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Author Topic: Moving iStock Forward - September 2, 2014. contributor newsletter  (Read 41292 times)

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« Reply #50 on: September 02, 2014, 16:15 »
+6
Here is Michaels summary, pointing out all the brilliance in the new plan!! I am sure SS managers are getting desperate...not..

http://www.michaeljayfoto.com/agency-news/six-steps-to-turn-a-failing-business-into-a-successful-model/


ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #51 on: September 02, 2014, 16:20 »
+4
At least they kept the royalty rates.
Well, not exactly - They will lock the RC level you will achieve by the end of this year:
"Yes- we can confirm that we will lock your royalty rates at the end of the year, ensuring your royalty does not decline in 2015.
If you achieve your target to move up based on 2014 RC targets, you will be locked in at the higher rate."

Looks like by the end of this year I will go down one level and then they will lock me there forever.  :'(
Why would you expect to go down a level?
"we will lock your royalty rates at the end of the year, ensuring your royalty does not decline in 2015"
Of course, just about everything they say can be interpreted in at least two ways, but that says to me that everyone will stay at their current rate, other than those who reach the next target up, who will get a higher rate.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2014, 16:23 by ShadySue »

« Reply #52 on: September 02, 2014, 16:24 »
+10
There is no way anyone will reach the next level since all images now go for 5 or 15 (old) credits, and the RC system/levels was/were built for sales up to 100+ credits.

« Reply #53 on: September 02, 2014, 16:25 »
+4
Sean has some examples with dollars of what it all means...

http://www.seanlockephotography.com/2014/09/02/istockphoto-shuffle/


Interesting breakdown. It really doesn't look too bad for non-exclusive photographers. Everyone else gets totally hosed though.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #54 on: September 02, 2014, 16:28 »
0
There is no way anyone will reach the next level since all images now go for 5 or 15 (old) credits, and the RC system/levels was/were built for sales up to 100+ credits.

I'm sure there will be very few, but there were a few people posting while RCs weren't showing, saying they had reached their new target and were worried that their %age wasn't going to rise. They were assured that the RCs would be restored and that their %age would be backdated. The first happened, I haven't heard about the second.

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #55 on: September 02, 2014, 16:31 »
+4
I can hear the champagne corks popping at Shutterstock headquarters from here.

Interesting that so many people have voted your post up. I think that must be more to do with sentiment than careful analysis. Since nobody knows the outcome.

Hands up - I am iStock exclusive ! Though at this point I am completely neutral being 8 months into a completely different thing. And I always was. I am more curious than concerned about iS at this point. Though FWIW I have been personally around photo agencies since 1989 - and the friends and family since the 60s. And iStock is just a bit of what Getty does and how it works.

If I was an SS stock holder; as an investor I would be worried about them being seriously under diversified. What else do they actually do which justifies their price in a market for cheap pictures which is moving towards free.

Maybe it wasn't champagne corks you heard :)

True, nobody knows the outcome. But unless this new pricing structure miraculously pulls in a lot more sales, I foresee my earnings dropping like a stone. All my 12, 15 and 20-credit vectors will now sell for five credits. Their subs cannabilized my regular sales, so my earnings dropped like a stone when they were introduced. So I foresee my earnings dropping for the second time this year. I hope that's not the case, but I strongly suspect it will be.

The reason I don't think it will pull in more sales is because they continually rejigger the site, the credits, the levels, the searches, rename everything, etc. if I were a buyer I'd be so frustrated with the constant changes I'd avoid them.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #56 on: September 02, 2014, 16:34 »
+1
It was long expected they will drop the RC system.
They call it "locking RC current level"
They have locked it every year since it started, IIRC, inasmuch as no-one dropped a tier, but some rose.

« Reply #57 on: September 02, 2014, 16:40 »
+2
I can hear the champagne corks popping at Shutterstock headquarters from here.

Interesting that so many people have voted your post up. I think that must be more to do with sentiment than careful analysis. Since nobody knows the outcome.

