microstock will became AI stock. Image mining companies will do the job.

I think with AI, the market will continue to grow for another 3 to 5 years, as more niches are covered for the buyers. However, I expect a sudden crash at some point within the next 10 years as soon as AI agents automate the entire process from image creation to image use.

When a blogger or journalist then instructs the agent to create an article and a matching image at the same time, it's game over.

So, one should take as much cash as possible over the next few years and then move on.

You are literally seeing the future of Microstock happen right before your eyes.  It's just incremental.

The future of microstock will include more announcements of "exciting news" from agencies. At some point you'll receive something like this.

"Hello contributors and Happy New Year 2028! You've been extremely important to the success of our business and we've valued our partnership tremendously. We have some exciting news! As you know, Artificial Intelligence has been maturing at an incredible pace so we've taken the tens of millions of photos you've worked so hard to create over the past couple decades and will be using AI to replace you. Not only are we replacing you, we've used your images to do it. Exciting right? Starting in 2029 our entire catalog will be AI content. While royalty payments to you will cease on 1/1/2029, you're welcome to continue submitting content to help support our business and our billionaire executives. We look forward to our continued partnership. The staff at AIstock"

I feel like it is already 2029 sir!

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on December 12, 2024, 19:49

The future of microstock will include more announcements of "exciting news" from agencies. At some point you'll receive something like this.

"Hello contributors and Happy New Year 2028! You've been extremely important to the success of our business and we've valued our partnership tremendously. We have some exciting news! As you know, Artificial Intelligence has been maturing at an incredible pace so we've taken the tens of millions of photos you've worked so hard to create over the past couple decades and will be using AI to replace you. Not only are we replacing you, we've used your images to do it. Exciting right? Starting in 2029 our entire catalog will be AI content. While royalty payments to you will cease on 1/1/2029, you're welcome to continue submitting content to help support our business and our billionaire executives. We look forward to our continued partnership. The staff at AIstock"

I feel like it is already 2029 sir!

Not quite there yet. AI is still creating images where people have fifteen fingers, dogs have two tails, and other things that make it obvious it's AI. In a few short years, you wont be able to distinguish AI from reality. At that point, agencies won't have any need for us except for maybe editorial. And even then, they'll drop royalties to nearly nothing. Maybe at some point stock will slightly rebound when people grow tired of fake AI and want more authentic content.

I'm uploading an average of 200 contents per month,in my opinion 2/300 contents per month is the right balance also to be able to take care of indexing in the best possible way.

I think the number of uploads is really not very relevant to measure future sales.

The important things are two: quality and saleability of images.

Here on the forum someone mentioned the Adobe Stock portfolio of Romolo Tavani: 3000 images, more than 1,000,000 downloads.

And then we read some blogs of contributors who with 20,000 images do not exceed 100$ per month on Adobe. And looking at their work you can understand why they make so few sales.

So I think the focus should be: quality, quality, quality on images requested by customers. And not 2/300 or 1000 images per month. If you don�t improve the quality of your work you will remain at your current level.

Yes, definitely. The days of mass uploads, like back in Fotolia's time, are over. The competition is just too high.

Mass uploading only works if you deliver phenomenal quality, which is only possible with a large team, like Gorodenkoff (https://stock.adobe.com/de/contributor/200571845/gorodenkoff).

Another example like Romolo is ipopba with around 5,000 images and over 250,000 downloads (https://stock.adobe.com/de/contributor/205024019/ipopba). However, he is currently being heavily copied by other Thai contributors.

I would recommend diversifying one's portfolio very broadly and keeping it very lean. Per topic max 3 - 5 images and no mass spamming.

It's better to have one super top image than 100 uploads otherwise your portfolio ranking will drop and your bestsellers will also lose sales.
Most AI contributors kill their rankings and portfolios in the long term because of mass uploading.

A lot of the high quality ports come from teams. They do not just produce excellent quality, but also invest heavily in researching needed content and current trends.

I don't believe in mass uploads, but I am trying to increase the size of my port and branch out into genres I have never offered before. Adding new things and new genres should help a lot with the ever occurring  algo swings.

Trying to get a baseline of 300 a month and hopefully a reliable 400.

But for 2025 I will be adding lost of video and real photos.

