MicrostockGroup

Is Fotolia adding a midstock offering? http://www.stockphototalk.com/phototalk/2007/12/fotolia-infinit.html

Where did this collection come from?  They are all anonymous.

Interesting the exact dummy shot is from Image Source. It can be found on JI with the small (72dpi 6x8) size going for $129. http://www.jupiterimages.com/popup2.aspx?navigationsubtype=itemdetails&itemID=22670508

Images Source (white):" Simply executed, relevant and extra value imagery from Image Source, the leading independent pan-European producer of royalty-free photography. You'll find images as creative as you are."

Your mileage may vary 

hmmm.. this is getting interesting   ..... and the lines between micro and macro stock are getting grayer all the time.

and yes budgaugh - this is factual info.

I don't know but I posted something about this on the Fotolia forum and it appears to have been deleted.  I think there is something fishy here.

Fotolia's 'infinite collection' will be a flop.  All it will do is expose the ridiculously low prices for Fotolia's microstock collection.  Fotolia needs to increase prices across the board, and I predict at least a 30% increase in 2008 (perhaps more).

Of course Fotolia might be being very clever in deliberately forging alliances with 'old school' agencies to help promote their wares and in doing so enhance sales of its own microstock collection.

The fact that RM agencies are prepared to market at lower prices through Fotolia shows what a desperate state they are in - this is just another price reduction disguised as something different.

Here is a reply from Chad (Fotolia Director of US Operations) that was on another forum:

Hello Everyone,

I see that Fotolia's recent launch of the Infinite Collection has been the topic of much discussion here and on other forums. I would like to try and share our vision of the benefits we think these changes will bring in time.

The last few years we have learned a lot from our buyers. Even though Fotolia offers amazing images as low as $1 some buyers still shop elsewhere.  As a result Fotolia started to think how we may bring in those same images that attracte buyers at other sites thus also attracting buyers that are still not Fotolia customers. This is how the idea of the Infinite collection started. In this way we can offer buyers a variety of quality and price points, however still 10 times lower than the traditional pricing. So for us it is a marketing tool to attract and keep buyers on the Fotolia website and allow them to choose the right image for their needs. If the buyer finds 2 images of equal quality but different price, of course they will select the less expensive ones. At the end of the day it is the buyer who will decide.

If you will also remember, Fotolia was the first to introduce the ranking system allowing photographers to earn more commission and raise prices based on the sales of their photos. Many excellent photographers have quickly risen through the ranks and are earning a lot of money with Fotolia. With the introduction of the Infinite Collection we have added one more privilege to the ranking system by allowing Emerald and higher ranked artists to submit images to the Infinite Collection. Based on our current sales and future marketing efforts we anticipate that many more artists will quickly reach Emerald status, thus potentially providing everyone an opportunity to participate in the Infinite Collection.

We are only trying to offer a balanced solution that raises the long term price/earnings of contributors and provides great value to buyers without proposing for example, a micro subscription model that pulls down prices to 25 cents an image, decreases the overall business, and only provides short term sales benefits. People who bought images for 25 cents per image will not buy the same ones for 1 to 10 dollars.

In concern to quality I must admit that some of the infinite images are not as great as anticipated but these agencies are taking a risk with us and it is hard to convince them to sell only their best images 10 times cheaper than normal.  That being said we will correct that and we will have only the best images from the best agencies and artists.

So you can see, our efforts are only designed to bring in more clients in general and enable artists for the best earnings over time. Fotolia is constantly innovating and we ask for your support while we gain experience and adapt a few things as required. In the end we believe this will provide tremendous opportunities for both buyers and artists at all levels.  We will continue to monitor everything very closely and of course will adapt if we feel it appropriate.

I also want to wish you all a happy holidays

Chad Bridwell
Director of US Operations
Fotolia.com
[email protected]

just checked some  images of  infinite collection,it is really diffuclut to understand why they introduced such a thing.
as hatman indicated  they will  probably make microstock images ridiculously cheap(which indeed  are)but at the same time I think having to many bad photos might damage FT's reputation as well.I hope they also
considered that.I know Ft hasn't been the most picky site among others but they just started to be a little bit more strict with reviews.

Come on bud, at least there is no frontal flash with nice crisp shadows on the wall used 

well, I think these seems like sort of  images they just want to dump,or are they trying make micros look bad by using a micro site as their trashcan  or it can be other way around as well ,we'll see:)

Sorry was away on holiday. How dare you doubt my facts!  

In many ways I'm not surprised by this event. Many collections (JI, Corbis, Getty, etc..) are supplemented by other stock sources. No need to cry about the quality, much of what is and was accepted is no better quality wise then what most of us submit today to  Micros. All collections have legacy issues. In fact much of the earlier work is lesser. It runs the gamut at all sources. Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant, lying or both.

The pricing just makes me laugh because it kind of flys in the face of every major stock agency's pitch.  So just ignore that man behind the curtain . Now this is not to say that they don't have good work or that none of it is worth the price, but it seems to be the natural trend of where the industry is going. I imagine it will all even out over time and collections will try to promote their "better" exclusive offers.

Interesting this story got picked up at http://www.abouttheimage.com/  I wonder if the original source saw our little postings here?

well i believe the posting that Geopapps metioned from Chad gives a fairly good overview.  And yes, hopefully they clean up the quality of the infinite collection.  I think it can be a good thing if indeed there are better images there.