Our situation as iStock contributors will not improve as long as the current contract remains in place. A group of major contributors needs to gather together, hire a lawyer and demand that iStock/Getty negotiate with us on a new contract. There is plenty of scope for making the contract clearer and fairer. Opt-out provisions, transparency on custom deals, better definition of sub-licensing, etc.

As a small contributor, I would take part by sharing the cost of the effort. But the effort should be fronted by all, or nearly all, of the black diamonds, backed by the rest of us. Any black diamonds here willing to get this process started?

I believe any collective efforts by contributors should be aimed at the industry as a whole, not a specific agency.  Screwing over contributors is not exclusive to Istock.  Many agencies participate in that.  The long term solution would be direct sales, cutting out the agencies altogether.  Hopefully, that's the direction we are going.

I'm not sure why contributors keep barking up this tree. istockgetty is NOT going to change. They are in business to make money and they don't give a crap if they stomp all over the contributor's IP to get it. The only solution is for contributors to pick up their toys and go play somewhere else. If they still want to make money, that is.

Our situation as iStock contributors will not improve as long as the current contract remains in place. A group of major contributors needs to gather together, hire a lawyer and demand that iStock/Getty negotiate with us on a new contract....

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You make demands when you have some leverage. What leverage do you think contributors have other than threatening to pull their content from Getty? And unless you remove the clause that says Getty can change the contract with 30 days notice, anything you negotiate is only temporary.

The problem is the balance of power. Getty earns a lot of people a lot of money - it may be less than it was, but it's still more than many other outlets. That gives Getty leverage - go read about the April 2011 contract changes with Getty contributors as one recent example of how they use that leverage.

The only thing that will improve the situation is another big dog that (a) Getty doesn't buy and (b) treats contributors better than Getty does.

the nightmare won't end unless we collectively sue google.. istock is just a small fish..