IS Exclusivity Program - Is it worthy or not?

[MAOV]

Hello guys,

Lately, I've been trying a lot to boost my microstock income on pretty much all of the websites I am selling on at the very moment. I've been analyzing my statistics like a lot, making a day-to-day decisions, trying a different methods of improvement, enriching my tittles, improving my keywords and etc.. and etc..
So, since I don't consider myself guided in all of the futures that each one of the webstocks can offer you - I don't consider myself as an expert in contributing. Therefore I find it hard to make the crucial decision of should go along with the Exclusive Program on the IS particularly or should I stay a Nonexclusive Contributor and keep uploading and earning on a vast of the webstocks across the net. I know that the experience is pretty much different for each individual and I'm aware of that, yet I strongly believe that an extra opinion would be more of an advantage for me in this very situation.

So, I'd like to please you guys for an opinion.

Here are my current statistics:
(Vector Files)
1. iStockPhoto: 36 Uploads / like 160$ earned
2. ShutterStock: 46 Uploads / like 60$ earned
3. DreamsTime: 36 Uploads / like 20$ earned
4. DepositPhotos: 36 Uploads / like 10$ earned

I know I am having a small number of files uploaded yet I have like 120+ vectors aside waiting to be uploaded so I'd like to hear your opinion.

Thank you in an advance.

[ShadySue]

One thing to remember is that - as things stand - if you became indie, your new files would not go to the partner program. That may or may not matter to you, but I've noticed a lot of indies saying they make more from the PP than they do with credit sales.

IMO, exclusivity is not something I would 'take up' if I were currently indie, but your figures are unlike others', so it might work for you IF you don't rely on the PP.

However:
1. You need 250 credit sales (AFAIK sub and PP sales don't count, but ICBW, and if so I'm sure someone will correct me here) before you can become exclusive.
2. Your images will rise in price as an exclusive. This of course means more money for you, but it also means that buyers can exclude your files and only look at Essentials files, and if they can satisfice with an Essential file, they'll never see your files.
3. Who knows what their policy will be re PP or anything else going forward. They seem to have no medium to long term plan and for years now have been running from pillar to post, so what I, or anyone else, including their own staff, say today might be changed tomorrow, next week or next month.
Meaning:
4. You can't depend on anything there. Promises and reassurances are regularly broken, and policies change extremely quickly.

[Semmick Photo]

IS is beating SS on earnings (with 10 images more on SS), not sure why, but its an interesting observation. There is not enough data to draw conclusions, but it makes one wonder. Could IS still outperform SS? Based on RPI, it seems so.

[B8]

I think this thread sums it up:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/is-is-dead-now/

[tickstock]

You should focus on creating content.  Even if going exclusive is a better decision it will only make you a couple dollars more because of how small your portfolio is.  After you create a few hundred or thousand images you'll be in a much better place to decide what's best.

[shudderstok]

Read the forum thread for December/2014 over there.  IS is crashing for all, so if you're tied into exclusivity, you have no backup.  Exclusives are leaving these days.

is IS crashing for all? i am exclusive and have no intentions of being non-exclusive. some of us actually have a choice in the matter and don't remain so bitter about IS, and yes some of us actually make a full time living from it over at IS. oh and FYI i never post on the forum thread about my sales. so tell us oh wise one, are you fairing better having your images selling for 0.38 on SS? how is the clique agency treating you? are you doing better than when you "left" IS? it's been a few years now, and i am not hearing your hooray's for being "indie".

[shudderstok]

1. iStockPhoto: 36 Uploads / like 160$ earned
2. ShutterStock: 46 Uploads / like 60$ earned
3. DreamsTime: 36 Uploads / like 20$ earned
4. DepositPhotos: 36 Uploads / like 10$ earned

I think your stats have answered your own question. you have made exactly half the income on three sites with more or less the same amount of images and three times the amount of upload work. I am exclusive and though I am not a fan of IS and GI they still seem to bring in the sales. Certainly there is a lot of negativity about IS on forums, but complainers are going to complain, that's what they do. Crikey, I burnt my toast this morning so it's IStock's fault.

You should also consider that you are devaluing your own work by selling your #2 site as they bottom feed in the pricing arena, also your royalties i am guessing are 0.25c so you are in effect allowing 240 people to use your hard produced work for a mere $60. Does that sit well with you?

[No Free Lunch]

Read the forum thread for December/2014 over there.  IS is crashing for all, so if you're tied into exclusivity, you have no backup.  Exclusives are leaving these days.

is IS crashing for all? i am exclusive and have no intentions of being non-exclusive. some of us actually have a choice in the matter and don't remain so bitter about IS, and yes some of us actually make a full time living from it over at IS. oh and FYI i never post on the forum thread about my sales. so tell us oh wise one, are you fairing better having your images selling for 0.38 on SS? how is the clique agency treating you? are you doing better than when you "left" IS? it's been a few years now, and i am not hearing your hooray's for being "indie".

in the near future Shudderstok=shutterstock as well...

[shudderstok]

Read the forum thread for December/2014 over there.  IS is crashing for all, so if you're tied into exclusivity, you have no backup.  Exclusives are leaving these days.

is IS crashing for all? i am exclusive and have no intentions of being non-exclusive. some of us actually have a choice in the matter and don't remain so bitter about IS, and yes some of us actually make a full time living from it over at IS. oh and FYI i never post on the forum thread about my sales. so tell us oh wise one, are you fairing better having your images selling for 0.38 on SS? how is the clique agency treating you? are you doing better than when you "left" IS? it's been a few years now, and i am not hearing your hooray's for being "indie".

in the near future Shudderstok=shutterstock as well...