There is so much content missing and if you do localized content or editorial you have files the ai spammers cannot copy easily because they do not live here.

You rally want the spammers to triple, right?

Upload ai enhanced images directly from your camera to stock agencies...no post processing, instant money...

Oh well...

Quote from: cobalt on December 16, 2024, 08:06

You rally want the spammers to triple, right?

Upload ai enhanced images directly from your camera to stock agencies...no post processing, instant money...

Oh well...

Oh NO I just try be optimistic

You're a good guy but think about what you just stated. Instant money and no post processing? Come on. Thus no skill required to submit images basically. A 10 year old would be able to to this now. The very reason why this business is fading because they lowered the requirements to submit images. Initially there were required tests to get into the companies and many folks including myself failed the tests. Shutter required 7 out of 10 to pass and iStock was a nightmare. Mostly only the professional or semi pro's passed the requirements. So you want to even lower the standards of today which is very easy?  Think not...

Quote from: Big Money on December 16, 2024, 08:58

Quote from: fotoroad on December 16, 2024, 08:26

Quote from: cobalt on December 16, 2024, 08:06

You rally want the spammers to triple, right?

Upload ai enhanced images directly from your camera to stock agencies...no post processing, instant money...

Oh well...

Oh NO I just try be optimistic

You're a good guy but think about what you just stated. Instant money and no post processing? Come on. Thus no skill required to submit images basically. A 10 year old would be able to to this now. The very reason why this business is fading because they lowered the requirements to submit images. Initially there were required tests to get into the companies and many folks including myself failed the tests. Shutter required 7 out of 10 to pass and iStock was a nightmare. Mostly only the professional or semi pro's passed the requirements. So you want to even lower the standards of today which is very easy?  Think not...

It was just respond from AI to my question how will be microstock in 2025, make me smile and I just try share it with stockers group. I remember also sending slides to ALAMY and very well all the micro tests, when I start with that I already have many published images in magazines, the best test is marketplace. No I wan not lover standards, I just like fun   and love to see sometimes situation from distance and other angle.

Many years ago Yuri predicted that smartphones would take over the business. He was partly right.

Yes, it's brutal how AI is eroding the market for classical photographers.
When I think about it, Yuri Arcurs was earning between 25k and 50k USD with a single photo shoot 15 years ago.

Nowadays, the earnings after costs such as photo equipment, insurance, models, props, etc. are brutally low. If you don't have top 1% skills, it's not worth it anymore.

The same applies to Illustrators, who earned really well back then. There was a time when shutterstock had no subscriptions for vector graphics. The buyers had to pay the full price (20 - 30 USD / download).

So all those who take or create generic motifs will slowly switch to AI.

But this trend won't be limited to the creative industry. With intense competition across other industries, businesses will need to automate processes and leverage AI to boost productivity in order to survive. This shift is inevitable and we can expect to see the outcome in various sectors in the following years.

But let's end on a positive note!
I'd like to wish you and everyone else here a merry christmas and a wonderful start to the new year!

Yes, it's brutal how AI is eroding the market for classical photographers.
When I think about it, Yuri Arcurs was earning between 25k and 50k USD with a single photo shoot 15 years ago.

Nowadays, the earnings after costs such as photo equipment, insurance, models, props, etc. are brutally low. If you don't have top 1% skills, it's not worth it anymore.

The same applies to Illustrators, who earned really well back then. There was a time when shutterstock had no subscriptions for vector graphics. The buyers had to pay the full price (20 - 30 USD / download).

So all those who take or create generic motifs will slowly switch to AI.

But this trend won't be limited to the creative industry. With intense competition across other industries, businesses will need to automate processes and leverage AI to boost productivity in order to survive. This shift is inevitable and we can expect to see the outcome in various sectors in the following years.

But let's end on a positive note!
I'd like to wish you and everyone else here a merry christmas and a wonderful start to the new year!

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Unfortunately, that middle ground is where most stock photographers are, and what you said about the top 1% is so true.  That's why I decided to go to a premium specialty agency and there's room to move there (not that I am top 1% but it has made me into a better photographer this past year). The people who went AI (copy watches ) have a good chance as well, but that area is becoming incredibly saturated as well, so only the smartest ones (finding sought-after niches, etc) will survive, I fear.

Quote from: AM24 on December 23, 2024, 11:59

Quote from: Andrej.S. on December 23, 2024, 07:00

Yes, it's brutal how AI is eroding the market for classical photographers.
When I think about it, Yuri Arcurs was earning between 25k and 50k USD with a single photo shoot 15 years ago.

Nowadays, the earnings after costs such as photo equipment, insurance, models, props, etc. are brutally low. If you don't have top 1% skills, it's not worth it anymore.

The same applies to Illustrators, who earned really well back then. There was a time when shutterstock had no subscriptions for vector graphics. The buyers had to pay the full price (20 - 30 USD / download).

So all those who take or create generic motifs will slowly switch to AI.

But this trend won't be limited to the creative industry. With intense competition across other industries, businesses will need to automate processes and leverage AI to boost productivity in order to survive. This shift is inevitable and we can expect to see the outcome in various sectors in the following years.

But let's end on a positive note!
I'd like to wish you and everyone else here a merry christmas and a wonderful start to the new year!

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Unfortunately, that middle ground is where most stock photographers are, and what you said about the top 1% is so true.  That's why I decided to go to a premium specialty agency and there's room to move there (not that I am top 1% but it has made me into a better photographer this past year). The people who went AI (copy watches ) have a good chance as well, but that area is becoming incredibly saturated as well, so only the smartest ones (finding sought-after niches, etc) will survive, I fear.

May I ask what are these premium agencies ? Since you mentioned twice. Just interesting to check.

'Premium' is the word that they use to describe themselves (not mine) but they are commonly known as Midstock agencies, who pay much higher commissions than Microstock. For example, Shutterstock Offset who sells licenses at $250 each.


....


As a sidenote, the more I think about the watches analogy, the more it may answer the OP's question. With regard to watches, in the end it was the smartphone that wiped out the market - or at least the copy watches side. BUT there is still a market for the very expensive ones. For example, Longines, who's watches sell for up to $10,000 each. Interesting, huh?

So, it makes one think. Is AI the copy watch or the smartphone?   

I'll side with what majority seems to believe, which is that Microstock is on its deathbed with AI placing final nail in the coffin.   At some point these famous photographers like Yuri were paving the road and showing what's possible with skill and hard work.  Not anymore; microstock is nowdays "Uncle Pete hobby", which for average contributor can hardly even finance cost of gear.  I look sometime at amount of work Brutally Honest Microstock guy Alex Rottenberg invests, shooting, technology, extremely well researched blogs - and what does he have to show for it?  Few 100's a month.

It's really a shame because photography, when done properly, is form of self expression, art and can bring lots of joy beyond just financial aspect.  In particular this downright despicable mess AI is creating.  Today, while researching potential trip to Alaska next summer,  I went to Adobe (as customer would) and searched for "Chilkoot Lake".  Wanted to throw up when I saw results - some guy spammed with 100s of AI generated shots of grizzly bears that look about just as ridiculous as anything I have ever seen.   Shooting wildlife is art, waiting, patience in the wild, having proper equipment/lens - not this.   AI is downright evil in my view, not just in photography.   Why don't all these Googles and Apples (and Adobes) invest effort in figuring how to save the planet that is dying in front of our eyes with human caused global warming,  instead of working on software algorithms that won't mean anything once Planet can't support life anymore.   Sorry for rant, just very bitter about it.

Bravo! I really enjoyed reading you. There are the people who have a conscience and who are conscious, there are the others.

I'll side with what majority seems to believe, which is that Microstock is on its deathbed with AI placing final nail in the coffin.   At some point these famous photographers like Yuri were paving the road and showing what's possible with skill and hard work.  Not anymore; microstock is nowdays "Uncle Pete hobby", which for average contributor can hardly even finance cost of gear.  I look sometime at amount of work Brutally Honest Microstock guy Alex Rottenberg invests, shooting, technology, extremely well researched blogs - and what does he have to show for it?  Few 100's a month.

It's really a shame because photography, when done properly, is form of self expression, art and can bring lots of joy beyond just financial aspect.  In particular this downright despicable mess AI is creating.  Today, while researching potential trip to Alaska next summer,  I went to Adobe (as customer would) and searched for "Chilkoot Lake".  Wanted to throw up when I saw results - some guy spammed with 100s of AI generated shots of grizzly bears that look about just as ridiculous as anything I have ever seen.   Shooting wildlife is art, waiting, patience in the wild, having proper equipment/lens - not this.

