Author Topic: Microstock vs. Unsplash (Read 1327 times)

rene · « **on:** June 02, 2019, 09:55 »

I have read here (https://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/december-earnings) a thread about earnings and bad influance of free photos stock sites.
As a phrase
"Those people who gave free photos in unsplash are probably the dumbest person ever appeared on the www. I cannot think of somebody more stupid"
I took a look to Unsplash for the first time.
I found a lot of good images, relevent reserch results and curiously often better descriptions than at SS. For sure this kind of sites is serious competition for regular stock. My first thought was to agree with quotation above but after long reflexion, am I really smarter than they? I am selling for $0,38, it is not so far from free...
With half day commissioned shooting I earn equivalent of 6 months of SS earnings. It seems easy for potential clients to contacts artists at unsplash so maybe with carefully selecting images it is not so bad idea to be there. I have seen a lot of profesionals there.
If microstock leaders continue to treat us as sh*t there is a risk that lot of contributors,earning close to nothing, turn to free sites to have pleasure to hurt microstock business , just for revenge.

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2019, 10:10 »

Quote from: rene on June 02, 2019, 09:55

With half day commissioned shooting I earn equivalent of 6 months of SS earnings.

Have you sold 1 image at Shutterstock the last 6 months or a million?

Brasilnut · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2019, 12:19 »

Quote from: rene on June 02, 2019, 09:55

I am selling for $0,38, it is not so far from free...

38 cents is a world away from free when considering 100s of downloads.

Plus the average isn't 38cents, more like double that on Micros depending on the port.

Unsplash users overestimate the kindness of strangers and underestimate the value of their work.

Shelma1 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 02, 2019, 13:22 »

“I’m not making much at my job, so I think I’ll march into my boss’s office and tell him I’ll work for free. That’ll show him!”

cathyslife · « **Reply #4 on:** June 02, 2019, 15:23 »

Quote from: Shelma1 on June 02, 2019, 13:22

“I’m not making much at my job, so I think I’ll march into my boss’s office and tell him I’ll work for free. That’ll show him!”

And maybe your boss will help your career by telling all his business friends that you work for free. You will be so busy with work. 😂

mindstorm · « **Reply #5 on:** June 02, 2019, 16:03 »

Quote from: rene on June 02, 2019, 09:55

I am selling for $0,38, it is not so far from free...

If you are getting 38 cents basic per sale on ShutterStock, that means your total sales through that agency are over $10,000 total. A far cry from free...

I only get 36 cents basic from SS, since my total sales are still a bit shy of $5,000. HOWEVER, if I look at my overall sales to SS, I discover that my AVERAGE per download is actually 67 cents. And my RPI is $3.89. (both totals since 2010, though the account lay mostly empty until the late 2017, when I got serious again).

The alternative is free? Might as well stick to pInterest if that is really what you want...

pancaketom · « **Reply #6 on:** June 02, 2019, 16:42 »

I would say that if you are doing microstock to market yourself for contract work you are doing it wrong.

I have no idea if unsplash is a good way to market yourself. I certainly wouldn't suggest sending full or even high resolution images there.

gillian vann · « **Reply #7 on:** June 04, 2019, 00:55 »

Now that there is advertising on the Unsplash site do the photographers realise they've been taken for fools? I'd laugh, but it's not funny.

microstockrank.com · « **Reply #8 on:** June 04, 2019, 07:20 »

Quote from: gillian vann on June 04, 2019, 00:55

Now that there is advertising on the Unsplash site do the photographers realise they've been taken for fools? I'd laugh, but it's not funny.

With the cost of Unsplash, hard to believe that it will stay free for a very long time ...
But, Where did you see advertising?

source : https://medium.com/unsplash/what-does-unsplash-cost-in-2019-f499620a14d0 [nofollow]

charged · « **Reply #9 on:** June 04, 2019, 15:30 »

The ads shown as if they are part of the photo collection. I saw a few from the company Square. It is the same style of ads you see on Pinterest, where they also put ads among the pins you scroll through.

cathyslife · « **Reply #10 on:** June 04, 2019, 15:35 »

Quote from: microstockrank.com on June 04, 2019, 07:20

With the cost of Unsplash, hard to believe that it will stay free for a very long time ...
But, Where did you see advertising?

source : https://medium.com/unsplash/what-does-unsplash-cost-in-2019-f499620a14d0

You have a typo in your tagline.

OM · « **Reply #11 on:** June 05, 2019, 10:21 »

One of the others may not be as big as Unsplash but Pixabay is a tad more blatant in its advertising....their sponsors are our old friends........SS and AS...no doubt using their cut from the proceeds of licensing our images to 'sponsor' the competition.

fotorob · « **Reply #12 on:** June 05, 2019, 11:11 »

Quote from: microstockrank.com on June 04, 2019, 07:20

Quote from: gillian vann on June 04, 2019, 00:55
Now that there is advertising on the Unsplash site do the photographers realise they've been taken for fools? I'd laugh, but it's not funny.

With the cost of Unsplash, hard to believe that it will stay free for a very long time ...
But, Where did you see advertising?

source : https://medium.com/unsplash/what-does-unsplash-cost-in-2019-f499620a14d0

Thanks for the interesting link.
I did some analysis of where the money at Unsplash comes from here, in German though (Google Translate might help):
https://www.alltageinesfotoproduzenten.de/2019/01/15/das-geschaeftsmodell-hinter-kostenlosen-bildern-am-beispiel-unsplash/

OM · « **Reply #13 on:** June 05, 2019, 12:11 »

Quote from: fotorob on June 05, 2019, 11:11

Quote from: microstockrank.com on June 04, 2019, 07:20
Quote from: gillian vann on June 04, 2019, 00:55
Now that there is advertising on the Unsplash site do the photographers realise they've been taken for fools? I'd laugh, but it's not funny.

With the cost of Unsplash, hard to believe that it will stay free for a very long time ...
But, Where did you see advertising?

source : https://medium.com/unsplash/what-does-unsplash-cost-in-2019-f499620a14d0

Thanks for the interesting link.
I did some analysis of where the money at Unsplash comes from here, in German though (Google Translate might help):
https://www.alltageinesfotoproduzenten.de/2019/01/15/das-geschaeftsmodell-hinter-kostenlosen-bildern-am-beispiel-unsplash/

Most enlightening and the Google translation is good. Thanks.
Interesting that the Unsplash model for monetization is different to that of Pixabay and on that subject there's a link given to another article "The business model of Pixabay and possible consequences" which is also worth a read (Google translate from the original German text).

Edit: Sorry Robert. Didn't realise that you're author of both articles...many thanks.

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Author Topic: Microstock vs. Unsplash (Read 1327 times)

rene

increasingdifficulty

Brasilnut

Shelma1

cathyslife

mindstorm

pancaketom

gillian vann

microstockrank.com

charged

cathyslife

OM

fotorob

OM

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