With all due respect, I did not bite on the huge offering of 0.25c per download 8 years ago, and that same pathetic rate is now worth 0.20c in spending power of today. I would quit stock photography all together if that is what it came down to. I don't agree with the terms of SS at all and would never place my work there. Simply put, I value my work at more than 0.38 for any usage even a blog let alone for advertising usage. Just sayin.

[bunhill]

I value my work at more than 0.38 for any usage even a blog let alone for advertising usage. Just sayin.

I am on 30% at iStock, still currently 'Exclusive', and am seeing subscriptions royalties as low as 0.34. What is your lowest ?

[tickstock]

My subs RPD is about $1.50.

[bunhill]

My subs RPD is about $1.50.

what is your lowest sub royalty ?

[tickstock]

My subs RPD is about $1.50.

what is your lowest sub royalty ?

I think we all have the same royalties for subs.

[bunhill]

My subs RPD is about $1.50.

what is your lowest sub royalty ?

I think we all have the same royalties for subs.

Have you seen any lower than 0.34 ?

[tickstock]

My subs RPD is about $1.50.

what is your lowest sub royalty ?

I think we all have the same royalties for subs.

Have you seen any lower than 0.34 ?

It's .34 for main files, .75 for signature, $2.50 for S+

[bunhill]

oh okay. I wondered why the rates seemed to vary. Presumably Shudderstok has no files in the Main collection then.

[cobalt]

Even if he had no files in the Main collection, his lowest royalty would be 75 cents. Please explain to me how that is such a stunning appreciation over getting 38 Cents on SS with the total freedom over where to offer the file?

I understand if people don't like subs, but on istock none of your work can be excluded from that risk. besides, on SS two thirds of my income is not from subs.

If you are Indie you are free to chose where a file goes and many artist prefer to place more unique work at agencies that don't offer  subs.

So to each his own, exclusivity has attractions for some people, but indies get the choices and the full market exposure. Gettys total revenue is 879 million and that includes everything, news, Getty House etc...how much of that is istock today?

200 Million? 300?

The majority of the microstock market is elsewhere. This would be my main concern, to limit exposure to an agency with falling market share, to be exclusive with a smaller player on the scene while two competitors have a growth story, lots of money to invest, and no debt burden that is much higher than company revenue.

But again, maybe for some people company growth is irrelevant.

With the backing of Adobe, I wouldn�t be surprised if Fotolia soon overtakes istock in revenue. And they allow to add exclusive images as a third option, which works well, at least for me.

[dingles]

To me exclusivity made sense at IS just for my videos. My images are branched out across agencies. I just don't see exclusivity with images worth it at IS any longer. I get way more downloads at SS..the only reason IS beats SS is because of the partner program...which you lose with exclusivity. That is from my experience anyway.

[Dr Bouz]

not all the exclusive IS authors post on forums -both on is forum or on this forum.
so, posts on forums regarding sales -at any microstock site's forum - or independent forum - as this one is - can be very very misleading.
i am not making vectors for microstock, so i can not give you direct advice.  - i really do not have clue how vectors are performing on is, or on other sites.

[Batman]

IS is beating SS on earnings (with 10 images more on SS), not sure why, but its an interesting observation. There is not enough data to draw conclusions, but it makes one wonder. Could IS still outperform SS? Based on RPI, it seems so.

How do you do on IS compared to SS?

[heywoody]

IS is beating SS on earnings (with 10 images more on SS), not sure why, but its an interesting observation. There is not enough data to draw conclusions, but it makes one wonder. Could IS still outperform SS? Based on RPI, it seems so.

In terms of RPI I find SS and IS+PP are similar and well ahead of the rest but IS used to be 10X SS.  They definitely are going down though and the fact that most income only appears monthly is not great motivation to upload.

[Monkeyman]

I was in a similar position as you, back in 2010. About 66% of my microstock income came from iStock, so by going exclusive my total income increased almost 50%. It worked pretty well for about two years and then it started going downhill, slowly.

Now in January it seems like I'm gonna earn about half of what I did during my last month as independent in 2010, which is pretty... bad. I've also noticed that many (all?) of the top vector contributors at iStock have more or less stopped uploading new vectors.

So... it's hard to tell. Sure, you would go from 20% to 30% royalty, but you don't have many files and you're not making thousands of dollars so it will not give you all that much extra money. And iStock doesn't exactly seem to be on its way up, so I wonder if it's a very good idea to go exclusive right now. I wouldn't risk it if I were you.

Personally I'm thinking of leaving exclusivity but the absurd thing is that I will lose so much by doing so (probably around 80%) that I can't really tell if the other sites will make up for the loss. That's why I have to sit here and wait until I earn so little at iStock that I have nothing to lose... 

[No Free Lunch]

IS is beating SS on earnings (with 10 images more on SS), not sure why, but its an interesting observation. There is not enough data to draw conclusions, but it makes one wonder. Could IS still outperform SS? Based on RPI, it seems so.

How do you do on IS compared to SS?

SS is a Mercedes and iS is a Yugo 

[everest]

As an exclusive diamond contributor I would not recommend yoy to become exclusive at this point. It was worth it many years ago. Not now.