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Author Topic: Yuri Arcurs - Something big will happen on the 3 of May!  (Read 71252 times)

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« Reply #225 on: May 03, 2012, 14:22 »
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A) He will be successful.
B) Yes, it should come as a very welcome wake-up call to the rest of the industry.


« Reply #226 on: May 03, 2012, 14:25 »
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Wishing you great success! Congratulations

I haven't yet been able to figure out why we'd wish him success (sorry :) ). Any gain that the site makes is 'our' loss.  Are we hoping he will cause our agents to up their game?   I certainly don't want to lose any buyers.

I am not competing with Yuri and I won't lose any buyers to him. He has very distinct and straightforward style that buyers sometimes are looking for - now they'll be able to go to his site and get just that. If they want something different, they'd look elsewhere. I am not getting how is this "our loss"?

« Reply #227 on: May 03, 2012, 14:26 »
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A) He will be successful.
B) Yes, it should come as a very welcome wake-up call to the rest of the industry.

A: we'll see
B: what do you realistically think will happen at a result.  You cannot leave to submit there.  They will cut your commission to make up for loss, or raise prices.  Or will they increase features and service?

Again, we're looking at another agency, like stock fresh, who aren't selling anything either.

« Reply #228 on: May 03, 2012, 14:28 »
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I haven't yet been able to figure out why we'd wish him success (sorry :) ). Any gain that the site makes is 'our' loss.  Are we hoping he will cause our agents to up their game?   I certainly don't want to lose any buyers.
I don't get your point. Yuri's images are already at all the agencies ready for purchase.

Only customers who want his exclusive images have to sign up with his site.

Other than that, all that buyers can get from him are, well, people images (Yuri style). Buyers still have to stick with other agencies to satisfy their image needs when it comes to people photos (non-Yuri style), non-people photos, illustrations, highly specialized people photos, backgrounds, design elements etc.

I'm also catering to an entirely different customer base so his style doesn't affect me one bit. However, I think there is still some resentment towards Yuri that he simply made the move while others are only talking (thinking) about it.

He may ultimately just oversee his business operations but has other people shooting for him while he puts more fingers in more pies.

Well done.

« Reply #229 on: May 03, 2012, 14:35 »
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'Only customers who want his exclusive images have to sign up with his site. '

Bingo,  you've nailed the USP. 

However, as someone who shoots people ( and Lisa, you're included ), this is an attempt to draw buyers and build loyalty at a site you can't sell at.  I'm not sure why I should think that's awesome.

« Reply #230 on: May 03, 2012, 14:40 »
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'Only customers who want his exclusive images have to sign up with his site. '

Bingo,  you've nailed the USP. 

However, as someone who shoots people ( and Lisa, you're included ), this is an attempt to draw buyers and build loyalty at a site you can't sell at.  I'm not sure why I should think that's awesome.
IMO even regarding the exclusive pictures on his site, I'm sure that the vast majority of his buyers ONLY sign up there because of the Yuri-look not because he is the only one offering a certain image that no other photographer at other sites already has online.

« Reply #231 on: May 03, 2012, 14:43 »
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... agencies take far too much in commission and therefore we would hope for a fairer distribution of our images' earnings. If Yuri is successful in this venture then it may represent one small step in the right direction....

this will make much more sense if Yuri's new site accepts other contributors and offers "fair" commissions.

the bottom line is that selling images at micro price through agencies whom takes 70%-85% commission is not sustainable for a proper BUSINESS,  Ron Chapple realized it, so did Yuri.  

« Reply #232 on: May 03, 2012, 14:55 »
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I don't quite see why everyone is so excited about this, Yuri's the only winner here the only way this will affect the rest of us is that when buyers search his sight for images they are only going to get his to choose from. Whereas previously there was a chance that one of mine (or anyone elses} would appear next to his and on a very rare occassion mine would get picked instead of his. (well maybe not very often I know I don't shoot the same sort of subject that he does but you know what I mean}. If he builds up a loyal following of buyer who only go to his sight then the rest of us will loose out.
Whilst I wish him well in his new venture as I would anyone I don't see it as anything I should be getting excited about.

The rest of the MS companies out there are not going to give us more favourable deals just because of this.

Druid

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #233 on: May 03, 2012, 15:10 »
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'Only customers who want his exclusive images have to sign up with his site. '

Bingo,  you've nailed the USP. 

