Author Topic: How do you feel about IStock? (Read 48071 times)

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #50 on:** December 07, 2011, 15:27 »

Quote from: eyeidea on December 07, 2011, 14:54

I left photo exclusive in the fall of 2010. Now I have decided to leave video exclusive. That is how I feel. iStock has to do what it has to do, so do I.

more info here: http://www.eyeidea.com/2011/12/06/expanding-stock-video-distribution/

Thanks for the link to your blog. Although I know a fair bit about iStock for photo and illustrations, I know nothing about video or audio. I did read your post in the video forum but wondered if you'd care to elaborate on what changed with video exclusivity that you found the business case no longer compelling. If it was related to the RC system for earning a royalty percentage - and that yours dropped, that certainly would make sense, but I wondered if there were other video factors in play?

Good luck with the transition

ibogdan · « **Reply #51 on:** December 08, 2011, 03:42 »

I'm finally pissed off!
Yesterday evening I sold a file for $2.3 and now the revenue of the sold image is gone.
The "latest download" tab is a mess, everytime I refresh it, it shows me another result.
I am not able to see my downloaded images between November 26th and December 1st even if the earnings went up.
I cannot trust them anymore and I'm very disappointed. iStock used to be one of my two favorites and now they are on the bottom of my list.

lthn · « **Reply #52 on:** December 08, 2011, 05:41 »

I just can't wait for Lobo to help me with my bags at walmart.

Michael Lancaster · « **Reply #53 on:** December 08, 2011, 07:02 »

Quote from: jsnover on December 07, 2011, 15:27

Quote from: eyeidea on December 07, 2011, 14:54
I left photo exclusive in the fall of 2010. Now I have decided to leave video exclusive. That is how I feel. iStock has to do what it has to do, so do I.

more info here: http://www.eyeidea.com/2011/12/06/expanding-stock-video-distribution/

Thanks for the link to your blog. Although I know a fair bit about iStock for photo and illustrations, I know nothing about video or audio. I did read your post in the video forum but wondered if you'd care to elaborate on what changed with video exclusivity that you found the business case no longer compelling. If it was related to the RC system for earning a royalty percentage - and that yours dropped, that certainly would make sense, but I wondered if there were other video factors in play?

Good luck with the transition

The long queue for getting online the footage plays a big role as well. Having to wait 2-3 months to get the movie online when competitors can get your movie in about 1-2 days is not so great.
Eyeidea has a strong portfolio and he will succeed quite from beginning(I just imagine how much simonkr could earn by going nonexclusive).

sodafish · « **Reply #54 on:** December 10, 2011, 09:16 »

After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #55 on:** December 10, 2011, 09:59 »

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16

After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

Fair enough. Seems like they are really starting to lose some exclusive base.

ShadySue · « **Reply #56 on:** December 10, 2011, 10:28 »

Quote from: sjlocke on December 10, 2011, 09:59

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16
After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

Fair enough. Seems like they are really starting to lose some exclusive base.

Seems like they don't actually care. For example, evidence on here from new independents is that they don't do any follow up survey of leaving exclusives to find out why they're leaving.
If they really valued the exclusive program, they'd be finding out why people leave and doing something about it.
Seems 'increased profitablity' is worth more to them than exclusive files.

lagereek · « **Reply #57 on:** December 10, 2011, 11:04 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 10, 2011, 10:28

Quote from: sjlocke on December 10, 2011, 09:59
Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16
After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

Fair enough. Seems like they are really starting to lose some exclusive base.
Seems like they don't actually care. For example, evidence on here from new independents is that they don't do any follow up survey of leaving exclusives to find out why they're leaving.
If they really valued the exclusive program, they'd be finding out why people leave and doing something about it.
Seems 'increased profitablity' is worth more to them than exclusive files.

Agreeing ! they dont care and why should they? its a flash in the pan and not the worry of the IS-admin but of Getty and Getty, still looks upon micro as a flee-market and low-class photographers, their baby is and have always been the RM house-collection.
Micro shooters come and go, the plebs of the industry. No big deal.
The fact that ultra-heavy members are leaving, what a pitty, so sad.

mindboggling.

gostwyck · « **Reply #58 on:** December 10, 2011, 11:44 »

Quote from: sjlocke on December 10, 2011, 09:59

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16
After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

Fair enough. Seems like they are really starting to lose some exclusive base.

Rebbecca's doing a fantastic job isn't she? Imagine how bad things could be without her taking charge of the situation. Phew!

