MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Author Topic: Fotolia D-Day (Deactivation Day) - May,1  (Read 305712 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

fotorob

  • Professional stock content producer
« Reply #325 on: April 30, 2014, 08:32 »
-18
If it is true what he said, I doubt it.

DISCLAIMER 2: All my participation in boycottfotolia.org project, including creating and maintaining a website, and also writing of the original version of the petition is voluntary and gratuitous. I'm not a microstocker. I'm independent of microstock business and I'm not affiliated with any photobank, microstock or any other organization that competes with fotolia.com or represents the interests of of third-parties competing with fotolia.com. I don't receive any material or other benefits in any form from this project or its participants and any third-party organizations. In my work I represent the interests of my friends microstockers and all these people, who cast their votes in support of petition.

Bold part by me. So why do you think he is a microstock photographer?


Dook

« Reply #326 on: April 30, 2014, 08:35 »
+11
His motivation is the same as each other petition signer's motivation: we wish to save the industry and make sure our future as microstock contributors is bright and promising.

In an earlier post he claimed that he has no microstock affiliation whatsoever, so I find it a bit strange to organize such a boycott, when he is totally unrelated to the industry.
Fotorob, I still remember your detailed blog post about your earnings, agency stats etc. It was very informative and helpful. I remember you saying that around 50% of your income is coming from Fotolia and that you have around 2000 exclusive pictures there, if I remember the numbers correctly.
What is your opinion on the situation, are you worried about your income now?

« Reply #327 on: April 30, 2014, 08:38 »
+15
His motivation is the same as each other petition signer's motivation: we wish to save the industry and make sure our future as microstock contributors is bright and promising.

In an earlier post he claimed that he has no microstock affiliation whatsoever, so I find it a bit strange to organize such a boycott, when he is totally unrelated to the industry.

Boycottfotolia.org maintained by 2 people. First of it - coordinator, also known as Frbird from microstock.ru forum. He's Fotolia contributor off course.
And i'm - technical developer of site. I've many friends from microstockers community from all the world. And i really don't affiliated with any microstock or their affiliated companies.
So when you need to repair your car - you going to autoservice. When you need to buy new camera - you going to shop or ebay. And what you'll do if you need a web-site? Right, ask programmer about that :)

fotorob

  • Professional stock content producer
« Reply #328 on: April 30, 2014, 08:42 »
-13
What is your opinion on the situation, are you worried about your income now?

Of course I am worried about my income, then, on the other hand, I am always worried about my income regarding microstock, because it is such a fast-paced business.

You can be sure that I very closely monitor my numbers regarding FT and DPC and other agencies.

However, pulling my images from Fotolia would not make much sense for me, because then I would loose several thousand dollar a month.

Dook

« Reply #329 on: April 30, 2014, 08:46 »
+10
The reason I remembered your numbers is because mine are similar. The problem is my income at Fotolia is halved in the last few moths!

« Reply #330 on: April 30, 2014, 08:51 »
+12
@fotoramka: Who are you?
And who is the "we" you are mentioning in your posts?
I'm boycottfotolia.org developer.
It's translated text of my open letter to microstockers which was published on Rissian-speaking forums.
What do you mean about "we"?
I mean who is (you) the person that develops the boycott-site.
I am still trying to understand your motivation and who the friends are you mentioned.
Let me explain to avoid any conspiracy theories.
fotoramka is a developer of free online tool for contributors idlast.info (currently only in Russian and Ukranian languages) which was launched in October, 2013. He was asked to make this free tool by our fellow contributor. Since then he has not only supported the idlast but actively communicated with microstock community in idlast.info chat and microstock forums.
And he has kindly agreed to help us (Russian speaking contributors) to make the petition site. So he is not contributor himself but understands our concerns and needs as contributors. Hope now it's clear enough.

fotorob

  • Professional stock content producer
« Reply #331 on: April 30, 2014, 08:51 »
-8
Boycottfotolia.org maintained by 2 people. First of it - coordinator, also known as Frbird from microstock.ru forum. He's Fotolia contributor off course.

Okay, thanks for the info. I was not aware that Frbird from vectorlib is behind the site.

« Reply #332 on: April 30, 2014, 09:53 »
+9
You can be sure that I very closely monitor my numbers regarding FT and DPC and other agencies.

