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Author Topic: What would it take to bring back this industry to the golden days?  (Read 23948 times)

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Bad Company

« on: August 24, 2017, 16:46 »
+1
Okay, I hoping to hear what the artists, buyers and some of the companies feel would restore this industry? 

I've noticed that some companies have removed images (supposedly low end) and even artist (Envato-Photodune).  Now some of the remaining artists are claiming their income is going up just like it was a few years ago! Do the other companies need to follow this trend? Anyway love to hear (actually read) your thoughts on turning this business around... 8)



« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2017, 17:51 »
+3
Putting my money for photos on GraphicStock Marketplace opening on Sept. 18, 2017. Why because I minimum I will be getting $3.50 per download, I can live with that and I am hoping buyers will come there! I am done with 38cents. If I can't sell an image that can pay for something on Taco Bell menu then I am not going to sell it!

angelawaye

  • Eat, Sleep, Keyword. Repeat

« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2017, 19:38 »
+4
I have high hopes for Graphicstock too. Please let this agency restore some respect to photographers. I didn't mind .38 cents when I was getting a lot of downloads but now that SS is tanking it doesn't seem worth it anymore.

« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2017, 19:46 »
+4
Same thing that will take to bring back coal mining to its golden days. Or film photography. Or newspapers...

« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2017, 19:51 »
+1
Putting my money for photos on GraphicStock Marketplace opening on Sept. 18, 2017. Why because I minimum I will be getting $3.50 per download, I can live with that and I am hoping buyers will come there! I am done with 38cents. If I can't sell an image that can pay for something on Taco Bell menu then I am not going to sell it!

I sure hope they fix their search because it is awful.

Bad Company

« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2017, 20:22 »
+2
Same thing that will take to bring back coal mining to its golden days. Or film photography. Or newspapers...

All these things evolved to something better but our MS is evolving to what?

« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2017, 20:33 »
+6
Same thing that will take to bring back coal mining to its golden days. Or film photography. Or newspapers...

All these things evolved to something better but our MS is evolving to what?

I would rather say that these industries disappeared (or are about to), as technology evolved.
Technology is also driving down the cost of photos. Everybody is a photographer these days.

Despite populist claims, coal mining will not be brought back to its golden days. Same goes for microstock, newspapers, etc
« Last Edit: August 24, 2017, 20:41 by Zero Talent »

wds

« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2017, 21:18 »
+4
Putting my money for photos on GraphicStock Marketplace opening on Sept. 18, 2017. Why because I minimum I will be getting $3.50 per download, I can live with that and I am hoping buyers will come there! I am done with 38cents. If I can't sell an image that can pay for something on Taco Bell menu then I am not going to sell it!

Is there a reason to be hopeful for this agency? POND5 sells images where you can set the price, but seemingly virtually no buyers.

« Reply #8 on: August 24, 2017, 22:38 »
+5
Nothing. It's not coming back. That doesn't mean that some new better opportunities won't happen, but what emerged 10 years or more ago is a moment in time that can't come back.

SpaceStockFootage

  • Space, Sci-Fi and Astronomy Related Stock Footage

« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2017, 00:22 »
+6
A global virus that killed 90 to 99% of all stock producers? That should do the trick. Or some kind of 'carousel' like on Logan's Run, where anyone who has been producing stock for 5 years has to sacrifice themselves for the betterment of the next generation. 

Run runner!


« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2017, 00:35 »
+6
The supply/demand balance being shifted WAY too far in the oversupply direction is killing microstock.  Will it become re-balanced as many contributors get sick of working for nothing and give up?  I sure hope so, but I have a bigger worry...

I haven't seen data on this but my gut says the people paying for microstock images today are the older generations - Generation X and older - who remember the pre-Internet days when intellectual property was respected and you had a legal and moral obligation to pay someone for his or her work.  The millennials I've encountered have an attitude of "just grab it off the Internet, because it's there and why not?"  Not sure if it's laziness, a sense of entitlement or lack of respect for others' time and effort.  But if these are the people we're counting on paying us for our work in the years to come, it doesn't matter if half of all contributors give up.  There will be nothing left for those of us who remain.

« Reply #11 on: August 25, 2017, 01:54 »
+4
The millennials I've encountered have an attitude of "just grab it off the Internet, because it's there and why not?"  Not sure if it's laziness, a sense of entitlement or lack of respect for others' time and effort.  But if these are the people we're counting on paying us for our work in the years to come, it doesn't matter if half of all contributors give up.  There will be nothing left for those of us who remain.

Illegal use is even more expensive than buying the footage. This is a good business opportunity for lawyers.

« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2017, 02:03 »
+2
The millennials I've encountered have an attitude of "just grab it off the Internet, because it's there and why not?"  Not sure if it's laziness, a sense of entitlement or lack of respect for others' time and effort.  But if these are the people we're counting on paying us for our work in the years to come, it doesn't matter if half of all contributors give up.  There will be nothing left for those of us who remain.

Illegal use is even more expensive than buying the footage. This is a good business opportunity for lawyers.
This may be true but increasingly there is more and more content that people seem happy to give away. I'd like things to change but sadly I think trends are clear across all internet media related industries. Seems to me there's more more money in tutoring/tours etc......I find the charges made for photography courses eyewatering especially considering its never been easier to take decent photos.

Chichikov

« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2017, 02:11 »
+1
Putting my money for photos on GraphicStock Marketplace opening on Sept. 18, 2017. Why because I minimum I will be getting $3.50 per download, I can live with that and I am hoping buyers will come there! I am done with 38cents. If I can't sell an image that can pay for something on Taco Bell menu then I am not going to sell it!
The point is not how much an agency pay us.
The point is how much a photo costs to the customer.
You can be happy to get $3.50 per download instead of $0.38.
But will the customer be happy to pay more (I suppose that on GraphicStock it will cost more, but in fact I don't know) for the same images that he could find elsewhere for less price?

Chichikov

« Reply #14 on: August 25, 2017, 02:14 »
+1
Same thing that will take to bring back coal mining to its golden days. Or film photography. Or newspapers...

All these things evolved to something better but our MS is evolving to what?

Probably it is evolving in something (very) better for the microstock agencies.
We should stop to think that these companies work for our own satisfaction.
Our wishes are not the reality.

« Reply #15 on: August 25, 2017, 02:25 »
+1
Same thing that will take to bring back coal mining to its golden days. Or film photography. Or newspapers...

All these things evolved to something better but our MS is evolving to what?

Probably it is evolving in something (very) better for the microstock agencies.
We should stop to think that these companies work for our own satisfaction.
Our wishes are not the reality.
Its not really better for them either its not in their interest to sell images for less. Its a buyers market and its the buyers that are benefitting.

Chichikov

« Reply #16 on: August 25, 2017, 03:01 »
+1
Same thing that will take to bring back coal mining to its golden days. Or film photography. Or newspapers...

All these things evolved to something better but our MS is evolving to what?

Probably it is evolving in something (very) better for the microstock agencies.
We should stop to think that these companies work for our own satisfaction.
Our wishes are not the reality.
Its not really better for them either its not in their interest to sell images for less. Its a buyers market and its the buyers that are benefitting.

What is the sense companies to go on with a business that is not good for them at first?
I don't think that their main purpose is not to satisfy the contributors or even the customers.
Of course it is not easy to gain more for them, and more they earn more it is difficult to earn more.
But you cannot make me believe that companies like Shutterstock or iStock make what they make, and how they make it (I mean bad for us), if it is not for their maximum benefit.


« Reply #17 on: August 25, 2017, 03:38 »
+2
Same thing that will take to bring back coal mining to its golden days. Or film photography. Or newspapers...

All these things evolved to something better but our MS is evolving to what?