Yes, Go High or Go Low.    Either be very serious or make it a hobby. I decided hobby in 2012 when I saw what was going on with agencies, cutting our returns, along with the supply being far more than the demand. There was a false belief, being promoted by agencies like Shutterstock, that there was a hug untapped demand, and that there was potential for growth of the business.

I think you hit the point very well, that AI ended the slow death of Microstock accelerating the final crash.

So what can the average photographer do?

Improve your skills. Produce outstanding work. Go niche and then niche down even further. Be different. Be unique. Find specialty/premium/midstock agencies that will pay higher $$$ for top quality work. Or stay in the microstock area and aim for higher SODs. Do lots of research.

Look for other markets. For example, there's a whole booming market of bloggers who need better photography to compete in that saturated market. Write blogs aimed at them to teach them how to produce better photography. Start social media channels (Youtube, Instagram, etc) targeting these audiences. Look for ways to monetize your skills and knowledge. Think of ways to sell (your knowledge or imagery) directly to them.

The basic principle is that people need imagery. Everywhere more and more bloggers, social media posters, websites, etc, absolutely NEED images. The demand for great imagery has never been stronger. So, that is not the problem. The problem is the massive competition to produce it. AI and smart phones fill part of that demand. So look for ways to fill the rest.

The other is research. 80% of what is coming is just fluff and duplicates.

Find a few niches

That is soooooooooooooo true!

Ok, because its Christmas and because I don't compete in this market anymore, I'm going to give everyone one of my major tips on how to find niches that ARE in demand.

Remember above, I said that I uploaded some AI to DT agency just out of curiosity, and 7 sold really quickly. Well, 4 more sold this week. And that's NOT because they were AI. Its because I found a niche within Christmas that was popular but with hardly any relevant images.

For those who don't know this trick, its quick and easy. Go to one of the agencies and type in your main subject, eg Christmas. On SS, there's 10.7 million images. Then look at the dropdown menu and click on something else. All of these represent popular searches. Then keep drilling down. Also, look at the line of phrases just underneath it that says, Related Searches. And just keep drilling down until you find one that has a lot less images. Remember these are popular searches! Buyers are wanting them.

I found one that only had 6,000 images - compared to 10,700,000! For Christmas that's a big deal. I uploaded 25 images - correction I uploaded only 11 images for this particular search, plus some for other holidays, about a month or so before Christmas (a bit too late really) and had 9 sales, ranging from 35c to $4.41 commission. And that's just on DT - one of my least performing agencies. I don't like AI, I don't like AI images, and I won't be doing it again, but it was an interesting exercise.

Remember, as a photographer you are here to shoot what buyers want. Not the other way around. 

Merry Christmas everybody. Cheers 

.....

PS. I think microstock was just a stepping stone to lead me to what I love doing most (here is just a sample below). I hope all of you find that too!

With love,
Annie

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDx3y85CMbb/

Annie, really great to see you back and posting! I hope things are going well for you. 

....
It's really a shame because photography, when done properly, is form of self expression, art and can bring lots of joy beyond just financial aspect.  In particular this downright despicable mess AI is creating.  ... Shooting wildlife is art, waiting, patience in the wild, having proper equipment/lens - not this.   AI is downright evil in my view, not just in photography.   Why don't all these Googles and Apples (and Adobes) invest effort in figuring how to save the planet that is dying in front of our eyes with human caused global warming,  instead of working on software algorithms that won't mean anything once Planet can't support life anymore.   Sorry for rant, just very bitter about it.

you're confusing moral goals with practical business decisions - agencies have no effect on public policies - they provide what buyers want. so if you want to change the world you need another venue!  i contribute 10% of my meager income to such projects as UNHCR, nature conservatory et al, and have no expectation that microstock is going to change the world

I'm here compiling my epic year-end report and after crunching some numbers saw something interesting/worrying that I would like to share.

Since 2018 these are my average clip prices, together with total number of sales. Note that I began uploading "premium" drone footage in April 2022, leading to increased volumes.

