Hi, all!


Is it me or something happens to this industry? The sales are at half comparing to last year, the poll results look also negative...

I also wonder how are they calculated. ? 

Dilution

The higher the database of the agencies, the lower the sales that a photographer will make.

Considering the effort that each contributor have to spend now to produce extra high quality images, I think that in a year's time the gain obtained will be so unprofitable that many will stop producing images.

can't wait for that

This perspective it is bad for each contributor. No one will spend hours and hours of their time and gain few bucks.

its very bad indeed and I think we should spread the word just like you are doing

but in fact I haven't been producing that much (comparing to factories/other) and my earnings are pretty stable so 200k new files / week doesn't seem to do any damage (at least for now), apart from that you are also forgetting "newbies", that said there will be always supply because for some it will be always a "nice" hobby that can make a few quid

Quote from: Alessandro0770 on October 01, 2013, 07:32

The higher the database of the agencies, the lower the sales that a photographer will make.

Considering the effort that each contributor have to spend now to produce extra high quality images, I think that in a year's time the gain obtained will be so unprofitable that many will stop producing images.

can't wait for that

If you can't wait, then I have good news for you.  You don't have to.  Just stop right now and enjoy the benefits of not having to worry about falling royalties, corrupt agencies and think about all that stress you will forgo.   

If the newest poll is disheartening, it may really be that it is just more accurate the previous polls, which may have been overly optimistic.  Perhaps things may not be going downhill as much as y'all fear.

A few years ago, I posted a reply questioning the annual poll because the data and the results coming from it didn't look right.  There were obvious problems with the understanding of basic terms such as "median", no use of requisite standard deviations, one shooter who claimed an income of nearly half a million USD annually with a portfolio of one thousand images, etc etc.  The income per image of the of the average shooter, as reported by this poll, was about 3 times what I would have expected from my informal anecdotal networking with other stock photographers.  My comments on the poll were countered with great and negative vigor by a number of the members of this forum.  Statistics very much like these were among my principal duties during my 36 year tenure as a clinical microbiologist in a metropolitan health laboratory and such calculations were checked very closely by the state laboratory inspector during yearly unannounced inspections.  So, I was confident in my assertion about the forum poll and it was obvious I was not going to convince anyone, so I chose not to continue the discussion, confident that eventually there would be others also with doubts.

I suspect that ppl are more likely to vote in the poll when their results for the month are better than expected. But when results are disappointing ppl don't feel like voting. This could cause swings in the results to be more drastic, but the poll would still reflect the up and down trends.

i think the fall in sales is mostly in some market niches, the so called "low hanging fruits".

in any case before or later sales will go down for everybody due to oversupply.

only people doing it as a hobby and the image factories will still supply micros.

it doesn't match mine also but I still believe it is a nice feature

it doesn't match mine also but I still believe it is a nice feature

+1

I find it useful as a guide but lets not pretend its statistically robust

+1

I wonder why Deposit photos seem much more variable than anyone else? Smaller sample size maybe? It would be useful to know the no contributors

Most of the contributors will grow theire income until some amount, then they will stable, and after that they will decrease theire income. I believe that most of the contributors who have earn more than $2000 month are now (at least since the beginning of 2013) seeing a fast drop in all big agencies.
But, of course it all depends of quantity/quality of your work.

My income have drop since a year ago, and still dropping ... and I will stop producing for microstock if I stop having profit there for my new photos.

I agree with the point you are making, with the exception that I don't think it ALL depends on the quality and quantity of your work.  That is only one factor among many that is impacting contributors. 

Quote from: michaeldb on October 01, 2013, 21:25

I suspect that ppl are more likely to vote in the poll when their results for the month are better than expected. But when results are disappointing ppl don't feel like voting. This could cause swings in the results to be more drastic, but the poll would still reflect the up and down trends.

You may be right, but I pretty much thought most of us on this forum voted whether we had a good month or a bad one.  Tyler's poll may be criticized by some, but his year end summary is the most useful gauge of the trends and health of the industry that currently exists.   

