Author Topic: Anyone cancel exclusive contract yet? (Read 61745 times)

Rob Sylvan · « **Reply #125 on:** May 05, 2011, 07:09 »

Best wishes Jo Ann (you won't need luck).

rene · « **Reply #126 on:** May 05, 2011, 07:27 »

I have dropped video exclusivity long time ago. Never regret it. Only at Pond5 I earn twice I did at IS as exclusive.
For instance I'm still exclusive photographer but probably I will cancel it in few months. Like majority of us I don't like what happens at IS but my real problem is that I don't like others site neither.
Fotolia is even worst than IS! Dreamstime is amateurish. SS - never been fan of subscriptions. Others generate no enough money.

dhanford · « **Reply #127 on:** May 05, 2011, 09:20 »

This is BIG! This is HUGE! Good Luck JoAnn! - Rob's right, you won't need it! I've looked to your and Sean's comments together to help me access what was transpiring at IS and whether to be concerned or not. I'll bet many others do the same.
Now we have a divide. Sean is exclusive and one of the very top contributors, so without you representing the control group, brilliant, exclusive and with a slightly more attainable level, on the same team, it changes the whole game. WOW!

Zephyr · « **Reply #128 on:** May 05, 2011, 10:46 »

I read about every thread at Istock that matters and I have always valued your opinion JoAnn. I hope things work out better for you and please keep us informed if they do!

I bookmarked a few diamond/gold exclusives that dropped the crown back in Sept/Oct:

eyeidea
jamirae
dgilder

Only dgilder has his full portfolio at the other sites. I don't know the reasons why eyeidea and jamirae haven't uploaded all their files to the other sites in 6-7 months but it certainly makes me wonder.

I can buy the argument that its better to be independent if you start from the beginning as an independent. However, I'm not convinced that its great for long time IS exclusives. I also know of two good diamond illustrators that dropped the crown and came back pre-Sept 2010.

If or when my sales drop below a certain point, I will drop the crown but I don't have high expectations for independence. I think the best options, unfortunately, are outside of microstock.

adamkaz · « **Reply #129 on:** May 05, 2011, 10:56 »

Best to you JoAnne. I'll be keeping up with whatever you post about how things go.

FreeTransform · « **Reply #130 on:** May 05, 2011, 11:41 »

I'm still in the 30-day waiting period for my "photo" (i.e., raster illustration) exclusivity. If iStock doesn't come up with the "big plans for vectors" they promised by September (i.e., a year after the "big plans" were said to be coming "very shortly"), I will probably drop the vector crown as well. It will depend on the other things I have put in place and how they're doing. I'm also waiting to see how vector Vetta pans out, as well as Editorial for vector (supposed to be happening some time this spring.)

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #131 on:** May 05, 2011, 12:09 »

Thanks to all for the good wishes (and Rob, I'll take luck as it's always handy to have around

.

I think it does make a difference that I have some experience as an independent (albeit with a 2.5 year gap) . It really isn't hard to sell via multiple agencies and as many have said the additional workload is much less than 1x for each new site.

99% of my decision is business, but there is a portion that's emotional - I'm so angry at the disrespect and contempt and I hate being ignored

If I am busy with getting things organized on all the other sites, it'll keep my mind occupied on positive things.

BImages · « **Reply #132 on:** May 05, 2011, 12:16 »

Last year I had a 10% margin on my redeemed credit level, I was able to stay at the same. This year, IS Sales are pretty bad, so, if they don't lower their target for next year, I will probably go down one level.

I'm seriously thinking of dropping my crown in January if this happen, Istock is just becoming too unpredictable...

Expanding to others sites would stabilize things...

bunhill · « **Reply #133 on:** May 05, 2011, 12:36 »

Bon courage jsnover. Keep us up to date with your progress.

I miss reading your posts in the Critique Forum.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #134 on:** May 05, 2011, 13:13 »

Quote from: bunhill on May 05, 2011, 12:36

...I miss reading your posts in the Critique Forum.

Thanks. And I really miss making posts there too. I just couldn't see donating my time to an organization that didn't appear to value it AND was picking my pocket. I know the contributors valued it as many were kind enough to say so, but any sense that contributors were part of the iStock team just got vaporized on September 7th 2010.

contrastaddict · « **Reply #135 on:** May 05, 2011, 13:23 »

I have always valued your forum posts as well, I wish you luck!

halfshag · « **Reply #136 on:** May 05, 2011, 13:35 »

^^ I second that. Feels nice to be on the outside looking in

CurtPick · « **Reply #137 on:** May 05, 2011, 13:52 »

Good luck JoAnn. Am on the fence myself.

jamirae · « **Reply #138 on:** May 05, 2011, 15:05 »

Quote from: retrorocket on May 05, 2011, 10:46

I read about every thread at Istock that matters and I have always valued your opinion JoAnn. I hope things work out better for you and please keep us informed if they do!

