MicrostockGroup

It would be interesting to know since the new year announcement. I tried to keep the poll the more simple as possible, as there is many options available.

The last option (Other) is made for those possiblities. It would be nice to hear those "other" paths that some contributors would follow.

For the records
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/istock-in-the-new-year/msg125007/?topicseen#new

My income at iStock has never come close to justifying exclusivity.  That may be because I generate so many images that my ports on other sites are more than twice the size of iStock, or it may be something about the kind of work I submit.  But even if I could justify it financially, I think I'd still remain independent.  I don't like iStock's rules, and what I feel is arbitrary behavior on their part.  I object to feeling powerless in a relationship, and that's where exclusivity would place me.

(In case you're curious, I'm two months away from gold and don't expect to reach it before the rule change.  At present, exclusivity would cost me 3/4 of my stock income.  No way do I believe the benefits of exclusivity would compensate me for that.)

A week ago I would have been firmly in the "will stay independent" camp.

Now I am sorry to say I am edging closer to being on the fence again.  

It's also good for people with around 300-500 images. Istock is quite the only agency where you can prospect to get a lot more downloads than images. You get that at SS also, but with a very low per image earning. IS is the only place I have files with more than 100 downloads, while those files were having approximatively 10 at DT.

If you take a look at most DT portfolios you see that quantity is way more important  there than at IS.

Yeah, put me in the not sure camp. I'm definitely looking at it. There's the not putting all your eggs in one basket, but there is also wrangling all the different agencies. Also, I worry about some agencies growth in the future.

I will stay independent because I am sure other sites will have something to say about this.

Also istock is not going to win me over by burrying my files further down everytime they give exclusives better exposure.

Had they not changed their search behaviour last year to boost exclusives, I would have been exclusive long ago. But they showed me they can not be trusted.

Isn't 'I'm not sure yet' and 'Other (inc D/T lock-in)' basically the same thing? Surely virtually every independent is with DT and therefore there's nothing they can actually do for the next few months anyway?

Not such a bad thing as they can firstly monitor how the price rise is swallowed by IS customers and how the other agencies react too.

Maybe a better poll option would be 'Stopping uploads to DT until we can see the effect of IS action'

I think DT's 6 month hold really works against them. I stopped uploading there more than 6 months ahead of the time I went exclusive - sales there had tanked and I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but needed to have some choices and that long wait needed to be off the table for me.

Once I'd done that, even at the point I was pretty sure I was going to stay independent, I didn't want to start uploading to DT again as it starts the 6 month clock over.

@Lisa, you've been on and off that fence so many times now there's probably a big dent in it

As far as the issue of newbies and exclusivity, I've always thought it's a good idea to start out with all the sites. Not just for the money but so you can see what sells best where and get a sense of what the market and competition are like. About the only thing you give up by taking that approach is the opportunity to submit images to Vetta which is a big draw for some (not for me; I have it turned off and had my included files pulled).

I don't think 500 DLs is an unreasonable hurdle even with current lower download levels (compared to those when it was established). It does require some serious commitment to build a portfolio, but I think that's a good thing. I do think that they should allow base level exclusivity - no more commission and only very slightly higher upload limits - so those who want to try for Vetta and feel part of the group have that option.

I think a newbie would be better off not going exclusive as a base level because you'd have the price disadvantage as well as your newness to the game working against you, but having the option would cost IS nothing and I think it might help encourage new contributors.

she's not that heavy!  judging from her photo, she's positively svelte.

@alias,
image levels confusing on DT?  
What about these collections - Vetta Collection, Exclusive Plus Collection, Exclusive Simple Collection, Main Collection, With Crown, Without Crown, Dollar Bin Collection and so on?
Don't you find all those a bit confusing?
Not to mention the search engine DA...
As a buyer, I guarantee you, there's plenty of confusion going around.
DT's levels are just about fine.

ROFL!  Thanks for the great laugh!

JoAnn, you are your own best selling model, so you won't convince anyone you are not good-looking.  We have seen the evidence!    

FWIW, I was thinking something similar about me and that  fence.  Except it is my rear end that has the dents, and a few splinters from all that fence sitting.

 Believe me, I dread climbing back up there!

(BTW, my avatar picture on this forum is of my daughter.  I'm the one on my Istock profile page)

yeah, gotta play the field. you never know when another handsome microstock site comes around the corner. 

A few reasons I can think of to stay independent.

- Only being able to sell RF via Getty owned sites.  There are lots of buyers out there, some willing to pay higher than microstock prices, I don't want to cut myself off from them.
- best match changes, what do exclusives do when their earnings are cut in half?  It has happened in the past and will probably happen again.
- They reject images that sell well on other sites, they don't accept many non-vector illustrations.
- I don't know if they are going to be sold off soon, who will buy them?  Wont they want to make even more profit by squeezing us?  Will istock still be part of Getty?
- They took my portfolio off photos.com and I still think that was a bad decision, are they going to come up with more ideas as bad as that?
- Working for one company doesn't appeal to me, it is too much like being an employee, whatever they say goes and while you can leave, it would be a difficult and time consuming task rebuilding portfolios on the other sites again.
- Their upload limits keep millions of the best microstock images off their site, counteracting the appeal of their exclusive collection.  I have never understood the reason for that and I still think it will stop them dominating the market.

The fence is still a long way off for me