MicrostockGroup

I think its a good idea, if people are willing to share such info.
I also think people would apreciate you sharing some of your own info.
Like:

Was the negative trend in all file types ?
How much have you been uploading ?
Are you in the PP program ?
Since you are a multimedia contributor is most of the drop in revenue because of going down a notch (or 2) in the royalty rate or just declining sales ?
Are you full or part time ?

Real numbers is always a nice bonus...

Welcome Lucato. Looks like all the exclusives will soon be here.

I am making one last push with uploading as much as I can (although I am only a part timer) this year and if that doesn´t help, then I will have to consider making the jump

I really, really don´t want to. But with the total lack of communication from HQ on how they want to increase sales and grow the business, you begin to wonder if growing the business is still something they are interested in. And if nobody contacted the talent that just quit exclusivity to talk to them and see how to win them back, then the exclusives are apparently not a priority as they used to be. I am also amazed at the "attitude" some admins are allowed to show in public. The contributors are paying customers, obviously there is no boss in charge reminding them where their salaries come from.

Maybe they feel they have enough exclusive Getty content, so they don´t need our files to offer content other sites don´t have. I really don´t know.

Every photographer that I know has switched to generic model releases without the istock logo and some are even contacting models from older shootings to make them sign a new generic release. Others are going over their portfolio, adding proper keywords and descriptions into the EXIF data, because so many of us have become used to deepmeta.

I am still using the istock release, but for the next shooting I´ll follow their example.  

istock is such a fantastic site with a great infrastructure for the digital entrepreneur, but it takes professional leadership and business vision to leverage it´s potential. And the team active behind the scenes is incredibly hard working. Totally dedicated people. It must be unbelievably frustrating to see the site lose it´s reputation like this. 

Very sad times

I think that's a very good point. They're probably going to kick you to the curb like a rabid dog, just like they kicked us indies in Sep 2010. I mean really, how much content do you really need, top 10 (or even more) photographers (Lise Gagne excluded) all have nearly identical shots, if half of them were to disappear, no one would even notice. Especially with some really awesome ports being transferred from Getty, creative stuff that was also superbly executed (the only problem with those ports is that they're all 100% TAC). And then there's a lot of average stuff of course and then there's Edstock

That's exactly what I'm thinking.  The people and images that made iStock great don't matter anymore, just like at StockXpert.  If we did, they wouldn't be making the decisions they have been the past two years.  It's profit that matters now. 

I feel so bad for all the exclusives.  These stories are becoming heartbreaking.

Have you even shared your partner's portfolio?

I wonder how many of them are investigating an exit strategy.

Or have already exited.  Have there been layoffs we don't know about?

Sorry this is happening to you and most other contributors at IS.  I had a chat not too long ago with a very successful microstocker (they make a FT living at it) and she has all but stopped adding new images to Istock, instead focusing on other ventures such as studio work.  I am wondering if Istock really cares about the exclusive defect rate or, for whatever reason, wants that to happen.  Was the recent exclusive best match push their last minute desperate attempt at appeasing exclusives or was it a mistake?  They don't seem to care (based solely on the opinions of those who have left exclusivity), there has been no "correspondence" that I know of between IS and exclusives asking them to reconsider....I would think that some of this would leak to the MSG boards, but I could be wrong.  Something just doesn't smell right given that exclusives are the primary differentiators for IS.  It's confusing and there isn't a "one voice" strategy that they are sharing (high level, of course) showing how contributors will help support and grow the business, particularly exclusives.  I do feel for them, but even with the few disagreements I've had here in the past with some of you high enders I fell for you too.  I do know what it takes to get a good image and all the cost, work etc that goes into it and when I hear your sales are dropping it makes me feel ill.

OK vent over.

No I haven't, but I do share my experience and pretty exact numbers every month...

And on the other hand, I feel bad for all the contributors who helped build istock up from the get-go (myself included-even before the club known as exclusivity was started), who helped Bruce get his $50 million, and went on to help Getty get to the number one slot, then got treated as if they didn't matter, whether they were exclusive, not exclusive, part-time, full-time, or whatever. A good image sells and makes money for Getty whether the contributor is part-time or full-time. It sells and makes money for Getty whether the contributor is exclusive or not. They sure didn't turn down the money all these years from part-time, non-exclusives, now did they?

I feel bad for all those aforementioned contributors who were even willing to take a measly 30% to begin with (or whatever the starting % was way back when), who had high hopes of continuing on to better their skills, upload even more, and grow right along with Getty. Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough for Getty, now was it?

I don't feel any more bad for exclusives than I do for all the rest of the contributors. Everybody made their own choices, and all but a select few now will be paying the price. 

Another opportunity recommend Briget (Stockcube)'s excellent blog where she details her experiences of dropping exclusivity in 2010.  I am sure it will be very helpful
http://stockcube-stockcube.blogspot.com/

Sorry to hear it has come to this Lucato.  Istock really can't afford to lose longtime exclusives like you.  They don't seem to realize it though.  Best of luck whatever you decide. 

This is a pretty decent summary of my 2011; my exclusivity was up June 4th.

To put the 2011 situation in perspective, my 2010 income was up 72% over my 2009 income (exclusive both years; I became exclusive in August 2008). 2010 was a spectacular year for me and if I thought I could have even equalled it in 2011 I'd have stayed exclusive - IOW I didn't expect to see annual increases of 70% on an ongoing basis.

I'm part time at this; I do think it's hard to extrapolate from my experience to other people's - portfolios vary, I'm not at Fotolia but other people could be, etc.