Frankly I'd be thrilled if all those buyers immediately gave up on IS and went to SS, DT and FT.  But unless the iStock management truly wants to throw money away, they have a plan for keeping those buyers in some capacity. 

I wonder.  I assume that if such a plan exists, they somehow expect to hold on to the buyers without holding on to the content that they buyers have been purchasing.  Because unless iStock stops screwing its suppliers, there's going to be less and less Getty-supplied content for them to spend their money on.

Well I can say if they choose to cut me to 25% I'm good and gone as an Exclusive! Terrible decision to take a key person and spread their work around. This is what makes companies fail.
No, I don't think iStock will die over night but this year will say everything.

I think we can all agree that JJ and Kelly leaving does not bode well for any iStock exclusive. I don't know about the rest of you exclusives, but holy sh*t...what now?

In particular, it suggests to me that decisions about content - what's accepted, where it goes, etc. - are all moving to Getty. If I had to make a guess, I'd say that iStock will become an input portal for Getty Images "crowdsourced" content. Down to Thinkstock/photos.com or up to Getty (Vetta/Agency).

I've been saying for ages that one of the most important things about iStock is its inspection system, which could provide "triage" for Getty, allowing them to direct content to their main collection or to TS or iS depending on the inspector's judgement.

JJRD lay off is really bad news. Istockphoto owes much to him. Worst of all: JJRD is a photographer and an artist; I won't be surprised if his replacement heading the content department is a marketing specialist, a seller. It has happened often lately in the whole culture industry and when, with time, these kind of changess backfire often is too late to ammend it.

Quote from: SNP on January 19, 2012, 15:43

I think we can all agree that JJ and Kelly leaving does not bode well for any iStock exclusive. I don't know about the rest of you exclusives, but holy sh*t...what now?

Erm ... that's a really tricky one ... let me think about it for a nano-second or two and see if I can come up with any solutions.

LOL... you two should just go and get married!

this is true, unfortunately. but I think we're about to see iStock get swallowed up by the Getty machine. the question is whether to go with the flow or walk the plank and hope the sharks are friendly

That's what it sounds like, since all of the jobs lost were on the istock side. The "redundancies" all seem to favor the Getty team, so any replacement to JJRD would come from Getty. istock is being eaten.

Quote from: SNP on January 19, 2012, 15:43

I think we can all agree that JJ and Kelly leaving does not bode well for any iStock exclusive. I don't know about the rest of you exclusives, but holy sh*t...what now?

Erm ... that's a really tricky one ... let me think about it for a nano-second or two and see if I can come up with any solutions.

I know this one!  Well, not really a solution but they do say "Every cloud has a silver lining" 

Quote from: gostwyck on January 19, 2012, 15:08

No, sorry, but this really is the beginning of the end of Istock as a major player n microstock.

I'm pointing out that there are thousands of people around the world right now making purchases on the site and oblivious to what's happening behind the scenes.   And it's even possible that iStock could introduce some changes that make these buyers want to stick around for the foreseeable future.

Just because buyers are buying doesnt mean that their current situation is 'sustainable' ie. profitable. Buyers have been buying all the time in 2011 but that didnt stop 2011 from being a lot of contributors worst year ever which was a strong signal for the arrival of the events which we are currently witnessing.

You also mentioned that you yourself are seeing an increase in sales, i was too until the begining of the week when it all completely went dead. That's best match working its magic once again.

One thing i'd like to know is exactly why Kelly and JJRD left, was it money orientated or were they pushed out because they were the last major obstacles to remove so that Getty could steer istock directly into an iceberg, of course just before they raped it for all that it was worth.


istock have been riding the wave of being No.1 for too long now

Quote from: helix7 on January 19, 2012, 15:57

Quote from: SNP on January 19, 2012, 15:54

this is true, unfortunately. but I think we're about to see iStock get swallowed up by the Getty machine. the question is whether to go with the flow or walk the plank and hope the sharks are friendly

That's what it sounds like, since all of the jobs lost were on the istock side. The "redundancies" all seem to favor the Getty team, so any replacement to JJRD would come from Getty. istock is being eaten.

I think istock will be around this year, as they streamline what images go to Getty and what goes to stinkstock, but then BOOM!, one day an announcement will come and istock will be gone. You will be directed to either Getty or thinkstock directly. The "artist formerly known as istockphoto" will cease to exist.

No.  iStock as a name has way too much brand equity.  That wasn't really the case with StockXpert.  Even people who only marginally know what microstock is probably have heard of iStock.  If they know one place to turn to for buying cheap pictures, it's probably iStock.

They will transform the business but keep the name.  People will likely be screwed... probably contributors... but if the management has an ounce of sense about making money, they will find a way to keep buyers with the name iStock.

I think istock will be around this year, as they streamline what images go to Getty and what goes to stinkstock, but then BOOM!, one day an announcement will come and istock will be gone. You will be directed to either Getty or thinkstock directly. The "artist formerly known as istockphoto" will cease to exist.

Which just kills me. It would be like Amazon buying Overstock.com, dissolving Amazon.com and rerouting traffic over to Overstock. Why would you eliminate the stronger brand?

I think istock will be around this year, as they streamline what images go to Getty and what goes to stinkstock, but then BOOM!, one day an announcement will come and istock will be gone. You will be directed to either Getty or thinkstock directly. The "artist formerly known as istockphoto" will cease to exist.

I think it will become just another collection on Getty's main site, just like the other collections they absorbed. They will get rid of the iStock website. Why continue to maintain it and incur the cost when they already have one umbrella site.