However, as someone who shoots people ( and Lisa, you're included ), this is an attempt to draw buyers and build loyalty at a site you can't sell at.  I'm not sure why I should think that's awesome.

He's capitalising on e.g. iStock's total failure to retain loyalty, from buyers as well as sellers. Whether offering 'false exclusivity' is a way to nurture loyalty, we'll just have to wait and see. I'd think it might bite him in the bum, but no doubt he's got it well covered in the 'small print', and maybe that's OK in Denmark, or whichever legislation he's operating under.

helix7

« Reply #234 on: May 03, 2012, 15:29 »
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I think this rocks. Congrats Yuri. Best of luck with it.

« Reply #235 on: May 03, 2012, 15:32 »
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'Only customers who want his exclusive images have to sign up with his site. '

Bingo,  you've nailed the USP. 

However, as someone who shoots people ( and Lisa, you're included ), this is an attempt to draw buyers and build loyalty at a site you can't sell at.  I'm not sure why I should think that's awesome.

Correct, the bias against  istock/getty on here is very strong.  It is so strong that people are cheering a "team" that is setting up a site if successful is going to take sales and money from the pockets of all the well wishers.   And the "team" doing this is confused as to why some people have "negative" opinions of their effort. Hello, Mcfly if you do not  like Getty because they take more of you money then you should not like this "team" effort that takes all of your money.  The market place is limited and if successful this site will vacuum up your dollars.  It makes no sense unless you work for or are related to this Team.

« Reply #236 on: May 03, 2012, 16:02 »
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So we can pretty much close up shop because Yuri started a (possibly successful) stock agency?

Uhhhhhh ok.  :-X

« Reply #237 on: May 03, 2012, 16:36 »
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'Only customers who want his exclusive images have to sign up with his site. '

Bingo,  you've nailed the USP. 

However, as someone who shoots people ( and Lisa, you're included ), this is an attempt to draw buyers and build loyalty at a site you can't sell at.  I'm not sure why I should think that's awesome.

Correct, the bias against  istock/getty on here is very strong.  It is so strong that people are cheering a "team" that is setting up a site if successful is going to take sales and money from the pockets of all the well wishers.   And the "team" doing this is confused as to why some people have "negative" opinions of their effort. Hello, Mcfly if you do not  like Getty because they take more of you money then you should not like this "team" effort that takes all of your money.  The market place is limited and if successful this site will vacuum up your dollars.  It makes no sense unless you work for or are related to this Team.

Umm, seriously? This can't be real. A LOT of serious photographers sale their images from their own sites. Like, majority of us. How is Yuri doing the same thing will put us out of business? Then there is another, painfully obvious fact - we all have our portfolios together with Yuri's on all major and not-so-major agencies, side by side. If Yuri's images could put anyone out of business, that would have happened long time ago. And yet many of us are able to carve out pretty decent living, even with all-people portfolios.
Yeah, this probably won't affect agencies policies in any significant way, but why not cheer for the guy? He works hard and deserves his success.

« Reply #238 on: May 03, 2012, 21:05 »
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Correct, the bias against  istock/getty on here is very strong.  It is so strong that people are cheering a "team" that is setting up a site if successful is going to take sales and money from the pockets of all the well wishers.   And the "team" doing this is confused as to why some people have "negative" opinions of their effort. Hello, Mcfly if you do not  like Getty because they take more of you money then you should not like this "team" effort that takes all of your money.  The market place is limited and if successful this site will vacuum up your dollars.  It makes no sense unless you work for or are related to this Team.

A lot happens outside of Getty. A lot happens outside of the big four. Stuff even happens that's not on the list to the right. Like it or not, the barrier to setting up new, personal or even niche sites is becoming easier every day. Expect to see more.

« Reply #239 on: May 03, 2012, 21:31 »
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Well, congratulations to Yuri.  What an excellent web site.  And those full size previews - wow.

My guess is that this is only the first step.  Yuri has seen Bruce get his $50 million, and now Jon getting his $100 million, and Yuri wants his slice of that pie.  I'll guess that gradually Yuri will include work from other photographers, gradually building into the premier agency for people photos.  He could attract a surprising amount of traffic and business.  In about five years or so he'll have an asset that will be worth a lot of money.  Perhaps then he'll sell out to Getty or Shutterstock, or even attempt to become an industry leader and eventually do his own IPO.