Hands up - I am iStock exclusive ! Though at this point I am completely neutral being 8 months into a completely different thing. And I always was. I am more curious than concerned about iS at this point. Though FWIW I have been personally around photo agencies since 1989 - and the friends and family since the 60s. And iStock is just a bit of what Getty does and how it works.

If I was an SS stock holder; as an investor I would be worried about them being seriously under diversified. What else do they actually do which justifies their price in a market for cheap pictures which is moving towards free.

Maybe it wasn't champagne corks you heard :)

as Shelma clarified it isn't so much as cheering for SS than booing IS.
still, i think it is cutting one's own throat to cut IS as much as you hate them
because as i said before, so many +'s for SS
even when u read at their forum and here about how they robotically manipulate earnings
and not to mention, their  enmasse rejections inconsistency. all of which still needs to be
transparent.

before all this shenanigans as one commentor adeptly calls it, i would  cheer for SS
unequivocally. in fact, when i see the old SS before they went public, (no mysterious switch-flipping;
no robot reviewers; ... (you fill in the rest here)...

i will be the first one to lead the anti-IS brigade. but for now, i hate to think of letting
SS lead even further..
with who else to take IS place as the main contender??? Fotolia ? lol dollar club..
Dreamstime? hell, sleepily comatose since they started similars banning and facebook liking.

don't hate IS so much that u cut your own throat of what's to come after SS AGM2014.

« Reply #58 on: September 02, 2014, 16:44 »
+5
New credits will be more than $2?  Hell, they've got to cost more than $5, otherwise everyone holding old credits is boned.

Why would that one contributor think they'll be $1?  That's even less than now plus it's five times the 'value'.

dpimborough

« Reply #59 on: September 02, 2014, 16:48 »
+3
Well seeing as there is nothing from iS communique that means a dayum I think best to cease uploading until Sept. 15th

Then see what happens.

If it's a rate cut then that's it I'm sick of being effed around by the whole iS/FT/DP crowd.


« Reply #60 on: September 02, 2014, 17:09 »
+6
New credits will be more than $2?  Hell, they've got to cost more than $5, otherwise everyone holding old credits is boned.

Exactly. This is the one piece of crucial missing information.

There's a slim chance (a very slim chance) that this could be a positive thing if the new flat rate means a higher RPD.

Vetta files have been pushed down the best match search for some time now, so much so that I've been sending images that I think qualify to RM rather than have them languish unseen at iStock. On the other hand, they do seem to be much more reasonable with putting images into S+ (and therefore in E+ on Getty) than before.

Overall, sales numbers are so low that all this will make little difference to Exclusives. The era of the full time exclusive iStock photographer is over.

« Reply #61 on: September 02, 2014, 17:14 »
+4
Also, though I'm no more a fan of subscriptions than any other sane photographer, I'd rather have the $0.75 and $2.50 sales from iStock than the $0.25 - $0.38 from SS.

MxR

« Reply #62 on: September 02, 2014, 17:27 »
0
Next step: free web images like getty... they want be king stock or kill stock!!

15% is my body fat percentage!

« Reply #63 on: September 02, 2014, 18:18 »
+4
How about motivation to do complex vectors if now they have same price of not so elaborate ones? And, for the same price, no one buyer will choose less elaborate vectors if they can buy vetta similar files.

« Reply #64 on: September 02, 2014, 18:30 »
0
Woohoo my one photo has made $6.04 since 2013 April/May.  I'm still at 16% though.  Does that mean it is grandfathered into 2015? 

I have been thinking about downsizing the 1+ year old part of my port and submitting there again, now that size doesn't matter it may be a good time (but the thought of attaching 100's of model releases... oy-vey).  I'm sure I will feel dirty if I do it, but I'm selling subs everywhere else and they will be 1/4-1/2 as big on IS.

« Reply #65 on: September 02, 2014, 18:49 »
+1
bortonia made a helpful chart to see old and new credits more easily.

https://bortonia.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/newpricetierschart-consolidated.gif

« Reply #66 on: September 02, 2014, 18:55 »
+10
A good description :
"Actually I'm comparing current credits with (assumed) future credits and then applying it to royalties. The original post says 5 credits today equate to 1 credit in the future. As such 3 credits in the future roughly equates to 15 credits today. An XXXL Vetta will reduce in price from 170 of today's credits to 15 of todays credits, that is an over 90% decrease in credits per sale.

