Author Topic: Yuri Arcurs - Something big will happen on the 3 of May! (Read 43999 times)

nicku · « **Reply #250 on:** May 04, 2012, 02:26 »

I don't believe will have a HUGE impact on the top agencies... Yuri is still selling stock there ( and will do in the future). Regarding the commission cuts i expect possible cuts on IS, FT and 123RF not on SS.

If things are getting very threatening for SS probably they will take off the ace in sleeve.... The exclusivity program.

Microstock Posts · « **Reply #251 on:** May 04, 2012, 02:42 »

Quote from: nicku on May 04, 2012, 02:26

I don't believe will have a HUGE impact on the top agencies... Yuri is still selling stock there ( and will do in the future). Regarding the commission cuts i expect possible cuts on IS, FT and 123RF not on SS.

If things are getting very threatening for SS probably they will take off the ace in sleeve.... The exclusivity program.

I think if his site becomes successful, it would be a logical next step to become an agency in its own right. It's human instinct to want to expand.

nicku · « **Reply #252 on:** May 04, 2012, 03:03 »

Quote from: Microstock Posts on May 04, 2012, 02:42

Quote from: nicku on May 04, 2012, 02:26
I don't believe will have a HUGE impact on the top agencies... Yuri is still selling stock there ( and will do in the future). Regarding the commission cuts i expect possible cuts on IS, FT and 123RF not on SS.

If things are getting very threatening for SS probably they will take off the ace in sleeve.... The exclusivity program.

I think if his site becomes successful, it would be a logical next step to become an agency in its own right. It's human instinct to want to expand.

agree...

gillian vann · « **Reply #253 on:** May 04, 2012, 04:38 »

^^ditto. when this whole thing was first hinted at I assumed he was opening an agency to compete with the Big guys. What will you all think if he offers the same paltry comms though?

ShadySue · « **Reply #254 on:** May 04, 2012, 05:04 »

I found this five minutes ago, and it seems a bit pertinent to this thread:

Prayer of a Sportsman

Dear Lord, in the battle that goes on through life
I ask but a field that is fair,
A chance that is equal with all in the strife,
A courage to strive and to dare;

And if should win, let it be by the code
With my faith and my honor held high;
And if I should lose, let me stand by the road,
And cheer as the winners go by.

And Lord, may my shouts be ungrudging and clear,
A tribute that comes from the heart,
And let me not cherish a snarl or a sneer
Or play any sniveling part;

Let me say, "There they ride, on whom laurel's bestowed
Since they played the game better than I."
Let me stand with a smile by the side of the road,
And cheer as the winners go by.

So grant me to conquer, if conquer I can,
By proving my worth in the fray,
But teach me to lose like a regular man,
And not like a craven, I pray;

Let me take off my hat to the warriors who strode
To victory splendid and high,
Yea, teach me to stand by the side of the road
And cheer as the winners go by.

-Berton Braley

ProImage · « **Reply #255 on:** May 04, 2012, 05:33 »

It is a impressive and bold move. All the best to him and his team.

Mantis · « **Reply #256 on:** May 04, 2012, 06:49 »

Quote from: lagereek on May 03, 2012, 23:36

Quote from: hatman12 on May 03, 2012, 21:31
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.

Completely agree. Good for him. Next up???

pro@stockphotos · « **Reply #257 on:** May 04, 2012, 08:08 »

Quote from: Elenathewise on May 03, 2012, 16:36

Quote from: pro@stockphotos on May 03, 2012, 15:32
Quote from: sjlocke on May 03, 2012, 14:35
'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.

My point which has not been addressed is a logically question. If Getty is evil because they take more of your money and do not treat you "fair". And their downfall is actively cheered, then conversely someone who taking market share (your money) you do not know, should not be cheered using the same measurement. Second, if Yuri really wants to take on the agencies then he should pull his work of their low paying sites. If there are 40000 $2 dollar photos on SS covering all the things he shoots, then I would skip the new work at $550 and buy 250 photos that are good enough and what bargain on the price. Would you say monkeybussinessimgaes is almost a good as Yuri. I would ask why she closed her site. Her prices were comparable to IS at a flat rate. She even recruited other non-exclusives to sell. She did not have a confusing tiered pricing system. Or an exclusive model that has a ton of previous work out there that is a near copy. It's fine to say my arguments are invalid. I would like to be proved wrong. I just don't get the well wishing for A and the contempt for B when A it lowering your income and B is taking it all.