One thing is certain - Yuri is a winner who thinks big.  I don't think he'll be satisfied with just a small boutique web site.

Well done Yuri.  What a pleasure to see someone become such a success through their own hard work and entrepreneurship.

lisafx

« Reply #240 on: May 03, 2012, 22:26 »
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However, as someone who shoots people ( and Lisa, you're included ), this is an attempt to draw buyers and build loyalty at a site you can't sell at.  I'm not sure why I should think that's awesome.

I understand your point.  And from a purely monetary POV you are probably right that this is competition for other lifestyle shooters.  But lets face it, Yuri has been major competition for lifestyle shooters for years anyway.  Whether he's on the micros or his own site, or both, that won't change.  

As a contributor, I am sick of the way the agencies have been taking us for granted.  I started my own site over a year ago, when some of this BS started to go down, and so did a lot of others.  Unfortunately, none of us had a big enough presence for this to in any way impact the agencies.  Yuri's presence is big enough for this to matter.  I stated earlier in this thread that I hope this makes the agencies realize they have been squeezing contributors too hard, and ease up.  

It might not do that.  I'm certainly not holding my breath.  But I hope it does, and there's a better chance of it if Yuri is successful than if he fails.  

Also, there's a chance this could get buyers thinking about buying direct from artists, and in a peripheral way, any of us with our own site could ultimately benefit from changing buyers' perceptions about where and how to buy images.  

Most likely this will not affect me much either way.  But I am perfectly willing to congratulate someone on taking initiative and to wish them well. 
« Last Edit: May 03, 2012, 22:33 by lisafx »

lagereek

« Reply #241 on: May 03, 2012, 23:36 »
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Well, congratulations to Yuri.  What an excellent web site.  And those full size previews - wow.

My guess is that this is only the first step.  Yuri has seen Bruce get his $50 million, and now Jon getting his $100 million, and Yuri wants his slice of that pie.  I'll guess that gradually Yuri will include work from other photographers, gradually building into the premier agency for people photos.  He could attract a surprising amount of traffic and business.  In about five years or so he'll have an asset that will be worth a lot of money.  Perhaps then he'll sell out to Getty or Shutterstock, or even attempt to become an industry leader and eventually do his own IPO.

One thing is certain - Yuri is a winner who thinks big.  I don't think he'll be satisfied with just a small boutique web site.

Well done Yuri.  What a pleasure to see someone become such a success through their own hard work and entrepreneurship.

I agree!  in this day and age, its not easy to build anything,  most people trying end up at the local shrink. People like Jon, Yuri, even Bruce, has got to be admired.
Yuri built this, surrounded by the big 4 agencies, that alone is full marks.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2012, 23:39 by lagereek »


lagereek

« Reply #242 on: May 03, 2012, 23:42 »
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Lot's of interest that is for sure. We just had over 1000 visitors in one hour and about 200+ visitors constantly on the site. Small numbers for big stock agencies, but it's still pretty nice. :)

Youre timing is next to perfect! :)  best of luck!

« Reply #243 on: May 04, 2012, 00:03 »
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However, as someone who shoots people ( and Lisa, you're included ), this is an attempt to draw buyers and build loyalty at a site you can't sell at.  I'm not sure why I should think that's awesome.


As a contributor, I am sick of the way the agencies have been taking us for granted.  I started my own site over a year ago, when some of this BS started to go down, and so did a lot of others.  Unfortunately, none of us had a big enough presence for this to in any way impact the agencies.  Yuri's presence is big enough for this to matter.

That's the point, isn't it? The only effect this will have is to shift a small amount of cash from your pockets to Yuris and a larger amount of cash from the agencies to him. Apart from that it is completely irrelevant. It won't affect the way the agencies treat anyone else because it isn't the start of anything meaningful.  If you, at your level, can't make any impact then hobody else can, either, probably not even Andres because he hasn't got the same brand recognition as Yuri.

Personally, I have doubts about whether even Yuri is going to have a meaningful impact because of the lack of diversity in his portfolio. As I said earlier, how many buyers will want to shop with Yuri AND keep an account at a major micro in order to have access to all the non-Yuri subjects, when they could make life easy for themselves by just sticking to a micro.

Frankly, the only way I could see this becoming a significant issue for the agencies would be if he became yet another agency, taking in all the files that all the others have. If he did that, then he could probably get into the mid or upper tiers quite quickly. but he would have the problems of inspections, storage space and bandwidth, accounting, etc. etc.

