I opted out of distribution because when the distributions were receiving more than the actual photographer it just didn't sit right with me.  Yet the other day I once again a sale came through, so I queried it and seems it went through before i opted out but has only just been reported. Hopefully it is the last I will see.

I would rather not make a sale than have someone earn more than the photographer for doing nothing other than having the image on their site.   Rant overrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

IMO the distributors are a very different business from stock agencies - and in the internet age where you can license from an agency in almost any location worldwide, distributors should just either go away, or get a 5% referral fee at most.

Agencies have expenses, the biggest one marketing & sales, but also hosting costs, site design & maintenance, payment processing, customer support, contributor support, inspection, legal, etc. That's why they get a cut of the license fees. If marketing was easy and cheap, all the self-hosting and contributor cooperatives over the years would have put the agencies out of business

Once upon a time, distributors had to manage the delivery of slides to customers and there was actual substance to their operations. Today, they're just one more straw trying to siphon money out of the customer's payment before contributors get what's left. The Alamy setup is outrageous, IMO

Agencies have expenses, the biggest one marketing & sales, but also hosting costs, site design & maintenance, payment processing, customer support, contributor support, inspection, legal, etc. That's why they get a cut of the license fees. If marketing was easy and cheap, all the self-hosting and contributor cooperatives over the years would have put the agencies out of business

Just as a quick response to this, I wanted to flag that the distributors we use are agencies themselves within those local territories, with all of the same elements you cite above. The whole reason we do this, despite being a global online business, is because very often these local agents have agreements with local customers that are set in stone and long established - simply meaning that without using them, the sales wouldn't be made to those customers via Alamy.

The distribution revenue amounts to around 15% of our total revenue and we make each territory a selective opt in. We get that the scheme isn't for everyone but the majority of our contributors do opt in and are then open to the additional revenue opportunity.

Best regards

James Allsworth
Head of Content

If the affiliates or distributors are doing the agencies job, then the cut should come from the agency. If they are doing the contributors job, then the cut can come from the contributor. I don't see any affiliates or distributors making images and keywording them and putting them in my port, so I don't think I should have to pay their cut of the pie.  They are however doing Alamy's job - finding buyers, so the cut should come from Alamy. Yes, these are sales that Alamy wouldn't make without finding buyers, so they should appreciate say 25% from each sale, and we should get at least 40%, although really 50% seems more fair.

Don't even get me started on the sales for a few cents for which I get between 0 and 2 cents. If that is what the local market is, I don't want to be in that market.

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on June 06, 2023, 06:53

Agencies have expenses, the biggest one marketing & sales, but also hosting costs, site design & maintenance, payment processing, customer support, contributor support, inspection, legal, etc. That's why they get a cut of the license fees. If marketing was easy and cheap, all the self-hosting and contributor cooperatives over the years would have put the agencies out of business

Just as a quick response to this, I wanted to flag that the distributors we use are agencies themselves within those local territories, with all of the same elements you cite above. The whole reason we do this, despite being a global online business, is because very often these local agents have agreements with local customers that are set in stone and long established - simply meaning that without using them, the sales wouldn't be made to those customers via Alamy.

The distribution revenue amounts to around 15% of our total revenue and we make each territory a selective opt in. We get that the scheme isn't for everyone but the majority of our contributors do opt in and are then open to the additional revenue opportunity.

Best regards

James Allsworth
Head of Content

Hi
Someone had the problem that in the �Account Balance� section the cleared balance is greater than the threshold payment amount (<$50), and the �Next payment date� says �Not due�. And the most outrageous thing is that the money has not been paid for several months now!
Anyone else experiencing difficulties?

I have send my request to: newbielink:mailto:[email protected] [nonactive] but other than the automatic answer, no one considered my question

Any assistance appreciated.