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Author Topic: October 2010 Microstock Earnings Breakdown  (Read 13039 times)

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« on: November 01, 2010, 03:59 »
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Ok, this month I made up a graph for all the agencies I actively submit to, so instead of just 'all the rest' like previous months I have separated Canstock, Veer, Panther etc.

Surprises for this month
iStock's percentage of my sales was the highest it's ever been.  They didn't earn me the most, but they earned me 17%, which is more than ever before.  Bigstock and Fotolia went up 1% and Shutterstock went down a couple percent but nothing crazy.  I was surprised how well Pond5, Veer and panther did this month as well.

Oh yeah, and don't forget to vote in the polls :)
http://www.microstockgroup.com/pollsvote/
« Last Edit: November 01, 2010, 04:07 by leaf »


« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2010, 04:15 »
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BME on Istock and Fotolia, 123, DT, SS average, also BME on Crestock (haha) with 5 sold files. That means something for sure! (with the mention I have on Crestock about 150 images compared to BigStock where I have nearly 2000 and they earned me the same as Crestock).

« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2010, 06:05 »
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October would've been a BME if Istock would not have gone down significantly compared to last year's October.
Shutterstock really surprised me with the first BME of this year.  I may be wrong, but I have the impression they started pushing new files a bit more, and the results are positive.  Istock is doing the opposite (almost hiding new files!) and I'm not happy with the results.
Remember the Istock big "redeemed credits" announcement, where they said that most contributors sell 50% of their sales in the last 3 months of the year???  NOT TRUE.  (at least not in my case, it's closer to 30%).

SS 30,5%,  14,5% up (BME)
FOT 22%, 10% up
ISP 18,5%, -9% down
DST 15%, 40% up (2 ext. lic.) BME
12Rrf  4,5%, 60% up, BME
BST 2,8%, 43% up
CAN 1,5%, BME (started 2010)
GLO 0,1% (started 2010)
CUT, 0% no sales
ROD 4,1%, 5% down

Rodeo did not do well, but that's not surprising at all!  They have not even added my 500-image submission of last July to the collection, because they're "too busy reorganizing the site".  They've also been too busy to pay anybody since August.  Must be a HUGE site reorganization if they're even too busy to add any files!

« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2010, 06:47 »
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Not a bad month for me - 3 mths in to exclusivity I'm just under 12% off a BME in overall $$$. I uploaded a lot of files this month, most of which have only just entered the search, so will be hoping for a big November.

Breakdown is very simple: 95% IS, 5% Alamy

« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2010, 06:55 »
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Not a bad month for me - 3 mths in to exclusivity I'm just under 12% off a BME in overall $$$. I uploaded a lot of files this month, most of which have only just entered the search, so will be hoping for a big November.

Breakdown is very simple: 95% IS, 5% Alamy

nice to hear your overall $$ is getting close to your BME.  November has always been my biggest month so perhaps you can break your record this month.

« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2010, 07:32 »
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i notice crestock got mostly subs download, may i know do u mean your 5 sold files are subs download?

BME on Istock and Fotolia, 123, DT, SS average, also BME on Crestock (haha) with 5 sold files. That means something for sure! (with the mention I have on Crestock about 150 images compared to BigStock where I have nearly 2000 and they earned me the same as Crestock).

« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2010, 08:31 »
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An interesting month.  SS was up 30%, iStock down 22%, DT up 69%, Ftl was flat.  I decided to upload the rest of my port to Deposit, which paid off at least for the month; they were 8% of my total.  And they paid out within hours of my asking, which was nice too.

Monthly breakdown: SS 33%, iStock 16%, Ftl 10%, DT 9%, Deposit 8%, 123RF 7%, BigStock 5%, CanStockPhoto 4.5%, Veer 2.5%, StockXpert (remember them?) 2%, Crestock 1.4%, Zoonar .6%.

« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2010, 10:05 »
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Not a bad month for me - 3 mths in to exclusivity I'm just under 12% off a BME in overall $$$. I uploaded a lot of files this month, most of which have only just entered the search, so will be hoping for a big November.

Breakdown is very simple: 95% IS, 5% Alamy

nice to hear your overall $$ is getting close to your BME.  November has always been my biggest month so perhaps you can break your record this month.

Well its been steadily upward so there's no real reason it shouldn't continue - I've had about 200 images accepted in the last month, most of which have only just gone into the search, and vetta #2 accepted this morning, so the month is off to a good start! Should get a reasonable idea of how well new files are doing too. At the moment I have the feeling that they're taking a few weeks to get started.

« Reply #8 on: November 01, 2010, 10:27 »
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I went exclusive at IS about 3 months ago, and while I can't say it was a BME (2008 was just awesome) it was easily the best month of the year.

lisafx

« Reply #9 on: November 01, 2010, 11:26 »
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Not a bad month, considering sales this year.  Big improvement over summer sales, but still down on last year.  Overall sales down 4% from Sept. '10, and down 16% from October '09.   

Gains or losses since last October are in parenthesis. 

ISP   39%    (-24%)
SS   18%    (+2%)
DT   13%    (=)
Fot   18%    (-12%)
BigStock   4%     (+42%)
123   2%     (-29%)
Crest   0%     (-72%)
CanStockPhoto   2%     (+2%)
Almy   3%     (+200%)

« Reply #10 on: November 01, 2010, 11:41 »
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It was a best month ever for me. It crushed any other month this year by $500. Hopefully, it continues in November.

WarrenPrice

« Reply #11 on: November 01, 2010, 11:50 »
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Starting to believe.   ;D

I submitted my monthly poll results but still find no place to enter StockXpert/ThinkStock earnings?

« Reply #12 on: November 01, 2010, 12:54 »
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Starting to believe.   ;D

I submitted my monthly poll results but still find no place to enter StockXpert/ThinkStock earnings?

I took them out of the poll because they aren't really a site anymore.  You can't submit images to StockXpert / thinkstock, people can only get earnings that are left over from the days of StockXpert.  Technically they should be included in your iStock earnings if anything.

« Reply #13 on: November 01, 2010, 13:11 »
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Overall very similar figures to Lisa. I was 6% down compared to September and 17% down from October 2009.

Percentages at each agency as follows (with 2009);

SS    33.3% (22)  BME!
IS     31.6    (36)
FT    21.4    (21.5)
DT    10.6    (9.7)
BigStock    3.1    (1.9)
Rodeo  0     (2.6)
StockXpert     0     (6.1)


Second consecutive BME at SS (with relatively few uploads over the last couple of months too). Notably PPD's have surged to 33% of income, up from 18% in Oct 2009.

Bad news from IS with income down 28% and sales down 32% compared to Oct 2009. Sales numbers are down by a startling 33% even since the heady days of March. I don't really know why either. With commission due to drop by a further 10% from January it feels like an uphill battle at Istock.

« Reply #14 on: November 01, 2010, 13:33 »
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October was good, not spectacular. My 2nd BME (March '10 is BME).

$$ were up slightly (1.5%) over Sept '10 and and 30% over Oct '09.

DLs were up 22% over Sept '10 and down 15% on Oct '09

I normally upload lots of Christmas stuff, but haven't done so this year, so perhaps it's a very good result considering.

I no longer have any Vetta files (I pulled out when they said the files were headed for Getty with no opt out) and I don't do E+.

« Reply #15 on: November 01, 2010, 14:18 »
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BME on SS and total but I am not happy that SS makes 67% of it. If they fail I can easily stop doing it.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #16 on: November 01, 2010, 14:38 »
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Istock exclusive.
October 2010 well down on October 2009, which was a huge drop down from 2008. Exactly 5/8 the $$$ I got in Oct 08.
Acceptances getting fewer and fewer _ I've gone from over 90% to below 50%.
Files accepted in the past two years are hardly moving. My sales are mostly from old images I wouldn't even dream of submitting now.
The theft of our EL money is the last straw.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2010, 15:55 by ShadySue »


« Reply #17 on: November 01, 2010, 15:21 »
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Hi all

First month in micro and macro land where I haven't relied on their income. I gave up the stuggle and now work in an office. Previously I put 100 hours a month solely into micro - this month it was 15-20.

Early days, but is was a BME. I earned just over 1000$. SS accounts for 50%. DT, FT 123 and CAN all perfomed well. Biggest disaster area was IS which is on a downward spiral. No longer having to rely on their income I pulled the plug on a third of my portfolio in disgust at their new commission rates. Very satifying it was too. In the absence of a corprate change of heart I'll pull another portion next month. Stepping back from day to day involvment with micro I wondered why I ever left my portfolio on Crestock for two payouts in three years. I should have been more objective, and not bothered with them either.

On a final note - my new job gave me the opportunity to recommend a micro agency for a huge corporate body - OK, I say recommend, take this as give my humble opinion. Sensing a chance for retribution I didn't do IS any favours.

Oldhand the liberated wage slave

lisafx

« Reply #18 on: November 01, 2010, 15:44 »
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Congrats on the new job Oldhand - and also to Epantha who made a similar post in another thread.  :) 

With micro being so volatile I think you both probably make the smart move.

@Gostwyck, seems like you and I are both locked in a gradual decline.  From what I gather reading some of your past posts it sounds like we have similar size portfolios and around the same amount of time in micro.  Guess it isn't surprising that we have similar stats too :)

At least it provides some evidence that what's happening is likely to be more market forces and less just disinterest in what I have been producing the last year or so.   

« Reply #19 on: November 01, 2010, 15:59 »
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At least it provides some evidence that what's happening is likely to be more market forces and less just disinterest in what I have been producing the last year or so.  

Yep. The huge surge for everyone in March, with BME's being reported on almost every agency ... followed by gradual decline for most sizable ports ... suggests to me that we are mainly being blown about by overall customer demand rather than internal competition.

The other thing that occurs to me is that many of us specialise in particular niches and often re-shoot the subjects that have proved popular with buyers. That's all very well in defending your share of a particular niche market but of course your new images are just as likely to be  taking downloads from your previous best-sellers in which case the net gain may be virtually nil. The trouble is so many subjects have been done-to-death now that it is obviously that much harder for new images to make an impact at all.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2010, 17:11 by gostwyck »

« Reply #20 on: November 01, 2010, 16:42 »
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First month of being at least partially independent I don't think I can compare this month to just about anything with any certainty other than to say not as bad as I feared it would be.

October 2010   % of income        Total files online   
iStock              76.77%               2999
Dreamstime        1.74%                 451
Shutterstock       20.21%                 344
Fotolia                 0.65%                 106
Bigstock                 0.25%                 158
Canstock                 0.38%                 229

The big challenge is getting the bulk of the files keyworded and uploaded to the other main sites.  Focusing on Dreamstime/Fotolia/Shutterstock first then I'll worry more about the others.

Total income down about 20% from last month - but two weeks of no Vetta and E+ took more of a toll than the other sites could pick up during this transition period.   Still for every dollar I lost on iStock I know they lost more.   

What is interesting is my daily downloads at iStock didn't take as big a hit as I feared, of course the only thing being found is older files with enough downloads to keep them in the best match results.

microstockphoto.co.uk

« Reply #21 on: November 01, 2010, 17:18 »
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The huge surge for everyone in March, with BME's being reported on almost every agency ... followed by gradual decline

I went to check my stats, and it's exactly as that. Scary!

lisafx

« Reply #22 on: November 01, 2010, 18:22 »
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The trouble is so many subjects have been done-to-death now that it is obviously that much harder for new images to make an impact at all.

I am definitely noticing this.  Looking at images uploaded in the last year or so (which is some of my best work), they just don't take off like they would have in 2008 or before.  It's a hard fact I guess most of us are having to deal with.  The days of instant gratification when you upload a new series seem to have gone away. 


Total income down about 20% from last month - but two weeks of no Vetta and E+ took more of a toll than the other sites could pick up during this transition period.   Still for every dollar I lost on iStock I know they lost more.   

What is interesting is my daily downloads at iStock didn't take as big a hit as I feared, of course the only thing being found is older files with enough downloads to keep them in the best match results.

This is very encouraging news Mark.  You and the others who dropped exclusivity were brave and principled to do so.  It's nice to hear it hasn't been devastating to your income at this early stage.  Hope it turns out to be the best choice for you, ITLR :)

« Reply #23 on: November 01, 2010, 18:38 »
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My BME was August. This month was my 2nd BME with Veer, CanStockPhoto and Alamy performing especially well.

IS  27%
SS  26%
DT 11%
Alamy  11%
Veer  8%
CanStockPhoto  6%
FT  5%
BS  3%
123RF 3%

I start my new job Nov. 15. I feel really good about the company and I'm glad not to have to live with the anxiety of wondering if microstock will be there for me in the future. What IS is doing to its contributors just breaks my heart. I will continue to upload photos to my portfolios, maybe a little less than the last few months, but now it can go back to being a fun hobby instead of feeling like burdensome work. It's taken me a long time to build up my portfolio in the last 2 1/2 years because I upload a wide variety of images with few similars. I now have about 850 photos on SS and about 740 on IS, over 1000 on some of the lesser agencies. The total income now pays my mortgage (I have a cheap house). Hopefully things will improve for us all in the upcoming months and years.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2010, 20:05 by epantha »

« Reply #24 on: November 01, 2010, 22:11 »
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The 4 best agencies for me were this month:

1. Shutterstock
2. iStockPhoto
3. Fotolia
4. Dreamstime

Overall it was much lower the last month. I update and sorted my list of agencies at
http://stock.hlehnerer.com/SA.html




« Reply #25 on: November 02, 2010, 01:04 »
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I had a bumper month, BME on SS,IS,FT,CanStockPhoto (although only uploaded there last month so wasn't difficult to make BME with 2 sales ;D) and DT :D
For both SS and DT I had BME in Sept as well so steadily climbing for me...hope it continues though
SS 42%
IS 20%
DT 18%
FT 12%
CS 6%
The rest is BS and 123RF that are in any case dead for me

« Reply #26 on: November 02, 2010, 04:39 »
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Pretty weak month. In fact this month was weaker than October 2009 :(
And it's the only month this year that isn't growth from previous year.

Now I'm hoping to have some massive Thinkstock earnings reported to turn those ugly red numbers into green again...


« Reply #27 on: November 02, 2010, 17:13 »
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A so-so month for us.
Down 4.8% from last month
(exclusives on IS).

« Reply #28 on: November 02, 2010, 20:09 »
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My worst month this year. :(

Almost a tie between IS and FT, followed in a distance by DT and BigStock, with CanStockPhoto at 5th.  FP ahead of 123RF and Scanstock. 

If Zazzle was a microstock site, it would have been 3rd place this month.

« Reply #29 on: November 03, 2010, 13:38 »
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I thought it might be just me being hit by the downturn at Istockphoto with my sales in Oct being 10% lower than Sept and 32% down from March. However I just checked the Multimedia Contributor Charts for the first time for a few weeks ... and it turns out I've actually jumped upwards by 5 places.

That's quite a difference as until a few months ago I seemed to be forever sliding backwards.

Moonb007

  • Architect, Photographer, Dreamer
« Reply #30 on: November 03, 2010, 15:10 »
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It was an ok month for me, however this was the first time in 2 years that I did not sell a single image at 123RF which was not cool:  Full list of my stock sites are on my website below


« Reply #31 on: November 06, 2010, 08:24 »
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Hi, Im new here,, just to ask - how do you collect statistic, do you use some application or some Excel template?

edit: sory for posting here - I found this forum - moderators delete my post please, tnx
« Last Edit: November 06, 2010, 09:02 by ajfile »

« Reply #32 on: November 10, 2010, 01:03 »
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Hey guys. I'm a 100% vector artist, so my best sites are usually a little different than most photographers. For me, October was my BME for total sales. Finally hit the $2,000 mark for monthly sales total across all my sites. Woohoo!

For October, my top 3 vector sites were iStock, Shutterstock, and a great little site called ClipArtOf.com.

I detailed out my top 20 vector sites at http://www.graphicgravy.com/?p=180.

~Eli

« Reply #33 on: November 10, 2010, 17:22 »
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BME for me this month for my total Micro sales. Macro up 8% from last year this time with no new uploaded work. Good month all around pretty much equal split between RM/RF and motion.

rubyroo

« Reply #34 on: November 12, 2010, 13:10 »
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Shutterstock:  27%
iStock:             26%
Dreamstime:    22%
123RF:              6%
Bigstock:           6%
Fotolia:              5%
Veer:                 5%
CanStockPhoto:                 3%

« Reply #35 on: November 24, 2010, 22:15 »
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A bit overdue but I posted my October results on my blog:http://microstockexperiment.blogspot.com/

Very close to September and almost a BME, November will be much lower....


 

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