I know, buyers are present simultaneously at more agencies. I just buy some magazines to see what stock is printed there and I see constantly 2-3 agencies on the edge of the page. But the common thing I see is the names, shutterstock and istock almost everywhere.
We know, the customer's articles, blogs, magazines, etc. will be illustrated ANYWAY, but for an agency it's not just the same, where the customers buy the images.
The difference maker? It's the agency. The customer anyway will buy an image, so let's make them to buy from us!
Can we say that the customer base can be seen in the mirror of the agency? Let's think about how an agency treats us, photographers, so this way treats customers too, because they can't be different with the customers. We say what are our problems, but I'm not sure the customers will say too... They want to change something, or they just want to illustrate their articles?