MicrostockGroup

Thanks for posting these questions. They are very important, and I had missed his posts.

Warm Golden Beet Salad with Greens and Almonds

1 bunch beets, both tops and roots
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
2/3 cup toasted almond slivers

Heat the oven to 425°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan or cake tin with a big square of foil, large enough to complete enclose the beet roots. Lightly rinse the beet roots to remove any really clumpy dirt and pat them dry. Place them in the foil square and lightly drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Fold up the foil and crease to seal. Bake the beets for 60 minutes or until they can be just pierced with a fork. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, chop the beet greens into bite-size ribbons. Discard the stalks between the roots and where the leaves start, but chop the leaf ribs along with the leaves. Rinse thoroughly to remove all traces of dirt and grit. In a large skillet, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook on low for about 5 minutes or until the garlic is golden and fragrant. Add the chopped leaves and stir to coat with the garlic. Cook on medium-low for about 10 minutes or until the leaves are soft and tender. Remove from the heat.

When the beets are cool, rub them with a paper towel to remove the skin. Then chop into bitesized pieces and toss with the cooked greens, goat cheese, and almonds. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or cold. (This also makes an excellent pressed sandwich filling, especially with some extra goat cheese.)

Could the new supply agreement just be the first step in devaluing the work that is housed on competitors sites?
I mean just imagine if Is could just give away all the work on IStock from independent contributors without charge.
Suddenly the majority of images on the other sites are worthless, the value of exclusive images goes through the roof.
Watch the skies.

There's a small problem with that.  People might tolerate low commissions but they will remove their portfolios if they start giving their images away for free.  It does make me wonder how low a commission some people will put up with though.  Would it be 10% or even 5%?  I'm sure that istock or FT will want to find out.  That's why I don't see much future in microstock, unless they can guarantee that commissions wont go any lower than they are now.

I also wonder if a site will try giving away images for free, sharing advertising revenue with contributors.  I'm not talking about the low commercial value stuff that the sites already give away.  A few small sites have tried this but none of the big sites.

People that can't get in to shutterstock and get lots rejected by the other big sites might want other ways to make money from their images.  Microstock was a new market but there could be something else coming along one day.

@ cuppacoffee

Many thanks - I didn't come back here yesterday, but had some wonderful roasted golden beets for dinner. I'll save this recipe for next time though.

IMO they probably won't have to dance around this contradiction for long.  I am sure sometime within the next few months they will be able to tout the benefits of forced inclusion to everyone

I'm sure you're right, Lisa. It's really just a matter of time before this "perk" of exclusivity goes away. And I'm sure they find a way to make it sound like it's still a good thing for everyone.

Have they said when they're going to re-issue the clarified ASA?
Or, in Canadian Law, does an amibiguous ASA with various 'clarifications' on a forum count as one legal entity?

I was just pointing out that it could be seen as advantageous for them to offer non exclusive images at the lowest possible price to devalue the worth of other agencies' collections. It was a bit tongue in cheek/ conspiracy theory.

Only trouble is, there are very few agencies you can rely and depend on, apart from that you have a whole heap of sites, where about 95% are simply"trying" themselves. For an independant, SS and IS,  are no substituts for each other, you have to go with both, especially since SS, dont enforce exclusivity. DT, can at times produce marvellous results and FT, is just kind of hanging in there, after their devastating best match change.
There are tons of sites but very, very few that are dependable.

Agree!  one of the biggest mistakes was to close stockXpert, they had it already made. About the PP,  just wait and see,  I bet when time comes, they will all be supplying PP, even the die-hard screamers within Getty/IS,  will follow and sooner or later Getty wont give them any option.
They will do anything and everything to topple SS.

Amen to that, and to the 30c subs fee.

Well said.