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like it's a bit of a civic duty to vote each month.

Yeah, I vote despite whether it is a good or bad month. I still don't see how all those Symbiostock people don't push the Self-Hosted into the numbered area. I guess a lot of people don't vote at all.

.....

And to answer some other people. No I don't vote most months, I don't want to bring the numbers down. 

Can relate to that

Quote from: hjalmeida on October 02, 2013, 09:59

Most of the contributors will grow theire income until some amount, then they will stable, and after that they will decrease theire income. I believe that most of the contributors who have earn more than $2000 month are now (at least since the beginning of 2013) seeing a fast drop in all big agencies.
But, of course it all depends of quantity/quality of your work.

My income have drop since a year ago, and still dropping ... and I will stop producing for microstock if I stop having profit there for my new photos.

I agree with the point you are making, with the exception that I don't think it ALL depends on the quality and quantity of your work.  That is only one factor among many that is impacting contributors.

Yes, I agree.

Quote from: Miguel Calo on October 01, 2013, 02:54

...the poll results look also negative...

Maybe I'm wrong, but at least 123RF seems to be not worse than a year ago.

My stats would back you up on that.  123RF is one of very few sites I am on where I've seen significant growth this year. 

Also true. I don't view the poll as absolute science. Relativity of one agency to another, we don't know if one person has 300 images and the next has 4,000 and another has 10,000, or what they have up for license. It's just a nice general indicator.

It's possible that photographers, video artists and illustrators get results that differ from each other. The poll is pretty much in line with my experience.

I find it useful as a guide but lets not pretend its statistically robust

And the nail:

You may be right, but I pretty much thought most of us on this forum voted whether we had a good month or a bad one.  Tyler's poll may be criticized by some, but his year end summary is the most useful gauge of the trends and health of the industry that currently exists.   

Someone show me a poll or survey that offers anyone better information or indications, and the year end is the most useful.


I still don't understand what the OP is trying to say here?

Is it me or something happens to this industry? The sales are at half comparing to last year, the poll results look also negative...

Quote from: lisafx on October 02, 2013, 18:19

Quote from: roede-orm on October 02, 2013, 17:20

Quote from: Miguel Calo on October 01, 2013, 02:54

...the poll results look also negative...

Maybe I'm wrong, but at least 123RF seems to be not worse than a year ago.

My stats would back you up on that.  123RF is one of very few sites I am on where I've seen significant growth this year.

I do better on 123 then before the RC scheme

I don't seem to be experiencing that, in fact my RC totals have been dropping for at least the last 4 months (as long as I wrote them down) and pretty much every month this year is either very close or below the same month last year. I'll take the 50% please.

My totals are about 2/3 of last years totals, but the year is 3/4 over. If only the IS claim of half the revenue in the 4th quarter was correct...

Quote from: cthoman on October 02, 2013, 11:10

I still don't see how all those Symbiostock people don't push the Self-Hosted into the numbered area. I guess a lot of people don't vote at all.

When people talk too much about Symbiostock it tends to disturb the peace. I find people like their little world of stock-philosophy to remain undisturbed by notions of independence and moving on.

quite impressed that the self hosted is now so high.
I'm surprised Stocksy isn't registering yet also. If little 'ol me has it as my #2 then surely others are experiencing good sales also.

Quote from: Leo on October 15, 2013, 17:32

Quote from: cthoman on October 02, 2013, 11:10

I still don't see how all those Symbiostock people don't push the Self-Hosted into the numbered area. I guess a lot of people don't vote at all.

When people talk too much about Symbiostock it tends to disturb the peace. I find people like their little world of stock-philosophy to remain undisturbed by notions of independence and moving on.

quite impressed that the self hosted is now so high.
I'm surprised Stocksy isn't registering yet also. If little 'ol me has it as my #2 then surely others are experiencing good sales also.

Yep, the stocksy "stats" show worthles the poll is.