Hi all,

A shower thought: the recent decrease of contributors' royalties on Shutterstock was partly possible from SS's point of view because they know that many contributors cannot delete their portfolio there, SS's earnings being a large percentage of their monthly earnings.

Why this happened?

As a contributor, I was uploading my content mostly to the top tier agencies, thinking that uploading to middle tier agencies was a waste of time.

Actually I was wrong: by doing so, I was putting all the power to 3-4 agencies, because they were the only ones to get fresh content, hence being able to attract more customers and then more contributors.

This empowering wheel (uploading to top tier agencies > top tier agencies getting more customers > top tier agencies selling more > top tier agencies attracting even more contributors compared to middle-tier agencies) made a few agencies have the power to decide what the contributors should earn.

Of course, it's not the only factor contributing to an agency's success (their commercial team, quality of search engine, distribution network and agreements, ...) are also very important.

If I upload to more middle-tier agencies, I give the chance to more market share, and thus less power in the arms of a single agency...

Sounds basic and logical, but it's only recently that I'm really aware of it.

Uploading to the price cutting, race to the bottom, small agencies is what eventually brought the devaluation of our work to SS. If you think pissing in a well, will make it cleaner, then keep supporting the parasite agencies.

In other words, no, dropping your image into a black hole, or marketing them in the back of a cave, will not increase profits or change anything.

There's honestly a logical and business reason why the four biggest agencies are the four biggest, and it's not just because contributors uploaded the most photos. Rather the artists upload the most to the biggest, because that's where we get the most sales and make the most money.

I think your original thought was right. Uploading to the middle tier agencies and smaller, is a waste of time. And as time goes by, you'll see the low earning agencies will be even less productive. Also as they shut down, your time and effort will be for nothing.

Sell where the buyers are, where your products will be seen. Imagine you are selling a soft drink. Do you want to be in Walmart, Costco, and Amazon, or do you want to be at the corner store, independent stores, and small regional shops?

Do these small agencies actually pay a better RPD? Do they offer a better percentage? I think we'll all agree they sure don't have the number of downloads or volume of sales. In the end, they don't pay real money, that we can put in the bank.

There is an oversupply of Content at all agencies.
It won't help only uploading at middle-tier agencies. There is also an oversupply.
Half of the world ist uploading to microstock.
Right now i am only uploading to AdobeStock. It works for me and i get some money to buy some new gear.
Uploading to all the middle-tier agencies is not making much sense for me. Much more work for some pennies i don't need.

There is no backing up the truck. The industry is where it is for a reason. The low barrier to entry several years ago opened a flood gate of mediocrity. Also at that time several years ago when the flood gate opened it was totally in vogue to undersell yourself and think "micro". Well we now have "micro" so be happy you have what you wanted. I am not sure if it's Darwinian or cannibalistic.

if uncle-pete was right, we'd all still have a nokia 3310. there must have been someone at Apple, amazon.. who said, no, everyone buys from nokia, it is the number one company, we don't need a company as Apple. Who does need Amazon? ebay is the number one company for onlne shopping, noone needs electric cars, i will not invest in technology for electric cars.. nearly every company in this world was once number 1 to 4 and was replaced by others.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on December 18, 2020, 09:37

There's honestly a logical and business reason why the four biggest agencies are the four biggest, and it's not just because contributors uploaded the most photos. Rather the artists upload the most to the biggest, because that's where we get the most sales and make the most money.

not a good comparison - your examples were companies that either provided a better product or better service.  the  minor agencies started small and stayed there

specifics:

• amazon is the leader in online sales in $ - ebay may possibly have more sales but that would because of their numerous small value sales
• electric cars ARE the future as we move to a carbon neutral economy - the major oil fueled mfgrs are adding electric (getting rid of trump & other climate deniers)
  

if uncle-pete was right, we'd all still have a nokia 3310. there must have been someone at Apple, amazon.. who said, no, everyone buys from nokia, it is the number one company, we don't need a company as Apple. Who does need Amazon? ebay is the number one company for onlne shopping, noone needs electric cars, i will not invest in technology for electric cars.. nearly every company in this world was once number 1 to 4 and was replaced by others.

Quote from: Uncle Pete on December 18, 2020, 09:37

There's honestly a logical and business reason why the four biggest agencies are the four biggest, and it's not just because contributors uploaded the most photos. Rather the artists upload the most to the biggest, because that's where we get the most sales and make the most money.

How's that Blackberry of yours? Do you still have a voice pager? What does it cost for a long distance call on your landline? (who still has a landline) My last Fax machine got zapped by a lightning strike, I have eFax, no paper, no extra phone line, I can read electronic emails and send on any computer or my phone. Samsung, Apple, Nokia (now owned by Microsoft), LG, HTC, Sony/Xperia, Huawei and Motorola? There will be a further thinning of the choices as time goes by.

Where was the last pay phone you saw, anyplace?

How many major high quality camera and lens companies are there? Olympus is dropping out. Computers? Remember, Prodigy, America Online, Sprint, Compuserve?

As the market and technology for any product adjusts to the consumer demands, the small companies will get eaten up by the larger one. That's natural. How many operating systems do you actually have to choose from? Apple, Microsoft and Ubuntu?

If someone wanted to work the top eight agencies, that wouldn't be bad, but if anyone thinks that Panther, or Yay or GLstock and the rest, are going to hunt down and take over SS, IS, AS, Alamy, Getty, DT or Pond5, just because artists upload there? I don't think so.

Maybe in the early days, uploading to 50 agencies was a good plan. Do you shop at local corner stores, just because they are little or do you shop from the big ones, because their prices are better and they have more products and more variety? Why would a person looking for images want to go to the small sites, instead of the ones with the better selection and newest products?

Why would you rather attempt to sell from places that don't have a good customer base? Simple marketing should tell you why feeding the little sites, isn't a good plan for making more money.