Author Topic: Music Modernization Act is signed into law now. How about microstock? (Read 3635 times)

helloitsme · « **on:** October 14, 2018, 21:09 »

We should get at least 50% royalty from our creations' sales. Don't you agree? Some companies pay ridiculously low rate ripping off us creators.

obj owl · « **Reply #1 on:** October 14, 2018, 22:02 »

Quote from: helloitsme on October 14, 2018, 21:09

We should get at least 50% royalty from our creations' sales. Don't you agree? Some companies pay ridiculously low rate ripping off us creators.

What royalty you get is entirely down to contributors, 50% is available if we want it, but as other contributors are our only competition and want to compete at ridiculously low rates we end up cutting our own throats.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 15, 2018, 02:23 »

In the real world its not going to happen. The sites that pay high commissions are rarely successful as they and contributors hugely underestimate the importance and cost of marketing. I'd rather get 33% of $1000 than 50% of $100.

obj owl · « **Reply #3 on:** October 15, 2018, 02:57 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 15, 2018, 02:23

In the real world its not going to happen. The sites that pay high commissions are rarely successful as they and contributors hugely underestimate the importance and cost of marketing. I'd rather get 33% of $1000 than 50% of $100.

The irony being that you pay for the marketing to keep it that way round. Doable, but only at the size of the cake we were getting, but not anymore.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 15, 2018, 03:06 »

Quote from: obj owl on October 15, 2018, 02:57

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 15, 2018, 02:23
In the real world its not going to happen. The sites that pay high commissions are rarely successful as they and contributors hugely underestimate the importance and cost of marketing. I'd rather get 33% of $1000 than 50% of $100.

The irony being that you pay for the marketing to keep it that way round. Doable, but only at the size of the cake we were getting, but not anymore.

Thats very true.......I think the decline can be slowed at best.......I'm not known for my optimism!

ShadySue · « **Reply #5 on:** October 15, 2018, 04:19 »

Quote from: helloitsme on October 14, 2018, 21:09

We should get at least 50% royalty from our creations' sales. Don't you agree? Some companies pay ridiculously low rate ripping off us creators.

You can choose to sell only at these agencies which give us 50%, but you have your own reason/s for choosing not to do so. There's your answer.

Clue: I've chosen to submit only to Alamy for the past 2.5 years, but I'm still earning more via iS on my existing port. You presumably find that unacceptable. We each have our own line of what we'll put up with.

Uncle Pete · « **Reply #6 on:** October 15, 2018, 07:55 »

Quote from: ShadySue on October 15, 2018, 04:19

Quote from: helloitsme on October 14, 2018, 21:09
We should get at least 50% royalty from our creations' sales. Don't you agree? Some companies pay ridiculously low rate ripping off us creators.
You can choose to sell only at these agencies, but you have your own reason/s for choosing not to do so. There's your answer.

Clue: I've chosen to submit only to Alamy for the past 2.5 years, but I'm still earning more via iS on my existing port. You presumably find that unacceptable. We each have our own line of what we'll put up with.

So true and mine has been, I stopped uploading to Alamy and make the most on SS, same subjects. That's because of what I produce and what the buyers at those sites look for. Also different works sell better at AS than SS.

There is no simple answer that fits all of us. You do better at Alamy because your work fits better at Alamy. I'm getting three times the downloads there and last I looked, 20% of the net earnings from when I started with Alamy. Lower license fees, not lower commission. Meaning, sales up, income down, the commission hasn't changed.

Meanwhile so true: We each have to decide what we'll put up with. That's why I dropped tiny/worthless agencies. I'm just not going to compete with myself based on undercutting my own prices or commission. I'm still open for IS if something changes, but for now, nothing goes there. And ps big news (no one cares) I actually opened a Pond5 account for video.

I'm trying to find the link or connection to the music modernization act which is the subject? What does that have to do with 50% on Micro? Someone help me please. We aren't streaming photos to Echo, Pandora, Iheart, Spotify, touchtunes or iphones.

DallasP · « **Reply #7 on:** October 16, 2018, 04:42 »

The whole microstock thing is ... basically pennies now anyway. lol. Just leave it alone and collect the royalties.

All of our digital work is stolen, used as logos and whatever . else they can even dream of. (I actually argued about that specifically on a logo design forum yesterday).

I'm moving ... most of my creative endeavors elsewhere. It's too time consuming to sort, tag and upload photos to Micro to even worry about. :/ I'd rather sell them direct and make 10 than keep contributing to this crap show to make 15.