Even if he did that, it would still be a one-off Yuri thing, not the start of a new movement with everyone going to make their own agency.

CarlssonInc

« Reply #244 on: May 04, 2012, 00:28 »
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I think we are over-estimating the impact this will have on the "microstock" industry - the effect will in my opinion be minuscule, but on the other hand for Yuri's business it probably will be substantial if he gets enough and lasting traction.

I also don't think we need to fear that his move will have any impact on taking away the food from our tables, we are quite capable of slowly doing that to ourselves by being one of the few (sub)-professions (stock photographers) that are ridiculously un-organized, thus being at the "mercy" of libraries/agents.
« Last Edit: May 04, 2012, 00:30 by CarlssonInc. Stock Imagery Production »

grp_photo

« Reply #245 on: May 04, 2012, 00:45 »
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A) He will be successful.
B) Yes, it should come as a very welcome wake-up call to the rest of the industry.
A) you have never run an Agency by yourself, the USP of Yuri's one is not a very strong USP I doubt the USP is strong enough to get his money back anytime soon.
B) Sure if selling directly become a big success it would be great for all of us but I personally doubt it.

« Reply #246 on: May 04, 2012, 01:00 »
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Small niche sites can do very well.  I think Yuri will be successful with this, he's a shrewd businessman.  I'm not concerned about the effect on the other sites.  They have no problem finding feeble excuses to cut our commissions.  They could use this to carry on doing what they were going to do anyway or they could notice that paying us less is going to lose them money in the long term.  The rest of us might not make much from our own sites but if the top 1,000 contributors joined together, there would be no need for agencies that pay ridiculously low commission.

At some point, I think the top contributors are going to see that owning their own site is the only way to make microstock sustainable.  Hopefully the sites will see that they need to end commission cuts or they wont have much of a business left.

Wim

« Reply #247 on: May 04, 2012, 01:26 »
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It's about time Yuri!

I would have done this a long time ago if I was in your shoes mate.
I don't have to wish you luck because there is nothing negative to say about your site so I'm sure it will do very well, and besides, I doubt it's by luck you have gotten this far (well maybe a bit starting at the right time)
Smart move with the focus on retouche too, spending most of my time retouching I know how important this is and buyers will love you for it.
Good to see you pop up in the forums too, you don't let all this get to your head.

Wim

« Reply #248 on: May 04, 2012, 01:33 »
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Frankly, the only way I could see this becoming a significant issue for the agencies would be if he became yet another agency, taking in all the files that all the others have. If he did that, then he could probably get into the mid or upper tiers quite quickly. but he would have the problems of inspections, storage space and bandwidth, accounting, etc. etc.

Even if he did that, it would still be a one-off Yuri thing, not the start of a new movement with everyone going to make their own agency.

have to agree with this one. and i don't think inspections, storage and accounting etc are the real problems to yuri, it's just not the business direction he's taken right now.

maybe now is the time for Andres or a few world's top contributors to form an agency.  ;)

« Reply #249 on: May 04, 2012, 02:25 »
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Small niche sites can do very well.  I think Yuri will be successful with this, he's a shrewd businessman.  I'm not concerned about the effect on the other sites.  They have no problem finding feeble excuses to cut our commissions.  They could use this to carry on doing what they were going to do anyway or they could notice that paying us less is going to lose them money in the long term.  The rest of us might not make much from our own sites but if the top 1,000 contributors joined together, there would be no need for agencies that pay ridiculously low commission.

At some point, I think the top contributors are going to see that owning their own site is the only way to make microstock sustainable.  Hopefully the sites will see that they need to end commission cuts or they wont have much of a business left.

Well said that man.

Talk of taking revenue away from us may be true but in that case revenue will be taken away from agencies, which would be nothing but their own making. Let the top dogs work on keeping more of the income made from their images, rather than giving most of it to middle men. Only they have the possibility of influencing agencies behaviour, and their behaviour can only be changed if their pockets are hit. Maybe an outcome could be another round of commission cuts, but long term they may have to start thinking well how do we stop people from adding to the list of competitors, especially the people who could pose a threat. I really hope guys like Yuri can eventually cut into agencies revenues and help change the completely disproprotionate balance of power. Big agencies won't be happy with this development, but they are the cause and lets hope oneday they can see the effect.


 

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