MicrostockGroup

^^Makes sense.  And as the pickings get slimmer for photographers its only going to get worse.  That is likely where the real money can be made.

Policing is a concern but not my main concern today. Price is my main concern. Buyers most likely will not adhere to the RM agreement. But, would you rather initially get .35 from an XS RF or say $15 for the same sales as RM? Maybe it should be an RM variation with unlimited time since it's too difficult to police. Pricing would be based on typical industry, country, media type etc.

But within a few years content tracking will become more available and effective so maybe now is the time for something like Micro RM. LicenseSteam has tracking technology.

I'm not sure what the answer is but it sounds like Macro pricing is dropping faster than Micro pricing is rising. Something needs to be done to get pricing up toward a happy median.

My prediction for the long term is that the market will continue to erode due to steady 'leakage' of images into free and almost-free channels.  Right now the people with big portfolios all disparage "free", but many enthusiastically defend payments of 25 cents or less.   As time goes by they may feel like they've gotten what they're going to get out of that portfolio at current price points, and agree to market it through new sites/channels/subscription schemes at even lower prices - the rational being, what do I have to lose at this point - I did those photos years ago, and anything is better than nothing.  This trend may continue until those images are virtually 'free' from the point of view of someone taking new photos and wanting to recover his actual costs.  

In other words, there's a vast number of stock images sliding slowly but steadily downhill in terms of price.

I think consumers are flocking more quickly toward portible devices like Iphones than they are higher resolution monitors. I don't see demand increasing for larger images. Quite the opposite. How big does a picture need to be to display an advertisement on an Iphone?

If micro royalties do not rise over the next few years, these posts really say it all. The quality of images coming from eastern europe is very good.

http://www.johnlund.com/2010/03/jim-pickerell-interviewed-end-of-stock.html
"Let’s get down to it; can people still make a living at stock?

NO -- with a few exceptions.
(1) It may be possible if the photographer lives in Eastern Europe, various parts of Asia or other places where the cost of living is low.
(2) If the photographer has very low expectations in terms of living standard.
(3) If the photographer already has a large collection of imagery in distribution channels he can probably “make a living” for a while provided he cuts his costs and transitions into some other type of photography that guarantees a fixed fee for work produced. Gross stock revenue will decline.
(4) And finally, many photographers will be able to supplement another income source with what they can earn from stock licensing, but they will not be able to support themselves on the income from stock licensing alone.

For photographers living and working in the U.S., I think it will be almost impossible to realize a profit from images produced now and going forward. The demand, even for microstock is leveling out or declining, and there is way too much over supply of every subject matter. The supply of good quality imagery will continue to grow at a much faster rate than it has. Prices will continue to fall. As a result no one will ever be able to earn as much as they earned in the past from stock photographs.

Stock can be a supplement to other sources of income, but not a living.

http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79233&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=55
End of Stock Photography or stock is dead!!
"I am in the stock photography more than 4 years. Beginning was good. 1 year ago i thought that it was the end with my income from it. But 5 months ago i have begun to work only with stock photos, no other job. 8 hours in a day, almost every day. It hard work. But my earnings raising from month to month and it is already trebled for 5 months. I hope, even i know, it will continue to raise(if i continue to work ).I am from Ukraine,in my city i can live for money from stocks. I recieve now 3 times more money than my sister as teacher in a school! I think it is now not the end, it is only beginning. We must make only many good photos"

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080713215239AALfmLS
What is the average monthly income in ukraine?
"Teachers make about $75-80 USD, not UAH, at the elementary level. That goes up to roughly $175 for a seasoned university professor or school director. "

As I never tire of pointing out   , I now have 25 years of experience in the computer and software industry.  I can tell you that it's not possible to predict the future in ways specific enough to get rich from your predictions.  You can foresee some baseline trends, but that's it.  

For example, in the late 80s everyone could see that computers would get faster and smaller, digital networks would extend into homes, and wireless communication would be big.  Pretty general stuff. No one I know predicted the IPhone, the Web, or cell phones.    

I thought it was Jules Verne.

And whatever happened to the information superhighway? I guess the web was a cooler name.

Crap.  Everything isn't ending: http://blog.johnlund.com/2010/03/positive-indicators-in-stock.html

I like John.  He's a very sensible guy.

I have to agree there...  The more people that believe/understand that they can make a few bucks as a hobby, but not a living without SIGNIFICANT investment of both money and time, the easier it will be for those who do put in the effort and investment to succeed.  I would highly encourage ANYONE reading this to quit MicroStock and take a look a the lucrative business of the illegal drug trade.

The fact missing from all these theories is that most of these countries develop in a rapid pace (although somewhat affected by the crisis). So it is not at all a static picture. The same is true for China. Cost of living and more importantly their living standards are ricing. These two variables together form acceptable income to support the living style at given costs. Note that the faster growing variable in this equation is the living standard. Some of them (and certainly those having the DSLR to participate in MS) now perceive good cell phone and a car as must-have. It was very different 10+ years ago.

I'm from Czech Republic. The average salary here rose almost 100% in the past 10+ years. I've University degree in IT. When I started my career, I worked for equivalent of approx. $600. Now I earn approx. $4000. That's obviously affected by my experience that I gained, yet not only. I would hardly start under $1000 these days, probably somewhere around $1500.

How much it rose in the US in that same time frame? The fact is that most of these developing countries are still far behind in their living standards and costs yet they are approach the western countries in rapid pace.

Your points are well taken and I agree it is not static and we can only approximate. The area I live in is depressed, generally speaking IT wages have been dropping in the states for some time. I think generally the states will see drops in many areas as a result of globalization, etc.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/career/?p=946

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-10-15-cola-wages-drop-recession_N.htm

Cheers for the link. Yep, like any other business it has it's ups and downs. Those who do well or reasonably well see it as an opportunity come what may.