However, pulling my images from Fotolia would not make much sense for me, because then I would loose several thousand dollar a month.
So, you are not going to opt-out from DPC either, right?

« Reply #333 on: April 30, 2014, 10:58 »
+7
However, pulling my images from Fotolia would not make much sense for me, because then I would loose several thousand dollar a month.

I actually kind of wonder if it matters at all ... In fact, hopefully customers catch wind of this crap and move from ft to maybe .... Dreamstime, that'd be grand.

« Reply #334 on: April 30, 2014, 11:16 »
+14
However, pulling my images from Fotolia would not make much sense for me, because then I would loose several thousand dollar a month.

I actually kind of wonder if it matters at all ... In fact, hopefully customers catch wind of this crap and move from ft to maybe .... Dreamstime, that'd be grand.

The pricing at Walmart does not in general deter customers, nor do stories about wages at McDonalds. The only deterrent would be the disappearance of the most sellable images forcing people to search elsewhere.

As far as the industry as a whole goes, if DPC works then there may no longer be any incentive for anyone to produce new microstock photos on anything other than personal vanity.


« Reply #335 on: April 30, 2014, 11:20 »
+3
.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2014, 21:44 by tickstock »

« Reply #336 on: April 30, 2014, 11:28 »
+12
.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2014, 21:44 by tickstock »

« Reply #337 on: April 30, 2014, 11:33 »
+1
Quote
Users pay $10 per month to get ten images and then pay $1 for additional images. This is compared to other services like Shutterstock that cost $249 a month for 25 images a day or $229 for 25 images a la carte.


black on white!

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/29/dollarphotoclub-expands-into-more-markets-hits-11000-users/

« Reply #338 on: April 30, 2014, 11:34 »
+8
I believe that most content creators that do not opt out of DPC in the next few days, will do so later on, when they realise that their sales elsewhere are being cannibalised by the DPC, which will happen inevitably.

By the way, I received another email from Fotolia advertising DPC:

Quote
You might be surprised what a dollar can buy you.

At Dollar Photo Club its the key to over 27 million amazing stock images; so whatever youre working on, now there are no limits to your creativity and originality!

Thats the Magic of a Dollar

$1 per image thats the promise of Dollar Photo Club. Cutting straight through every complex and expensive pricing model with one super simple offer - $1 per image. Always $1. Always high-resolution. Always royalty-free.


« Reply #339 on: April 30, 2014, 11:37 »
+14
http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/29/dollarphotoclub-expands-into-more-markets-hits-11000-users/


That's laying it all out pretty clearly. Fotolia appears to be pursuing a scorched earth policy - I don't know how they think they can "win" even if they succeed with this.

Even if the big fish don't want to leave Fotolia, please consider opting out of DPC.

Off to tweet this link and I hope keep letting contributors know they need to protect themselves from this latest assault on their earnings.

Rinderart

« Reply #340 on: April 30, 2014, 11:41 »
0
I believe that most content creators that do not opt out of DPC in the next few days, will do so later on, when they realise that their sales elsewhere are being cannibalised by the DPC, which will happen inevitably.

By the way, I received another email from Fotolia advertising DPC:

Quote
You might be surprised what a dollar can buy you.

At Dollar Photo Club its the key to over 27 million amazing stock images; so whatever youre working on, now there are no limits to your creativity and originality!

Thats the Magic of a Dollar


Agree.

$1 per image thats the promise of Dollar Photo Club. Cutting straight through every complex and expensive pricing model with one super simple offer - $1 per image. Always $1. Always high-resolution. Always royalty-free.

Rinderart

« Reply #341 on: April 30, 2014, 11:42 »
+3
However, pulling my images from Fotolia would not make much sense for me, because then I would loose several thousand dollar a month.

I actually kind of wonder if it matters at all ... In fact, hopefully customers catch wind of this crap and move from ft to maybe .... Dreamstime, that'd be grand.

The pricing at Walmart does not in general deter customers, nor do stories about wages at McDonalds. The only deterrent would be the disappearance of the most sellable images forcing people to search elsewhere.



As far as the industry as a whole goes, if DPC works then there may no longer be any incentive for anyone to produce new microstock photos on anything other than personal vanity.