ShadySue · « **Reply #59 on:** December 10, 2011, 11:49 »

Quote from: gostwyck on December 10, 2011, 11:44

Quote from: sjlocke on December 10, 2011, 09:59
Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16
After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

Fair enough. Seems like they are really starting to lose some exclusive base.

Rebbecca's doing a fantastic job isn't she? Imagine how bad things could be without her taking charge of the situation. Phew!

For all we know, she may well be doing extremely well at her job, i.e. fulfilling whatever brief she was given for istock.

lagereek · « **Reply #60 on:** December 10, 2011, 12:26 »

Exactly! she is doing exeptionally well, following all instructiuons, killing off the last remains, slaughtering anything in sight. Well, she had the balls for it, obviously KKthompson had not.
To think that just over a year back, I was actually thinking of exclusivity. Phew! Saw the light.

Zephyr · « **Reply #61 on:** December 10, 2011, 14:35 »

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16

After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

I dropped photo exclusivity in September. I think you'll be impressed by the volume of sales at SS but I remain unconvinced about dropping vector exclusivity. However, if other big time contributors start testing the waters things could change very fast. Interesting times for sure.

cobalt · « **Reply #62 on:** December 10, 2011, 20:05 »

The istock brand relies very heavily on the exclusive content as USP. Of course that includes the specialized Getty content like the Hulton archive and CSA.

All the other sites have more or less the same content and have to make their point on service or price.

It is not a good sign that longtime exclusives are dropping their second subject. Of course I did it as well, but I was mostly driven out by the unbearable waiting times for exclusive video.

If they brought that down to 2 weeks, I might consider going back as soon as I have enough experience. Of course istock will have to prove that they are the most successful at selling my videos, but in the next 18 months many things can happen.

FD · « **Reply #63 on:** December 10, 2011, 20:38 »

Quote from: eyeidea on December 07, 2011, 14:54

more info here: http://www.eyeidea.com/2011/12/06/expanding-stock-video-distribution/

51 ways to leave your lover

PS - what a great portfolio!

blamb · « **Reply #64 on:** December 11, 2011, 02:19 »

Quote from: retrorocket on December 10, 2011, 14:35

I dropped photo exclusivity in September. I think you'll be impressed by the volume of sales at SS but I remain unconvinced about dropping vector exclusivity. However, if other big time contributors start testing the waters things could change very fast. Interesting times for sure.

It'll depend on earnings. I dropped photo exclusivity the day the option became available but didn't do much with it until after the summer when the gaping hole that used to be my royalties came into view. Now I'm working hard at getting raster portfolios established and submitting nothing to istock. And that's nuts, 'cause I LOVED being exclusive. As a group, the vector artists had created a nice collection and I liked being a part of that. I really don't enjoy contributing to a bunch of sites and I'm annoyed that it came to this, but it would be foolish to sit still with the potential for further decline and royalty cuts. I'm going to hold on to vector exclusivity as long as it makes sense but current trends don't suggest much of a future for it.

Morphart · « **Reply #65 on:** December 11, 2011, 08:38 »

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16

After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

If you ask me you should be able to recover most of your revenue by simply submitting to Shutterstock. Add a few more decent agencies and you will get back what you had being exclusive, and maybe more.

sodafish · « **Reply #66 on:** December 12, 2011, 05:29 »

Quote from: Morphart on December 11, 2011, 08:38

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16
After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

If you ask me you should be able to recover most of your revenue by simply submitting to Shutterstock. Add a few more decent agencies and you will get back what you had being exclusive, and maybe more.

Somehow, I'm not convinced there are much more "decent" agencies besides IS and SS at the moment, speaking revenue wise. But since I was always IS exclusive, I'm an amateur on that front.
I guess all the recent bugs and the new "rules" at IS made it too uncomfortable for me. I want to have a more stable long time perspective. It will be interesting too see how SS can compensate and how it evolves. Looking forward to some new challenges.

Phadrea · « **Reply #67 on:** December 12, 2011, 07:26 »

They have even started getting extremely picky with audio files (Sound effects in my case). This has never happened before but they reject a file for having certain keywords that are associated with the file. I don't know what they are playing at but cutting down keywords (every other site encourage as many as possible to associate the sound) will decrease sales.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #68 on:** December 12, 2011, 09:15 »

Looks like some pretty high profile contributors are starting to abandon ship.

Like some of the others I look at this as a business and I will adjust it as needed.

I'm not overly comfortable with where Istock, or any of the other micro sites, are headed. When I went exclusive it was during the time when sales were strong and they seemed to highly value people. My sales are still reasonably strong but given all the bad sales reports I'm not expecting it to stay that way.

So I'm going to stay photo exclusive while I branch out into testing non-exclusive video, Illustration, and non-stock. I'm hoping this diversity will give me the leverage to make changes to my business while minimally impacting income.

helix7 · « **Reply #69 on:** December 12, 2011, 10:22 »

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16

...While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst...

Please do. I'd rather not see your stuff showing up at other agencies.

Quote from: sodafish on December 12, 2011, 05:29

Somehow, I'm not convinced there are much more "decent" agencies besides IS and SS at the moment, speaking revenue wise. But since I was always IS exclusive, I'm an amateur on that front...

I think the trouble you're going to find is that the agencies that are good for photo contributors aren't always good for vector contributors, and vice-versa. SS is of course an exception. Everyone tends to do well there. But there are some great sites that vector folks do well at that aren't known for being great for photographers. Testing the waters with photos isn't going to be a way of seeing how your vector work could do independently.

SNP · « **Reply #70 on:** December 12, 2011, 12:06 »

Quote from: Morphart on December 11, 2011, 08:38

Quote from: sodafish on December 10, 2011, 09:16
After 5 loyal years, I just ended my photo exclusivity.

While I truly hope I will still stay exclusive for vectors for a long time, I have to run my own business and want to be prepared for the worst. I'm simply too disappointed with their latest decisions at the moment, so I'm gonna test the waters for photo.

If you ask me you should be able to recover most of your revenue by simply submitting to Shutterstock. Add a few more decent agencies and you will get back what you had being exclusive, and maybe more.

how can you give this kind of general advice? you have 17 files on iStock and not many more with other agencies. just saying

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #71 on:** December 12, 2011, 15:30 »

Quote from: SNP on December 12, 2011, 12:06

how can you give this kind of general advice? you have 17 files on iStock and not many more with other agencies. just saying

3,200 on SS; 2,300 on FT; 3,200 on CanStock - by what yardstick is 3,200 "not many more" than 17?

SNP · « **Reply #72 on:** December 12, 2011, 17:30 »

JoAnn - what is your point? I apologize for missing the size of the portfolio on SS and DT...but you're just splitting hairs. My point is exactly the same. How can morphart give advice concerning lost IS income to SS gain-with JUST 17 files on iStock?

I certainly wish sodafish the best but I wouldn't expect income to be made up anytime soon.

pro@stockphotos · « **Reply #73 on:** December 12, 2011, 21:19 »

Quote from: SNP on December 12, 2011, 17:30

JoAnn - what is your point? I apologize for missing the size of the portfolio on SS and DT...but you're just splitting hairs. My point is exactly the same. How can morphart give advice concerning lost IS income to SS gain-with JUST 17 files on iStock?

I certainly wish sodafish the best but I wouldn't expect income to be made up anytime soon.

Look, Yuri reported an overall sales decline with losses on Istock that were not covered by increasing "low value subscpirition sales" on SS. You don't need to look at anyone else considering Yuri has the best statistical sample out there. If he is down, no "big guy/gal" is up. End of story.

Cnbc.com just had a story on DVD sales. They reported declining yearly sales in terms of $$$$ because of low value subscription sales that was lowing the price per use. Sure sounds like SS vs istock to me.

briciola · « **Reply #74 on:** December 12, 2011, 21:31 »

Quote from: SNP on December 12, 2011, 17:30

JoAnn - what is your point? I apologize for missing the size of the portfolio on SS and DT...but you're just splitting hairs. My point is exactly the same. How can morphart give advice concerning lost IS income to SS gain-with JUST 17 files on iStock?

I certainly wish sodafish the best but I wouldn't expect income to be made up anytime soon.

Sorry we can't all be as amazing as you...oh, didn't you get excluded from some Getty inclusion because (as JJ said) you didn't work hard enough? Let he who cast the first stone...

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How do you feel about IStock as a company?

Author Topic: How do you feel about IStock? (Read 48071 times)

Jo Ann Snover

ibogdan

lthn

Michael Lancaster

sodafish

Sean Locke Photography

ShadySue

lagereek

gostwyck

ShadySue

lagereek

Zephyr

cobalt

FD

blamb

Morphart

sodafish

Phadrea

PaulieWalnuts

helix7

SNP

Jo Ann Snover

SNP

pro@stockphotos

briciola

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