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Author Topic: Yuri told me Andres Rodriguez is No.2, this may be wrong  (Read 15087 times)

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helix7

« Reply #50 on: May 07, 2012, 15:06 »
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...Now I know two photographers can earn millions per year, are there more? ...

I don't know about millions, but I'm sure there are far more people earning well into the six figures than we even know about. I know of one person who earns a little over $100k per year in microstock and no one knows him. He's not active in forums, just flies below the radar and if I told you his name you'd say, "Who?"

That's one person. How many more like him are out there? How many more earn more than him and still manage to stay relatively unknown?

My totally random guess is that there are probably 150 people in microstock earning in the six figures, and maybe 3 or 4 in the millions.


« Reply #51 on: May 07, 2012, 15:57 »
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My totally random guess is that there are probably 150 people in microstock earning in the six figures, and maybe 3 or 4 in the millions.

It depends what you mean by 'earning'. There can be a very big difference between earnings and profit. For instance Laflor claimed he 'invested' over $300K from his savings in shoots and hoped for a payback of about 3 years if I remember correctly. That's a lot of earnings he needed to produce before he made a profit.

My guess is that there are probably fewer than 100 contributors actually making more than $100K profit. I'm also virtually certain that Yuri is the only one even grossing over $1M, let alone making that in profit.

Don't forget that most of the big players appear to be reporting falling sales and incomes, especially those who are exclusive at IS. The lowering tide drops all boats too. Also the big money has always been in business and lifestyle images and that is undoubtedly the most competitive field. It has to be getting extremely difficult to ensure a reasonable payback for an expensive shoot.

wut

« Reply #52 on: May 07, 2012, 16:29 »
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Also the big money has always been in business and lifestyle images and that is undoubtedly the most competitive field. It has to be getting extremely difficult to ensure a reasonable payback for an expensive shoot.

I'm staying away from business, unless I'll get an idea of a great concept, that's cheap to produce (only one model, no fancy offices etc), I'm not shooting it anymore. The return is just not big enough and the expenses are sky high if you want to make shots that really stand out (that is if you're good enough a photographer)

helix7

« Reply #53 on: May 07, 2012, 16:56 »
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...Don't forget that most of the big players appear to be reporting falling sales and incomes, especially those who are exclusive at IS...

Forget the well-known players, the ones who report anything, and especially forget istock exclusives. Those are the people who have been around forever and are still just doing the same old things.

I think there is a whole new group of microstock rockstars out there who would shock you with how well they do, and manage to stay relatively unknown because they stay out of the forums and aren't promoting their success in any way. They just shoot/draw/whatever, upload, and repeat, and they definitely aren't doing handshake photos or 1-color vector icon sets.

Quite frankly, what does Yuri know about who the top folks are in this business anymore? Does he know everyone and how much they earn? Like I said, there are people who go under the community radar. Yuri doesn't know all of them. The ones he does know I'd bet are photographers. Is he in the know about how the top vector folks are doing? Top video guys?

All I'm saying is that we always have these discussions around Yuri, Andres, and the rest of the well-known and long-established "top" artists. And for good reason... most of them are still doing extremely well. But it's been a long time since they emerged as the top dogs, and a lot has changed in this business along the way. I think there are a lot more folks in that six-figure earnings bracket than we know about, people who have quietly built hugely successful portfolios and managed to stay relatively unknown to the community.

wut

« Reply #54 on: May 07, 2012, 17:04 »
0
Quite frankly, what does Yuri know about who the top folks are in this business anymore? Does he know everyone and how much they earn? Like I said, there are people who go under the community radar. Yuri doesn't know all of them. The ones he does know I'd bet are photographers. Is he in the know about how the top vector folks are doing? Top video guys?

Even if he knows, he's not going to share it with us and as long as we don't know about them, he's happy. He'd probably high five them if he knew them, for not revealing the truth (eg their earnings)

« Reply #55 on: May 07, 2012, 17:37 »
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All I'm saying is that we always have these discussions around Yuri, Andres, and the rest of the well-known and long-established "top" artists. And for good reason... most of them are still doing extremely well. But it's been a long time since they emerged as the top dogs, and a lot has changed in this business along the way. I think there are a lot more folks in that six-figure earnings bracket than we know about, people who have quietly built hugely successful portfolios and managed to stay relatively unknown to the community.