Absolutely

« Reply #342 on: April 30, 2014, 12:32 »
+16
Do you remember when in September 2011 Fotolia reserved the right to put higher-ranked contributors back to white level ranking because of DepositPhotos low prices? http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/return-to-start-fotolia-reserves-right-to-put-you-back-at-white-ranking/

Quote
Over the last few months, we've seen new competitors offering pricing
and commission rates that are lower than our white ranking levels.
This is a threat to our business, for the market as whole, and for
you, our contributors. This is an issue that must be addressed for us
to remain competitive.

We have been obliged to modify our pricing and payment policies to
allow Fotolia to adjust prices/commissions on a case by case basis.
When a contributor sells on sites with significantly lower pricing and
commissions, we will reset their rank to white to allow for
competition.

Together, we'll work towards building a stronger stock photography
market, and continue to enhance Fotolia's reputation and
competitiveness as a leading microstock agency.


They were worried that these low prices were a threat for their business, for the market as a whole, and for the contributors. Ironically, what Fotolia have done now with DPC is so much worse!!

« Reply #343 on: April 30, 2014, 12:55 »
+12
OMG, thanks for that reminder brisoca! 

Just imagine how proud they will be in 2 years when the whole marked is selling photos for $1 and they are forced to lower theirs to 50 cents.

« Reply #344 on: April 30, 2014, 13:01 »
+12
The real problem is that these agencies have 10s of millions of images, a large percentage of which were parked there long ago by people who don't pay attention to new developments, don't read this forum, and have decided to just take whatever they get for however long it lasts.   So bottom feeders like FT can count on having enough reasonably good material for a long time to come, no matter what they do.   They  compete on nothing but price and that can only lead in one direction.   

I don't see any hope of a turnaround.  Many people are clinging to the idea that SS is somehow our friend and is wearing the white hat, but I'd say that's a fantasy.  Let the minus-ing begin...

« Last Edit: April 30, 2014, 13:04 by stockastic »

« Reply #345 on: April 30, 2014, 13:05 »
-1


I don't see any hope of a turnaround.  Many people are clinging to the idea that SS is somehow our friend and is wearing the white hat, but I'd say that's a fantasy.  Let the minus-ing begin...

Look at their HQ in N.Y., there you can see wheres our money.


« Reply #347 on: April 30, 2014, 13:10 »
+4


I don't see any hope of a turnaround.  Many people are clinging to the idea that SS is somehow our friend and is wearing the white hat, but I'd say that's a fantasy.  Let the minus-ing begin...

Look at their HQ in N.Y., there you can see wheres our money.

I don't think that's fair.  Judging by the number of ads I see and hear, I expect marketing and advertising are a much more significant expense than their offices.  And that's an expense that brings in more customers, meaning we get a slice of a growing pie.  Works for me.

mlwinphoto

« Reply #348 on: April 30, 2014, 13:10 »
+2
The real problem is that these agencies have 10s of millions of images, a large percentage of which were parked there long ago by people who don't pay attention to new developments, don't read this forum, and have decided to just take whatever they get for however long it lasts.   So bottom feeders like FT can count on having enough reasonably good material for a long time to come, no matter what they do.   They  compete on nothing but price and that can only lead in one direction.   

I don't see any hope of a turnaround.  Many people are clinging to the idea that SS is somehow our friend and is wearing the white hat, but I'd say that's a fantasy.  Let the minus-ing begin...

A plus from me.

stocked

« Reply #349 on: April 30, 2014, 13:11 »
+13


I don't see any hope of a turnaround.  Many people are clinging to the idea that SS is somehow our friend and is wearing the white hat, but I'd say that's a fantasy.  Let the minus-ing begin...

Look at their HQ in N.Y., there you can see wheres our money.

I don't think that's fair.  Judging by the number of ads I see and hear, I expect marketing and advertising are a much more significant expense than their offices.  And that's an expense that brings in more customers, meaning we get a slice of a growing pie.  Works for me.
I would say let's stay on the DPC/Fotolia issue here everything else new thread please


 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
938 Replies
221637 Views
Last post April 30, 2014, 18:36
by deryl1975
64 Replies
31389 Views
Last post July 30, 2013, 12:08
by Noedelhap
4 Replies
3452 Views
Last post November 18, 2013, 08:36
by Mantis
11 Replies
7111 Views
Last post October 01, 2014, 13:42
by Freedom
46 Replies
19941 Views
Last post July 27, 2020, 13:29
by Suspect

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors