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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: steheap on January 02, 2019, 11:07
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Funny how there used to be a race to publish the previous months results - now, not so much!
So I'll start. December was pretty lousy. After what had seemed like an endless run of months being better than the same month the year before, December dropped by $850 or so for me. Most sites were just poor and little of my holiday shots seemed to sell. However, I also did my annual review of 2018 on my blog and this graph stood out as a real sign of the future:
(https://i1.wp.com/www.backyardsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/OnlineFileEarnings.png?resize=768%2C558&ssl=1)
At this rate, I need to keep doubling my portfolio just to earn the same. Nothing new there, but the steadiness of the decline is the most worrying feature. No sign of a leveling off - just down and down.
Lets hope that 2019 is the year that pulls us out of this - although I can't think of what would cause that to happen, unfortunately.
My full results are here:
https://www.backyardsilver.com/2019/01/stock-photo-review-of-2018/ (https://www.backyardsilver.com/2019/01/stock-photo-review-of-2018/)
Happy new year to all...
Steve
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Lets hope that 2019 is the year that pulls us out of this - although I can't think of what would cause that to happen, unfortunately.
Steve
The answer is in the question "I", yes you. Follow the money, Premium and Exclusive content is where it is at, just hope it is not too late for the penny to drop, or are you waiting for your earnings to drop substantially before you jump. It's time to stop selling good quality content cheap.
Happy New Year :)
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Lets hope that 2019 is the year that pulls us out of this - although I can't think of what would cause that to happen, unfortunately.
Steve
The answer is in the question "I", yes you. Follow the money, Premium and Exclusive content is where it is at, just hope it is not too late for the penny to drop, or are you waiting for your earnings to drop substantially before you jump. It's time to stop selling good quality content cheap.
Happy New Year :)
well i would like t see all those premium content how much sell..im with some bouquet agency they sell nothing last year.....even stocksy am sure is not growing or selling a lot....if you check some portfolio you see many authors slowing down their uploading in stocksy too....the fact is that free image website are killing this industry. unspalsh file are download in million , and most are sale who don't go to micro stock or premium...a lot of enterprise or magazine prefer an unsplash file for free than spending thousand dollar....even apple use unspalsh file for big presentation and advertising content.
in my opinion the only way is released file , good and creative content with model released, files who still struggle to find their way in free image sites due to release document. for the rest is a drive to the end,,,my 2018 is better than 217 by only 15% despite lot of work and a grow of portfolio of 30%. i expected much more.
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...It's time to stop selling good quality content cheap.
Happy New Year :)
But there's the rub, for most of us here anyway.
All those "premium" "exclusive" outlets are not accessible. Sort of back to the future when microstock grew with good content from people that Getty, Jupiter, Corbis and others wouldn't work with.
iStock exclusivity was - until they and Getty ruined it - a really great setup. 40% royalties and high volume sales. A market for complex illustrations (that were priced by complexity versus the SS model of bargain basement prices across the board). Being exclusive now, not so much.
The other problem with so-called premium outlets or collections is that in many cases the content is indistinguishable from the "regular" cheaper content. Not sure where we go from here, but I'm certainly not providing content the way I once did as it would be a waste of time.
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Thanks Jo Ann
I was thinking that exact question. Alamy "sort of" was that premium site, but because they took everything it had no sense of being higher quality or more exclusive. Some of the smaller agencies that are exclusive don't seem to get the sales (Robert Harding comes to mind) and I'm not really aware of other sites where you can rely on at least a steady income.
Always happy to learn, though!
Steve
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Thank you for showing us your graph. It is scary because it does keep going down and down and there is no slow down to the drop. What will be the next chapter for us folks? Not sure, but I will miss those good days of shooting stock photos and making a living from it.
I agree that unsplash is most likely causing a lot of decrease.
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Oh boy, trend line makes for depressing news
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Hello,
my numbers was going down extremely fast this year..
This December is worst month since January of 2015..
Overal average of 2018 is down by 17% compared to 2017.