You have chosen not to publish the actual price of future credits, which is fair enough. If we assume the price per new credit is in line with the credit change over rate (i.e. 5 to 1) then the royalty calculation is correct. If the new credit price is lower than 5x the current price, then the decrease in royalties is even worse. If the new credit price is higher than 5 times the current price, then buyers lose out and when buyers lose out, contributors lose out because the buyers buy less images.

Either way, the result is the same.

High value buyers (those who buy big, high value images) win, high quality contributors (those who sell high quality images at large sizes) lose.

Low value buyers (those who buy a few small images occasionally) lose, low quality, high volume contributors win.

iStock is not valuing contributors who contribute high quality images, they're the biggest losers."

« Reply #67 on: September 02, 2014, 19:16 »
+6
How about motivation to do complex vectors if now they have same price of not so elaborate ones? And, for the same price, no one buyer will choose less elaborate vectors if they can buy vetta similar files.

They are basically decreasing my prices/royalties by more than half. At this point, I'm not really worried about my motivation to produce files of any complexity for them. Apparently, they aren't either.  ;)

Uncle Pete

« Reply #68 on: September 02, 2014, 20:42 »
+2
SS is the leader for a reason, and that's why they will be celebrating, even though the forum trolls here, want to turn the IS announcement into another "why I hate SS" hijack. Fact is, this is just one more lame attempt to close the door after the customers are out of the agency. Lets stick with the OP and the IS announcement please?

More positive: Didn't someone here predict that it was Sept. soon and IS would be making some bonehead new move. Sue or Shelma? (if it was someone else, you're a psychic marvel) Congratulations on the prediction.

I was looking for the We're Excited part, which is a usual corporate speak for nudge, nudge, this is supposed to be good, leading us on. Instead up near the top we have "we are energized" Ooh Ooh, we are energized. (like that little bunny maybe?)

Let me explain the first change. RCs were futility so IS is making them irrelevant and twisting the numbers once again, to lock them where they are. Next year, we'll find that RCs (as an exciting and energizing announcement to benefit us) Have been eliminated. Until then it's probably going to be impossible to climb at all.

I loved the dropping Vetta and S+ into Sig. to make things better for buyers. Really? Didn't IS create about five types/classes of images, added TS and Subs, which made things impossible for buyers to understand. Now it's an improvement, without admitting, they screwed the system up so bad, it had to be changed back.  :)

Oh but wait, what was higher priced if it's non-exclusive, will now be the same as base level. If you had high quality images and were not exclusive, you just got dumped again. If it was Vetta or S+ they had to pay us more. That and the new improved re-valued credits. Main is now Essentials for singles and subs. Why, this is like three card monty!

Read it:
    Vetta and Signature+ will move to Signature, our premium collection for single image sales and subscription.
    Main will become Essentials, our standard collection for both single image sales and subscription.


Getty exclusive sound effects are dropped down to base level credit files. The commissions for Getty DLs was already mush less than the same files downloaded on IS. Glad I went exclusive and got that pay cut? Now they are cutting the cut, even more? Amazing!

Only thing I think they announced that makes sense is, selling files for content, not size. The whole size thing was odd to start with. It was a Microstock affectation. Not only that, most of the time, buyers took the smallest size possible, for the lowest price, and we got the lowest commission for the lowest amount.

Raise the price to reflect the value of the image, and I'm hoping we'll make a little more? I'm energized with that thought.  8) Maybe they could drop XS at the same time? We won't be seeing anyone taking the tiny files anymore, when they can get something reasonable for the same price.



I can hear the champagne corks popping at Shutterstock headquarters from here.


True, nobody knows the outcome. But unless this new pricing structure miraculously pulls in a lot more sales, I foresee my earnings dropping like a stone. All my 12, 15 and 20-credit vectors will now sell for five credits. Their subs cannabilized my regular sales, so my earnings dropped like a stone when they were introduced. So I foresee my earnings dropping for the second time this year. I hope that's not the case, but I strongly suspect it will be.

