Operation Level Ground attracts Artists to Fotolia


NEW YORK, NY, October 21, 2009 – In an unprecedented industry first, Fotolia is offering all photographers, illustrators and videographers the recognition they deserve. For a limited time, visual artists have complete reputation and expertise portability with Fotolia. Traditionally, artists have had to work for years to earn their reputation and rankings, only to find that they these rankings are lost when joining new sites. Higher rankings on leading stock photography sites such as Fotolia often bring artists increased revenues and exposure. Artists can now use their existing online sales or lifetime earnings to gain instant recognition on Fotolia.

“Fotolia is the first image company to offer contributors this kind of freedom. We’re recognizing people’s passions and their life’s work,” says Oleg Tscheltzoff CEO and co-founder of Fotolia. “By having these talented artists join the Fotolia family, we are able to offer consumers from around the world high-quality and diverse images.”

The way it works is simple: if a photographer shows he or she has 12,000 online downloads, Fotolia credits him/her with 12,000 downloads on Fotolia’s site and provides a Gold Level status.
If the artist demonstrates 30,000 downloads from another site, Fotolia provides him/her with equivalent downloads and an Emerald status.

For those new to microstock: show a lifetime earnings statement of $15,000, for example, and receive Fotolia Gold status. Another with $65,000 receives Fotolia Emerald, and anyone over $100,000 in lifetime earnings automatically becomes Fotolia Sapphire. Downloads reflect the ranking assigned.
See www.fotolia.com/Info/Contributors for more information on Fotolia’s ranking system.

To participate in Operation Level Ground:
1. Artists choose at least 1,000 actively selling images to upload to Fotolia.
2. Prospective contributors provide proof of downloads or earnings to date.
3. Fotolia reviews the application and upon approval assigns an equivalent ranking on www.fotolia.com.

Some conditions apply: images are subject to approval. The minimum 1,000 images uploaded to Fotolia must currently be for sale either online or in-studio.

Deadline to apply for Operation Level Ground is December 31, 2009.
For more information or to apply, visit www.fotolia.com/levelground.

                               -30-

Over 1.3 million people prefer Fotolia, LLC for affordable, royalty-free images, graphics, and HD videos. With the introduction of the Infinite Collection, Fotolia became the first worldwide microstock organization to offer both crowd-sourced and professional images on one site. Founded in New York City in 2005, Fotolia spans the globe with websites in 10 languages and offices in 12 countries. With over 7,000,000 images to choose from: Find it on Fotolia. www.fotolia.com

Media Contact:
Jennifer Laraway
Director of Communications, Fotolia
Direct: 1.403.708.9398
[email protected]
www.fotolia.com
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http://blog.fotolia.com/us/news/fotolia/fotolia-_industry-_first-_attr.html

Hmmm, so current contributors are S.O.L?

I like what level I'd be at ...

Hmm, so if am on FT now and also I sold 5000+ images on SS it will not make me silver :-)

Quote from: sjlocke on October 21, 2009, 13:35

Hmmm, so current contributors are S.O.L?

I like what level I'd be at ...

Sorry what exactly is S.O.L?

S_ _ t Outta Luck

I'm currently emerald at Fotolia.  I have over 70000 sales at SS and over 30000 at IStock, so would anybody that wants to join now with the same sales as me  go in as a sapphire.  If that is the case then it is grossly unfair to people that have supported them for years.

I'm currently emerald at Fotolia.  I have over 70000 sales at SS and over 30000 at IStock, so would anybody that wants to join now with the same sales as me  go in as a sapphire.  If that is the case then it is grossly unfair to people that have supported them for years.

I've just applied to their program on the basis of other portfolios, lets see if they'll give existing contributors a boost!

Is this open to current members?

You could probably write your own list of demands. Oleg would probably require a defibrillator if he bagged himself a Black Diamond with this stunt.

Now, that's funny!

God knows how long they brainstormed to get to this one:) Not fair for existing contributor. Applicants need also to give a lot of infos I would not trust Fotolia with this....

God knows how long they brainstormed to get to this one:) Not fair for existing contributor. Applicants need also to give a lot of infos I would not trust Fotolia with this....

The trouble is FT have got quite a history of moving the goal posts without warning for their existing contributors (the ranking system, subscriptions, etc, etc). Anyone giving up exclusivity on IS for these incentives might well find that things quickly changed after they had done so.

The microstock ship pulled up next to the macro ship and torpedoed it. While watching it sink, they invite its passengers to transfer to microstock.  They're offered the best rooms and those of us already on the microstock ship get moved down into the cargo hold to make room. 

Obviously they want to attract big guys from macro so they can jump into micro before their current ship will sink.

I don't think so. How to prove you had X downloads in macro?

Quote from: fotografer on October 21, 2009, 14:01

I'm currently emerald at Fotolia.  I have over 70000 sales at SS and over 30000 at IStock, so would anybody that wants to join now with the same sales as me  go in as a sapphire.  If that is the case then it is grossly unfair to people that have supported them for years.

Tell me about it. Qualified for Sapphire on earnings according to the spiel but had Emerald snatched from my grasp when I was weeks away from it. Put me down on the SOL list!

Same here.

Patrick H.

Will istock just sit back and watch FT tempt their exclusives?  I doubt it, this could get nasty.  I seem to lose out both ways.  I don't want to go exclusive with istock but they keep adding on extras, like contributing to Getty and Vetta and it looks like they are going to stop me using photos.com.  Now FT have annoyed me again, I am still sore from the commission cuts and the harsh ranking changes.

I just hope shutterstock will start an exclusive images collection, that might be good option.

Agree fully - FT needs to fix this pretty quickly before it backfires on them.... its one thing attracting new contributors, but doing so at the expense of people who have been with you for a number of years won't go down well.