MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: Mozam on November 14, 2012, 12:10
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Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum. I registered so I could post this question as I dont' think they'd allow it at Istock.
I've got a small illustration portfolio that's been earning $300-$600 a month consistently for about 4 years now. I do design full time and work on illustrations for iStock in my spare time, so I'm a hobbyist. But this past 2-3 months, my downloads have slowed to a crawl. This month is shaping up to be the worst since I became exclusive.
I see posts here and over at Istock of people complaining about a slow-down, but I was wondering if there's any definitive info about this anyplace. Does Istock release that kind of info? I'm trying to figure out if it's just the bad economy, or if it's because I'm not uploading new content consistently, or if there's a problem at Istock that's causing the slow down. Anybody know of any resources that aren't anecdotal? Thanks for any info!
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I've got 9000 exclusive images and my downloads have nearly stopped too. It's a complete disaster for me and other full time exclusives.
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From everything I've read, it's not just you, it's Istock. And it isn't just exclusives, but it hits them hardest because there's no other stock income to cushion the blow.
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Exclusive with over 5,000 photos.
Worst month in years...
The site is broken and they don't seem to be in any hurry of fixing it.
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Like death warmed over. Except for the 'warmed over' part.
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The decline stalled for me in October but has returned with a vengance this month. Holy smokes.
Has anyone noticed that it's been more than a week since Lobo last policed the Oct Sales Thread and that it's been allowed to run off topic? Seems kind of odd consider the tight ship they've been running.
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Like death warmed over. Except for the 'warmed over' part.
True. Everything points to the slow death of an apparently 'unshakable' industry leader. Their greed, impatience and complacency has caught up with them and they've been out-micro'd by Shutterstock. When good staff quietly exit stage-left, even in this economic climate, you know the game's up. There's nobody left with a name or a face to even take responsibility for the business's policies or actions. Chasing falling sales with ever-increasing prices, sneakily reducing commissions (and modifying the TOS to do so) can only hasten the inevitable __ it's not sustainable see. Exclusives need to book their place in the lifeboats as soon as economically practical.
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The decline stalled for me in October but has returned with a vengance this month. Holy smokes.
Feeling your pain brother! Started for me in September, but this month is really *.
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The worst of it is they seem not to give a sh*t either, I'm guessing this is some kind of constructive dismissal for all the exclusives. They're playing with fire if they think they can bite the hand that feeds.
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Dont worry, be happy.
It will meet expectations.
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Dont worry, be happy.
It will meet expectations.
Aim low then you're unlikely to miss.
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Old sayings: "Don't put all eggs in just one bakset!"
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503 error again.
Oddly enough, I couldn't get into Getty for over ten minutes earlier with an error message.
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Exclusive with over 5,000 photos.
Worst month in years...
The site is broken and they don't seem to be in any hurry of fixing it.
I've got 9000 exclusive images and my downloads have nearly stopped too. It's a complete disaster for me and other full time exclusives.
Another exclusive here with over 4500 files. Very bad month for me so far. It's been bad since the site changes early Sept.
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503 error again.
Oddly enough, I couldn't get into Getty for over ten minutes earlier with an error message.
Yes I thought it ironic that I'd just put the post about sales being down, went over there and refreshed the page only to get a 503 error.
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Now it's just white pages which several refreshes don't resolve.
Maybe someone tried to buy an image and the system couldn't cope.
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Now it's just white pages which several refreshes don't resolve.
Maybe someone tried to buy an image and the system couldn't cope.
Doesn't look as if it was one of mine. . . :)
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Now it's just white pages which several refreshes don't resolve.
Maybe someone tried to buy an image and the system couldn't cope.
Yep. I'm getting HTTP 500 Internal Server Error.
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503 error again.
Oddly enough, I couldn't get into Getty for over ten minutes earlier with an error message.
I noticed that too. Coincidence? Or something else? Perhaps the introduction of the cash payment system was actually a transfer or partial transfer of operations to the Getty systems. After all, Getty were already set up for cash and credit cards. Might also explain why nothing has been fixed. And why HQ have been ominously quiet. Perhaps the system is in transfer mode. Perhaps there is more significant news to come....
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503 error again.
Oddly enough, I couldn't get into Getty for over ten minutes earlier with an error message.
I noticed that too. Coincidence? Or something else? Perhaps the introduction of the cash payment system was actually a transfer or partial transfer of operations to the Getty systems. After all, Getty were already set up for cash and credit cards. Might also explain why nothing has been fixed. And why HQ have been ominously quiet. Perhaps the system is in transfer mode. Perhaps there is more significant news to come....
I would bet on it. My guess is Istock will be completely absorbed into Getty sometime in 2013. E+ is already going to Getty. I expect they will also absorb P+. Rest of collection shoved over to the PP.
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I just want to register a protest against the title of this thread. ;)
Only 27 hours after the last of my 2 dls yesterday, I just got an iStock download - M DB for $1.77. Whoopee. Drinks on me!
Rumours of the end of downloads are just slightly prescient.
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503 error again.
Oddly enough, I couldn't get into Getty for over ten minutes earlier with an error message.
I noticed that too. Coincidence? Or something else? Perhaps the introduction of the cash payment system was actually a transfer or partial transfer of operations to the Getty systems. After all, Getty were already set up for cash and credit cards. Might also explain why nothing has been fixed. And why HQ have been ominously quiet. Perhaps the system is in transfer mode. Perhaps there is more significant news to come....
I would bet on it. My guess is Istock will be completely absorbed into Getty sometime in 2013. E+ is already going to Getty. I expect they will also absorb P+. Rest of collection shoved over to the PP.
It's tempting to read something like that into it all, but why would they get rid of iStock? Presumably whether it's profitable or not for us, it must make some profit for them.
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503 error again.
Oddly enough, I couldn't get into Getty for over ten minutes earlier with an error message.
I noticed that too. Coincidence? Or something else? Perhaps the introduction of the cash payment system was actually a transfer or partial transfer of operations to the Getty systems. After all, Getty were already set up for cash and credit cards. Might also explain why nothing has been fixed. And why HQ have been ominously quiet. Perhaps the system is in transfer mode. Perhaps there is more significant news to come....
I would bet on it. My guess is Istock will be completely absorbed into Getty sometime in 2013. E+ is already going to Getty. I expect they will also absorb P+. Rest of collection shoved over to the PP.
