MicrostockGroup

Hi there

Is it just me - yesterday Alamy has 17 million images online, today it's 16.63 million. Just wondered if anyone knew if there was a reason for this.

Had a look on Alamy forums quickly, and althoughI didn't get an answer, found this information about top contributors revenues.

http://www.alamy.com/Blog/contributor/archive/2009/02/03/3923.aspx

Apologies if this has been posted previously, I'm fairly new around here. Thought it made interesting reading.

Rgds

Oldhand

Hi Gostwyk

That's also my take on it - I am sure all the figures are gross. The relativley low RPI must be the result of a lot of their portfolio's not selling  - obviously we have the differene between this model and a subscription one.

I re-keyworded half my portfolio on Alamy, which increased my Alamy rank substantially, so I am higher than the average. It's not led to any sales increase, and only a slight views one. For me they are an outlet on the slide.

More work required!

Oldhand

Sorry it didn't improve your sales, but this is good info.  I didn't understand how the keywording affected your rank when I first uploaded to Alamy.  I had thought of re-keywording more tightly, but it would be a huge PITA and not worth bothering if it doesn't substantially improve sales.

From the figures on that chart, it seems unlikely that many Alamy contributors could be making a living there alone.  If the top 100 are averaging $50-60k then the average across all users must be quite low!

Out of curiosity, do you think this is because there are just so MANY contributors there and so many images? 

To those of you who have long experience in stock, do you think the micros are headed the same way - high sales for the sites but low returns for individual contributors due to oversaturation?

How many make a living from just one site or even many sites with microstock it is likely comparable, Alamy has a rare mix of photographers from new to old hands with many supplying other macro sites like getty, corbis or niche collections, some are providing other photography services either through a historical customer base or via thier own outlets, some are looking towards microstock to add to thier income.

Just like the microsites there are also many part time photographers that have other jobs as well, there are to many contributors in all areas of the industry as entry level kits becomes more affordable this will still grow, a lot of the success of mirostock has as much to do with the affordable kit being available just at the right time.

Microstock has done it's bit for the industry as it has brought many first time customers and artists to the world of stock photography, they have done this just by making the images affordable to everyone, however the growth of customers is far outstripped by the growth of the artists and images, so the investment for the photographer being much lower in comparision to when it was an elitist industry, and the potential for earning good revenue is also smaller as well, the key is to have other avenues open for your skillset taking a bit of income from each.

That is just the way I read it.  

David

Back to the OP's Question:

Getty have pulled Digital Vision and Photodisc RF images after failing to reach a new agreement, and the images are no longer being sub-distributed by Alamy, so that might account for the drop.

The positive being more chance for direct contributors to get a sale! 

David  

Tell me the secret, where do you find your Alamy Rank? I haven't been able to find anyplace where Alamy discloses our rank?

If you search around Alamy, you'll eventually find a dunce who knows how to mash the shutter button and uploads 20-30 of the same shot. One guy does color variations, four or five of each shot. (don't ask me why, I don't get it) That's why the RPI may be lower. On the other hand, there are some people with 200-300 photos who get regular sales. Same as micro, it's quality that sells, not always just the quantity.

I guess it's still Top Secret or hasn't made it's way around the forums or announcements. Here's what someone else says, which some of the Getty photographers may be able to confirm. Sounds reasonable but I can't say I found anything to verify it as factual.

Alamy is no long a distributor for Getty... this is the reason for the sudden big drop in the image count.

Someone else says that would be 800,000 RF images.

Lets see, StockXpert drops some partnerships. Getty drops Alamy distribution. StockExchange taken over by IS staff. Sounds like Getty consolidation to me.

Hi there - thanks for all the replies, as it was such a large drop it had to be either a cull of poor images (I am sure that would have been mentioned on the forum) or a big supplier pulling out. With that many images a getty pull out would make sense.

I know Alamy were going to delete some pics over the British heritage copyright problems, but not that many!

Re the comments about Alamy rank, my fault the confusion, out rank is secret. I was referrring to my click through rate (CTR). Mine was abysmal, as were the placement of images on searches. I rejigged half my old editorial captions, keeping everything to the minimum. Result, my CTR increased to double the Alamy average. Since then I am always on the first page of thereabouts depending on how popular the subject is.

I should have done it a year ago when sales (for me) were better. Now I'm getting seen but not downloaded.

It will be interesting to see Alamy's results when they publish them for this quarter.

Rgds

Oldhand

It's no such much an announcement it's part of his reply about novel use, but just for you this is what he said:

"The number of images has reduced recently and will continue to reduce over the next few days because we could not reach agreement with Getty Images for renewing their distribution contract with us. This means that their collections have been removed from the site."

As for Getty don't bother writing to them they're renowned for not replying to emails, why not just go through the contributor application process, or failing that ring them.

On the plus side I sold my first pic on Alamy for several months - one which was in "direct competition" to the Getty collection they withdrew - looks to be one of their UK editorial newspaper scheme ones.

I see Alamy have highlighted the photographers and agents they represent on the front page, with links to all sorts of great portfolios. I recognized a couple of names from Micro  - Kirsty Pargeter (Under the selected showcase link) and Andres Rodriguez. Is he the same one as Micro, as he has a interesting gardening hobby.

http://www.alamy.com/contrib-browse.asp?cid={FAFD3C48-3E35-4691-8137-603C2128A052}&name=Andres++Rodrigue%2E%2E%2E

Any one recognise any one else?

Rgds

Oldhand