Here is my top 5 (30$+) in December compared with December/average of 2017 year:
1. Shutterstock -52%/-46%
2. Pond5 +64%/-19%
3. Fotolia -82%/-76%
4. Depositphotos +23%/-26%
5. Envato -35%/-40%
At the end you can see my income changes visualization since 2012 to 2018 year and
Top agencies (160$+) income comparison 2017 vs 2018 year in percentage.
It's time to start working and uploading again :)
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Oh boy, trend line makes for depressing news
It would be "news" if the trend had got worse or suddenly reversed. This is just a continuation of whats been happening for 4-5 years. Surely no one is surprised are they?
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Here is some good news then!
(https://i2.wp.com/www.backyardsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/RPIAdobe.png?w=910&ssl=1)
I added some agency specific charts to my blog last night to see if all agencies were behaving the same. Thank goodness one of them was different! The intense variability in the past few months is partly because this is a monthly chart (the other was a quarterly average) and also that I uploaded a lot of files in the past 2 months that will be depressing the results a bit.
https://www.backyardsilver.com/2019/01/earnings-per-ounce-of-effort/ (https://www.backyardsilver.com/2019/01/earnings-per-ounce-of-effort/)
Steve
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Here is some good news then!
(https://i2.wp.com/www.backyardsilver.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/RPIAdobe.png?w=910&ssl=1)
I added some agency specific charts to my blog last night to see if all agencies were behaving the same. Thank goodness one of them was different! The intense variability in the past few months is partly because this is a monthly chart (the other was a quarterly average) and also that I uploaded a lot of files in the past 2 months that will be depressing the results a bit.
https://www.backyardsilver.com/2019/01/earnings-per-ounce-of-effort/ (https://www.backyardsilver.com/2019/01/earnings-per-ounce-of-effort/)
Steve
Adobe seems to be the only site making a serious effort. Showing sustained improvement for me and I'm not climbing the rankings so most must be doing well.
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https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/ (https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/)
Strange somebody selling stolen images from unsplash... and by the way indian... strange)) .. in the last year hundred of indian account with stolen images .
Those people who gave free photos in unsplash are probably the dumbest person ever appeared on the www. I cannot think of somebody more atupid.
It must also be seen if its illegal to sell
Those files cause unsplash doesn’t prohibit the sale of their files.
As i have predicted therr will be a flow of account with unsplash and pixebay.
Now not even there is a need to buy a camera and a lens to make money with photography))
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https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/ (https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/)
Strange somebody selling stolen images from unsplash... and by the way indian... strange)) .. in the last year hundred of indian account with stolen images .
You made me actually go out and search for some of my images on unsplash.... I don’t have a lot so this is easy, but there search is horrible. Try searching some of your images, the results are just terrible
Guess this could be a good thing though, not for them, and not for me looking for stolen photos but I can see it being frustrating from a customer perspective.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/ (https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/)
Strange somebody selling stolen images from unsplash... and by the way indian... strange)) .. in the last year hundred of indian account with stolen images .
You made me actually go out and search for some of my images on unsplash.... I don’t have a lot so this is easy, but there search is horrible. Try searching some of your images, the results are just terrible
Guess this could be a good thing though, not for them, and not for me looking for stolen photos but I can see it being frustrating from a customer perspective.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I took a look at Unsplash and it's actually stupid funny. Three word descriptions, most are wrong, many others are somewhat like the spam uploads on SS, "man, taking, photo" Really, wow what an important description to make the photo show in a search? :) Red car on white background. And since I looked at cars, they have a F1 car listed as Go Cart, an Indy Car listed as F1 car, and some that say things like time lapse of car, which isn't a time lapse but a panning blur.
So for someone slow, why would anyone put anything up on that site? I mean people who actually took the photos not some thief or maybe someone looking for likes or something? Why?
I'd consider posting something there that's terrible, as a joke? Or maybe... OK just the one question, why would anyone upload to that site?
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https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/ (https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96070-yet-another-thief/)
Strange somebody selling stolen images from unsplash... and by the way indian... strange)) .. in the last year hundred of indian account with stolen images .