The reason I don't think it will pull in more sales is because they continually rejigger the site, the credits, the levels, the searches, rename everything, etc. if I were a buyer I'd be so frustrated with the constant changes I'd avoid them.

If you'll please allow me to just highlight and agree above? Seven Times!

I hope this will turn things around for IS and everyone who has stuck with them. I have doubts that it will change anything.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #69 on: September 02, 2014, 20:54 »
+1
More positive: Didn't someone here predict that it was Sept. soon and IS would be making some bonehead new move. Sue or Shelma? (if it was someone else, you're a psychic marvel) Congratulations on the prediction.

Actually, it was Yuri, reported on 3rd June:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/can-istock-turn-midstock-sales-around/msg382833/#msg382833

« Reply #70 on: September 02, 2014, 22:05 »
+7
"The September of pain and drama" is unfortunately a well known istock ritual. There have been so many "exciting" announcements over the years that didnt work and wrecked the site because the software wasnt tested/ready/capable in the most important buying season. All the exciting announcements just bring frustration for customers and contributors who then take their business to a more calmly managed place. That doesnt have to be SS, there are many other stock sites that run their business quietly and without abrupt changes.

I think part of the problem is that over the years dissenting voices have been kicked out or encouraged to leave. If you just surround yourself with people who agree with everything you say, you can lose touch with the outside world.

But Yuri is certainly very excited about the coming changes and here is an open letter from Brad Ralph who believes in what is coming. He must be part of the team, together with Yuri, for developing the strategy if you look at his position.

http://press.gettyimages.com/the-evolution-of-istock-continues-an-open-letter-from-brad-ralph-co-founder-of-istock/

I wish I could see what they see.

Ill be happy to experience growth and positive results at istock, but the history of the last years is simply not very encouraging.





wds

« Reply #71 on: September 02, 2014, 22:16 »
+12
My view is simple. (As hard as it is), ignore all this stuff and just look at your monthly bottom line in $$$$ and make the appropriate decisions for your own situation. iS is gonna do what they are gonna do.
 Having said that, I thought it is interesting that they are yet again grandfathering RC levels. That suggests that if they actually adhered to the RC system, they would expect many upset contributors, which in turn suggests that in fact many contributors are sinking.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2014, 22:41 by wds »

« Reply #72 on: September 02, 2014, 22:32 »
+5
...and here is an open letter from Brad Ralph who believes in what is coming. He must be part of the team, together with Yuri, for developing the strategy if you look at his position.

http://press.gettyimages.com/the-evolution-of-istock-continues-an-open-letter-from-brad-ralph-co-founder-of-istock/

I wish I could see what they see.


I read that, including the part where he appears to say that they are the only site to have exclusive contributors.

Fotolia does, Dreamstime does, Envato/PhotoDune does. The only major competitor who doesn't is Shutterstock. I think it's more than just an oversight, but a lack of awareness of what's going on with other agencies. I don't think they understand why Shutterstock has been successful and that their new model won't have much appeal to a buyer considering IS vs. SS

« Reply #73 on: September 02, 2014, 22:42 »
0
depositphotos also has exclusivity and on fotolia it is the exclusive image program that is very successful. gives both the agency and the contributor the best of both worlds, you can upload niche content (usually localized content) exclusively and the generic content everyhwere.

And Fotolia pays fully exclusive contributors up to 60%. It is a much stronger programm than the istock program in many ways. But since it is mostly a European agency I guess at this point it makes more sense for people from this side of the globe.


« Reply #74 on: September 02, 2014, 23:23 »
0
Fotolia, Dreamstime and Envato offer a higher royalty on exclusive content; as far as I know none of them ties that to a supplier-level exclusivity requirement.  Envato's a little odd, since to submit exclusive content they have you create a second profile, but like the others they let you submit both exclusive content and other content that appears on other sites.  iStock's the only one that requires supplier exclusivity.


 

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