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Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: Adeptris on May 11, 2008, 03:31

Title: Stock Images Sites Article Link
Post by: Adeptris on May 11, 2008, 03:31
I found this link over on the Alamy Forums, it might be an interesting but lengthy read for others here!

http://unsharpmasked.com/blog/2008/05/2008-stock-photo-market-crash/ (http://unsharpmasked.com/blog/2008/05/2008-stock-photo-market-crash/)

David
Title: Re: Stock Images Sites Article Link
Post by: grp_photo on May 11, 2008, 05:05
Nice read. shares a lot of my opinions. Thanks for sharing!
Title: Re: Stock Images Sites Article Link
Post by: RacePhoto on May 11, 2008, 21:03
At first I thought it was going to be another angry conventional photographer telling us why we are dead. Then as I read, I had to admit, this one has it covered. Let me summarize what the four pages of details and facts, with links and documentation is getting at.

The market is becoming saturated.

Oversaturated with upstart microstock sites, more images than the established sites need. They will tighten up standards, and start culling out old photos soon. Professional equipment and software is available to just about anyone who wants to get into the business of stock.
Title: Re: Stock Images Sites Article Link
Post by: Adeptris on May 12, 2008, 02:16
I am new to Stock Photography and found the history of the stock image business very interesting, and how the cost and quality of digital camera's have impacted and opened up a once "Select" world to many.

David
Title: Re: Stock Images Sites Article Link
Post by: Gizeh on June 04, 2008, 05:49
Thx for this excellent link. BTW Yuri Arcurs has posted a gloomy comment below the article mentioned. Is he right?

quote:

"2008 will be the year “it” happened. What “it” is and how intensive it will hit is a very unknown factor. Microstock agencies are having problems just paying for online traffic because the return they get from their sales are so small. Back a year ago, everybody thought that the natural solution to the “low-pricing” would be to put prices up. This was the main reason I ventured into micro full-time. It now looks like another drastic idea has approach: Instead of putting up prices, micro agencies decide to keep competitive and launch low photographer commission subscriptions, that gives a larger cut to the agency but has an estimated photographer’s commission as low as 10-15%. So now that the micro-market is in trouble, ironically because of their low prices, how will pay..? We, the photo"
Title: Re: Stock Images Sites Article Link
Post by: michealo on June 04, 2008, 06:16
I don't think bandwidth or hosting costs are really a factor e.g

Storing 4,000 GB on Amazon S3 would cost $600 a month

Thats enough for 1,000,000 4MB images

Take for example FP, if they sold 400 images at $5 their cut would be enough to pay the hosting costs

Title: Re: Stock Images Sites Article Link
Post by: helix7 on June 04, 2008, 10:15

I'm not worried. Prices have gone up, and buyers keep paying them. SS reported record download numbers last month. Personally, my earnings have gone up by huge margins, as much as 200% from one month to another. I'm sure some people are struggling, but I don't really see it, and I doubt that Yuri is really hurting all that much. Maybe he has seen some decline, but I can't have a whole lot of sympathy for a guy who could walk away tomorrow, shut down his production operation, and just leave his existing images on the stock sites to generate a nice multiple-six-figure income for the next 5 years.

Maybe growth is slowing globally, but I don't see where all the doomsday theories are coming from when overall numbers are up, for both contributors and agencies.