So in summary:

- Quadrupled the number of clips sold from 2020 until 2024
- 64% drop in earnings 2020 vs 2024 (inflation during those 4 years was around 20% in the US)

What's the future of microstock? A part-time gig at best.

Quote from: AM24 on December 23, 2024, 11:59

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Very well said!
For my part, I'm trying to go up. Actually already since 2020, when SS cut royalties and I left them. Which in my case means doing social media, selling prints, licensing content directly to customers and so on. It took some time go get going, but this year I was able to outperform my previous best year (2016) by over 30%, while my earnings from microstock fell to around 50% of 2016's level.

Thank you - and well done!

Yes, its takes a bit of time to develop something new and, understandably, it's easy for some people to give up too soon.

Here's my full blog article on the subject, if anyone is interested. (My target audience at that time was online sellers, but the principle works for most markets.)

https://milleflore.com/blog/small-business-blog/saturated-market

Quote from: AM24 on December 23, 2024, 11:59

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Very well said!
For my part, I'm trying to go up. Actually already since 2020, when SS cut royalties and I left them. Which in my case means doing social media, selling prints, licensing content directly to customers and so on. It took some time to get going, but this year I was able to outperform my previous best year (2016) by over 30%, while my earnings from microstock fell to around 50% of 2016's level.

Mike,

What are you doing on social media?

How is your selling prints going and do you use the POD sites (ie: FAA etc)?

Just received an email from Steve Heap (Backyard Silver) and he shares some impressive updates on his sales on POD sites showing significant growth each year. Link to the article on his website below.   

https://backyardsilver.com/update-on-my-fine-art-approach/   

Mike,

What are you doing on social media?

How is your selling prints going and do you use the POD sites (ie: FAA etc)?

Just received an email from Steve Heap (Backyard Silver) and he shares some impressive updates on his sales on POD sites showing significant growth each year. Link to the article on his website below.   

https://backyardsilver.com/update-on-my-fine-art-approach/

Very interesting article, thanks for the link!

I do also sell through POD sites, but sites like FAA and Pictorem barely sell anything for me, likely because I've got very few images of interest to US buyers (I am located in Germany). I mostly sell through my own website, that I spent a lot of time setting up and getting SEO and speed optimized. Lately the website gets more and more traction and I'm pretty satisfied with the results right now. Customers arrive through Google search mostly. I barely do any advertising on social media. In the past I tried to advertise my prints to my followers - with (I think) zero results. So I stopped doing that . I'm planning to also branch out to Etsy in 2025 as I think/hope I can reach additional customers there.

Social media can be pretty nicely monetized if you live in the right place (e.g. in US). I used to have Facebook monetization for a few months and it was pretty good - to give you an example, one image went viral and made me around $200. Also having large following and reach generally gives you more opportunities to be noticed by an art buyer or a company looking to license your content. But it takes a lot of time and effort to build a large following.

Interesting perspectives.

Bauman I recall you do quite well with regular microstock? You offer photos and video? 

Quote from: Pacesetter on December 27, 2024, 03:56

Interesting perspectives.

Bauman I recall you do quite well with regular microstock? You offer photos and video?

Yes, I am full time. But I only sell photos with microstock, no videos.

Unfortunately in the last two years I have lost 25% of my annual earnings. And now I can no longer afford to lose earnings, otherwise I will have to go back to doing microstock part-time  . 2025 will be very important for me.

I have always focused on the quality of my content and this has worked for 15 years. I have always uploaded 300/400 images per year of the highest quality, and this has allowed me to be full-time for many years. Now this does not seem to work anymore.

Halfway through this year I changed some strategies. I increased the quantity at the cost of losing a bit of quality ... let's see if it works.

Selling prints contributes only about 10% of my earnings. Maybe I haven't done a good job of marketing in these years; I should have worked more on the blog than on social media. But I can say that selling prints with European content is much more difficult.

Well being able to do this full-time is a remarkable achievement and especially so without video. What size generally are your portfolios?   

I agree with Mike, Steve is doing a great job, but this does not apply to us Europeans. It is much more difficult for us to make these numbers.

FAA and Pictorem have customers mostly from North America and want content related to their places. Just look at what FAA sells on the "sales announcements" page.

Second that. The European art print market is much smaller than the US one and much harder to be successful in. But I still was surprised with some big expensive print sales to European customers, so the market still has some potential