You made me actually go out and search for some of my images on unsplash.... I don’t have a lot so this is easy, but there search is horrible. Try searching some of your images, the results are just terrible
Guess this could be a good thing though, not for them, and not for me looking for stolen photos but I can see it being frustrating from a customer perspective.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I took a look at Unsplash and it's actually stupid funny. Three word descriptions, most are wrong, many others are somewhat like the spam uploads on SS, "man, taking, photo" Really, wow what an important description to make the photo show in a search? :) Red car on white background. And since I looked at cars, they have a F1 car listed as Go Cart, an Indy Car listed as F1 car, and some that say things like time lapse of car, which isn't a time lapse but a panning blur.
So for someone slow, why would anyone put anything up on that site? I mean people who actually took the photos not some thief or maybe someone looking for likes or something? Why?
I'd consider posting something there that's terrible, as a joke? Or maybe... OK just the one question, why would anyone upload to that site?
Our Culture has changed for the worse I’m afraid. It’s not more important to get “likes” and retweets than it is is to earn a living and support a family. So to answer your question, I think the primary motivation is social acceptance. The hatred of capitalism has spread so badly that people actually think they are social justice warriors by giving away what they worked to produce.
I’d be curious to see the percentage that are actually stolen.... I thought about it to, how long do you think the site will last? They don’t seem to be very interested in dealing with DMCA, just the attitude I got from reading their site on the subject. And what do people get from buying images from SS or others and putting them up on a free site? I can see trying to sell, wrong, but at least it’s logical.
I searched for a complete title of one of my images and got completely unrelated images. For instance, a search for valley forge returned
-a bird
-a tree line with skyline
- another bird
-a few welders
-An actual forge (like the metal working forge.... which makes sense... )
-a city in Italy
The birds aren’t even in an identifiable location, so Valley Forge isn’t even logical there.
And looking at the names of the descriptions, “man holding welding rod”. Where in the world did their search get forge out of that!
I won’t even get started on the City in Italy because it’s way off base.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Lets hope that 2019 is the year that pulls us out of this - although I can't think of what would cause that to happen, unfortunately.
Steve
The answer is in the question "I", yes you. Follow the money, Premium and Exclusive content is where it is at, just hope it is not too late for the penny to drop, or are you waiting for your earnings to drop substantially before you jump. It's time to stop selling good quality content cheap.
Happy New Year :)
You should tell that to the agencies!
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It's not all doom & gloom...
Latest May 2019 Earnings Report:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/05/31/may-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
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Performance of Adobe stock is worrying part. Istock and shutterstock are steady for me as well. Adobe stock disappointed this time. I added 1500 new images in May but sale did not pickup for entire month. Last 10 days on Adobe stock had been nothing.
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Congratulations. Very grateful for this thread in the forum and for your blog. Thank you.
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Congratulations. Very grateful for this thread in the forum and for your blog. Thank you.
:)
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Latest June 2019 Earnings Report, including the nomination of the coveted "Turd of the Month Award":
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/06/29/june-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
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It's not all doom & gloom...
Latest May 2019 Earnings Report:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/05/31/may-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
Very nice and informative. May I ask if most of your iStock collection was submitted as a non-exclusive?
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It's not all doom & gloom...
Latest May 2019 Earnings Report:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/05/31/may-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
Very nice and informative. May I ask if most of your iStock collection was submitted as a non-exclusive?
I'll just mention, if you look under his messages, there is a row of agencies he submits to. He can't be an iStock exclusive. :)
You don't see mine, for example, because I don't choose to disclose, but Brasilnut shows his.
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It's not all doom & gloom...
Latest May 2019 Earnings Report:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/05/31/may-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
Very nice and informative. May I ask if most of your iStock collection was submitted as a non-exclusive?
I'll just mention, if you look under his messages, there is a row of agencies he submits to. He can't be an iStock exclusive. :)
You don't see mine, for example, because I don't choose to disclose, but Brasilnut shows his.
But if he was iStock exclusive in the past, the photos submitted as an exclusive would still be selling at a higher price and generate more revenue.
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It's not all doom & gloom...
Latest May 2019 Earnings Report:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/05/31/may-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
Very nice and informative. May I ask if most of your iStock collection was submitted as a non-exclusive?