RT · « **Reply #258 on:** May 04, 2012, 08:14 »

I'm confused, is he getting a puppy or not.

rene · « **Reply #259 on:** May 04, 2012, 08:32 »

Quote from: Microstock Posts on May 04, 2012, 02:42

I think if his site becomes successful, it would be a logical next step to become an agency in its own right. It's human instinct to want to expand.

He will, but not exactly the way we imagine.
First he will give us possibility to create our own sites using "Yuri's stock store engine" - a kind of Ktools Photostore - for free. Once 1000 individual stores are on line a mega Yoogel search image site will be deployed. Yoogel will research images among all Yuri's engined sites and take 10% from each sale.

luissantos84 · « **Reply #260 on:** May 04, 2012, 08:33 »

Quote from: RT on May 04, 2012, 08:14

I'm confused, is he getting a puppy or not.

its a huge puppy! it may bite eheh

Elenathewise · « **Reply #261 on:** May 04, 2012, 09:03 »

Quote from: pro@stockphotos on May 04, 2012, 08:08

My point which has not been addressed is a logically question. If Getty is evil because they take more of your money and do not treat you "fair". And their downfall is actively cheered, then conversely someone who taking market share (your money) you do not know, should not be cheered using the same measurement. Second, if Yuri really wants to take on the agencies then he should pull his work of their low paying sites. If there are 40000 $2 dollar photos on SS covering all the things he shoots, then I would skip the new work at $550 and buy 250 photos that are good enough and what bargain on the price. Would you say monkeybussinessimgaes is almost a good as Yuri. I would ask why she closed her site. Her prices were comparable to IS at a flat rate. She even recruited other non-exclusives to sell. She did not have a confusing tiered pricing system. Or an exclusive model that has a ton of previous work out there that is a near copy. It's fine to say my arguments are invalid. I would like to be proved wrong. I just don't get the well wishing for A and the contempt for B when A it lowering your income and B is taking it all.

And my point was that Yuri's site will not take any of our money. He may take a tiny fraction of the money from the sites he is selling on. So wishing him well is not an opposite reaction to complaining about Getty - it's just plain good will:) About Monkey Business Images - I am a part of that, and the reason they closed their site is because they recruited other photographers to sell with them. See, if you just selling your images from your own site, it's fine, agencies don't consider you as competition. If you involve other photographers, you become an agency = competition. If you have your and your contributors portfolios sold on other agencies, some of them won't like it - they'd say, you can't sell with us now, you're competition. In this case the agency that wasn't ok with that was (guess who) Istock. Monkeys are still a distribution agency, but they are not running their own site, since taking their files down from Istock was not an option.
That's the reason Yuri's site will also stay just Yuri's site, unless he is prepared to take down his portfolio from other selling sites, and, umm, why would he do that. If he builds up his customer base, good for him, but it won't be even comparable to big agencies... so really, it's a drop in the ocean. But having your own site and doing direct sales just makes you feel good, I have my own site and I do sell directly from it. Money is not comparable to the big agencies, but anything I make is 100% mine and it makes my day now and them. Good for morale:)

cthoman · « **Reply #262 on:** May 04, 2012, 09:24 »

Quote from: Microstock Posts on May 04, 2012, 02:25

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.

I wouldn't hold my breath expecting the agencies to change. If you want change (for the better), you'll probably have to go out and make it happen.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #263 on:** May 04, 2012, 10:11 »

That's interesting info, Elena, I didn't know what had happened to Monkeybusiness.

pro@stockphotos - you have made a logical error. Yuri is our competitor (well, not mine, but some people's) and therefore it is fair for him to do his best to get his images sold instead of ours. Istock is our agent, our "friend" and representative, and they take up to four-fifths of all the money we earn, providing an ever poorer service to us in return.

So it is quite rational for people to see their relationship with iStock as being somewhat abusive and one-sided, while regarding Yuri as an honourable competitor.

Secondly, I might have missed it but I am unaware of Yuri expressing any desire to "take on" the agencies. It looks to me as if he is just trying to find ways to maximise his revenues.

rubyroo · « **Reply #264 on:** May 04, 2012, 11:56 »

Quote from: RT on May 04, 2012, 08:14

I'm confused, is he getting a puppy or not.

ShadySue · « **Reply #265 on:** May 04, 2012, 12:15 »

Quote from: luissantos84 on May 04, 2012, 08:33

Quote from: RT on May 04, 2012, 08:14
I'm confused, is he getting a puppy or not.

its a huge puppy! it may bite eheh

Maybe it'll be a Lab and lick the opposition to death.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #266 on:** May 04, 2012, 12:28 »

Quote from: rene on May 04, 2012, 08:32

Quote from: Microstock Posts on May 04, 2012, 02:42
I think if his site becomes successful, it would be a logical next step to become an agency in its own right. It's human instinct to want to expand.
He will, but not exactly the way we imagine.
First he will give us possibility to create our own sites using "Yuri's stock store engine" - a kind of Ktools Photostore - for free. Once 1000 individual stores are on line a mega Yoogel search image site will be deployed. Yoogel will research images among all Yuri's engined sites and take 10% from each sale.

This could be the way of the future and a way for all of us to get a larger proportion of sales. Individually we are too small, but a coordinated search of many individual sites could provide the breadth of a large agency. This could really work if everyone used the same template for their own sites so they could be searched together. If Yuri is heading in this direction then it really could lead to a new way of selling images that would bypass the agencies or at least give artists some leverage to get agencies to increase commissions.

Of course it wouldn't require Yuri if someone else has the programming skills to put it together ... a virtual agency of individual sites that are searched as one, like Travelocity or Amazon but for images. There would have to be caveats about quality since everyone would be their own reviewers and some sort of agreements about pricing or it might be too complicated for buyers but something like this really could work - each individual is responsible for their own individual site and you'd just need a search engine and front bit to manage sales. There would be no costs for reviewing images or maintaining a huge database, just a search engine. Wish I had the time and the programming skills... If someone is working on something like this it would be great!

gbalex · « **Reply #267 on:** May 04, 2012, 12:45 »

Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on May 04, 2012, 12:28

Quote from: rene on May 04, 2012, 08:32
Quote from: Microstock Posts on May 04, 2012, 02:42
I think if his site becomes successful, it would be a logical next step to become an agency in its own right. It's human instinct to want to expand.

He will, but not exactly the way we imagine.
First he will give us possibility to create our own sites using "Yuri's stock store engine" - a kind of Ktools Photostore - for free. Once 1000 individual stores are on line a mega Yoogel search image site will be deployed. Yoogel will research images among all Yuri's engined sites and take 10% from each sale.

This could be the way of the future and a way for all of us to get a larger proportion of sales. Individually we are too small, but a coordinated search of many individual sites could provide the breadth of a large agency. This could really work if everyone used the same template for their own sites so they could be searched together. If Yuri is heading in this direction then it really could lead to a new way of selling images that would bypass the agencies or at least give artists some leverage to get agencies to increase commissions.

Of course it wouldn't require Yuri if someone else has the programming skills to put it together ... a virtual agency of individual sites that are searched as one, like Travelocity or Amazon but for images. There would have to be caveats about quality since everyone would be their own reviewers and some sort of agreements about pricing or it might be too complicated for buyers but something like this really could work - each individual is responsible for their own individual site and you'd just need a search engine and front bit to manage sales. There would be no costs for reviewing images or maintaining a huge database, just a search engine. Wish I had the time and the programming skills... If someone is working on something like this it would be great!

http://www.picturengine.com/

fotoVoyager · « **Reply #268 on:** May 04, 2012, 12:48 »

Quote from: ShadySue on May 04, 2012, 12:15

Quote from: luissantos84 on May 04, 2012, 08:33
Quote from: RT on May 04, 2012, 08:14
I'm confused, is he getting a puppy or not.

its a huge puppy! it may bite eheh

Maybe it'll be a Lab and lick the opposition to death.

It'll definitely be blonde.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #269 on:** May 04, 2012, 13:15 »

Quote from: gbalex on May 04, 2012, 12:45

http://www.picturengine.com/

It looks as if they want us to pay them a monthly fee for the pleasure of uploading our stuff there so that they can redirect buyers to the existing agencies (and probably collect a referral fee) where they buy our stuff. It will help them find the cheapest way to get our work.

