"Interesting thoughts. Of course all that is actually happening is basic supply and demand. However it's not the agencies or the contributors who have 'devalued' our product but the technology. As you have said yourself, it has never been easier or cheaper to produce quality images ... so that's exactly what people are doing.

I've no idea how long it is all going to last though. Ten years ago I'd never have believed I could earn a decent living with my camera, working from home, shooting what I want, when I feel like doing so and never even having clients to report to, or any complaints or invoices to chase up. Microstock is largely a true and fair meritocracy too __ your success and your earnings are directly related to your skills, how hard you work and, sometimes, how much you are prepared to risk financially to get unique or better shots.

If, in a few years time, it is 'only the agencies that can make any money' then that will probably be the time that a true microstock co-op will finally emerge. Right now there is not the motivation for it to happen and most contributors have too much to lose. Ultimately it is the contributors that own all the content though. Without them the agencies are nothing.

I think that there are small signs that the balance between agency and the contributor may be edging towards the latter. Istock notably have started to relax rules that they once held dear. Vector artists are actually getting a royalty increase. The emergence of Stocksy is a move in the right direction and Istock are certainly worried about it. Then there's Yuri's 'sweetheart deal' with Getty. There may well be more in the pipeline."



yes agreed, it is without a doubt technology as well, but also the fact when getty came along and gobbled every agency up they dropped royalty rates to sustain the bankers and shareholders profits. we all ate it up albeit with a bit of complaining.

then microstock came along with this sell stupidly cheap idea and give stupid rates with crowns and you could work your way up. getty bought the premiere agency, and continued the reduction of rates for profits scheme. we all ate it up albeit with a bit of complaining.

then there are the schemes like SS who simply undersold images with abandon and paid really stupid royalty rates. many ate it up. why i will never know.

add the above to a bunch of tier sites that want a slice of the pie and generally do so with abandon, and you have an industry that is really messed up.

now you get brucey with his new found ideals forming a co-op. to little too late my friend. you had the chance to do that long ago, and you took the getty millions. in his various interviews he tends to contradict himself between the past and the new and improved version of brucey called stocksy. the one that sticks out is him saying something along the lines of "if you make less than 50% you are not getting your worth" and i seem to recall the highest you could ever aspire too was 45% on IS under his reign, but you also started at a shameful 20%. this has happened a few times in his interviews that i have read. i also don't predict you will get too many born again idealists like this coming down the pipes any time soon.

my money is still on the decline of individual income based on the microstock model, and yes it will affect the whole industry. and i still think it will happen in the next 5-7 years. the numbers don't add up anymore, and it's blatantly obvious if you have been around the industry for a while. and the scary part of this is that greedy empires like getty know this too. they know they can kick the crap out of us and control us and we are weak as a whole. as a group we might complain a lot, but getting anything going with a large group of photographers to teach "them" will never happen, it would be easier to herd cats.

Quote from: shudderstok on May 20, 2013, 17:33

"Interesting thoughts. Of course all that is actually happening is basic supply and demand. However it's not the agencies or the contributors who have 'devalued' our product but the technology. As you have said yourself, it has never been easier or cheaper to produce quality images ... so that's exactly what people are doing.

I've no idea how long it is all going to last though. Ten years ago I'd never have believed I could earn a decent living with my camera, working from home, shooting what I want, when I feel like doing so and never even having clients to report to, or any complaints or invoices to chase up. Microstock is largely a true and fair meritocracy too __ your success and your earnings are directly related to your skills, how hard you work and, sometimes, how much you are prepared to risk financially to get unique or better shots.

If, in a few years time, it is 'only the agencies that can make any money' then that will probably be the time that a true microstock co-op will finally emerge. Right now there is not the motivation for it to happen and most contributors have too much to lose. Ultimately it is the contributors that own all the content though. Without them the agencies are nothing.

I think that there are small signs that the balance between agency and the contributor may be edging towards the latter. Istock notably have started to relax rules that they once held dear. Vector artists are actually getting a royalty increase. The emergence of Stocksy is a move in the right direction and Istock are certainly worried about it. Then there's Yuri's 'sweetheart deal' with Getty. There may well be more in the pipeline."



yes agreed, it is without a doubt technology as well, but also the fact when getty came along and gobbled every agency up they dropped royalty rates to sustain the bankers and shareholders profits. we all ate it up albeit with a bit of complaining.

then microstock came along with this sell stupidly cheap idea and give stupid rates with crowns and you could work your way up. getty bought the premiere agency, and continued the reduction of rates for profits scheme. we all ate it up albeit with a bit of complaining.

then there are the schemes like SS who simply undersold images with abandon and paid really stupid royalty rates. many ate it up. why i will never know.

add the above to a bunch of tier sites that want a slice of the pie and generally do so with abandon, and you have an industry that is really messed up.

now you get brucey with his new found ideals forming a co-op. to little too late my friend. you had the chance to do that long ago, and you took the getty millions. in his various interviews he tends to contradict himself between the past and the new and improved version of brucey called stocksy. the one that sticks out is him saying something along the lines of "if you make less than 50% you are not getting your worth" and i seem to recall the highest you could ever aspire too was 45% on IS under his reign, but you also started at a shameful 20%. this has happened a few times in his interviews that i have read. i also don't predict you will get too many born again idealists like this coming down the pipes any time soon.

my money is still on the decline of individual income based on the microstock model, and yes it will affect the whole industry. and i still think it will happen in the next 5-7 years. the numbers don't add up anymore, and it's blatantly obvious if you have been around the industry for a while. and the scary part of this is that greedy empires like getty know this too. they know they can kick the crap out of us and control us and we are weak as a whole. as a group we might complain a lot, but getting anything going with a large group of photographers to teach "them" will never happen, it would be easier to herd cats.

I remember being told in the late 1980's that it wasn't worth getting in to stock photography.  Listening to that advice was a huge mistake.  I went in to the scientific side, didn't enjoy it and had to try non-photographic work until I found out about microstock.  Now looking at the RM sites, I'm not that impressed by a lot of the content.

I bet there's old timers in the music and art world telling people that the industry isn't as good as it used to be and the end is nigh.  Having learned my mistake the hard way, I ignore advice that is contrary to my own experience now.  Overall, I like microstock, I even like selling for $0.38, as the volume is high.  Things might get tougher in the future but it's quite easy now, for people that aren't afraid of work.  I'm quite lazy, that's the biggest problem for me.