I'll just mention, if you look under his messages, there is a row of agencies he submits to. He can't be an iStock exclusive. :)
You don't see mine, for example, because I don't choose to disclose, but Brasilnut shows his.
But if he was iStock exclusive in the past, the photos submitted as an exclusive would still be selling at a higher price and generate more revenue.
Didn't know someone could do that. You mean old exclusive images, which aren't anymore are paid at a higher rate, even thought we could upload someplace else? And they stay as exclusive. I wouldn't have imagined that. No I was never an IS exclusive. JoAnn would know best... she was exclusive and changed.
Now the question becomes interesting. ;)
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It's not all doom & gloom...
Latest May 2019 Earnings Report:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/05/31/may-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
Very nice and informative. May I ask if most of your iStock collection was submitted as a non-exclusive?
I'll just mention, if you look under his messages, there is a row of agencies he submits to. He can't be an iStock exclusive. :)
You don't see mine, for example, because I don't choose to disclose, but Brasilnut shows his.
But if he was iStock exclusive in the past, the photos submitted as an exclusive would still be selling at a higher price and generate more revenue.
Didn't know someone could do that. You mean old exclusive images, which aren't anymore are paid at a higher rate, even thought we could upload someplace else? And they stay as exclusive. I wouldn't have imagined that. No I was never an IS exclusive. JoAnn would know best... she was exclusive and changed.
Now the question becomes interesting. ;)
No, their tech isn't very sophisticated.
If you were an exclusive and went indie, your existing files stay at three credits*, but you only get your indie rate on them. Your subsequent files go to one credit.
If you were indie, and go exclusive, your old files sell for one credit, of which you get your exclusive percentage, and your new files will go on sale for three credits.
*unless already demoted, of course, but they allegedly haven't done that for a few years.
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Nope, never been exclusive with those Getty turds.
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It's not all doom & gloom...
Latest May 2019 Earnings Report:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/05/31/may-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/
Very nice and informative. May I ask if most of your iStock collection was submitted as a non-exclusive?
I'll just mention, if you look under his messages, there is a row of agencies he submits to. He can't be an iStock exclusive. :)
You don't see mine, for example, because I don't choose to disclose, but Brasilnut shows his.
But if he was iStock exclusive in the past, the photos submitted as an exclusive would still be selling at a higher price and generate more revenue.
Didn't know someone could do that. You mean old exclusive images, which aren't anymore are paid at a higher rate, even thought we could upload someplace else? And they stay as exclusive. I wouldn't have imagined that. No I was never an IS exclusive. JoAnn would know best... she was exclusive and changed.
Now the question becomes interesting. ;)
No, their tech isn't very sophisticated.
If you were an exclusive and went indie, your existing files stay at three credits*, but you only get your indie rate on them. Your subsequent files go to one credit.
If you were indie, and go exclusive, your old files sell for one credit, of which you get your exclusive percentage, and your new files will go on sale for three credits.
*unless already demoted, of course, but they allegedly haven't done that for a few years.
Getty = how to make anything as clear as mud.
I'll guess, they can't adjust photos so they leave them as the level they were, or they could, but it would take a human going into the collection of a former exclusive and changing the number of credits needed. That's pretty funny.
So a former exclusive gets three credits at the non-exclusive rate, which is actually pretty nice, instead of one credit at 15%? :)
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Oh boy, trend line makes for depressing news
It would be "news" if the trend had got worse or suddenly reversed. This is just a continuation of whats been happening for 4-5 years. Surely no one is surprised are they?
I remember back in 2008 or so saying that microstock would cannibalize itself and ruin the industry as a whole for contributors, that was back when the community at IS were stroking, praising, and generally self applauding each other and anyone who could see the light had no clue what they were talking about as they were old school and trad. Well I guess the preditcion has come to fruition now. Hate to say it, but told you so.
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The corporate kleptocracy always wins (until the revolution which will never happen this time around).
8)
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Latest earnings report for July 2019 is out:
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/08/01/july-2019-brutally-honest-earnings-report/