Is that the game plan?

To work, a lot of leading photographers would have to agree to join up and spend time uploading.

lisafx · « **Reply #270 on:** May 04, 2012, 13:17 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on May 04, 2012, 13:15

Quote from: gbalex on May 04, 2012, 12:45
http://www.picturengine.com/

It looks as if they want us to pay them a monthly fee for the pleasure of uploading our stuff there so that they can redirect buyers to the existing agencies (and probably collect a referral fee) where they buy our stuff. It will help them find the cheapest way to get our work.

Is that the game plan?

To work, a lot of leading photographers would have to agree to join up and spend time uploading.

Sounds like a loser all around for the artist. The only engine I would be willing to pay for would be one that exclusively searched the artist's own sites, not the micro agencies.

gbalex · « **Reply #271 on:** May 04, 2012, 13:43 »

Quote from: lisafx on May 04, 2012, 13:17

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on May 04, 2012, 13:15
Quote from: gbalex on May 04, 2012, 12:45
http://www.picturengine.com/

It looks as if they want us to pay them a monthly fee for the pleasure of uploading our stuff there so that they can redirect buyers to the existing agencies (and probably collect a referral fee) where they buy our stuff. It will help them find the cheapest way to get our work.

Is that the game plan?

To work, a lot of leading photographers would have to agree to join up and spend time uploading.

Sounds like a loser all around for the artist. The only engine I would be willing to pay for would be one that exclusively searched the artist's own sites, not the micro agencies.

"The only engine I would be willing to pay for would be one that exclusively searched the artist's own sites"

Yes that would be the idea... the technology, not picturengine itself is the focus, however picturengine shows that a similar search vehicle could be used by a group of submitters who shoot different types of images. A collective if you will.

pro@stockphotos · « **Reply #272 on:** May 04, 2012, 14:13 »

Quote from: Elenathewise on May 04, 2012, 09:03

Quote from: pro@stockphotos on May 04, 2012, 08:08

About Monkey Business Images - I am a part of that, and the reason they closed their site is because they recruited other photographers to sell with them. See, if you just selling your images from your own site, it's fine, agencies don't consider you as competition. If you involve other photographers, you become an agency = competition.

It seems "team" yuri is the very definition of actively recruiting other photographers to sell with them. If what you say is true. I wonder why she just didn't kick of everyone else and keep selling her own work on her own site.

As for competition being friendly ,@ BaldricksTrousers, and his success not hurting those only with the agencies, you do not understand how market places work. The pie cannot be cut without affecting you adversely. If money is being taken from you then why care if the entity responsible is charismatic.

If Yuri is Istock then at least people have a chance to look for other photos
If Yuri is on all the agencies then at least people have a choice to be on the same agencies.
If Yuri has his own site then you are squeezed out and if you root for him you do not understand math or markets or business and while it my seem nice it might also be insane.

pancaketom · « **Reply #273 on:** May 04, 2012, 14:38 »

I somehow doubt Yuri's site will lead to cutting my IS take 20% (like one of IS's actions did - and yes, I do hate on them for a number of reasons of which that is one). If I specialized in that sort of image I'd maybe be a little more worried though.

I also doubt that this new site will make the established agencies suddenly see the light and treat contributors better. More likely they will use it as another bogus excuse to satisfy their greed and lower %ages.

sharpshot · « **Reply #274 on:** May 04, 2012, 14:39 »

Quote from: ShadySue on May 04, 2012, 12:15

Quote from: luissantos84 on May 04, 2012, 08:33
Quote from: RT on May 04, 2012, 08:14
I'm confused, is he getting a puppy or not.

its a huge puppy! it may bite eheh

Maybe it'll be a Lab and lick the opposition to death.

I think a Great Dane would be more appropriate

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Author Topic: Yuri Arcurs - Something big will happen on the 3 of May! (Read 43999 times)

nicku

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nicku

gillian vann

ShadySue

ProImage

Mantis

pro@stockphotos

RT

rene

luissantos84

Elenathewise

cthoman

BaldricksTrousers

rubyroo

ShadySue

sgoodwin4813

gbalex

fotoVoyager

BaldricksTrousers

lisafx

gbalex

pro@stockphotos

pancaketom

sharpshot

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