Sorry but you're wrong __ there simply aren't tons of high-rollers quietly slipping under the radar. It's not the forums where we'd see them but on the best-selling lists, the rankings, the actual sales and ... most significantly by far ... the best match placement on searches. Microstock has always been incredibly transparent and it remains so. There is nowhere for a highly successful individual to hide without being spotted __ let alone hordes of them.

There's a lot less money, being distributed to remarkably fewer contributors, than you seem to think. A lot less. Only Yuri is grossing over $1M. There's maybe 4-5 in the $400-700 bracket and after that there's a real quick drop off in the earnings league. That's gross sales btw, not profits. That's what the sales numbers we can both see tell me.

« Reply #56 on: May 07, 2012, 18:06 »
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Sorry but you're wrong __ there simply aren't tons of high-rollers quietly slipping under the radar. It's not the forums where we'd see them but on the best-selling lists, the rankings, the actual sales and ... most significantly by far ... the best match placement on searches. Microstock has always been incredibly transparent and it remains so. There is nowhere for a highly successful individual to hide without being spotted __ let alone hordes of them.

There's a lot less money, being distributed to remarkably fewer contributors, than you seem to think. A lot less. Only Yuri is grossing over $1M. There's maybe 4-5 in the $400-700 bracket and after that there's a real quick drop off in the earnings league. That's gross sales btw, not profits. That's what the sales numbers we can both see tell me.

I don't think it would be too hard to fly under the radar. My sales are spread over a large number of images and over a variety of sites. Not many best sellers or one overly dominant agency. You could mix in POD, RM, direct sales, unknown or exclusive sites, and you would never know somebody is doing so well.

I don't know if there are people like that, but it seems feasible.

lisafx

« Reply #57 on: May 07, 2012, 18:14 »
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I don't think it would be too hard to fly under the radar. My sales are spread over a large number of images and over a variety of sites. Not many best sellers or one overly dominant agency. You could mix in POD, RM, direct sales, unknown or exclusive sites, and you would never know somebody is doing so well.

I don't know if there are people like that, but it seems feasible.

Probably there are a lot of mid and maybe even mid-high level folks doing that.  But if you are talking about people netting six figures, I doubt there are (m)any of those "flying under the radar", for the reasons Gostwyck laid out.  The best selling images and default searches would be a dead giveaway. 

wut

« Reply #58 on: May 07, 2012, 18:26 »
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I don't think it would be too hard to fly under the radar. My sales are spread over a large number of images and over a variety of sites. Not many best sellers or one overly dominant agency. You could mix in POD, RM, direct sales, unknown or exclusive sites, and you would never know somebody is doing so well.

I don't know if there are people like that, but it seems feasible.

Probably there are a lot of mid and maybe even mid-high level folks doing that.  But if you are talking about people netting six figures, I doubt there are (m)any of those "flying under the radar", for the reasons Gostwyck laid out.  The best selling images and default searches would be a dead giveaway. 

What about those that are working on quantity, not quality? I've seen a lot of ppl with big ports, 5-10k, that are diamonds, but have very few flames and not a single blue flame and just 2 or 3 red ones. For someone with over 50k DLs, that almost sounds incredible to me. These ppl wouldn't stand out in the searches let alone in the trends (best images in the last 3 months/ 1 month / 1 week). Their stuff is mostly average, so the can only get flames during long periods of time, but OTOH they're consistent enough, to get dozens of sales on a nice, above average part of their port. And even those photos with less than 10 DLs add to to the sum, since there's thousands of them to contribute their part

helix7

« Reply #59 on: May 07, 2012, 20:37 »
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Sorry but you're wrong __ there simply aren't tons of high-rollers quietly slipping under the radar...

Well I can't prove that there are tons. But I can tell you for sure that i personally know of one person who is exactly this type of contributor. Six-figure earner, no one knows him, maybe you'd recognize one of his images if you saw one but you wouldn't put a name to the image. Good size port with lots of good earners but not often hitting the Top 50 at SS, so he manages to keep a low profile.

So that's one that I know of. I'm sure there are more. Tons? Yeah, I know, hard to prove. But there are some people like that out there. Definitely not zero.

lisafx

« Reply #60 on: May 07, 2012, 20:42 »
0

I don't think it would be too hard to fly under the radar. My sales are spread over a large number of images and over a variety of sites. Not many best sellers or one overly dominant agency. You could mix in POD, RM, direct sales, unknown or exclusive sites, and you would never know somebody is doing so well.