Probably it is evolving in something (very) better for the microstock agencies.
We should stop to think that these companies work for our own satisfaction.
Our wishes are not the reality.
Its not really better for them either its not in their interest to sell images for less. Its a buyers market and its the buyers that are benefitting.

What is the sense companies to go on with a business that is not good for them at first?
I don't think that their main purpose is not to satisfy the contributors or even the customers.
Of course it is not easy to gain more for them, and more they earn more it is difficult to earn more.
But you cannot make me believe that companies like Shutterstock or iStock make what they make, and how they make it (I mean bad for us), if it is not for their maximum benefit.
Yes of course they want to much $$ as possible if they could charge $1000 for a picture they would but in a buyers market they can't as someone will undercut them. Hence the "race to the bottom" basic market economics.

« Reply #18 on: August 25, 2017, 04:33 »
+3
What would it take?

Well, first of all you would have to bankrupt every single technology company on the planet.

Lower and lower prices, supply exceeding demand etc. are all results of technology advancements. Almost anyone can afford equipment to produce material that can sell. That is the reason.

Chichikov

« Reply #19 on: August 25, 2017, 04:52 »
+2
What would it take?

Well, first of all you would have to bankrupt every single technology company on the planet.

Lower and lower prices, supply exceeding demand etc. are all results of technology advancements. Almost anyone can afford equipment to produce material that can sell. That is the reason.


A little old as statistics, but probably the figures did not change in better
http://www.pewglobal.org/interactives/global-population-by-income/
15% or the world population earns less than $2 a day
71% of the world population earns less that $10 a day (poor + low income)
I am not sure that "Almost" anyone can afford any equipment

niktol

« Reply #20 on: August 25, 2017, 04:53 »
+4
Okay, I hoping to hear what the artists, buyers and some of the companies feel would restore this industry? 


A time machine. Some natural processes are irreversible.

« Reply #21 on: August 25, 2017, 05:55 »
+3
Things would soon change if contributors didn't supply sites that sell for low prices and pay less than 50%.  It looks like my highest earning site this month will be Alamy, my 50% cut from one sale is almost $100.  Imagine how much we could earn if we only supplied sites like them and Pond5 for video.  Shame that will never happen.

Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #22 on: August 25, 2017, 06:01 »
+3
To go back to the "good old days", it will take WW3 and the eventual nuclear fallout which would wipe out 99% of the Earth's population. The few survivors will spend the remainder of their lives scrounging the Earth for whatever resources are left.

After a few generations, the Earth's population should recover to a few million, probably in the South Pacific and high-altitudes (less affected by radioactive fallout). Standards of living will slowly improve and in 2103, Internet 2.0 will re-emerge.

More advanced forms of digital commerce will take off and businesses will need to promote their products and/or services. Then, they will turn to Microstock and since there will be few photographers left and technology will be relatively primitive, those contributors should earn more than the equivalent of 36 cents an image in today's currency.

niktol

« Reply #23 on: August 25, 2017, 06:06 »
+3
To go back to the "good old days", it will take WW3 and the eventual nuclear fallout which would wipe out 99% of the Earth's population. The few survivors will spend the remainder of their lives scrounging the Earth for whatever resources are left.

After a few generations, the Earth's population should recover to a few million, probably in the South Pacific and high-altitudes (less affected by radioactive fallout). Standards of living will slowly improve and in 2103, Internet 2.0 will re-emerge.

More advanced forms of digital commerce will take off and businesses will need to promote their products and/or services. Then, they will turn to Microstock and since there will be few photographers left and technology will be relatively primitive, those contributors should earn more than the equivalent of 36 cents an image in today's currency.

Wow, that sounds a bit extreme.

Brasilnut

  • Author Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock & Blog

« Reply #24 on: August 25, 2017, 06:47 »
+2
Quote

Wow, that sounds a bit extreme.   


I'm going to buy the domain www.nuclearstock.com


 

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