I'm still a bit fuzzy on P+. Does marking an image for P+ stop it from being transferred to PP?
I can't see that I get any more for P+ than just a regular sale; are P+ images more expensive (to buyers?)
Will ALL P+ be transferred to Getty?
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...I'm still a bit fuzzy on P+. Does marking an image for P+ stop it from being transferred to PP?
I can't see that I get any more for P+ than just a regular sale; are P+ images more expensive (to buyers?)
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P+ files move to the PP (at least mine have). In the PP you get the same price for everything.
As far as moving P+ to Getty, there are Getty Images collections at Thinkstock (Stockbyte for example) , selling there for a fraction of the price you'd pay for the same item at gettimages.com. I don't really see how the image pack price at Thinkstock - $20 per image at the high end - isn't killing the sales of the same item for $350 at gettyimages. The license terms are different, but even if you did an EL at Thinkstock (and they don't publish the prices, just the 800 number to call for them) I would think it has to be cheaper.
So, they could move P+ to Getty, but I would not expect them to.
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...I'm still a bit fuzzy on P+. Does marking an image for P+ stop it from being transferred to PP?
I can't see that I get any more for P+ than just a regular sale; are P+ images more expensive (to buyers?)
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P+ files move to the PP (at least mine have). In the PP you get the same price for everything.
As far as moving P+ to Getty, there are Getty Images collections at Thinkstock (Stockbyte for example) , selling there for a fraction of the price you'd pay for the same item at gettimages.com. I don't really see how the image pack price at Thinkstock - $20 per image at the high end - isn't killing the sales of the same item for $350 at gettyimages. The license terms are different, but even if you did an EL at Thinkstock (and they don't publish the prices, just the 800 number to call for them) I would think it has to be cheaper.
So, they could move P+ to Getty, but I would not expect them to.
Bummer. Thought for a minute there that I might become a Getty Contributor. ;D ;D ;D
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Do you guys think that after they get the technical problems fixed, downloads will return to normal? My earnings are small potatoes compared to people who do microstock full time, but the few hundred dollars it's been earning every month is important to my budget : /
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It's hard to say. It hasn't been this bad for this long without any sensible action being taken, especially in what is for many people traditionally the best month of the year.
No one at HQ seems to gave a rat's *rse about the problems and two more contributor-facing employees have left silently.
Maybe there are bigger and better things ahead, or maybe the sky has really fallen in this time.
Whatever, they're not telling us.
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No one at HQ seems to gave a rat's *rse about the problems and two more contributor-facing employees have left silently.
I knew that Andrew has gone but who else left?
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No one at HQ seems to gave a rat's *rse about the problems and two more contributor-facing employees have left silently.
I knew that Andrew has gone but who else left?
MichaelJay, apparently, has left the Berlin office.
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No one at HQ seems to gave a rat's *rse about the problems and two more contributor-facing employees have left silently.
I knew that Andrew has gone but who else left?
MachaelJay, apparently, has left the Berlin office.
OK thanks. I didn't know that. It's like a whole era is over!!
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No one at HQ seems to gave a rat's *rse about the problems and two more contributor-facing employees have left silently.
I knew that Andrew has gone but who else left?
MachaelJay, apparently, has left the Berlin office.
OK thanks. I didn't know that. It's like a whole era is over!!
It might be just cost-cutting necessitated due to falling revenues. My own earnings from iStock peaked in March 2010 and are projected to be slightly less than half that this month. If you read the disgruntled reports in the monthly sales threads it is difficult to believe that overall revenues for iStock haven't also fallen. If so then it is natural for any business to let people go.
As it happens there are currently lots of opportunities at Shutterstock. There are 34 named positions available, in various locations around the world, plus they are also inviting general applications.
http://www.shutterstock.com/jobs.mhtml (http://www.shutterstock.com/jobs.mhtml)
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I knew that Andrew has gone but who else left?
MichaelJay, apparently, has left the Berlin office.
OK thanks. I didn't know that. It's like a whole era is over!!
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It might be just cost-cutting necessitated due to falling revenues. [/quote]
I think that's what we're worrying about, plus speculation as to whether honour and looking at themselves in the mirror made them resign.
As it happens there are currently lots of opportunities at Shutterstock. There are 34 named positions available, in various locations around the world, plus they are also inviting general applications.
[url]http://www.shutterstock.com/jobs.mhtml[/url] ([url]http://www.shutterstock.com/jobs.mhtml[/url])
And only 12 at iStock:
https://gettyimages-openhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.allpositions&company_id=15531&version=1 (https://gettyimages-openhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.allpositions&company_id=15531&version=1)
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And only 12 at iStock:
https://gettyimages-openhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.allpositions&company_id=15531&version=1 (https://gettyimages-openhire.silkroad.com/epostings/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.allpositions&company_id=15531&version=1)
Ugh __ no thanks! I wouldn't want to work in a place that has the smell of death about it.
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Wow. So they're actually looking for new programmers and developers? So maybe some heads are rolling after all? That's a little hopeful I guess. But maybe it's too late... :-\
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Wow. So they're actually looking for new programmers and developers? So maybe some heads are rolling after all? That's a little hopeful I guess. But maybe it's too late... :-\
It's possible they laid off the person responsible for updating the job listings...
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It's possible they laid off the person responsible for updating the job listings...
Have you seen the iStock forum over the last few hours? Seems like the normal heavy moderating isn't happening, as if nobody's around. There's a thread about the best match which would normally be squashed immediately and the Monthly Sales thread has got well off-topic too __ another no-no. Weird.
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Wow. So they're actually looking for new programmers and developers? So maybe some heads are rolling after all? That's a little hopeful I guess. But maybe it's too late... :-\
It's possible they laid off the person responsible for updating the job listings...
Very Good ;D
As for Michael and the Berlin office, I was under the impression there is no more Berlin office.
My sales stink, yesterday was 62% less than last year with 51% more images.
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It's possible they laid off the person responsible for updating the job listings...
Have you seen the iStock forum over the last few hours? Seems like the normal heavy moderating isn't happening, as if nobody's around. There's a thread about the best match which would normally be squashed immediately and the Monthly Sales thread has got well off-topic too __ another no-no. Weird.