I don't know if there are people like that, but it seems feasible.

Probably there are a lot of mid and maybe even mid-high level folks doing that.  But if you are talking about people netting six figures, I doubt there are (m)any of those "flying under the radar", for the reasons Gostwyck laid out.  The best selling images and default searches would be a dead giveaway. 

What about those that are working on quantity, not quality? I've seen a lot of ppl with big ports, 5-10k, that are diamonds, but have very few flames and not a single blue flame and just 2 or 3 red ones. For someone with over 50k DLs, that almost sounds incredible to me. These ppl wouldn't stand out in the searches let alone in the trends (best images in the last 3 months/ 1 month / 1 week). Their stuff is mostly average, so the can only get flames during long periods of time, but OTOH they're consistent enough, to get dozens of sales on a nice, above average part of their port. And even those photos with less than 10 DLs add to to the sum, since there's thousands of them to contribute their part

If you'll read up the thread a bit, you will see that I was responding to the idea that there are people making six figures (over 100k) and flying under the radar.  I don't think there are many of those, if any. 

The type of ports you are talking about above may very well have escaped notice, but they aren't bringing in that kind of money either. 

« Reply #61 on: May 07, 2012, 21:01 »
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Well I can't prove that there are tons. But I can tell you for sure that i personally know of one person who is exactly this type of contributor. Six-figure earner, no one knows him, maybe you'd recognize one of his images if you saw one but you wouldn't put a name to the image. Good size port with lots of good earners but not often hitting the Top 50 at SS, so he manages to keep a low profile.

So that's one that I know of. I'm sure there are more. Tons? Yeah, I know, hard to prove. But there are some people like that out there. Definitely not zero.

Why I think there are more is that there isn't really a "Yuri" illustrator. There are popular IS exclusives and people on SS that dominate the top 50, but you don't hear about anyone much outside of that. That's a lot of gray area where people can earn a bunch of money.

avava

« Reply #62 on: May 07, 2012, 21:13 »
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:D

I always thought it stood for Mass Speculation Group.


All of the above, but it adds flavor either way?

Here's the last I did from IS Charts before they pulled the plug. People can debate sales, imaginary dollars, or whatever else, just listing the last top ten on IS before the charts went away. Make of it what you wish. (and the wayback machine is also blank for all fields now) If I looked right, two of those are not exclusive. That means they can be selling on 50 sites if they wanted.



Number One? All I want to know is, "Who is Number Two?" 

And for the MSG'ers, I'm not sure which side runs this Village.   ;)




Yes I miss looking myself up on the charts, I wanted to see when I passed the middle point for total downloads.


What do they get RPD and how long are they members exclusive then divide.

Microbius

« Reply #63 on: May 08, 2012, 06:32 »
0
"Yuri told me Andres Rodriguez is No.2"

meeeeow

(only funny if you know rhyming slang, actually probably not even then)

wut

« Reply #64 on: May 08, 2012, 08:46 »
0

I don't think it would be too hard to fly under the radar. My sales are spread over a large number of images and over a variety of sites. Not many best sellers or one overly dominant agency. You could mix in POD, RM, direct sales, unknown or exclusive sites, and you would never know somebody is doing so well.

I don't know if there are people like that, but it seems feasible.

Probably there are a lot of mid and maybe even mid-high level folks doing that.  But if you are talking about people netting six figures, I doubt there are (m)any of those "flying under the radar", for the reasons Gostwyck laid out.  The best selling images and default searches would be a dead giveaway. 

What about those that are working on quantity, not quality? I've seen a lot of ppl with big ports, 5-10k, that are diamonds, but have very few flames and not a single blue flame and just 2 or 3 red ones. For someone with over 50k DLs, that almost sounds incredible to me. These ppl wouldn't stand out in the searches let alone in the trends (best images in the last 3 months/ 1 month / 1 week). Their stuff is mostly average, so the can only get flames during long periods of time, but OTOH they're consistent enough, to get dozens of sales on a nice, above average part of their port. And even those photos with less than 10 DLs add to to the sum, since there's thousands of them to contribute their part

If you'll read up the thread a bit, you will see that I was responding to the idea that there are people making six figures (over 100k) and flying under the radar.  I don't think there are many of those, if any. 

