Author Topic: Simonox no longer exclusive (Read 14638 times)

FreeTransform · « **on:** July 18, 2012, 13:59 »

Wow, the guy who designed the iStock logo has jumped the exclusive ship. I follow him on Twitter and he just posted some links to his files on Shutterstock.

http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-1091942p1.html

EmberMike · « **Reply #1 on:** July 18, 2012, 14:11 »

Congrats, Simon. Best of luck. I think your stuff will do very well at SS.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #2 on:** July 18, 2012, 14:16 »

I'm sure his stuff will do well anywhere he chooses to sell it. I wonder what was the final straw for him (not that it matters, but I'd love to know

luissantos84 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 18, 2012, 14:17 »

best of luck and don´t forget to pop in a few more keywords

FreeTransform · « **Reply #4 on:** July 18, 2012, 14:19 »

I would have thought that people with 9000+ files (good files!) were immune to the past couple of years' ~~money grab~~ downturn.

EmberMike · « **Reply #5 on:** July 18, 2012, 14:42 »

Quote from: FreeTransform on July 18, 2012, 14:19

I would have thought that people with 9000+ files (good files!) were immune to the past couple of years' ~~money grab~~ downturn.

9000 files? Oh great. There goes the inspection queue for us vector folks.

gostwyck · « **Reply #6 on:** July 18, 2012, 14:58 »

Quote from: FreeTransform on July 18, 2012, 14:19

I would have thought that people with 9000+ files (good files!) were immune to the past couple of years' ~~money grab~~ downturn.

Most LT contributors that I know report their downloads on Istockphoto to have roughly halved over the last couple of years (including mine). Many illustrators have been kicked even harder with higher RC targets.

As they say in the other 'stock market' ... "Let the trend be your friend" when making financial decisions with the future in mind.

Simonox is not the only contributor to have ditched their crown recently either. Most are keeping pretty schtum about it though.

antistock · « **Reply #7 on:** July 18, 2012, 23:49 »

what did they expected ? it was a piece of cake 4-5 yrs ago to sell vectors and now the market
is just going back to normal.

no more profitable to sell for a pittance on micros, no more easy money ?
well sorry but we old farts told you so for a long time, now time for a reality check, guys !

in the meantime selling at cheap-as-s prices you managed to kill the RM industry AND the RF one as well and there's no going back, the die has been cast.

ThomasAmby · « **Reply #8 on:** July 19, 2012, 02:13 »

Quote from: antistock on July 18, 2012, 23:49

what did they expected ? it was a piece of cake 4-5 yrs ago to sell vectors and now the market
is just going back to normal.

no more profitable to sell for a pittance on micros, no more easy money ?
well sorry but we old farts told you so for a long time, now time for a reality check, guys !

in the meantime selling at cheap-as-s prices you managed to kill the RM industry AND the RF one as well and there's no going back, the die has been cast.

Yes, microstock is in deed still very profitable. Earnings at IS are down, while earnings at SS is up.

Overall I'm earning more than ever, like many others.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but as much as you would like it, nothing has changed in terms of overall revenue in the microstock industry.

Microbius · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2012, 02:53 »

Poor IStock, they had the high quality vector market tied up a few years ago, and they threw it all away

Wim · « **Reply #10 on:** July 19, 2012, 03:44 »

Quote from: EmberMike on July 18, 2012, 14:42

Quote from: FreeTransform on July 18, 2012, 14:19
I would have thought that people with 9000+ files (good files!) were immune to the past couple of years' ~~money grab~~ downturn.

9000 files? Oh great. There goes the inspection queue for us vector folks.

HughStoneIan · « **Reply #11 on:** July 19, 2012, 19:15 »

Quote from: Microbius on July 19, 2012, 02:53

Poor IStock, they had the high quality vector market tied up a few years ago, and they threw it all away

Yeah, they also threw away everything else that they had good. Such a sad sad story.

michaeldb · « **Reply #12 on:** July 19, 2012, 21:14 »

Quote from: ThomasAmby on July 19, 2012, 02:13

...nothing has changed in terms of overall revenue in the microstock industry.

That's my experience. I don't know how it's really going for the photo folks, but as an illustrator I see no signs of a downturn. (Congratulations to Simonox on his new independence!)

Mantis · « **Reply #13 on:** July 20, 2012, 07:50 »

Quote from: michaeldb on July 19, 2012, 21:14

Quote from: ThomasAmby on July 19, 2012, 02:13
...nothing has changed in terms of overall revenue in the microstock industry.
That's my experience. I don't know how it's really going for the photo folks, but as an illustrator I see no signs of a downturn. (Congratulations to Simonox on his new independence!)

Well a downturn could be flat, not necessarily down. So say that your peek was $2000 a month and since then you haven't gone lower than that, but you have uploaded 1,000 new images since then. That, in my opinion, is a downturn (and is my case).

Lagereek · « **Reply #14 on:** July 20, 2012, 08:40 »

its not a matter of, IS, turning over same revenue or not as before, they probably are, they still show a respectable turnover. Its a matter of what they COULD, have had!
They had it all, in the palm of their hand, all they had to do, was keeping a tight grip. So what do they do? well, just about every single thing that can possibly go wrong, has gone wrong. Murphys law, hey?
I would go as far as to say, its total mismanagement of a corporation.

john_woodcock · « **Reply #15 on:** July 20, 2012, 09:46 »

Quote

That's my experience. I don't know how it's really going for the photo folks, but as an illustrator I see no signs of a downturn.

I'd say you were pretty much a rarity. I'm just editing this to clarify that I'm talking IS, as I have no experience of sales at other sites.

cthoman · « **Reply #16 on:** July 20, 2012, 10:08 »

Quote from: john_woodcock on July 20, 2012, 09:46

Quote
That's my experience. I don't know how it's really going for the photo folks, but as an illustrator I see no signs of a downturn.

I'd say you were pretty much a rarity.

I don't know about that. Other than iStock, the other micros seem to have been fairly stable for illustration and graphics.

Microbius · « **Reply #17 on:** July 20, 2012, 10:41 »

+1 pretty stable other than IS

EmberMike · « **Reply #18 on:** July 20, 2012, 10:49 »

Quote from: cthoman on July 20, 2012, 10:08

Quote from: john_woodcock on July 20, 2012, 09:46
Quote
That's my experience. I don't know how it's really going for the photo folks, but as an illustrator I see no signs of a downturn.

I'd say you were pretty much a rarity.

I don't know about that. Other than iStock, the other micros seem to have been fairly stable for illustration and graphics.

Agreed. The instability is with istock, no one else, at least in my opinion.

michaeldb · « **Reply #19 on:** July 20, 2012, 13:53 »

Quote from: EmberMike on July 20, 2012, 10:49

Quote from: cthoman on July 20, 2012, 10:08
Quote from: john_woodcock on July 20, 2012, 09:46
Quote
That's my experience. I don't know how it's really going for the photo folks, but as an illustrator I see no signs of a downturn.

I'd say you were pretty much a rarity.

I don't know about that. Other than iStock, the other micros seem to have been fairly stable for illustration and graphics.

Agreed. The instability is with istock, no one else, at least in my opinion.

Sorry, when I said "as an illustrator I see no signs of a downturn" I should have also said that I meant 'everywhere but IS' and added that I stopped submitting to IS over a year ago

In fact, my total revenues have steadily increased since I stopped submitting to IS. Revenue has held steady even though I have been submitting only about 25% of my normal amount for several months.

VB inc · « **Reply #20 on:** July 20, 2012, 14:36 »

Well, majority of other site sells illustrations and graphic design elements for pennies(subscriptions). Its hard for me to participate with those returns knowing i am part of the problem driving down the wages and fair compensation for illustrators and designers alike. Its all relevant to what kind of product you produce. Successful vector files on istock can easily generate over $5,000 in 2 or so years. If you have the skills to create those, why harm the industry by putting it a subscription based site like SS where you are training the buyers that good quality art can be bought on the cheap??

EmberMike · « **Reply #21 on:** July 20, 2012, 14:58 »

Quote from: VB inc on July 20, 2012, 14:36

...If you have the skills to create those, why harm the industry by putting it a subscription based site like SS where you are training the buyers that good quality art can be bought on the cheap??

Because istock doesn't take most of the stuff that buyers want. Look at the top-selling stuff at SS, including the single most popular image at istock from last year (which happens to be a vector image) and a lot of that stuff (including the best-seller) isn't on istock. They don't accept anything that includes text, despite the very clear indication from buyers that they want ready-to-use text-based designs.

I can (and do) create Top 50 images at SS regularly, but they'd be useless and worthless to me at istock because I can't sell them there.

And who says SS is cheap? From the buyer's perspective, they're spending $250 a month or $10+ per image for OD sales. From the contributor's perspective, I make half of my income at SS on ODs which typically get me $2.85 for each sale. I get ELs weekly, which puts $28 in my pocket each time (can't tell you the last time I had an EL at istock).

That's cheap?

VB inc · « **Reply #22 on:** July 20, 2012, 15:00 »

Dont get me wrong... i, as an exclusive to istock, have no faith in istock/getty. In fact, i hardly uploaded anything the this/last year and concentrated on freelance work. I do still take in a significant amount of money each week and can't afford to lose that in hopes of spreading my work around in which i dont have the extra time for.

I think the whole refund business with istock is another way for istock to make money off its contributors as long as there is this system where the contributor has no idea what is really going on. I, along with many contributors within the last year or so have been getting these refunds on a regular basis.

VB inc · « **Reply #23 on:** July 20, 2012, 15:04 »

embermike, the last time i checked (a while back), you were selling stuff at vectorstock which sells vectors at a ridiculous price.

cthoman · « **Reply #24 on:** July 20, 2012, 16:00 »

Quote from: VB inc on July 20, 2012, 14:36

Well, majority of other site sells illustrations and graphic design elements for pennies(subscriptions). Its hard for me to participate with those returns knowing i am part of the problem driving down the wages and fair compensation for illustrators and designers alike. Its all relevant to what kind of product you produce. Successful vector files on istock can easily generate over $5,000 in 2 or so years. If you have the skills to create those, why harm the industry by putting it a subscription based site like SS where you are training the buyers that good quality art can be bought on the cheap??

I agree (it is too low), but I don't think iStock's under 20% royalty rate mixed with Thinkstock are any different. So in a way, you are already supporting all of that. Just because you are standing on the shoulders of all the non exclusives that are wallowing in the mud doesn't mean you aren't in the mud too.

I'm not saying that to be a jerk. I actually applaud your sentiment. I just don't think you can praise iStock for having a higher ground anymore. There are plenty of new agencies for illustrators popping up like Toon Vectors, Image Toons, Drawshop and GL Images that could use your praise and support.

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Author Topic: Simonox no longer exclusive (Read 14638 times)

FreeTransform

EmberMike

Jo Ann Snover

luissantos84

FreeTransform

EmberMike

gostwyck

antistock

ThomasAmby

Microbius

Wim

HughStoneIan

michaeldb

Mantis

Lagereek

john_woodcock

cthoman

Microbius

EmberMike

michaeldb

VB inc

EmberMike

VB inc

VB inc

cthoman

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