There's a Best Match thread that has actually made it to two full pages. Those normally get hammered after one or two responses.
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Have you seen the iStock forum over the last few hours? Seems like the normal heavy moderating isn't happening, as if nobody's around. There's a thread about the best match which would normally be squashed immediately and the Monthly Sales thread has got well off-topic too __ another no-no. Weird.
When they get back Mini-Me is going to write down all the names in his naughty book :)
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When they get back Mini-Me is going to write down all the names in his naughty book :)
... assuming that Mini-Me is still employed there.
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Things were burbling along okay for me until the site changes in September. I had seen an uptick in August and had expected a strong second half of the year. But, since then, suddenly not good at all. Not quite as bad as some people seem to be reporting, but around two-thirds of what I'd conservatively projected to be earning these past two months.
So is it systemic, business-related and terminal or just a (big) site glitch? I don't know. Can't figure out how to tell.
Speculation welcome. It would distract me from having to change my underwear so much more often.
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Things were burbling along okay for me until the site changes in September. I had seen an uptick in August and had expected a strong second half of the year. But, since then, suddenly not good at all. Not quite as bad as some people seem to be reporting, but around two-thirds of what I'd conservatively projected to be earning these past two months.
So is it systemic, business-related and terminal or just a (big) site glitch? I don't know. Can't figure out how to tell.
Speculation welcome. It would distract me from having to change my underwear so much more often.
Similar here as far as being OK until September goes. Been pretty bad since then though. Autumn isn't normally my best time of the year but this time it's been much worse than I expected.
I don't know what they've done now, but I've had ONE DL so far today. Now I may not have the best, or the most commercial PF, but this is just getting silly!
As I've said before I'll take ebb and flow. That's to be expected. Somehow though I get the feeling more and more that the fact that we're there to make money too is just being ignored.
As to the whys and wherefores. I'm as much in the dark as anyone else. Some sort of input from management would be welcome. Is it a glitch, or is this what we need to expect from now on?
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MichaelJay, apparently, has left the Berlin office.
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Not really correct - he had to leave because there is NO Berlin office anymore ...
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MichaelJay, apparently, has left the Berlin office.
Not really correct - he had to leave because there is NO Berlin office anymore ...
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I did read speculation about that here, but hadn't noticed an announcement of that there. I guess it was discussed in the German language forum.
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MichaelJay, apparently, has left the Berlin office.
Not really correct - he had to leave because there is NO Berlin office anymore ...
I did read speculation about that here, but hadn't noticed an announcement of that there. I guess it was discussed in the German language forum.
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Yes, indeed... even the offical statement from iStock (in the German forum) is: there is still a telephone number for German speaking customers. But from other sources it was of course confirmed - after only a short time after a big opening the german office dissapeared very quiet...
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When they get back Mini-Me is going to write down all the names in his naughty book :)
... assuming that Mini-Me is still employed there.
Do you know something that we don't or is it just wishful thinking??
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When they get back Mini-Me is going to write down all the names in his naughty book :)
... assuming that Mini-Me is still employed there.
Do you know something that we don't or is it just wishful thinking??
No, I know nothing. I expect it's just yet another Canadian holiday or the iStock staff are all playing paper, scissors, stone or something. I mean the site is working like a dream so they might as well go off and enjoy themselves.
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So is it systemic, business-related and terminal or just a (big) site glitch? I don't know. Can't figure out how to tell.
Speculation welcome. It would distract me from having to change my underwear so much more often.
I draw comfort from the fact sjlocke seems to be reasonably happy, not too worried. And a few others, some have done very well in October and are not heard complaining in November.
It is clear iStock is able to distribute sales almost at will, and this has caught many of us off guard. So iStock's share of the proceeds have increased, and increased further with CC sales. Given such success (for iStock, not us), it's difficult to see our perceived decline as terminal. Maybe they really are doing well overall. Or perhaps they're engineering lower royalties for a lot of contributors, or sending traffic deliberately to Getty and TS.
It is also quite possible they have announcements in the pipeline that require desperate contributors to launch successfully. I guess we'll get a clearer picture of things in the next few months.
There you go, i hope that's useful speculation. :)
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No, I know nothing. I expect it's just yet another Canadian holiday or the iStock staff are all playing paper, scissors, stone or something. I mean the site is working like a dream so they might as well go off and enjoy themselves.
Rock, paper, scissors, lizards, Spock. (for those Big Bang fans) :D
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I am going to speculate, just from common sense.
As we know, 3.3 billion dollars have changed hands for Getty, it is unlikely just for a piece of junk. Just imagine if you spend 330,00 to buy a new house, will you do some house cleaning and fixing before moving in? Will you hire a new nanny if you can afford it? Will you dismiss the old housekeeper and doorman if you cannot afford it? If the door was not answered, it is most likely the new owner has not moved in and no one was inside. But the new owner will take over. It's hard to say if the new owner can maintain the house well though. I will give it sometime before I believe it's the end of the world.
Besides, where else can you go? SS? DT? FT? Have we heard complaints about slow sales everywhere?
Alamy? I have sales there every month, but I only get paid no more than 3 times a year. They are in no hurry to collect money and distribute it. I will starve to death if I wait for Alamy money. The whole year's sales in Alamy often is only a month's worth in IS.
Just a reality check for myself.
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I hope you are right, Freedom. This month, I've seen stretches of 3 and 4 days without a single download. My portfolio is tiny, but that hasn't happened for me in over 4 years. And usually October/November are my best months. I hate to contemplate dropping exclusive and uploading to other sites. Just the time/effort of researching how to go about that is a big barrier for me. :/
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I hope you are right, Freedom. This month, I've seen stretches of 3 and 4 days without a single download. My portfolio is tiny, but that hasn't happened for me in over 4 years. And usually October/November are my best months. I hate to contemplate dropping exclusive and uploading to other sites. Just the time/effort of researching how to go about that is a big barrier for me. :/
I am not sure if I am right. I don't have any inside information. Maybe the new owner is going to cancel the exclusive deal altogether. If your portfolio is tiny and you are not planning to be highly productive in the coming months, I don't see how your situation will be improved by going independent.
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After nine consecutive worst months since I started there in 06, October showed signs of life. November it has stopped dead again. And most of the sales I am getting are in the .09 to .22 range. Pathetic
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Not one dl today. This is beyond a joke.