The type of ports you are talking about above may very well have escaped notice, but they aren't bringing in that kind of money either. 

And what about exclusively TAC ports at IS, that have reached gold canisters in less than 2 years? Meaning they're selling at Getty for years and they have a lot bigger ports over there. They're getting way over 5k/year TAC DLs on IS alone. Lets say the average DL brings them only 100cr, that is way over 50k cr and they're getting 20% out of it (I believe they get the same deal as exclusives for GI sales). So if I do some quick math: 50.000x1,5$x0,2=37,5$. That is the worst case scenario for their earnings, I believe they're way over 50k at IS alone, but probably more since sales are rising progressively (they sold a lot more in the last 9 months, then in their first). Than add the sales at Getty which are without a doubt bigger, since the size of their port is a few times larger (almost 4x for that particular photographer I based my calculations on). So they're surely earning way over 100k and most ppl in the MS world doesn't know them.

lisafx

« Reply #65 on: May 08, 2012, 09:01 »
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And what about exclusively TAC ports at IS, that have reached gold canisters in less than 2 years? Meaning they're selling at Getty for years and they have a lot bigger ports over there. They're getting way over 5k/year TAC DLs on IS alone. Lets say the average DL brings them only 100cr, that is way over 50k cr and they're getting 20% out of it (I believe they get the same deal as exclusives for GI sales). So if I do some quick math: 50.000x1,5$x0,2=37,5$. That is the worst case scenario for their earnings, I believe they're way over 50k at IS alone, but probably more since sales are rising progressively (they sold a lot more in the last 9 months, then in their first). Than add the sales at Getty which are without a doubt bigger, since the size of their port is a few times larger (almost 4x for that particular photographer I based my calculations on). So they're surely earning way over 100k and most ppl in the MS world doesn't know them.

First off, this is some really wild speculation. Not much in the way of hard evidence.  

Secondly, I was responding to people making over 100k IN MICROSTOCK.  If you are talking trads, where RPD is exponentially higher, or a combination of the two, that's a whole different ballgame.  

Clearly it's important to you to believe that there is this large underground network of people making six figures and totally undiscovered.  How they are undetectable to other microstock contributors, but somehow readily visible and available to large numbers of buyers is beyond me.  But hey, don't let me burst your bubble.  You believe whatever you need to that gets you through the day.  :)

wut

« Reply #66 on: May 08, 2012, 09:12 »
0


And what about exclusively TAC ports at IS, that have reached gold canisters in less than 2 years? Meaning they're selling at Getty for years and they have a lot bigger ports over there. They're getting way over 5k/year TAC DLs on IS alone. Lets say the average DL brings them only 100cr, that is way over 50k cr and they're getting 20% out of it (I believe they get the same deal as exclusives for GI sales). So if I do some quick math: 50.000x1,5$x0,2=37,5$. That is the worst case scenario for their earnings, I believe they're way over 50k at IS alone, but probably more since sales are rising progressively (they sold a lot more in the last 9 months, then in their first). Than add the sales at Getty which are without a doubt bigger, since the size of their port is a few times larger (almost 4x for that particular photographer I based my calculations on). So they're surely earning way over 100k and most ppl in the MS world doesn't know them.

First off, this is some really wild speculation. Not much in the way of hard evidence.  

Secondly, I was responding to people making over 100k IN MICROSTOCK.  If you are talking trads, where RPD is exponentially higher, or a combination of the two, that's a whole different ballgame.  

Clearly it's important to you to believe that there is this large underground network of people making six figures and totally undiscovered.  How they are undetectable to other microstock contributors, but somehow readily visible and available to large numbers of buyers is beyond me.  But hey, don't let me burst your bubble.  You believe whatever you need to that gets you through the day.  :)

I don't care if there are many or not, I just joined the discussion with my thoughts. All I care about are my earnings, and those are not even close to 100k, nor will they ever be. I started too late, I'm not ambitious enough and I can't shoot nearly enough of that boring generic stuff. I'd go mad if I tried (I'm talking about a few shoots/week). Lastly, I'm not talented enough. With a lot of luck I could be earnings that if I started back in 2005, when my current level of quality would stand out (now it doesn't) and when competition was low and amateurish. Lastly, I don't care about never earning over 100k. Money is not a priority in my life, nor is something that makes me happy. I just want to earn enough to travel more, eat good food and pay the bills.


 

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