Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on February 13, 2013, 07:37

It seems to suggest that if you are exclusive, your iStock income is seven times higher than it would be if you were independent. That's a pretty impressive set of handcuffs (but is Sean in there, skewing the figures?)

I've never done it.  Never really knew what the poll was about, actually...

LOL! So now I can sit here working out how much more I would have made if I'd been exclusive for the last eight years! Lovely.

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Quote from: mattdixon on February 13, 2013, 08:46

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on February 13, 2013, 08:34

You could still add up the individual poll result for each contributor and get a rating for the overall income. Would still help put things in perspective about indie total vs exclusive ratings.

Or just total up the Agency figures showing up on the left (including iStock indy) and put a category at the top 'Agencies combined' with it's earning rating - treat the total like a separate Agency. Simples :-)

Yeah, that seems like a good solution.

Total using only the Top Tier Big 4? Or the Top and Middle tiers? I'm not sure I would do the whole list as I doubt many people submit to every agency. The Agency Combined needs to be somewhat representative of the market (albeit, the S&P and NASDAQ use different criteria for the stocks they select).

Leaf, to be sure I'm understand the meaning of the exclusive number (currently 222.1), it is still in a score of 100 = $500 a month? 

This means that the score 222.1 = 500 x 2.221 = $1,110.50 reported average income for an exclusive Istocker?

If so then the reported combined non-exclusive total (all the poll results with a number total excluding the exclusive Istock number) is 259.4 which = 500 x 2.594 = $1,297 reported average income for an independent?

correct.

It is a very broad average though.  The top limit of $2500 probably limits a lot of people, both on Shutterstock and for iStock exclusives (perhaps Fotolia as well for some).  Right now it looks like independents are earning a bit more, but in terms of how accurate the poll results are, they are essentially identical.  The poll is just meant to give a rough guide as to how the agencies stack up against each other.  The yearly microstock survey will give a better idea of how exclusive/non-exclusive compare.