MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Adobe Stock => Topic started by: LissiC on April 10, 2011, 12:51
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I don't know if this has been discussed before:
http://bit.ly/fpWvos (http://bit.ly/fpWvos)
I do not want my photos to be used for free. What do you think?
Elisabeth
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First I have heard about it. I tried looking in the FT forum but can't find anything there either.
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Don't know how Andy Goetze found this www.fotolianews.com (http://www.fotolianews.com), but it seems to be true?
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Awesome! Everyone says blog sizes are what sells best these days, so what an amazing move to just give the content away!
Maybe it's a leftover April Fool thing.
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What do you think?
I think Fotolia is a joke. The sooner they go out of business the better. I left there in January and I can't say I miss them.
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I found some hugely amusing quotes in fotolianews (http://www.fotolianews.com/) (pointed to by Andy's blog) From 8 reasons for Fotolia Microstock:
"7. Supports The Arts
The world would only be shades of gray without the Arts. By paying for images, you’re helping photographers and illustrators earn a living. We need them."
I'm not sure if that makes me feel like photographers are the equivalent of those starving kids in famine relief ads or if the irony of multiple commission reductions and royalty level increases is lost on FT's PR department.
And then there's the lovely revisionist history in How it Works
"Fotolia is the first worldwide social marketplace for royalty free stock images, allowing individuals and professionals to legally buy and share stock images and illustrations."
I'm guessing that FT is drawing a distinction with IS on the basis of "worldwide" because FT was the first to internationalize their web site, but IS was selling worldwide before FT was even though they only localized their site after FT showed they could gain market share that way. And I know SS was pretty early with doing translated versions of their site, but I don't remember if they followed FT or beat them to it.
I think it'd be a good idea for some FT contributors to inquire of them if the contributor is compensated for these promotional freebies - fine if FT wants to foot the bill, but is there anything in the contract that allows them to just give away images from the paid section?
And the march of anti-contributor cash grabs marches on. I didn't see anything in FT's blog or press release section. Have they told contributors about this "opportunity"?
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I presume they still pay us? I'm not against it as long as we get paid. Other sites have given away some free images and paid contributors, so as long as we are being paid, I don't see a problem.
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Wow, the thought entered my mind about becoming non-exclusive from Istock and then I see stuff like this.
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Is this official? I wonder what are the conditions, they really don't explain anything about this deal there.
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No explanations, no emails, nothing on teir forum, just a tiny thing on the news page.... Irritating.
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No explanations, no emails, nothing on teir forum, just a tiny thing on the news page.... Irritating.
This sort of thing is why I dropped Fotolia. People were asking questions - about their weird commission structure, their shadowy 'partner' network, about what exactly a 'credit' was worth - and just not getting any sensible answers. I decided they were a shady operation.
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Wow, the thought entered my mind about becoming non-exclusive from Istock and then I see stuff like this.
If you have any thoughts at all about doing that, and any notion of contributing to Fotolia, then you need to be quiet about them in public or they will ban you (as they did me, albeit after I left to become an iStock exclusive; they just threatened me with closing my account beforehand).
I think I was seen as a troublemaker for coordinating efforts to hold off uploading after their initial lowball offer when they started subscriptions (with no opt out).
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No explanations, no emails, nothing on teir forum, just a tiny thing on the news page.... Irritating.
This sort of thing is why I dropped Fotolia. People were asking questions - about their weird commission structure, their shadowy 'partner' network, about what exactly a 'credit' was worth - and just not getting any sensible answers. I decided they were a shady operation.
Exactely the same here; they are sneaky, shady and arrogant and in many ways worse than iStock.
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All I want to know is, do they pay us for this? Does anyone know?
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More here:
"Amazing free photo subscription offer for Bloggers", http://bit.ly/gpSYmS. (http://bit.ly/gpSYmS.)
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I have sent a message to support about this. I would presume they are paying us, as it really would be a mess if they were giving away our images for free.
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I simply asked Fotolia about it:
Short answer: Don't worry, photographers will get paid.
Long answer can be read in my blog:
http://www.alltageinesfotoproduzenten.de/2011/04/11/was-ist-dran-am-kostenlosen-abo-angebot-von-fotolia-fuer-blogger/ (http://www.alltageinesfotoproduzenten.de/2011/04/11/was-ist-dran-am-kostenlosen-abo-angebot-von-fotolia-fuer-blogger/)
It's in German though, english Google translation:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.alltageinesfotoproduzenten.de/2011/04/11/was-ist-dran-am-kostenlosen-abo-angebot-von-fotolia-fuer-blogger/&twu=1 (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.alltageinesfotoproduzenten.de/2011/04/11/was-ist-dran-am-kostenlosen-abo-angebot-von-fotolia-fuer-blogger/&twu=1)
Best regards,
Robert
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I thought that's how it would work. Funny how people jump to the wrong conclusion. I don't like a lot of things fotolia have done, especially cutting commissions but this looks OK.
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They said that marketing campaigns costs were one of the reasons for commissions cut.
Now - if I understand it right - our commissions had to be cut so that Fotolia is able to pay us for images that are given for free to bloggers. ;)
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Thanks for asking and clarifying, Rob :-*
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It's better than the VOX deal on IS. Bloggers had free use of IS images without no payment to the contributors. Just a click through link to the purchase page. I just hope that this one is monitored better. VOX started making blogs private after it was discovered that bloggers were using IS images in posts titled "Girls I F****D this week"
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It's better than the VOX deal on IS. Bloggers had free use of IS images without no payment to the contributors. Just a click through link to the purchase page. I just hope that this one is monitored better. VOX started making blogs private after it was discovered that bloggers were using IS images in posts titled "Girls I F****D this week"
Classy.
IIRC, that Vox deal had an opt-out, either under Partner Programs or Promotional Use. That's when I opted out of both.
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I thought that's how it would work. Funny how people jump to the wrong conclusion. I don't like a lot of things fotolia have done, especially cutting commissions but this looks OK.
It is good that they pay us, but this isn't a good deal unless there is more to it. First, a link back to FT. Second, this should be a one-month trial only, something of that sort, in order to attract a new customers. Third, have this in personal blogs only.
I also expect that they make it very clear that the images are for the blog only. Not that this prevents anything, but it is important to set the rules. XS images are great for many purposes. All images I used in a website at work were XS, and I even downsize them.