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Not one dl today. This is beyond a joke.
I had one, just an xs though. :P
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The most ominous thing I have read in this thread is not that sales are so dismal. It's that the forums are being left to run amok unsupervised.
Add that to the many serious site problems and lack of interest in repairing them, the disinterest in customer and contributor relations, etc. and it paints a pretty complete picture.
This is exactly what is described by many employees in the corporate world when the company is folding. I don't imagine Getty is folding, but Istock seems to be on life support. Somebody's going to pull the plug.
If anyone asks contributors to build a thirty foot stage, we know its all over ;)
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The most ominous thing I have read in this thread is not that sales are so dismal. It's that the forums are being left to run amok unsupervised.
Add that to the many serious site problems and lack of interest in repairing them, the disinterest in customer and contributor relations, etc. and it paints a pretty complete picture.
Weird isn't it? Kelvin is still moderating lightly, with help from one or two Admins, but it is certainly abnormal to have a 78 post thread on the best match to not be locked.
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IS is obviously lack of clear leadership at this time. But it is not surprising. New owners must be in discussion with Getty/Klein people about the new directions. The future is uncertain. It could get better or worse.
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The most ominous thing I have read in this thread is not that sales are so dismal. It's that the forums are being left to run amok unsupervised.
Add that to the many serious site problems and lack of interest in repairing them, the disinterest in customer and contributor relations, etc. and it paints a pretty complete picture.
This is exactly what is described by many employees in the corporate world when the company is folding. I don't imagine Getty is folding, but Istock seems to be on life support. Somebody's going to pull the plug.
If anyone asks contributors to build a thirty foot stage, we know its all over ;)
Since Istock is on life support are your sales at SS double what they were 3 months ago. It appears to me that stock photo sales are tanking. If not istock sales would be pushed to the other sites and your year over year would not be down or even. Your sales would be growing because Jon at SS said stock photo demand is exploading. Exploding demand equals exploding sales and not a drop in sales year over year. Are your sales exploding?
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more contributor-facing employees have left silently.
It must be like quitting a cult. They probably mumble around woo-yaying to themselves.
This is exactly what is described by many employees in the corporate world when the company is folding. I don't imagine Getty is folding, but Istock seems to be on life support. Somebody's going to pull the plug.
They would not be moving so much other Getty content to the site if there was an intention to kill it. It is still a valuable brand for the moment. The intention is surely to use it to sell stuff. Just not so much original IS content.
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Not one dl today. This is beyond a joke.
Today has been much quieter than Mon-Thu at IS - but then Fridays are often quiet as it's the weekend already in Asia.
This week has been much better than the last few at IS (not great, but much, much better). Not sure if this means it's a swing to indie content or just Christmas-heavy downloads. Nearly half of yesterday's downloads were Christmas images.
It may be that the odd forum situation (I don't spend much time there, but had gone to look because someone elsewhere had mentioned things running amok with no hammering in sight) means some sort of change is coming. As long as they keep the site cobbled together enough to keep selling through Christmas...
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Not one dl today. This is beyond a joke.
Today has been much quieter than Mon-Thu at IS - but then Fridays are often quiet as it's the weekend already in Asia.
This week has been much better than the last few at IS (not great, but much, much better). Not sure if this means it's a swing to indie content or just Christmas-heavy downloads. Nearly half of yesterday's downloads were Christmas images.
It may be that the odd forum situation (I don't spend much time there, but had gone to look because someone elsewhere had mentioned things running amok with no hammering in sight) means some sort of change is coming. As long as they keep the site cobbled together enough to keep selling through Christmas...
I've been selling better than usual there this week. Looks like there might well be a swing in favour of independents. Like you say nothing brilliant buy much better than usual.
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The most ominous thing I have read in this thread is not that sales are so dismal. It's that the forums are being left to run amok unsupervised.
Add that to the many serious site problems and lack of interest in repairing them, the disinterest in customer and contributor relations, etc. and it paints a pretty complete picture.
This is exactly what is described by many employees in the corporate world when the company is folding. I don't imagine Getty is folding, but Istock seems to be on life support. Somebody's going to pull the plug.
If anyone asks contributors to build a thirty foot stage, we know its all over ;)
Since Istock is on life support are your sales at SS double what they were 3 months ago. It appears to me that stock photo sales are tanking. If not istock sales would be pushed to the other sites and your year over year would not be down or even. Your sales would be growing because Jon at SS said stock photo demand is exploading. Exploding demand equals exploding sales and not a drop in sales year over year. Are your sales exploding?
First off, sales at shutterstock have been booming for the last few months, and exploding the past few days. But no, all the lost Istock sales aren't going there. They are being spread around to multiple sites. If you want to look at a real explosion of sales, you should see what the partner program is doing. That is the main recipient of all the vanishing Istock sales.
Reread my whole post that you quoted. It was specifically NOT about lost sales anyway. It was about all the other signs of neglect on the site.
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Apparently they're having a marketing campaign, starting on Monday.
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1 (http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1)
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Apparently they're having a marketing campaign, starting on Monday.
[url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url] ([url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url])
Am I the only one who finds this sentence interesting:
We are asking our customers to use up those remaining credits in their accounts and download a few more files so that we can reach our goal of 50k extra files sold before December 13th.
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Apparently they're having a marketing campaign, starting on Monday.
[url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url] ([url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url])
Am I the only one who finds this sentence interesting:
We are asking our customers to use up those remaining credits in their accounts and download a few more files so that we can reach our goal of 50k extra files sold before December 13th.
I'm sure that's very significant. Scary, IYAM.
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Apparently they're having a marketing campaign, starting on Monday.
[url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url] ([url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url])
Am I the only one who finds this sentence interesting:
We are asking our customers to use up those remaining credits in their accounts and download a few more files so that we can reach our goal of 50k extra files sold before December 13th.
At face value, it's so they make the $50K donation, but I wonder how they calculate "extra" downloads to meet that target.
I could make all the downloads count by saying that my "normal" was zero. Extra doesn't say over and above what.
Certainly you could try to get buyers to purchase so you made your goals (so you wouldn't get fired) with the sweetener being the charitable donation (which probably comes from another budget account).
I don't understand having artists put up banners - they're not buying so "my downloads count" doesn't make much sense.
It's lovely that they're donating to charity, although if it's dependent on sales, the charities better hope the IT folks don't roll out any "fixes" or they'll see nothing at all but a 503 page...
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curious they have come up with this campaign after SS announce ;D
http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/shutterstock-to-announce-third-quarter-2012-earnings-release-on-nov-15th/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/shutterstock-com/shutterstock-to-announce-third-quarter-2012-earnings-release-on-nov-15th/)
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Apparently they're having a marketing campaign, starting on Monday.
[url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url] ([url]http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349075&page=1[/url])
Am I the only one who finds this sentence interesting:
We are asking our customers to use up those remaining credits in their accounts and download a few more files so that we can reach our goal of 50k extra files sold before December 13th.
I'm sure that's very significant. Scary, IYAM.
Despite my doom and gloom scenarios, there is the possibility that they are just switching from a credit based system to a cash based system.
@JoAnn, I think the charity is just a red herring.
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Maybe the charity should be the starving istock artists getting 15 to 20%
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Yes, this looks like a smokescreen for something else.
Who would launch a new marketing campaign a few days before Thanksgiving knowing that half the buyers will be taking perhaps several days off work? You would only do that if it was time critical for some other part of a plan.
There is no benefit to photographers. Fix the best match first.
There is no benefit to buyers. A simple message 'please spend more money' doesn't get people excited. 'Win an Ipod' gets them moving.
No, this looks like they want to bring the credit system to an end, probably from January, hence the timing and the need to get rid of unused credits.
Very likely that this is part of a transfer of systems and services to Getty. Neither Getty nor Thinkstock have credit systems. They also don't have zoom or ratings. Getty could save a lot of money by amalgamating systems, customers relations, marketing etc. This doesn't mean iStock will be closed down - istock's web site and data management can happen anywhere. It might mean that Calgary gets closed or cut down to size. A lot of money could be saved. There might be tax reasons for keeping the company registered in Canada with a small team of employees.
The fact that they can't fix the best match or ratings might mean that part of the equation is already under Getty control.
Pure speculation on my part. And not necessarily bad news. All acquisitors look for operational savings, and Getty doing the same just makes sense. Perhaps the istock web site would be more reliable if it was managed by the Getty IT team.
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.... and there's also the sudden rush of activity to get all the E+ files transferred to Getty, after doing nothing for many months. Perhaps that's also something they want completed by Jan 1st....
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Yes, this looks like a smokescreen for something else.
Who would launch a new marketing campaign a few days before Thanksgiving knowing that half the buyers will be taking perhaps several days off work? You would only do that if it was time critical for some other part of a plan.
There is no benefit to photographers. Fix the best match first.
There is no benefit to buyers. A simple message 'please spend more money' doesn't get people excited. 'Win an Ipod' gets them moving.
No, this looks like they want to bring the credit system to an end, probably from January, hence the timing and the need to get rid of unused credits.
Very likely that this is part of a transfer of systems and services to Getty. Neither Getty nor Thinkstock have credit systems. They also don't have zoom or ratings. Getty could save a lot of money by amalgamating systems, customers relations, marketing etc. This doesn't mean iStock will be closed down - istock's web site and data management can happen anywhere. It might mean that Calgary gets closed or cut down to size. A lot of money could be saved. There might be tax reasons for keeping the company registered in Canada with a small team of employees.
The fact that they can't fix the best match or ratings might mean that part of the equation is already under Getty control.
Pure speculation on my part. And not necessarily bad news. All acquisitors look for operational savings, and Getty doing the same just makes sense. Perhaps the istock web site would be more reliable if it was managed by the Getty IT team.
It's pure speculation but I couldn't agree more. iStock said awhile back that they were slowly integrating into the Getty system. Switching to an all cash basis makes sense if that integration is proceeding. As does the lack of a zoom, ratings, views, etc. My guess is that eventually iStock will basically become a 'collection' under the Getty banner.
In terms of sales, I'm having a good month, in particular, the past two weeks. Granted my portfolio is still small but as I bring more over from the other agencies I was with before going exclusive 4 months ago I'm seeing a steady increase in sales and income.
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It's lovely that they're donating to charity, although if it's dependent on sales, the charities better hope the IT folks don't roll out any "fixes" or they'll see nothing at all but a 503 page...
Funny you should say that.
"The iStock website will be down for scheduled maintenance from 23:00 PST on Friday November 16 to 0:00 PST on Saturday November 17"
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It's lovely that they're donating to charity, although if it's dependent on sales, the charities better hope the IT folks don't roll out any "fixes" or they'll see nothing at all but a 503 page...
Funny you should say that.
"The iStock website will be down for scheduled maintenance from 23:00 PST on Friday November 16 to 0:00 PST on Saturday November 17"
Well, that should render the site basically useless for the next week or so. Good thing (for those of us in the U.S.) that it's Thanksgiving next week and not much is expected (by me, at least) anyway.
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No, this looks like they want to bring the credit system to an end, probably from January, hence the timing and the need to get rid of unused credits.
It certainly looks that way, except that they're still selling credit bundles of all sizes, and saying that they last all year.
Even if they stop selling credit bundles on Monday, they still have to honour any which sold last week.
Oh, but they don't always honour their own terms & conditions or promises.
They must know that buyers will not "use up all their credits", for charity, an ipod or any other incentive (other than a closing down sale). Presumably only a small percentage of credit bundle sales (as opposed to subs where you have to use it or lose it) are bought 'on spec' or just because someone likes a picture. Many will be used on real jobs, which can't be known in advance.
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"At face value, it's so they make the $50K donation, but I wonder how they calculate "extra" downloads to meet that target."
They already have all the money from the credits. They don't need it to make the donation.
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"At face value, it's so they make the $50K donation, but I wonder how they calculate "extra" downloads to meet that target."
They already have all the money from the credits. They don't need it to make the donation.
I always forget that they already have the money for the credits. I'd assume that they'd calculate the "extra" as just that. Downloads over and above what is "normal". Whatever "normal" is. I can see a benefit in that the credits will be spent sooner this way, which presumably would mean that a regular buyer at least would need to get more credits. Although if they've already bought the images they needed for projects then they're not going to need them again.
On the face of it, it's difficult to see a real benefit to them / us, although the charity donation is obviously a good thing.
