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Author Topic: Cancelled Istock Exclusivity  (Read 6135 times)

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PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« on: July 13, 2015, 08:43 »
+28
I turned in the crown. I appreciate the opportunity but since I joined in 2007 things have changed. It's time to move on to be free to pursue other opportunities.

I know there are at least a few people here that also cancelled (Jo Ann Snover? Cobalt?). I read that the premium stuff like E+/Vetta still stays at Gettyimages.com. But I was offered a separate Getty contract through Istock so any idea what happens to that?


« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2015, 08:56 »
+3
Welcome to the fray!

Somewhere I remember reading a post recently, about this stays here, that goes, this won't change... But I can't remember where it was.

« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2015, 10:07 »
+17
Welcome to indielife!

It will take a while to understand what sells best where and to get to know the different agencies, but I am sure you will be glad you did it, because you have so many more options and if one agency upsets you, just forget about them for a while and focus on another one.

If you have a seperate contract to getty, then this doesnt get cancelled.  And since Getty takes exclusive images, you can continue to build a portfolio there if you want to. It is a macro agency, unless you get a contract with offset, corbis, or stocksy or one of the many smaller macro houses it is probably good to have at least one macro agency in your port. And I am sure the marketing for Getty itself will always be a priority.

If you havent done video yet, look into it because it is a new market with average downloads of 18-22 dollars per file.

If you upload to fotolia/adobe, try adding some exclusive images to see if it will help portfolio visibility.

There are new smartphone trends/ agencies, so have a look at the smartphone apps (fotolia/eyeem) and maybe also specialist agencies like stockfood, spacesimages if you have content that would work for them. Most of all, dont just look at the big three or four micro agencies, there are many, many smaller agencies out there that can add significant income to your portfolio.

It all takes time, just keep uploading, experiment and ask around your peers what works for them.

Everybody will have a different mix of agencies and themes that bring an income, but that is the beauty of indielife, whatever you produce, there will be a place for it somewhere. There is no bad photo, just the wrong environment.

The other agencies are no angels, so you might run into problems as well, but nearly everywhere you will find more modern interfaces and upload systems than on istock.

I had a great time with istock and certainly being exclusive was good for me for many years, but I dont regret being indie now, the freedom I have, I will never give it up again.

Exclusive images yes, artists exclusivity never again.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2015, 10:24 by cobalt »

Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2015, 10:56 »
+2
^^^a very thoughtful and informative post.  :)

« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2015, 11:20 »
0
Welcome to indielife!

It will take a while to understand what sells best where and to get to know the different agencies, but I am sure you will be glad you did it, because you have so many more options and if one agency upsets you, just forget about them for a while and focus on another one.

If you have a seperate contract to getty, then this doesnt get cancelled.  And since Getty takes exclusive images, you can continue to build a portfolio there if you want to. It is a macro agency, unless you get a contract with offset, corbis, or stocksy or one of the many smaller macro houses it is probably good to have at least one macro agency in your port. And I am sure the marketing for Getty itself will always be a priority.

If you havent done video yet, look into it because it is a new market with average downloads of 18-22 dollars per file.

If you upload to fotolia/adobe, try adding some exclusive images to see if it will help portfolio visibility.

There are new smartphone trends/ agencies, so have a look at the smartphone apps (fotolia/eyeem) and maybe also specialist agencies like stockfood, spacesimages if you have content that would work for them. Most of all, dont just look at the big three or four micro agencies, there are many, many smaller agencies out there that can add significant income to your portfolio.

It all takes time, just keep uploading, experiment and ask around your peers what works for them.

Everybody will have a different mix of agencies and themes that bring an income, but that is the beauty of indielife, whatever you produce, there will be a place for it somewhere. There is no bad photo, just the wrong environment.

The other agencies are no angels, so you might run into problems as well, but nearly everywhere you will find more modern interfaces and upload systems than on istock.

I had a great time with istock and certainly being exclusive was good for me for many years, but I dont regret being indie now, the freedom I have, I will never give it up again.

Exclusive images yes, artists exclusivity never again.
Maybe you haven't read Paulie's previous posts but I don't think he's going to be uploading to SS or Fotolia or the other micropayment sites.

« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2015, 11:31 »
0

Maybe you haven't read Paulie's previous posts but I don't think he's going to be uploading to SS or Fotolia or the other micropayment sites.
[/quote]

So is he deleting his portfolio on istock as well?


« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2015, 11:34 »
0
Don't know what his plans are for that, just saying he doesn't seem to hold SS or Fotolia or 123RF in very high esteem.

« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2015, 11:35 »
+2
Good time to sing the following.. https://youtu.be/d6c70hPa8iU  :D

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2015, 11:53 »
0
Welcome to the fray!

Somewhere I remember reading a post recently, about this stays here, that goes, this won't change... But I can't remember where it was.

Thanks Sean!

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2015, 11:56 »
+1
Welcome to indielife!

It will take a while to understand what sells best where and to get to know the different agencies, but I am sure you will be glad you did it, because you have so many more options and if one agency upsets you, just forget about them for a while and focus on another one.

If you have a seperate contract to getty, then this doesnt get cancelled. And since Getty takes exclusive images, you can continue to build a portfolio there if you want to. It is a macro agency, unless you get a contract with offset, corbis, or stocksy or one of the many smaller macro houses it is probably good to have at least one macro agency in your port. And I am sure the marketing for Getty itself will always be a priority.

If you havent done video yet, look into it because it is a new market with average downloads of 18-22 dollars per file.

If you upload to fotolia/adobe, try adding some exclusive images to see if it will help portfolio visibility.

There are new smartphone trends/ agencies, so have a look at the smartphone apps (fotolia/eyeem) and maybe also specialist agencies like stockfood, spacesimages if you have content that would work for them. Most of all, dont just look at the big three or four micro agencies, there are many, many smaller agencies out there that can add significant income to your portfolio.

It all takes time, just keep uploading, experiment and ask around your peers what works for them.

Everybody will have a different mix of agencies and themes that bring an income, but that is the beauty of indielife, whatever you produce, there will be a place for it somewhere. There is no bad photo, just the wrong environment.

The other agencies are no angels, so you might run into problems as well, but nearly everywhere you will find more modern interfaces and upload systems than on istock.

I had a great time with istock and certainly being exclusive was good for me for many years, but I dont regret being indie now, the freedom I have, I will never give it up again.

Exclusive images yes, artists exclusivity never again.

Thanks for all of the info! My contract was separate but I was invited through Istock's Getty program so I didn't apply independently to Getty. I'm guessing this Istock/Getty contract will be cancelled. Dd you have the same type of contract or a Getty contract independent of Istock?

« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2015, 12:03 »
+1
I had a contract with getty through the getty invite program in 2006/7? and that contract didnt end when i ended my istock exclusivity. there is also nothing in the contract that says it terminates in relation to istock.




PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2015, 12:13 »
+3

Maybe you haven't read Paulie's previous posts but I don't think he's going to be uploading to SS or Fotolia or the other micropayment sites.

So is he deleting his portfolio on istock as well?
[/quote]

I deleted probably 3/4 of my stuff at Istock. Not out of spite or anything but I'm focusing on producing new higher value images and I can't charge hundreds of dollars for an image on my site that's on Istock or elsewhere for a few dollars. The images I have left there are more generic older stuff and some of it is still mirrored at Getty so I may leave it there for now. I may also use some of those older images to experiment at other sites but it's not a priority at the moment.

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #12 on: July 13, 2015, 12:14 »
0
I had a contract with getty through the getty invite program in 2006/7? and that contract didnt end when i ended my istock exclusivity. there is also nothing in the contract that says it terminates in relation to istock.

Interesting. Do you still submit to it?

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2015, 12:17 »
+11
Don't know what his plans are for that, just saying he doesn't seem to hold SS or Fotolia or 123RF in very high esteem.

It's not that I don't hold them in high esteem. They're businesses and like any business they're going to do whatever it takes to grow revenue and profits. Totally understand that and it's my/our choice to support it or not. I'm focusing on producing higher end work and micro just isn't a fit for most of it. And I think prices have gotten way too low in general so I'm changing my business and doing something about it.

« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2015, 12:20 »
+3
Don't know what his plans are for that, just saying he doesn't seem to hold SS or Fotolia or 123RF in very high esteem.

It's not that I don't hold them in high esteem. They're businesses and like any business they're going to do whatever it takes to grow revenue and profits. Totally understand that and it's my/our choice to support it or not. I'm focusing on producing higher end work and micro just isn't a fit for most of it. And I think prices have gotten way too low in general so I'm changing my business and doing something about it.

It seems like this has been coming for a while.  Congrats on making the move.   Wish you the best in your new strategy.   Hope you will keep us posted of your progress.

« Reply #15 on: July 13, 2015, 12:26 »
0
I had a contract with getty through the getty invite program in 2006/7? and that contract didnt end when i ended my istock exclusivity. there is also nothing in the contract that says it terminates in relation to istock.

Interesting. Do you still submit to it?

No, I terminated the contract after the getty/microsoft deal, I was very disappointed the way it was handled. With over 1.3 million free downloads of my files I expected a professional reaction to solve the problem together not what was done instead.

I now have files on getty via eyeem, but these are simple smartphone files, usually snapshots with a filter, I dont care too much what happens to them.

But eyeem is my partner for them, who they work with for distribution is their own decision. Since they are a German agency, if there was an issue it would fall under German copyright law which is very strict.

And my main interest is their own smartphone marketplace that they are just beginning to build this year.

But if you want to go mostly macro, then probably keeping the contract is worth it, because getty also distributes your files via corbis,masterfile etc...there are many indies with a getty contract.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2015, 12:33 by cobalt »

« Reply #16 on: July 13, 2015, 12:37 »
+2
Don't know what his plans are for that, just saying he doesn't seem to hold SS or Fotolia or 123RF in very high esteem.

It's not that I don't hold them in high esteem. They're businesses and like any business they're going to do whatever it takes to grow revenue and profits. Totally understand that and it's my/our choice to support it or not. I'm focusing on producing higher end work and micro just isn't a fit for most of it. And I think prices have gotten way too low in general so I'm changing my business and doing something about it.
Fair enough.  I think that makes sense, good luck with it.

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2015, 20:15 »
+1
I had a contract with getty through the getty invite program in 2006/7? and that contract didnt end when i ended my istock exclusivity. there is also nothing in the contract that says it terminates in relation to istock.

Interesting. Do you still submit to it?

No, I terminated the contract after the getty/microsoft deal, I was very disappointed the way it was handled. With over 1.3 million free downloads of my files I expected a professional reaction to solve the problem together not what was done instead.

I now have files on getty via eyeem, but these are simple smartphone files, usually snapshots with a filter, I dont care too much what happens to them.

But eyeem is my partner for them, who they work with for distribution is their own decision. Since they are a German agency, if there was an issue it would fall under German copyright law which is very strict.

And my main interest is their own smartphone marketplace that they are just beginning to build this year.

But if you want to go mostly macro, then probably keeping the contract is worth it, because getty also distributes your files via corbis,masterfile etc...there are many indies with a getty contract.

Good to know thanks!

« Reply #18 on: July 14, 2015, 03:56 »
+5
I read that the premium stuff like E+/Vetta still stays at Gettyimages.com

Just to be sure you understand this: As far as I know this is not how it is planned to be. It is more a technical issue they couldn't get solved (yet), so don't be surprised if at some point your images disappear from Getty. I had to ask for them to be removed (since I wanted to submit some of them elsewhere), though.

What was "semi-officially" said is that images don't change collections (probably also due to technical issues). So your past images will remain in the Signature collection and 3 credits will be charged to the customers (yes, with the claim of being exclusive... :P ) but you will only receive the independent royalty of 15-20% depending on your level.

I will be curious to know what happens with iStock Subs and Partner Program payments. As I have read between the lines from others, I think you will only get paid non-exclusive royalties as soon as the crown is gone, even though the sales still happen during your exclusivity. So expect a lot of $0.28 to be paid towards your account in August for the July PP and subs sales.

Good luck and all the best. It's a tough market.  ;)

« Reply #19 on: July 14, 2015, 05:26 »
+3
Everything Michael says is correct. I also abandoned exclusivity some months ago. Automatically all subs (even if sold when you still were exclusive will get the non exclusive rate). Now the opposite is also true if you ever want to recover the crown. The higher price of your now non exclusive images will make the transition to non exclusive not so rough and the images in Getty will also help. Your images will eventually get mirrored to Thinkstock too if technicalities allow it.

I wish you good luck. I went back to exclusivity because independence didn't work out for me. Although the revenue you get is similar if you are in many agencies ( I was in the top 11 ) there is more work involved supplying images, collecting and checking the money, deal with bugs at 11 site instead of 1. At the end I calculated it was same revenue for at least double the work. But it has some advantages too. Your portfolio is much more visible because your best match images are different at every outlet, acceptance rate was never a problem for me as I was at 95%+ on every site but some files that didn't get through for whatever reason at one spot did so at the others many times.

I think that to make a living becoming independent now (where you don't have the advantage of good search position of your portfolio like long time independents ) is too hard if you are not in macro or/and medium stock options like Offset, Stocksy, etc. If you produce now high quality work I would definitely not feed those images to the microstock beast.

I read that the premium stuff like E+/Vetta still stays at Gettyimages.com

Just to be sure you understand this: As far as I know this is not how it is planned to be. It is more a technical issue they couldn't get solved (yet), so don't be surprised if at some point your images disappear from Getty. I had to ask for them to be removed (since I wanted to submit some of them elsewhere), though.

What was "semi-officially" said is that images don't change collections (probably also due to technical issues). So your past images will remain in the Signature collection and 3 credits will be charged to the customers (yes, with the claim of being exclusive... :P ) but you will only receive the independent royalty of 15-20% depending on your level.

I will be curious to know what happens with iStock Subs and Partner Program payments. As I have read between the lines from others, I think you will only get paid non-exclusive royalties as soon as the crown is gone, even though the sales still happen during your exclusivity. So expect a lot of $0.28 to be paid towards your account in August for the July PP and subs sales.

Good luck and all the best. It's a tough market.  ;)

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #20 on: July 14, 2015, 06:08 »
+1
I read that the premium stuff like E+/Vetta still stays at Gettyimages.com


Just to be sure you understand this: As far as I know this is not how it is planned to be. It is more a technical issue they couldn't get solved (yet), so don't be surprised if at some point your images disappear from Getty. I had to ask for them to be removed (since I wanted to submit some of them elsewhere), though.

What was "semi-officially" said is that images don't change collections (probably also due to technical issues). So your past images will remain in the Signature collection and 3 credits will be charged to the customers (yes, with the claim of being exclusive... :P ) but you will only receive the independent royalty of 15-20% depending on your level.

I will be curious to know what happens with iStock Subs and Partner Program payments. As I have read between the lines from others, I think you will only get paid non-exclusive royalties as soon as the crown is gone, even though the sales still happen during your exclusivity. So expect a lot of $0.28 to be paid towards your account in August for the July PP and subs sales.

Good luck and all the best. It's a tough market.  ;)


Thanks! Yeah that's kind of what I figured. There's more info here but I'm still not clear on a few things. http://istockfaq.gettyimages.com/what-happens-to-my-content-when-i-cancel-my-exclusivity/
« Last Edit: July 14, 2015, 06:24 by PaulieWalnuts »

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #21 on: July 14, 2015, 06:21 »
+2
I read that the premium stuff like E+/Vetta still stays at Gettyimages.com

Just to be sure you understand this: As far as I know this is not how it is planned to be. It is more a technical issue they couldn't get solved (yet), so don't be surprised if at some point your images disappear from Getty. I had to ask for them to be removed (since I wanted to submit some of them elsewhere), though.

What was "semi-officially" said is that images don't change collections (probably also due to technical issues). So your past images will remain in the Signature collection and 3 credits will be charged to the customers (yes, with the claim of being exclusive... :P ) but you will only receive the independent royalty of 15-20% depending on your level.

I will be curious to know what happens with iStock Subs and Partner Program payments. As I have read between the lines from others, I think you will only get paid non-exclusive royalties as soon as the crown is gone, even though the sales still happen during your exclusivity. So expect a lot of $0.28 to be paid towards your account in August for the July PP and subs sales.

Good luck and all the best. It's a tough market.  ;)
Everything Michael says is correct. I also abandoned exclusivity some months ago. Automatically all subs (even if sold when you still were exclusive will get the non exclusive rate). Now the opposite is also true if you ever want to recover the crown. The higher price of your now non exclusive images will make the transition to non exclusive not so rough and the images in Getty will also help. Your images will eventually get mirrored to Thinkstock too if technicalities allow it.

I wish you good luck. I went back to exclusivity because independence didn't work out for me. Although the revenue you get is similar if you are in many agencies ( I was in the top 11 ) there is more work involved supplying images, collecting and checking the money, deal with bugs at 11 site instead of 1. At the end I calculated it was same revenue for at least double the work. But it has some advantages too. Your portfolio is much more visible because your best match images are different at every outlet, acceptance rate was never a problem for me as I was at 95%+ on every site but some files that didn't get through for whatever reason at one spot did so at the others many times.

I think that to make a living becoming independent now (where you don't have the advantage of good search position of your portfolio like long time independents ) is too hard if you are not in macro or/and medium stock options like Offset, Stocksy, etc. If you produce now high quality work I would definitely not feed those images to the microstock beast.

Thanks and totally get what you're saying. I'm sure exclusivity still makes sense for plenty of people. There are a lot of opportunities out there and I've reached a point where the restrictions outweigh the benefits.


 

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