandise, we will contact you and ask you to get in touch with the customer to solve the problem.

I will look into the Subscribe issue you are reporting..


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Beth Humpert Dunn
Fri 5 Aug 2011 • Link

Peter, I discovered that my registration to Distrify email list went through, even though it did not appear to on screen.


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Peter Gerard
Sat 6 Aug 2011 • Link

Hi Beth, yes, there was a display bug on that screen. Thanks for reporting it – my engineer fixed it straight away on Wednesday. Cheers


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Ben Kempas
Tue 9 Aug 2011 • Link

The Scotsman newspaper on Distrify.


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Mark Barroso
Tue 9 Aug 2011 • Link

I uploaded my film, but now I'm wondering if the 53 minutes version would be better for on-line viewing than the 72 minute one. Any thoughts on that? Given the choice, do on-line viewers prefer shorter ones? My film is purely entertainment, about a group of radical puppeteers in Chapel Hill that perform huge spectacles in a primitive amphitheater, using recycled materials.

The audience would be primarily the puppeteering community, and secondly the eco/alt-theater crowd, a demographic I just made up.

Edited Tue 9 Aug 2011 by Mark Barroso

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Mark Barroso
Tue 9 Aug 2011 • Link

Well, my upload failed (probably my end), so now that I'm starting from scratch I'll await to hear your thoughts on my question before trying again.


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Jon Braeley
Tue 9 Aug 2011 • Link

Using AT&T extreme DSL from the USA I was averaging 15 to 20 hours to upload HD files – so it's a pain because any one thing can easily stop the upload and you have to start from scratch again. You have to stick with it though and it will work. Safari browser works on smaller files – Firefox was terrible and Chrome works on larger files but Chrome was unstable ... just my experience. I do not and will not ever use Explorer.


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Ben Kempas
Fri 16 Sep 2011 • Link

The uploads mainly depend on the stability and upload bandwidth of your own internet connection. I've never experienced any difficulty here.

In the meantime, Dogwoof (a large distributor for indie docs in the UK, very active in audience engagement) has made a great part of their library available for streaming or purchase via Distrify players on http://dogwoof.tv – worth having a look.


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Peter Gerard
Sat 17 Sep 2011 • Link

I should say, we made some improvements to the Distrify uploader a couple weeks ago to help those with connection problems. It can now continue even if there are a few hiccups in the network.

Dogwoof has made a nice library indeed, and I'll again point out Jon's good work, since he now has a page to encourage users to take advantage of the reseller affiliate programme: http://emptymindfilms.com/watch-now/become-a-partner-its-free/


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Christopher Pavsek
Wed 26 Oct 2011 • Link

Peter – I'm wondering if you guys ever added a way to offer a free download or stream to distrify. I'm about to (or trying to, encoding is messing with me) join up with distrify, and one extremely useful thing would be to allow people to preview a film – like an academic considering purchase


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Peter Gerard
Fri 28 Oct 2011 • Link

This is a common request – something we hope to implement before long. Of course the main issue is that free is not actually free, so we have to build in the pricing model for free. Hope that makes sense!


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Christopher Pavsek
Fri 28 Oct 2011 • Link

It does.
I also just posted a feedback question on distrify; the only way to do so seems to be via some site called "get satisfaction", unless you have tweeter or facebook, etc.;

My upload appeared cropped, but it seems like there's no way to view one's own upload to see how it looks, is there?


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Christopher Pavsek
Sat 29 Oct 2011 • Link

Everything is cool now. Distrify gives prompt feedback. I'm now officially distrified. Send me some money! (I need to replace the trailer; it has a few extra frames at the start...)

Edited Sat 29 Oct 2011 by Christopher Pavsek

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Ben Kempas
Mon 7 Nov 2011 • Link

Strong price points. Do they work for you?


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Christopher Pavsek
Mon 7 Nov 2011 • Link

I don't think i've sold a thing. To be honest, I didn't change them. They were the defaults!

Are you messing with me?

Edited Mon 7 Nov 2011 by Christopher Pavsek

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Ben Kempas
Tue 15 Nov 2011 • Link

Well, the price for your download gets displayed as GBP 13.99 here (which would be USD 22.14) – and that for a 28-minute film that's almost 10 years old? I think that's too much. Might work for a new feature-length film but not for this, I'm afraid.

Also, what has been your strategy for promoting the film? Where is the player embedded? How many times has it been shared? What social media have you used to promote it?

Keep in mind that Distrify is a tool that enables you to deliver straight to your audience. It's not one of those distribution portals that will try and sell the film for you (or not).


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Christopher Pavsek
Wed 16 Nov 2011 • Link

Oh, it'll get embedded as soon as i update my website. but only there. i hear you about the price. i'll change it.


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Ben Kempas
Wed 16 Nov 2011 • Link

Well, the whole idea is to "sell movies socially" on the web. Being social involves some 'going out' on the web, my friend... :-)


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