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Purely as a marketing drive, 'use up all your credits' makes no sense - there has to be a 'hidden agenda'.
"Buy more credits and we'll give 20% to charity" (without impacting on contributors) might bring in a bit more custom from a few switherers in small or one-person companies. (E.g. I once bought a set of fonts I didn't really need but which I had niggling in my brain because the company joined a wide-industry campaign to give a large percentage of the price to an international emergency relief appeal.) Again, that sort of thing probably only appeals to personal buyers. In companies where you have to get everything signed off, that's not going to be a big selling point.
I can't see many attempts to 'use up all our credits' in companies which need approval and sign-off for purchases will be very successful.
Besides, even charitable companies often have their own nominated charities and aren't moved to support others. I'm guessing the 'winning' charity won't be known until the end of the promotion, and am well aware that even some of my favourite charities are at best rated 0 and even disapproved of by other people. So 'not knowing' isn't an incentive for many either.
Wonder whose turn it was to come up with the 'Suggestion of the Week' this week?
I'm suspecting that contributor pledges to 'donate all earnings above last November's earnings' will result in a tiny donation.
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A lot of this adds up. Businesses become quiet before a big change.
IS is being band-aided. Pushing for credits to be used up. Moderators have been pretty silent in the forums. Getty was down for maintenance. Some key people have been shuffled or are gone.
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A lot of this adds up. Businesses become quiet before a big change.
IS is being band-aided. Pushing for credits to be used up. Moderators have been pretty silent in the forums. Getty was down for maintenance. Some key people have been shuffled or are gone.
maybe they are just taking too long to fix everything ;D
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A lot of this adds up. Businesses become quiet before a big change.
IS is being band-aided. Pushing for credits to be used up. Moderators have been pretty silent in the forums. Getty was down for maintenance. Some key people have been shuffled or are gone.
maybe they are just taking too long to fix everything ;D
Yes, they absolutely are taking way too long for a $200M+ revenue company to be fixing things.
I'm in IT so I understand the complexity and know even the smallest "oh that's simple" changes can cause massive problems if not thoroughly tested.
This is different. Their IT team seems to have one priority. Keep the site running. Which means they're focusing their time on something else other than IS.
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I agree that you get the feeling that they're just trying to stay alive instead of fixing and improving things. My hope is that they're currently working on a brand new site, written from scratch. So as a nice christmas present we'll get a brand new iStock that is bug free, super fast and with instant and reliable download/stats updates.
But I guess you shouldn't hope too much. :P
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Here is a different idea: what if instead of removing credits, they are going to introduce credits that can be used across all their different sites with one central account for the buyer?
Maybe not that likely if they are scared of customers seeing the same collection on all sites at different prices, but they could be coming up with more harmonized price systems as well.
Just an idea, probably not.
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I agree that you get the feeling that they're just trying to stay alive instead of fixing and improving things. My hope is that they're currently working on a brand new site, written from scratch. So as a nice christmas present we'll get a brand new iStock that is bug free, super fast and with instant and reliable download/stats updates.
But I guess you shouldn't hope too much. :P
Either a new site or more likely consolidating IS with GI.
The connector that moves Vetta, Agency, and now E+ content over to GI was probably designed as a data migration tool.
If this is what they're doing it will be interesting to see how they handle the rest of the images. Will they move Photo+ images also? Will only exclusive images get moved? Will some go to Getty Images and the rest to Thinkstock?
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I think Cobalt is spot on.
Credits are a source of profit for iStock, and have been incorporated in the latest redesign, they're unlikely to go away. What iStock is doing with the campaign is being nice to customers because credits are about to be redefined, their value will change. Customers could be upset by this come the announcement, but with this initiative the potential damage is limited. The new credit system will be presented as better value, so there should be fewer customers saying next year "I wish I hadn't bought that large bundle last year".
For contributors who have files at Getty or TS, this is neutral to good news. For those of us who are iStock only, this is neutral to bad. Getty wins, they will sell more at lower royalty.
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Here is a different idea: what if instead of removing credits, they are going to introduce credits that can be used across all their different sites with one central account for the buyer?
Maybe not that likely if they are scared of customers seeing the same collection on all sites at different prices, but they could be coming up with more harmonized price systems as well.
Just an idea, probably not.
A while back there was a questionnaire aimed at buyers based around this issue - whether they'd like credits to be usable across all Getty Family sites. The problem with this is when the same images are available at TS AND iS or iS AND Getty, at very different prices.
Unless they're going to merge them all into one mega site, and somehow eliminate duplicates as they do so. That would imply a degree of IT expertise. I doubt if this is going to be the scenario. But I bet they'd like to get all exclusive royalties down to 20%, by a side door if necessary. >:(
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I think Cobalt is spot on.
Credits are a source of profit for iStock, and have been incorporated in the latest redesign, they're unlikely to go away. What iStock is doing with the campaign is being nice to customers because credits are about to be redefined, their value will change. Customers could be upset by this come the announcement, but with this initiative the potential damage is limited. The new credit system will be presented as better value, so there should be fewer customers saying next year "I wish I hadn't bought that large bundle last year".
For contributors who have files at Getty or TS, this is neutral to good news. For those of us who are iStock only, this is neutral to bad. Getty wins, they will sell more at lower royalty.
This sounds very plausible.
My concern is that in the past two years or more, there has not been a single policy change or "big announcement" that has not worked against contributors interests.
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My guess: Unused credits are a liability on the books. iS already has the money (and likely spent it) but wants to reduce how many credits are hanging over their heads for the next site changes and/or future contributor payouts. How much liability is out there if every buyer held just 10 credits?
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20/11/2012 5:11 AM MST XSmall Regular $0.08 USD
Another great day at IStock
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Seeing top sellers at iStock mentioning that sales are all of sudden down with 30-50% since the september update is not very encouraging... :( I really hope it's because of the malfunctioning best match system and not because buyers are leaving (and now they're probably leaving anyway because they can't find what they're looking for with the broken best match...).
My sales would have been down with around 50% too, but a few of my new files have sold really well which has compensated for the loss. Lucky me.
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I have had no downloads on iStock over the past 6 days. I did get one EL on the 19th, but no downloads.
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20/11/2012 5:11 AM MST XSmall Regular $0.08 USD
Another great day at IStock
Oh, You are in the 0,08 $ club as well.
I thought that this joke is for me only ;D ;D ;D
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Cant complain too much about the IS sales but Lisa is right, the majority of sales are going elsewhere and not just to SS. In 7 years I have never seen such skyrocketting sales at DT, as now and on a daily basis.
Im sure the plan from the very start was to seriously weed out micro or at least make a dent in this industry and for better or worse? it looks as if they are somewhat succeeding.
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I have never seen such skyrocketting sales at DT, as now and on a daily basis.
Same here. I hope that this default search doesn't get changed for a while.
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I have never seen such skyrocketting sales at DT, as now and on a daily basis.
Same here. I hope that this default search doesn't get changed for a while.
Yup, so do I. Its not only because of the search though. DT, is clever, they pretty much stay out of the limelight of troubles plus the fact its a very good agency, well run, etc. The bosses also take a personal interest in their agency, not just moneywise but the way things are run. That can sometimes make one hell of a differance.
Yes. DT is on its way, BIG time.
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I have never seen such skyrocketting sales at DT, as now and on a daily basis.
Same here. I hope that this default search doesn't get changed for a while.
Yup, so do I. Its not only because of the search though. DT, is clever, they pretty much stay out of the limelight of troubles plus the fact its a very good agency, well run, etc. The bosses also take a personal interest in their agency, not just moneywise but the way things are run. That can sometimes make one hell of a differance.
Yes. DT is on its way, BIG time.
Yes, personally I feel more positive about DT than I do about any of the sites. It was mostly number 1 for me for months with a couple of badish months recently and now it's back at the top.
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I have never seen such skyrocketting sales at DT, as now and on a daily basis.
Same here. I hope that this default search doesn't get changed for a while.
[/
Yup, so do I. Its not only because of the search though. DT, is clever, they pretty much stay out of the limelight of troubles plus the fact its a very good agency, well run, etc. The bosses also take a personal interest in their agency, not just moneywise but the way things are run. That can sometimes make one hell of a differance.
Yes. DT is on its way, BIG time.
Yes, personally I feel more positive about DT than I do about any of the sites. It was mostly number 1 for me for months with a couple of badish months recently and now it's back at the top.
It's a vicious cycle I tellya, vicious >:(
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RE: OPs thread…
Could it be because all istock images are available cheeper on another (unofficial) site?
I am in the downward trend everyone is talking of, but since this new (unofficial) site, that has all of my images for sale, my IS sales have ground to a hault with such a jolt that I didnt make the withdrawal minimum this week (first time since… maybe ever!).
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...Yes. DT is on its way, BIG time.
DT is a solid number three/four and has been almost since the beginning. I don't see anything changing there although I'm happy for the good weeks when they come around and will put up with "subscription Wednesdays" when that happens.
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I dont get this, your sales plummet at IS, but you see an increase at DT and you are all ecstatic about it. In my books that doesnt make sense, in my books thats just balancing the books.
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sort of. If I sold more on DT I'd make more cos they pay better than IS. I'd be happy to see DT move up.
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I dont get this, your sales plummet at IS, but you see an increase at DT and you are all ecstatic about it. In my books that doesnt make sense, in my books thats just balancing the books.
Balancing the books beats all heck out of just losing money.
Not to mention that DT manages to keep their site running well and has continued to be more responsive than IS to contributor needs. Which is actually a huge understatement.
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Slight tangent, but I came upon this article from April about Calgary stock start ups (http://www.avenuecalgary.com/articles/photo-finish-calgarys-stock-photo-startups) and their fates (not just about iStock). Seems that merry-go-round keeps on...
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Slight tangent, but I came upon this article from April about Calgary stock start ups ([url]http://www.avenuecalgary.com/articles/photo-finish-calgarys-stock-photo-startups[/url]) and their fates (not just about iStock). Seems that merry-go-round keeps on...
Reading about EyeWire, it seems the writing is on the wall. Ouch!
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Slight tangent, but I came upon this article from April about Calgary stock start ups ([url]http://www.avenuecalgary.com/articles/photo-finish-calgarys-stock-photo-startups[/url]) and their fates (not just about iStock). Seems that merry-go-round keeps on...
Well written article which tells us unfortunately all about where the IS ship is heading.
“We always had a vision at Veer,” says Hutchinson of the difference. “I don’t believe Corbis has ever truly had one.”
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I dont get this, your sales plummet at IS, but you see an increase at DT and you are all ecstatic about it. In my books that doesnt make sense, in my books thats just balancing the books.
Well to be able to balance the books is an art in itself. In accountancy that means it evens out, etc. Thats great news.
Cheers and bottoms up! Heineken! ;D
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Thanks for the very interesting link JSnover! :D
I particularly liked the last quote:
"Not one to despair, Zumwalt says, “the soil here just keeps getting richer and richer. It’s got opportunity written all over it.”"
Hopefully those opportunities will ripple in our direction too.
With all the gloom and doom spouted around here (lately even 'assumed doom'), it's important to remember that many of us have built substantial and high quality portfolios, and that these are portable where new opportunities present themselves.
Of course things will evolve, they always do. The important thing is to keep producing our best work in the meantime. If we all go into the mental doldrums, there'll be no 'spark' to fire our creativity.
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I dont get this, your sales plummet at IS, but you see an increase at DT and you are all ecstatic about it. In my books that doesnt make sense, in my books thats just balancing the books.
Balancing the books beats all heck out of just losing money.
Not to mention that DT manages to keep their site running well and has continued to be more responsive than IS to contributor needs. Which is actually a huge understatement.
Fair enough
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I don't even have words to describe the current RC=0 debacle and the royalty percentages dropping down to 25% for everyone across the board, thus cutting some people's royalty percentage to nearly in half. And in all of the speculation that has been made about the long term viability of iStock exclusives to earn a decent income from iStock, I don’t think anyone ever fathomed the scenario where the company is so poorly managed that it just destroys itself slowly and painfully, whilst letting its massive archive of fantastic, high quality imagery get to a point where it is hardly a sellable/desirable commodity to photo buyers anymore because it becomes too difficult to simply find or inspect the product you are looking for once you find it.
It is amazing what we are witnessing now for the last 3 months, and even slowly over the last 6-8 months before that with the huge list of newly created site bugs every month. If you told anyone the story how a hugely successful, multimillion dollar internet company imploded itself by destroying their own web site and all its good will with buyers and sellers by being too greedy to reach into their own pockets to hire enough (or just good enough web programmers) to run and further develop the site so that it would continue to draw in millions of dollars of buyer revenue, nobody would even believe you.
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It's important to remember this quote I think:
"Nothing will change for them, just like the Hellman deal didn't change anything for them."
From this interview:
http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2199115/-nothing-will-change-for-our-contributors-says-getty-images-ceo (http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/2199115/-nothing-will-change-for-our-contributors-says-getty-images-ceo)
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too greedy to reach into their own pockets to hire enough (or just good enough web programmers)
Perhaps the people they need do not want IStockphoto on their CV these days.
I also wonder whether the poor reputation of IStock may encourage buyers to shop elsewhere. I think that people avoid brands which are no longer perceived as cool. And the high prices charged for over-supplied RF content may also be why some of the boutique agencies and collections elsewhere seem to enjoying a new dawn. Buyers getting used to higher prices again may actually benefit niche suppliers elsewhere. Meanwhile Shutterstock increasingly attracts everyone who just needs large amounts of easily affordable RF from a site which is reliable.
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Maybe the web developers who are job hunting for IT jobs in Calgary are aware of how problematic the old platform that the iStock site is built on is and don't want to have anything to do with it. The people working in IT probably don't care about the external reputation if the pay is good, but don't want the headache of trying to maintain a content management site riddled with bugs and that is barely being held together with band aids. Would you? Just knowing how slow the site runs and seeing how long the bug lists are, most qualified web developers would probably say no thanks.
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"Complexity kills."
- Ray Ozzie, Microsoft CTO 2005-2010
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I'm betting the IT folks are porting the old iStock site into the Getty servers and site design. This is the integration of iStock into Getty. Hence every time another chunk of iStock code moves there are unknown links that are broken. Every time the chunk fires up on the Getty scheme there has to be more unique side code written to keep the features (such as zoom) working for previous iStock users. Whatever is happening, it is a shame that so many features are continually broken.
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I'm betting the IT folks are porting the old iStock site into the Getty servers and site design. This is the integration of iStock into Getty. Hence every time another chunk of iStock code moves there are unknown links that are broken. Every time the chunk fires up on the Getty scheme there has to be more unique side code written to keep the features (such as zoom) working for previous iStock users. Whatever is happening, it is a shame that so many features are continually broken.
Folks, I think we have a winner in the speculation game. This makes the most sense of any hypothesis I've read.
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iStock code isn't "moving" over to Getty. Getty has a solid system that works, and they would import (copy) files and data from iStock's database, not the other way around. If the bridge between the two sites were to break, it wouldn't affect iStock at all, just as when Vetta was mirrored on Getty those images didn't disappear on iStock. This is assuming they have someone competent at the controls, though. ;)
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are ppl still uploading? is it that bad that you think the end is coming?
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are ppl still uploading? is it that bad that you think the end is coming?
I'm not uploading to IS at the moment, but only because the site and the handling of new images have been in such a mess since the September code changes. The end of iStock's internal code running the site isn't the end of iStock as a business, although if they don't manage things better it might end up that way!
I think Getty's trying to whittle away at costs and Stan's right that one of those moves is getting the iStock site running using Getty back end technologies so they can cut back or eliminate the Calgary IT staff. Given that there's been no real innovating at iStock in a while I can't see any loss of having Getty code running the iStock site - assuming they can do that without totally effing up sales and royalty tracking (in particular I don't think there's any Getty royalty calculation that parallels the godforsaken RC scheme that IS has, so if they're to keep royalties different at iStock, they do have to invent some code to get the Getty back end to do something other than multiply by .20 (the Getty royalty).
I think we can expect more breakage as they work through this process.
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I checked out my sales this morning and noticed that I have another case of the last 20 sales including each of the 9 years I've been submitting to iStock (which doesn't happen often). I assume a bit of fiddling trying to fix the best match has brought this about. Can sometimes be bad news for newer contributors if lots of older files are selling...
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Given that there's been no real innovating at iStock in a while I can't see any loss of having Getty code running the iStock site - assuming they can do that without totally effing up sales and royalty tracking.
One thing I would be concerned about is that it seems that a lot of/all (?) of the additions and disambiguations wihch have been added to the iStock CV won't be in the Getty CV, so the mappings will be poor.
I still wonder if, at this stage, the RC tracking has been 'worth it'. So many things keep breaking since then. Of course, if they are going to squeeze us further along the line, the balance will be in their favour. >:(
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if they are going to squeeze us further along the line
if ?
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if they are going to squeeze us further along the line
if ?
Quite. >:( :(
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Are you confident that all sales are being recorded ? Keeping in mind that nothing else works, stats and what not.
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Are you confident that all sales are being recorded ? Keeping in mind that nothing else works, stats and what not.
No, I'm not. There is nothing about iStock that currently inspires 'confidence'.
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Are you confident that all sales are being recorded ? Keeping in mind that nothing else works, stats and what not.
No, I'm not. There is nothing about iStock that currently inspires 'confidence'.
+1
e.g. they're claiming they already have 28,409 and counting extra RCs in their Make the Difference campaign.
Like was said at the end of September, maybe their 'expectations' were very low.
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Are you confident that all sales are being recorded ? Keeping in mind that nothing else works, stats and what not.
No, I'm not. There is nothing about iStock that currently inspires 'confidence'.
+1
+2
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Are you confident that all sales are being recorded ? Keeping in mind that nothing else works, stats and what not.
Definitely not. Especially when all posts in the forum regarding this are completely ignored. Every question like, "How do we know that the downloads are being accurately tracked when there are all these site bugs?" meets with complete silence. That instills lots of confidence. >:(
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Are you confident that all sales are being recorded ? Keeping in mind that nothing else works, stats and what not.
No, I'm not. There is nothing about iStock that currently inspires 'confidence'.
+1
e.g. they're claiming they already have 28,409 and counting extra RCs in their Make the Difference campaign.
Like was said at the end of September, maybe their 'expectations' were very low.
Interestingly, this is from the e-mail they sent out to accounts for non-contributors (I have a test account I made years ago). It is asking the buyers to download 5 images before the deadline. Somewhat simpler than all that cr*p about "extra" downloads...
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: