Many of you know my video and if not you can click the link below. iStock is not just tanking on photo sales. At this point last year in January I had earned $1,275.00 now for the same period this year I am at $408.00 I do this full-time so I am getting an ulcer with iStock. I have been loading to other sites with my port turned off as to not break my exclusive contract with iStock. I have a ways to go before I spread out enough to absorb the hit with my cut if I drop. By spreading out I do not have the time for  a lot of the medical shoots I have planned for this year. If you were me would you pour all your energy into spreading out? Would you focus on just shooting more and better material and hope for the best? We all know the IS story so I am in need of a community comfort fix before I turn to zantac shakes every meal. Thanks :-)

wwww.istockphoto.com/jjneff

Oh, I thought you really had an ulcer.  I have great advice for those. 

How to deal with Istock?  Not so much.  We are all in the same boat there, more or less. 

Sounds like you have been working on your exclusivity exit strategy.  I think that's very smart.  Too bad it doesn't leave you as much time to shoot, but it's a smarter strategy than just shooting more.  No matter how good your stuff is, if it buried in the searches of a site whose buyer base is declining, nobody's going to see it, much less buy it. 

Very sorry that your exclusive agent distributor has put you in this position.  Best of luck with spreading out.

And if you ever do get an actual ulcer, pm me.  I know how to get rid of those completely  

I can't comment on what video sales are like elsewhere as I don't do video. But assuming there is a decent market with the other sites (as there is for photos), I would suggest that the troubles you face with building up your portfolio across sites are much better for your long term income than hoping iStock/Getty/Carlyle turn things around.

In my case (I left exclusivity at the beginning of June 2011) I figured that I was going to take a hit in income anyway (I had been watching it drop by 10-20% over 2010 equivalent months at the beginning of 2011). Better to take the hit while building in some future upside potential than just sitting there and accepting whatever iStock/Getty/H&F cared to toss my way. I get the idea that you don't want to bail too soon, but even if you ignore the terrible damage of the debt that H&F saddled Getty with, Getty's track record in past acquisitions - controlling costs by cutting payouts to photographers - was clearly (to me) what was happening at iStock. I knew about all of that when I became exclusive but hoped that Getty would leave iStock alone for longer given that they were making money. Once I saw the writing on the wall with the September 2010 actions, that hope was clearly not the way things were going.

It isn't just iStock. Two of my brothers were PumpAudio contributors. After Getty acquired them, they sent out letters to everyone saying that they were cutting their royalty from 50% to 35% so they could market things better. My brothers got another letter saying they could keep their 50% if they went exclusive with Getty, which they did as they couldn't afford the loss in royalties at the time. Do a google search on Getty acquisitions and there's a sorry tale of the same type of behavior over and over.

I don't have a crystal ball any more than you do, but I couldn't bet on a good outcome by hoping any more. While other exclusives have been reporting huge drops, I saw my October - December 2012 about 5% up on October - December 2010 (my last fall selling season quarter as an exclusive). I know it's only a small uptick, but compared to 50% losses, I'm content.

The video team at iStock is more then helpful and understanding. I am going to give them until the end of May, in the mean time I will push forward with my exit strategy. Hope they can turn it around but only time will tell on this. I really appreciate the support here and from other artist I know!! Means a lot when you have a family to feed!

This bytes. Someone fed the glitch monsters after midnight.
The glitch monsters are at work down in the dark internety room, but they sent a note up that said: “Dear You, Me fix broken thing. Sorry for trouble. Love, Monsters.”

They, and the site, will be back up soon. In the meantime, we’d like to offer you 10% off your next purchase of 50 or more iStock credits using the coupon code below.

They foul up, we pay.
       ^^^ bowdlerised.

I wonder how much more efficient they'd be if the discounts came out of their salaries rather than our commissions.

This is a 4 week pattern if it continues at this rate I will starve