MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: Photostocker on March 29, 2016, 07:48

Title: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Photostocker on March 29, 2016, 07:48
Remember the times when you sold images through the iStock website with good and fair price. For one credit download you got something like 1 - 35$.

What you think guys... Are those good time gone forever?

What is your opinion, what iStock should do that we can get those old times back?

Now we get 0,75$ for xxxl-large photo if customers use subscription plan. That is ridiculous!!!  >:(
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Mantis on March 29, 2016, 07:51
Game, set and match.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: cathyslife on March 29, 2016, 09:23
Yes, gone forever. Now that the agencies know that tens of thousands of people will submit high quality images for virtually nothing, there is no going back. Either they make millions, or we do. Which do you think is going to happen?
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: sgoodwin4813 on March 29, 2016, 09:25
Yes, gone forever, unfortunately.  When I first started in 2009 iStock was the leader and you could get great sales.  After a while I was thinking of going exclusive and just wanted to wait a couple more months to make sure the numbers held steady.  Then they put in the RC system and it went rapidly downhill from there.  Too bad.  Now the good times at iStock are only a distant memory.  We can always hope but I don't see them ever returning.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: stockastic on March 29, 2016, 09:33
I think the biggest problem is the agencies saying that all their customers now want photos that look like a kid took them with a phone.  But the agencies are exaggerating, and the 'phone look' won't seem so cool in another few years.

There will always be a market for clean, well composed photos that show some imagination and taste. And there's a growing awareness that today's agencies don't pay fair prices and that submitting photos to them isn't worth the effort.  Yes there's still a steady flow of clueless newbies but that won't last forever, either. 

Maybe in another couple of years, things will look different, with a couple of 'fair trade' agencies making significant sales, and the agencies that created this meltdown - like SS and IS - in decline and losing their way.  Fingers crossed anyway.

Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: sharpshot on March 29, 2016, 11:07
There's no istock, its just a Getty collection and the only possibility of things improving is if Getty sell it to owners that would be more contributor friendly and that's not going to happen.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: stockastic on March 29, 2016, 11:38
Just my opinion but - I would not be pinning my hopes on Fotolia and I'm not going to spend the time uploading there.  I think Adobe was only interested in using their archive to push Photoshop, and they have no long-term interest in stock photography.   I could be wrong, though.     
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Rose Tinted Glasses on March 29, 2016, 11:52
the beginning of the end was microstock (istock) and the end of the beginning was subscription sales (SS).
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Microstockphoto on March 29, 2016, 12:53
yes good times will come back if we all pull our images, we hold all the power, but we are like deer looking in headlights
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Photostocker on March 29, 2016, 13:49
We contributors should set up our own stocksite where the royalty rates are something like 90%. 10% is only for the runing company and the website. And we need webtool for the copy and paste all the photos and keywords from the iStock if contributor wants to leave from the iStock.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Photostocker on March 29, 2016, 13:59
Lets make a site what is only the portfolio site at first and contributors can upload (copy and paste) their all the photos in there from every stock sites. Later when there is a lots of users and stuff we launch the site! Perfect plan! 😊👍🏼
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: MichaelJayFoto on March 29, 2016, 14:01
We contributors should set up our own stocksite where the royalty rates are something like 90%. 10% is only for the runing company and the website. And we need webtool for the copy and paste all the photos and keywords from the iStock if contributor wants to leave from the iStock.

Sure. Because customers are just waiting for that. And the site obviously is going to run flawless once set up because it is run by photographers who know what they're doing.  8)
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: sharpshot on March 29, 2016, 14:28
We could get together and buy a majority share in a site that does work.  I think buyers would be interested because it would make low cost images more sustainable for contributors.  Probably wont ever happen but you never know.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: NewStocker on March 29, 2016, 16:47
We contributors should set up our own stocksite where the royalty rates are something like 90%. 10% is only for the runing company and the website. And we need webtool for the copy and paste all the photos and keywords from the iStock if contributor wants to leave from the iStock.

Sure. Because customers are just waiting for that. And the site obviously is going to run flawless once set up because it is run by photographers who know what they're doing.  8)

Eh-Hem, I am a photographer, I have set up my own stock site selling purely my own content, it looks far more professional than iStock's site ever did/does. It has very simple pricing, it is easy to navigate, was built on a free and open source CSS platform, nothing is broken, the site can accept both credit card and PayPal payments, and it runs smoother and faster than the iStock site ever does/did.

Granted I don't have a sizable collection when compared to an agency that crowd sources from millions of potential contributors, or the traffic to be successful with it (yet), but it isn't hard to run circles around iStock's web programmers in order to build a stock site that works and people find easy to use, yet I still consider myself very much a coding hack at best. I set it up over only a few month period, on a part time basis, whilst tweaking and working the bugs out. Imagine what one could do if all they did all day was develop a stock site as a full time endeavor?

When I think of the iStock site programming team though I imagine a bunch of children with mental disabilities who can't control their bowels sitting in a bathtub together, whilst floating amongst their own turds, squeezing them like Play-doh, and giggling away as if they haven't a worry in the world.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: PixelBytes on March 29, 2016, 21:09

When I think of the iStock site programming team though I imagine a bunch of children with mental disabilities who can't control their bowels sitting in a bathtub together, whilst floating amongst their own turds, squeezing them like Play-doh, and giggling away as if they haven't a worry in the world.

ROFLMAO!!!  OMG, I am laughing so hard I am literally crying!!  I'm sure this will be deleted, but thanks for the most graphic and hilarious metaphor EVER!!
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: YadaYadaYada on March 29, 2016, 21:38

When I think of the iStock site programming team though I imagine a bunch of wolves with mental disabilities who can't control their anger sitting in a bathtub together, whilst floating amongst their own turds, squeezing them like Play-doh, and giggling away as if they haven't a worry in the world.

ROFLMAO!!!  OMG, I am laughing so hard I am literally crying!!  I'm sure this will be deleted, but thanks for the most graphic and hilarious metaphor EVER!!

Not polite correct but if you change it to a pack of wolves, in a pond, like Lobo, and other IS floaters, then it's fine.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: PixelBytes on March 30, 2016, 00:33

When I think of the iStock site programming team though I imagine a bunch of wolves with mental disabilities who can't control their anger sitting in a bathtub together, whilst floating amongst their own turds, squeezing them like Play-doh, and giggling away as if they haven't a worry in the world.

ROFLMAO!!!  OMG, I am laughing so hard I am literally crying!!  I'm sure this will be deleted, but thanks for the most graphic and hilarious metaphor EVER!!

Not polite correct but if you change it to a pack of wolves, in a pond, like Lobo, and other IS floaters, then it's fine.

Totally agree, not politically correct, but still funny.  Political correctness is the reason most comics won't play colleges anymore.  Hard to be PC and funny.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Photostocker on March 30, 2016, 00:35
We contributors should set up our own stocksite where the royalty rates are something like 90%. 10% is only for the runing company and the website. And we need webtool for the copy and paste all the photos and keywords from the iStock if contributor wants to leave from the iStock.

Sure. Because customers are just waiting for that. And the site obviously is going to run flawless once set up because it is run by photographers who know what they're doing.  8)

Eh-Hem, I am a photographer, I have set up my own stock site selling purely my own content, it looks far more professional than iStock's site ever did/does. It has very simple pricing, it is easy to navigate, was built on a free and open source CSS platform, nothing is broken, the site can accept both credit card and PayPal payments, and it runs smoother and faster than the iStock site ever does/did.

Granted I don't have a sizable collection when compared to an agency that crowd sources from millions of potential contributors, or the traffic to be successful with it (yet), but it isn't hard to run circles around iStock's web programmers in order to build a stock site that works and people find easy to use, yet I still consider myself very much a coding hack at best. I set it up over only a few month period, on a part time basis, whilst tweaking and working the bugs out. Imagine what one could do if all they did all day was develop a stock site as a full time endeavor?

When I think of the iStock site programming team though I imagine a bunch of children with mental disabilities who can't control their bowels sitting in a bathtub together, whilst floating amongst their own turds, squeezing them like Play-doh, and giggling away as if they haven't a worry in the world.

What is your stockwebsite? We can make same kind of program what Qhero is to help people upload photos more easily and also make the webtool that contributors can upload all their stuff in other stocksites in the new site. Because of exclusive contributing the web site must be the first only for the showing photographers portfolio...but also there should be a button add this photo for sale...as 500px have! Whe should gather together few powerfull contributors and make this happen!
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: NewStocker on March 30, 2016, 01:42
We contributors should set up our own stocksite where the royalty rates are something like 90%. 10% is only for the runing company and the website. And we need webtool for the copy and paste all the photos and keywords from the iStock if contributor wants to leave from the iStock.

Sure. Because customers are just waiting for that. And the site obviously is going to run flawless once set up because it is run by photographers who know what they're doing.  8)

Eh-Hem, I am a photographer, I have set up my own stock site selling purely my own content, it looks far more professional than iStock's site ever did/does. It has very simple pricing, it is easy to navigate, was built on a free and open source CSS platform, nothing is broken, the site can accept both credit card and PayPal payments, and it runs smoother and faster than the iStock site ever does/did.

Granted I don't have a sizable collection when compared to an agency that crowd sources from millions of potential contributors, or the traffic to be successful with it (yet), but it isn't hard to run circles around iStock's web programmers in order to build a stock site that works and people find easy to use, yet I still consider myself very much a coding hack at best. I set it up over only a few month period, on a part time basis, whilst tweaking and working the bugs out. Imagine what one could do if all they did all day was develop a stock site as a full time endeavor?

When I think of the iStock site programming team though I imagine a bunch of children with mental disabilities who can't control their bowels sitting in a bathtub together, whilst floating amongst their own turds, squeezing them like Play-doh, and giggling away as if they haven't a worry in the world.

What is your stockwebsite? We can make same kind of program what Qhero is to help people upload photos more easily and also make the webtool that contributors can upload all their stuff in other stocksites in the new site. Because of exclusive contributing the web site must be the first only for the showing photographers portfolio...but also there should be a button add this photo for sale...as 500px have! Whe should gather together few powerfull contributors and make this happen!

I built my site using WordPress and I purchased a very inexpensive theme that I added on to it which is designed for selling online products. Then I customized it from there.

There are numerous options like this available that one will find when researching the subject online. All kinds of different increased functionality can be added to a site as well. For example, files can be stored on a cloud server and secure download links can be automatically generated by the site when a purchase is made and which will expire after a certain number of downloads, or a short period of time, or both. All these things can be customized and different kinds of functionality added to a site like light boxes, etc.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: MichaelJayFoto on March 30, 2016, 06:14
Eh-Hem, I am a photographer, I have set up my own stock site selling purely my own content

Well, yes, that's your own images. Put on someone else's images who uses different keywording than you do, find out a fair way whose images to show first for any given search terms, make accounting for those, pay out the earned royalties in an easy and cheap way. And then do that for 10,000 contributors and 100 Terrabyte of image data. Good luck trying that with WordPress.

At least you won't need marketing because customers will just jump on board once the word goes around that the photographers get 80 cents per download instead of 35.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: NewStocker on March 30, 2016, 06:33
Eh-Hem, I am a photographer, I have set up my own stock site selling purely my own content

Well, yes, that's your own images. Put on someone else's images who uses different key wording than you do, find out a fair way whose images to show first for any given search terms, make accounting for those, pay out the earned royalties in an easy and cheap way. And then do that for 10,000 contributors and 100 Terrabyte of image data. Good luck trying that with WordPress.

At least you won't need marketing because customers will just jump on board once the word goes around that the photographers get 80 cents per download instead of 35.

I don't see any reason to make it a site that is combined with other people's images. My intent was not to set up a stock agency, but my own outlet for selling my own niche content and by providing a much better user experience.

I had been scratching my head for a long time thinking how could a multi-million dollar company like iScraps put up such a poorly designed site, which functions so horribly and crashes all the time.

So in part, this was a test to see how difficult it would be to create something better than iScrooge and to prove to myself it could be done. The conclusions was it was neither hard or something that involved a tremendous amount of web design. And everyone can do the same. You would need some reasonable web design skills to achieve what I created, but you could also hire someone to build a nearly identical site to mine if you don't have the coding or design skills to customize a CSS package yourself. And the great thing is once you build the store it is done and always will be there. You can then develop it at your own pace with your own content however and whenever you wish.

There are also relatively simple and low cost solutions for all the points you raised if you did want to make it into a larger stock agency site. And yes, it is all completely possible with WordPress. I already studied it all when I had once considered taking on additional content from a small core group of friends. And video can be added as well.

Also, WordPress creates no limitations and is no different than any other CSS platform, which is what iStump is as well. WordPress simply adds a layer of easier user administration on the back end that other sites don't have and it also prevents you from having to write your own code for a core site.

It would be very easy as I said to get a few pieces of custom code written and added to the site to take it to the next level. Again, not an interest of mine. I am just happy to have proven to myself how easily it can be done, how inept iSpasm truly is, and to now have a fully functioning and fully automated eCommerce site with credit card gateway and secure download server to sell my own photos however and whenever I wish to.

By the way, I keep 97% of whatever I sell and I can price images for whatever I want. When it runs like that you don't have to sell nearly as much as you would when earning under $1 per sale on stock sites. And the best thing about it is my own site doesn't even force me to be exclusive with them either to get 97% royalties. ;)
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: cathyslife on March 30, 2016, 06:42
You make it sound like no one here has ever tried that before. Lots have. First of all, unless you have big bucks to pay the search engines, your images are going to get buried behind all the agencies. Second, yes, building the site is the relatively easy part. It's what comes next thats not. Driving customers on a minute, hour, and daily basis is not so easy. I was not happy with a couple sales every month...even if i did make 100%.


Impossible? No. Just not as easy as you make it sound.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: NewStocker on March 30, 2016, 06:49
You make it sound like no one here has ever tried that before. Lots have. First of all, unless you have big bucks to pay the search engines, your images are going to get buried behind all the agencies. Second, yes, building the site is the relatively easy part. It's what comes next thats not. Driving customers on a minute, hour, and daily basis is not so easy. I was not happy with a couple sales every month...even if i did make 100%.


Impossible? No. Just not as easy as you make it sound.

For sure, that is the part you will need to develop. And that is no easy task. Not saying it is. But once you have enough content on the site you can start driving it. And it is a great feeling to have your own store. A total feeling of freedom and empowerment. Sure, you can never compete with the big boys, but one wouldn't need to.

What is different now though is also how the technology and the platforms are there now to receive low cost credit card payments and to host your content on a very fast cloud server for secure delivery. These things were not so readily available to the individual operator just a few years ago. If you think about it, the cost of starting your own business now has greatly gone down and the cost of keeping it running is so minimal now as well. All things we didn't have available in 2009 when iStock was still the biggest game in town.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Pauws99 on March 30, 2016, 08:06
"Build it and they will come" was always the crappiest line imho.........Seems to me that marketing costs are hugely underestimated if you really want to sell.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Microstockphoto on March 30, 2016, 12:16
newstocker, been done before and failed, check out the story of picturengine
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: ShadySue on March 30, 2016, 12:29
newstocker, been done before and failed, check out the story of picturengine
And Symbiostock was started very enthusiastically, but seems to have fizzled out through lack of sales traction.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: w7lwi on March 30, 2016, 12:53
All together now, let's sing the Bluegrass song:

All the good times have past and gone
All the good times are over
All the good times have past and gone
Little darlin', don't you weep no more
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: fotografer on March 30, 2016, 12:57
You make it sound like no one here has ever tried that before. Lots have. First of all, unless you have big bucks to pay the search engines, your images are going to get buried behind all the agencies. Second, yes, building the site is the relatively easy part. It's what comes next thats not. Driving customers on a minute, hour, and daily basis is not so easy. I was not happy with a couple sales every month...even if i did make 100%.


Impossible? No. Just not as easy as you make it sound.


For sure, that is the part you will need to develop. And that is no easy task. Not saying it is. But once you have enough content on the site you can start driving it. And it is a great feeling to have your own store. A total feeling of freedom and empowerment. Sure, you can never compete with the big boys, but one wouldn't need to.

What is different now though is also how the technology and the platforms are there now to receive low cost credit card payments and to host your content on a very fast cloud server for secure delivery. These things were not so readily available to the individual operator just a few years ago. If you think about it, the cost of starting your own business now has greatly gone down and the cost of keeping it running is so minimal now as well. All things we didn't have available in 2009 when iStock was still the biggest game in town.

None of that counts for anything without the customers seeing your images.  If it was easy we would all be doing it.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: raclro on March 31, 2016, 11:37
Yes!! For the vast majority of contributors the gold rush ended several years ago. I started in 2006 (near the end of the golden age). I have not counted but suspect the number of images available to a buyer has gone up by a multiple of 10s of millions at least since then. The agencies do not need any one or even a selected handful of contributors, thus they don't need to care about us. I suspect they are doing well enough.
The other thing I have been watching is the increased use of FREE photos.  In lectures, online coursed, magazines, web design. When I check the credits, 80% or more are sourced for free.
What kind of idiot is buying my stuff when much of it is available for nothing online?
It was exactly like a gold rush, a few hit it rich early on, nearly everyone late to the game did not earn much, and the suppliers of food, equipment, and transportation were the big long term winners. Not those digging in the mud actually producing the commodity.  Yes a few late comers have done well, but a very, very tiny percentage of contributors can make it worthwhile.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: mcuda on April 04, 2016, 15:58
As long as photographers are willing to sell and image for 25 cents then we will have this mess.  I am preaching to myself as much as anyone, but that is the bottom line.  Even if we got a website going or a guild or a union it wouldn't matter because there will always be some photog in a second or third world country willing to shoot for pennies.  We might be able to have a go in the first world countries, but it would still be tough.  Welcome to globalization.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: cathyslife on April 04, 2016, 16:46
As long as photographers are willing to sell and image for 25 cents then we will have this mess.  I am preaching to myself as much as anyone, but that is the bottom line.  Even if we got a website going or a guild or a union it wouldn't matter because there will always be some photog in a second or third world country willing to shoot for pennies.  We might be able to have a go in the first world countries, but it would still be tough.  Welcome to globalization.

Third world country, heck, there are citizens of the US who are willing to work this way. Not just photographers...I run into it all the time with some freelance design jobs. The downside of globalization.  :(
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Ariene on April 05, 2016, 01:07
mcuda, I would be carefull with making generalization like you did. Trust me, many people in third world have more honour and self respect than people in first world. I suggest you to be more carefull to not injure others  ::)
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on April 05, 2016, 01:33
mcuda, I would be carefull with making generalization like you did. Trust me, many people in third world have more honour and self respect than people in first world. I suggest you to be more carefull to not injure others  ::)
He didn't generalise, he said there would always be SOMEONE, that's not a generalisation. If he had said "all the togs in the Third World would shoot for pennies" that would have been an insulting generalisation. It's actually you who are generalising by effectively claiming that nobody in the Third World would do that, and then you decide that working for low wages shows a lack of self-respect, which it doesn't. You put your misinterpretations together and manage to make yourself feel insulted.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Carmen on April 05, 2016, 07:52
mcuda, I would be carefull with making generalization like you did. Trust me, many people in third world have more honour and self respect than people in first world. I suggest you to be more carefull to not injure others  ::)
He didn't generalise, he said there would always be SOMEONE, that's not a generalisation. If he had said "all the togs in the Third World would shoot for pennies" that would have been an insulting generalisation. It's actually you who are generalising by effectively claiming that nobody in the Third World would do that, and then you decide that working for low wages shows a lack of self-respect, which it doesn't. You put your misinterpretations together and manage to make yourself feel insulted.
some parts of the USA are third world country. and soon it will be a third world president (donald clown) running the white house (if americans do not react soon)
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: dpimborough on April 05, 2016, 09:44
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(

Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: YadaYadaYada on April 05, 2016, 10:04
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: dpimborough on April 05, 2016, 13:48
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

Amen to that

it's now an excercise in turd polishing  (my new favorite phrase)

The microstock powers that be just see the counter clicking up to 100 billion and it will never be enough

No quality control anymore, junk and spam and turds allowed in the door

It's an excercise in lunacy  ;D


Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: cathyslife on April 05, 2016, 14:29
it's now an excercise in turd polishing  (my new favorite phrase)

I know, that one cracks me up too. Love it.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: BaldricksTrousers on April 05, 2016, 23:57
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.
It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: dpimborough on April 06, 2016, 05:27
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.
It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).

My tongue was firmly in my cheek when referring to Russkians, Ukrainiats and Thailandishers

 ;D

However when you look; there they are with 10,000+ stock images in each portfolio
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: YadaYadaYada on April 07, 2016, 09:40
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(


Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).


My tongue was firmly in my cheek when referring to Russkians, Ukrainiats and Thailandishers

 ;D

However when you look; there they are with 10,000+ stock images in each portfolio


They add over 1000 a week http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added (http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added) maybe your joke was more true then you thought. Look at the country. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Asian.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: charged on April 08, 2016, 23:41
Wow, that is an insane amount of images to add per week.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: everest on April 09, 2016, 01:10
Goshhhhh I saw some of those portfolios........are you sure there are humans creating those files or just computers run by some aleatory program.......similars,garbage.similars....garbage.......The weed galore is a piece of art in comparison with some of those portfolios....Shutterstock might like to brag about file number in their collection.......lets see if it runs well for them in the long run,.....

I know one thing for sure....I don't want to be part of it.........I am happy to not be part of it.....
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: sharpshot on April 09, 2016, 03:43
The search hides the images that hurt the eyes.  I think having as many images as possible must help with Google, can't think of any other reason to accept low quality images that will probably never sell.  Seems to be working with SS and Alamy.  DT became more selective and have sunk.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: dpimborough on April 09, 2016, 04:19
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(


Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).


My tongue was firmly in my cheek when referring to Russkians, Ukrainiats and Thailandishers

 ;D

However when you look; there they are with 10,000+ stock images in each portfolio


They add over 1000 a week [url]http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added[/url] ([url]http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added[/url]) maybe your joke was more true then you thought. Look at the country. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Asian.


What a fascinating list!

What is very interesting besides the image factories is how many contributors no longer upload.

No wonder SS have opened the floodgates to all comers.

Any idea what the % of sales column indicates? EDIT: It seems to be the percentage of items in your portfolio that have sold

Addendum: Looking at those tables the one thing that is very apparent is that there are some really huge ports out there with very poor sales.

Checking those ports it's the ones with poor quality images, repetitve images (usually vectors) and poor keywords.

Even Africa Studio with 848230 images adding over 5,000 per week only sold 47% of their images
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Dook on April 09, 2016, 06:24


They add over 1000 a week [url]http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added[/url] ([url]http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added[/url]) maybe your joke was more true then you thought. Look at the country. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Asian.

We Serbs are always guilty for something. Come on, Russia federation population is 143 million people ans Serbia population is 7 million. what are you talking about? How you find Serbs roll in this declining market of any importance?
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Hongover on April 09, 2016, 14:04
Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days.  ;D


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry  :'(


Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).


My tongue was firmly in my cheek when referring to Russkians, Ukrainiats and Thailandishers

 ;D

However when you look; there they are with 10,000+ stock images in each portfolio


They add over 1000 a week [url]http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added[/url] ([url]http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added[/url]) maybe your joke was more true then you thought. Look at the country. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Asian.


What a fascinating list!

What is very interesting besides the image factories is how many contributors no longer upload.

No wonder SS have opened the floodgates to all comers.

Any idea what the % of sales column indicates? EDIT: It seems to be the percentage of items in your portfolio that have sold

Addendum: Looking at those tables the one thing that is very apparent is that there are some really huge ports out there with very poor sales.

Checking those ports it's the ones with poor quality images, repetitve images (usually vectors) and poor keywords.

Even Africa Studio with 848230 images adding over 5,000 per week only sold 47% of their images


It's definitely % of portfolio sold. Which means that Africa Studio has sold 400,000 of their images at least once. My % currently stands around 72%, which means I still have some improving to do.

One of RawPixel's best sellers competes against one of my top sellers. They probably get at least 5000 downloads a day with that massive portfolio.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Chichikov on April 09, 2016, 14:17
Jealousy…
: an unhappy or angry feeling of wanting to have what someone else has
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: jonbull on April 09, 2016, 14:21
when u think micro is lost i add a big sales 110 dollar in restock, where probably i stop uploading 3 years ago and have only 200 image:...aso gunny..

i plan to upload a lot this year, have a bulk of images ready.

about ukraine russia...i wrote many times. production cost in this city are the cheapest in the world....i talk about ukraine...studio? probably 20 euro a day...model? the level of beauty and talento in soviet counties is unlimited...everuy girl is photogenic and ready to pose in 5 minutes...often for free, just the experience of studio make up and free photos is for many girl impossible to refuse...

Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: jonbull on April 09, 2016, 14:30
it's interesting to notice that while file grow very big....like 10 million month in may agency...most are scammers file, series practically similar, and most of all design...photo are less...so for good photographers there is still a lot of space to move. the problem is designer....you know how much cost of the work of a good designer in ukraine?
 maybe somebody with 500 dollar can pay the work of a designer, add 2 or 3 and you have a mass production for cheap money.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Mantis on April 09, 2016, 14:54
Jealousy…
: an unhappy or angry feeling of wanting to have what someone else has

So you're jealous?
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Chichikov on April 10, 2016, 04:38
Jealousy…
: an unhappy or angry feeling of wanting to have what someone else has


So you're jealous?


Yes, a little, I admit it, but I treat myself :)

But here I see people blaming other people/companies because they have success using the weakness and the limits of the microstock system to make money.

As microsctocks sale our images for only cents, today it is not only about quality (what is the sense to produce high quality images for 38¢?), it is also about quantity.
It is easier to have lower costs of production is you live in less rich countries.
So if you can produce more at a lower cost you are a winner.
Today being an US American or occidental European (in USA or in occidental Europe) is surely not a plus in the microstock world…
It is like this and you cannot do a lot against that. You can adapt (as I did) and emigrate in those countries.

Some of the big contributors from eastern Europe have quantity and more than average quality (I am not speaking about Africa studio who has only quantity of S**t)
Just few example here:
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-711892p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-711892p1.html)
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-721492p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-721492p1.html)
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-624226p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-624226p1.html)
http://www.shutterstock.com/portfolio/search.mhtml?page=100&gallery_landing=1&gallery_id=370306&safesearch=1 (http://www.shutterstock.com/portfolio/search.mhtml?page=100&gallery_landing=1&gallery_id=370306&safesearch=1)
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-1311871p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-1311871p1.html)
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-968654p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-968654p1.html)
http://www.shutterstock.com/portfolio/search.mhtml?page=100&gallery_landing=1&gallery_id=106408&safesearch=1 (http://www.shutterstock.com/portfolio/search.mhtml?page=100&gallery_landing=1&gallery_id=106408&safesearch=1)
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-150613p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-150613p1.html)
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-57146p1.html (http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-57146p1.html)

Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Justanotherphotographer on April 10, 2016, 05:49
Two of the three illustrators' portfolios you link to are absolutely terrible. I wont say which ones, but I am shocked by what SS is accepting now. Some of the photographers are very good though.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: jonbull on April 10, 2016, 06:42
Two of the three illustrators' portfolios you link to are absolutely terrible. I wont say which ones, but I am shocked by what SS is accepting now. Some of the photographers are very good though.

photo good?

oh god, this are the most amateur portfolio i have ever seen...i understand why big customer buy from rm agency,...look food photo in alamy, or other big rm agency. this guy probably use even other photographer to shoot everything they have around.
we must see what they sell and how much earn, but being often in ukriane i'd say that this guy can earn very good money for living there.  10 photographer account for more than 5 percent of all photo fun ss...unbielevabel
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Justanotherphotographer on April 10, 2016, 06:51
The photography portfolios are mostly decent micro portfolios. I have seen much worse snap shots on Alamy. At a minimum micros have some kind of handle on technical quality.

The owners probably make very decent money, if you want unique or original you need to be shopping RM.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: jonbull on April 10, 2016, 07:01
The photography portfolios are mostly decent micro portfolios. I have seen much worse snap shots on Alamy. At a minimum micros have some kind of handle on technical quality.

The owners probably make very decent money, if you want unique or original you need to be shopping RM.

yes medium quality..the girl better..but some terrible...they man decent money for sure for their country...but i checked some of their account in dreamtime and stock..they don't feel so much even with so many images...luckily they don't travel a lot and have mostly food ( cheap to make everywhere...buyt some studio chinese stuff u are done)..and people ( mostly nude beautiful girl and baby)...and some object with concept heavily copied or lack of originality...some belarusian are better...more creative...ukraine and russia and thailand are copy land.
luckily i do mostly other stuff so not a lot of competition. i will move to a country like this for 4 months and produce some big number in the near future. where i live to produce a good photo shooting is at the moment too costly.
rm are much better but i see also in rf there are interest for good photo. i sold 100 dollar yesterday in crestock:)...in ss i am selling a lot of 34 and more dollar in the last week.
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: Chichikov on April 10, 2016, 07:25
Two of the three illustrators' portfolios you link to are absolutely terrible. I wont say which ones, but I am shocked by what SS is accepting now. Some of the photographers are very good though.

Yes, I agree. In fact a lot of the big illustrators' portfolios are not so good, but they have enough sales anyway.
I think that it is probably faster and easier to make a big average quality photo portfolio than an illustrations one.

If the photo portfolios are only an average level of quality it is enough for 90% of the needs of the microstock customers I think.
Good or bad does not mean a lot in this industry.
Customers buy an image because it corresponds to their needs (immediately and cheaply - generally they need it for yesterday…), not because it is a high quality image (if the quality is high it is a plus, not a main necessity).
I think that if it was not like this all the microstock industry would close in few months.

And to answer to the thread title:
Yes the good times are gone for those unable to adapt themselves to the the market (and claiming the contrary like a lot of the eternal whiners on this forum)…
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: mlwp on April 10, 2016, 09:51
I can think of one agency in which the 'good times' are just getting started..... ;)

IMO, you get out of it what you put into it; relevance, quality, and quantity all play a role.

You also need to diversify; stock alone rarely cuts it these days.

Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: gbalex on April 10, 2016, 10:19
We contributors should set up our own stocksite where the royalty rates are something like 90%. 10% is only for the runing company and the website. And we need webtool for the copy and paste all the photos and keywords from the iStock if contributor wants to leave from the iStock.

Sure. Because customers are just waiting for that. And the site obviously is going to run flawless once set up because it is run by photographers who know what they're doing.  8)

Eh-Hem, I am a photographer, I have set up my own stock site selling purely my own content, it looks far more professional than iStock's site ever did/does. It has very simple pricing, it is easy to navigate, was built on a free and open source CSS platform, nothing is broken, the site can accept both credit card and PayPal payments, and it runs smoother and faster than the iStock site ever does/did.

Granted I don't have a sizable collection when compared to an agency that crowd sources from millions of potential contributors, or the traffic to be successful with it (yet), but it isn't hard to run circles around iStock's web programmers in order to build a stock site that works and people find easy to use, yet I still consider myself very much a coding hack at best. I set it up over only a few month period, on a part time basis, whilst tweaking and working the bugs out. Imagine what one could do if all they did all day was develop a stock site as a full time endeavor?

When I think of the iStock site programming team though I imagine a bunch of children with mental disabilities who can't control their bowels sitting in a bathtub together, whilst floating amongst their own turds, squeezing them like Play-doh, and giggling away as if they haven't a worry in the world.

Good point, I think because most people are inexperienced in building sites they over estimate the technical abilities and expense needed to build a successful sales platform. And the micros have taken full advantage of this. Heck their sites are full of bugs which they make no attempt to resolve.

Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: B8 on May 23, 2016, 11:45
Eh-Hem, I am a photographer, I have set up my own stock site selling purely my own content

Well, yes, that's your own images. Put on someone else's images who uses different keywording than you do, find out a fair way whose images to show first for any given search terms, make accounting for those, pay out the earned royalties in an easy and cheap way. And then do that for 10,000 contributors and 100 Terrabyte of image data. Good luck trying that with WordPress.

At least you won't need marketing because customers will just jump on board once the word goes around that the photographers get 80 cents per download instead of 35.

Obviously you don't know much about WordPress. Canva is running on WordPress and claims to have 9.8 million users and 74 million images online. See here: https://about.canva.com/our-story/

And here is Canva's WordPress admin back-end login panel, which proves that their site is running on the WordPress platform: https://canva.com/wp-login.php
Title: Re: Are the good time gone forever?
Post by: B8 on May 23, 2016, 11:55
Attached is a screenshot of Canva's WordPress login screen.