I bookmarked a few diamond/gold exclusives that dropped the crown back in Sept/Oct:

eyeidea
jamirae
dgilder

Only dgilder has his full portfolio at the other sites. I don't know the reasons why eyeidea and jamirae haven't uploaded all their files to the other sites in 6-7 months but it certainly makes me wonder.

I can buy the argument that its better to be independent if you start from the beginning as an independent. However, I'm not convinced that its great for long time IS exclusives. I also know of two good diamond illustrators that dropped the crown and came back pre-Sept 2010.

If or when my sales drop below a certain point, I will drop the crown but I don't have high expectations for independence. I think the best options, unfortunately, are outside of microstock.

Hi.. I can't speak for eyeidea, but as for me, jamirae

, I just haven't had the time. I was pretty naive in that I started my stock career with iStock and never bothered to learn about metadata as I always just added keywords and descriptions either through the web interface or deepmeta. Now that I am submitting to other sites, I have to go through my portfolio and add all the metadata. Had I been doing that all along it would be a lot easier and I'd have a lot more images on the other sites. I work a fulltime job and am a single parent to two teenage boys so my plate is pretty full. But.. I do have to say that this past month, April, was the first time in a few years that I have not been able to request a check every week at iStock. that has added a new fire under me and you should start seeing more of my portfolio getting uploaded to the other sites I've contributed to.

Really, for those of you who think that uploading to numerous sites is a pain - if you have the metadata all set, it's really not that much more work. That was one of my biggest fears of going independent.

that's my story. feel free to ask me anything about my stock experiences - I'm pretty open and if I don't want to share something I'll tell you that too.

bunhill · « **Reply #139 on:** May 05, 2011, 15:17 »

As well as metadata, there is another issue to consider which relates to switching between agencies: color space. If you have got into the habit of preparing your images in Adobe RGB or even, lately, in ProPhoto then you are going to need to output new JPEGs for sites which use sRGB or which do not perform post inspection conversions.

And it may not be as simple as doing a straight conversion to sRGB since that may very well result in clipped shadows or highlights and images which would potentially fail inspection.

Risamay · « **Reply #140 on:** May 05, 2011, 16:04 »

Quote from: jsnover on May 04, 2011, 15:21

Well, I have 30 days to go, but I have just canceled exclusivity. Don't think any explanations of why are needed

Now I'm working on how much uploading I can get done in the next 30 days to be ready for my return to independence. The income will take a hit in the short term, but as noted above, it's taking a hit in the short term anyway!

Congratulations to you, JoAnn. May you be successful in the long term, as I hope everyone who has gone independent will be! WooYay!

Risamay · « **Reply #141 on:** May 05, 2011, 16:12 »

Quote from: jamirae on May 05, 2011, 15:05

I just haven't had the time. I was pretty naive in that I started my stock career with iStock and never bothered to learn about metadata as I always just added keywords and descriptions either through the web interface or deepmeta. Now that I am submitting to other sites, I have to go through my portfolio and add all the metadata. Had I been doing that all along it would be a lot easier and I'd have a lot more images on the other sites. I work a fulltime job ...

Really, for those of you who think that uploading to numerous sites is a pain - if you have the metadata all set, it's really not that much more work.

That's my story exact, too.

When I have more time, I'm also reprocessing a lot of my old files before submitting to the new agencies. My post-processing skills are much improved from when I started with iStock, and I'd like my new portfolios to reflect that. When I look through my old iStock port, much of it looks to me like crap. Some of the files I'll not put elsewhere at all.

Also, moving forward, I'm focusing my submissions on one RM agency in the hospitality sector that represents a small number of artists. The payouts are fewer and farther between, but (with luck) bigger. My personal view is that RF microstock is and will continue to be ever more saturated, so anything I can do to work with a smaller agency that gets big clients, the better for me in the long term. But that's just me. We'll see how it all pans out.

cathyslife · « **Reply #142 on:** May 05, 2011, 16:55 »

Quote from: retrorocket on May 05, 2011, 10:46

If or when my sales drop below a certain point, I will drop the crown but I don't have high expectations for independence. I think the best options, unfortunately, are outside of microstock.

I agree with you on that. Nothing wrong with keeping what one has going on microstock, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to find other avenues to make money with one's photography.

Risamay · « **Reply #143 on:** May 05, 2011, 17:28 »

Quote from: cclapper on May 05, 2011, 16:55

Quote from: retrorocket on May 05, 2011, 10:46
If or when my sales drop below a certain point, I will drop the crown but I don't have high expectations for independence. I think the best options, unfortunately, are outside of microstock.

I agree with you on that. Nothing wrong with keeping what one has going on microstock, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to find other avenues to make money with one's photography.

+1

RacePhoto · « **Reply #144 on:** May 05, 2011, 22:30 »

Best Wishes, hope it works out and levels up for the long run.

Take Notes! You might be able to answer the inevitable question that's been asked for as long as I've been coming here?

Quote from: jsnover on May 05, 2011, 12:09

Thanks to all for the good wishes (and Rob, I'll take luck as it's always handy to have around .

I think it does make a difference that I have some experience as an independent (albeit with a 2.5 year gap) . It really isn't hard to sell via multiple agencies and as many have said the additional workload is much less than 1x for each new site.

99% of my decision is business, but there is a portion that's emotional - I'm so angry at the disrespect and contempt and I hate being ignored If I am busy with getting things organized on all the other sites, it'll keep my mind occupied on positive things.

eyeidea · « **Reply #145 on:** May 06, 2011, 02:24 »

hello all,
this is a great thread, so glad to hear everyone expressing their opinions openly here. I left iStock photo exclusivity back in Sept.2010 when the new royalties were announced. It has been exciting getting out to new places. I am still exclusive with video but I'm just not sure how that will go. To be honest I'm a bit sad to see what has happened at iStock over the last year.

Good luck jsnover! Your work is incredible and I know you will do well!

michaeldb · « **Reply #146 on:** May 06, 2011, 13:37 »

Quote from: sasha on May 04, 2011, 22:30

i have no attachment to IS anymore-and i actually feel inspired again to create now that my creations won't be swallowed by a hungry fierce beast;

Happy to see another illustrator come over from the dark side. Good luck to you as an independent!

microstockphoto.co.uk · « **Reply #147 on:** May 06, 2011, 15:04 »

Quote from: eyeidea on May 06, 2011, 02:24

I am still exclusive with video but I'm just not sure how that will go.

I don't do video so I don't know directly, but I heard a lot of people praising Pond5 for video.

ShadySue · « **Reply #148 on:** May 08, 2011, 10:07 »

Just out of curiosity, did iStock contact any of those dropping the crown for a debriefing?
I remember once on here Lobo (as Pieman) saying that he regularly monitored those leaving exclusivity.
I'd have thought that if they were interested in maintaining the exclusivity program (tbh, I'm surprised they haven't just dropped it), they should get feedback on why people are leaving the program.

Mantis · « **Reply #149 on:** May 08, 2011, 10:18 »

Quote from: ShadySue on May 08, 2011, 10:07

Just out of curiosity, did iStock contact any of those dropping the crown for a debriefing?
I remember once on here Lobo (as Pieman) saying that he regularly monitored those leaving exclusivity.
I'd have thought that if they were interested in maintaining the exclusivity program (tbh, I'm surprised they haven't just dropped it), they should get feedback on why people are leaving the program.

^ This would be interesting to hear feedback. It could infer, depending on how one answers, that they are leaning to eliminating exclusivity. By taking (and creating) the first step for nons with their version of a plus program means they probably make more revenue per credit that way...less with exclusives...so why not dump them or get rid of the lions share of high paid exclusives? I mean, look at Joan leaving. Did they chat with her? She's a big player over there. What would happen if Sean left? Would they say "don't let the door hit you in the ass?" or beg him not to leave? This would, in my opinion, be a signal of their near future intentions.

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: Anyone cancel exclusive contract yet? (Read 61745 times)

Rob Sylvan

rene

dhanford

Zephyr

adamkaz

FreeTransform

Jo Ann Snover

BImages

bunhill

Jo Ann Snover

contrastaddict

halfshag

CurtPick

jamirae

bunhill

Risamay

Risamay

cathyslife

Risamay

RacePhoto

eyeidea

michaeldb

microstockphoto.co.uk

ShadySue

Mantis

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors